Johnson Hagood (governor)

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Johnson Hagood

Johnson Hagood (February 21, 1828 – January 4, 1898) was a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War and the Democratic Governor of South Carolina from 1880 to 1882.

[edit] Early years

Born in Barnwell, South Carolina, Hagood attended Richmond Academy in Augusta, Georgia, and afterwards graduated at the top of his class from The Citadel in 1847. He was admitted to the bar in 1850, but never practiced because he preferred life on the plantation.

[edit] Civil War

When the Civil War broke out in 1861, Hagood volunteered and was appointed a brigadier general and assistant adjutant general of the South Carolina Militia. His first commission in the Confederate States Army was as a colonel in the 1st South Carolina Volunteers. He participated in the Battle of Fort Sumter and the First Battle of Bull Run, after which he returned to South Carolina with his regiment and was appointed brigadier general, effective July 21, 1861.^[1]

During the 1864 Overland Campaign, Hagood brought a brigade north to Petersburg, Virginia, and fought in the Battle of Drewry's Bluff and Battle of Cold Harbor. He and his men served in the entrenchments at the Siege of Petersburg until December 1864, when they were ordered to the relief of Fort Fisher. At the end of the war, he served under General Joseph E. Johnston and presumably surrendered with him at Durham Station, North Carolina, although no record of his parole has ever been found.^[2]

[edit] Postbellum career

After the war, Hagood resumed planting, but became incensed by the misrule and corruption of Radical Republicans during Reconstruction. He actively campaigned for fellow Confederate general Wade Hampton in the 1876 gubernatorial contest and himself was elected on the Democratic state ticket as Comptroller General. He served a term until 1880] when he was nominated by the state Democrats for Governor. Hagood easily won the gubernatorial election that fall and his major achievement in office was the reopening of The Citadel in 1882.

Hagood died in Barnwell and was buried at Episcopal Churchyard. For his loyalty and commitment to The Citadel, Johnson Hagood Stadium was named in his honor. Hagood, South Carolina is named for him.

[edit] References

• Eicher, John H., and Eicher, David J., Civil War High Commands, Stanford University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8047-3641-3.
• Warner, Ezra J., Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders, Louisiana State University Press, 1959, ISBN 0-8071-0823-5.

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• SCIway Biography of Johnson Hagood
• Statehouse Biography of Johnson Hagood
• NGA Biography of Johnson Hagood

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