James Breathed

(1838 - 1870)
Home State: Maryland
Command Billet: Battery Captain
Branch of Service: Artillery
Unit: Pelham's (VA) Battery

Before the Antietam Campaign:
He graduated from medical and surgical schools in Baltimore by 1855, and practiced as a physician in St, Joseph, Missouri until Virginia seceeded and the War began in April 1861. 1 "As the war was breaking out he had a chance meeting on a train with James Ewell Brown Stuart (a.k.a. 'Jeb' Stuart). Breathed enlisted in the 1st Virginia Cavalry, again meeting up with Stuart who commissioned him 'Lieutenant of Stuart’s Horse Artillery.' ” 2 He had enlisted in the 1st Cavalry, and was a Private in Company B, on 31 August 1861. He was appointed 3rd Lieutenant of Pelham's Battery on 23 March 1862. He was promoted to Captain in command of the Battery 9 August 1862.3

The remainder of the War:
He was recognized as a superior artillerist, and served with his battery and as a battalion commander for the remainder of the War. He was promoted to Major in February 1864, was wounded at Yellow Tavern, and ended the War paroled at Winchester, Virginia in April 1865. 3

After the War:
He returned to Hancock after the War and practiced medicine until his early death, at 31, in 1870.1

References, Sources, and other notes:
Photo above from Confederate Veteran magaizine.1 His tombstone has a quote, attributed to Robert E. Lee: “The hardest artillery fighter the war produced.”

More on the Web:

Birth Date: 2/13/1838    Place of Birth: Morgan County, VA
College: U of Maryland    Graduating Year: 1855
Death Date: 02/14/1870    Death Place: Hancock, MD    Burial Place: St. Thomas Cemetery, Hancock, Md

Notes

1 United Confederate Veterans, , Confederate Veteran Magazine (1893-1932), 1893-01-01, Vol. XVI (1908), pg. 574-75 [AotW citation 238]

2 Quoted online by the Hancock Historical Society.
Clem, Richard E., Washington County Has an Unsung Confederate Hero!, Maryland Cracker Barrel magazine, 1990-01-01, pp. 12-14 [AotW citation 239]

3 Krick, Robert K., Lee's Colonels: A Biographical Register of the Field Officers of the Army of Northern Virginia, Dayton (Oh): Morningside Press, 1979, pg. 58 [AotW citation 240]

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