Made Up Of Mississippi Students

The “University Greys” joined the 11^th Mississippi Infantry as Company A on May 4^th 1861.

The “University Greys” were made up mostly of students of the University of Mississippi.  All but four of enrolled students; 135 men joined the Greys in 1861.  They formed Company A and on May 4^th 1861 became a part of the 11^th Mississippi Infantry.  The Greys took part in the assault on the Union line at Gettysburg as part of Pickett’s Charge.  They penetrated far into the Union line, but in doing so endured casualties of every member being either killed or wounded.  After Gettysburg there were so few of the Greys left that they were merged into Company G, known as the “Lamar Rifles”.  There were members of the Greys still fighting when Confederates surrendered.

The Last To Die

Confederate General James Dearing was mortally wounded at the Battle of High Bridge and may have become the last officer to die in the war on April 22^nd 1865.

James Dearing was born in Campbell County, Virginia April 25^th 1840.  He received his early education at Hanover Academy, before receiving an appointment in 1858 to the United State Military Academy.  Dearing was first in his class at West Point and nearing graduation when Virginia seceded.  He resigned April 22^nd 1861 and accepted a commission of Lieutenant in the Virginia Artillery.

Dearing fought with the Washington Artillery of New Orleans at First Manassas.  He was with Confederate General George E Pickett at Yorktown, Williamsburg, Seven Pines and Fredericksburg.  He was promoted to Captain in late 1862.  By Gettysburg Dearing had been promoted to Major.  He commanded a battalion of artillery in the First Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia, taken part in the artillery leading up to Pickett’s Charge.  Dearing was appointed Brigadier General April 29^th 1864.  He served with the cavalry under Confederate Major General William H F Rooney Lee during the Siege of Petersburg.

Dearing shot and killed Union Colonel Theodore Read during the retreat to Appomattox at close range with a pistol at the Battle of High Bridge April 6^th 1865.  Dearing was then mortally wounded by another Union soldier.  Dearing died from his wound 17 days later on April 23^rd 1865 at the Ladies’ Aid Hospital in Lynchburg, Virginia.  He is buried in the Spring Hill Cemetery in Lynchburg.  Dearing may be the last Confederate officer to in the war.

The Old War Horse

One of the principal Confederate Generals James Longstreet died on this day in 1904. He was born January 8th 1821 in the Edgefield District of SC. He was the fifth child of James and Mary Ann [Dent] Longstreet, who owned a cotton plantation near Gainesville. It was his father who felt a military career was the way James should go, and to get him the right education he was sent to live with an uncle in Augusta,GA, where he attended Richmond County Academy. He got an appointment to West Point in 1838, but was a poor student who ranked 54 out 56 cadets when he graduated in 1842. It was here that he made one of his closest friends, Ulysses S Grant who was a year behind him. They both saw service during the war with Mexico

Longstreet was General Robert E Lee’s “Old War Horse”, and saw action as a corp commander in the Army of Northern Virginia, and with General Braxton Bragg in the Army of Tennessee. There is still controversy over his role at Gettysburg and the disastrous assault known as Pickett’s Charge.

After the war Longstreet joined the Republican Party and found himself on wrong side of Southern politics, and it damaged his reputation. However through his old friend President Ulysses S Grant he enjoyed a career as a US Government civil servant, marshal and diplomat. He subsequently settled onto a 65 acre farm where he raised turkeys and had orchards and a vineyard. A fire there in April 1889 destroyed the house and many of his personal Civil War possessions. After long years of having his reputation trashed, Longstreet wrote his memoirs in 1896 “From Manassas to Appomattox where he refuted many of the arguments.

General Longstreet’s last years were spent in poor health from rheumatism and deafness. He developed Cancer in his right eye, and than came down with pneumonia. He died January 2nd 1904, and is buried in the Alta Vista Cemetery.

Some other good reading on the subject

http://www.discoveret.org/kcwrt/history/hlo-text.htm

http://www.nnp.org/nni/Publications/Dutch-American/longstreet.html

General James Longstreet: the Confederacy's Most Modern General