Beverly Holcombe Robertson

(1827 - 1910)
Home State: Virginia
Command Billet: Brigade Commander
Branch of Service: Cavalry
Unit: Robertson's Brigade

Before the Antietam Campaign:
After graduating from West Point in 1849, he was 2nd Lieutenant and assigned to the 2nd US Dragoons.1 After Cavalry School at Carlisle, PA, he served with the Regiment in New Mexico, Kansas and Nebraska, fighting Apaches at Tornado del Muerto and Sioux at Blue Water.2 He was promoted to 1st Lieutenant in 1855. In 1859 he was appointed acting assistant adjutant-general of the Department of Utah, and in March 1861 promoted to Captain. He was dismissed from the US Army in August when he accepted a commission as Captain in the Adjutant-General's office, CSA.1,2

In September 1861 he was appointed Colonel of 4th Virginia Cavalry, and was on Jackson's Valley campaign of June 1862. He was then promoted to Brigadier General, and, by August, was commanding his brigade in Gen Stuart's Cavalry Division, leading it during Second Manassas and to the start of the Maryland Campaign.3

In the Antietam Campaign:
BGen Robertson was relieved of his command and ordered to North Carolina on 6 September, immediately before his Brigade crossed into Maryland. He was relieved by Colonel Munford of the 2nd Virginia.

The remainder of the War:
In the Department of North Carolina he was responsible for the organization and instruction of cavalry troops, and was at the defense of New Bern in March, 1863. With the 4th and 5th North Carolina Cavalry regiments he re-joined Stuart's Cavalry in the ANV in May 1863. They saw action at Brandy Station, Upperville, and on the Gettysurg campaign, including skirmishes on the retreat at Funkstown and Hagerstown. In October 1863 he was assigned to the 2nd district of South Carolina, where he served for the duration of the War.2

After the War:
After the War he as an insurance broker in Washington, DC until his death there in 1910.3

References, Sources, and other notes:
He wrote a defense of his actions on the Gettysburg Campaign for Century Magazine (1887), published in Battles and Leaders.4

Photograph above is from one posted by Uriguen.5

More on the Web:
See his burial spot from Find-a-Grave and the tablet for his Brigade at Gettysburg from Virtual Gettysburg.

Birth Date: 05/06/1827    Place of Birth: Amelia County, VA
College: US Military Academy, West Point, NY    Graduating Year: 1849    Class Rank: 25
Death Date: 12/10/1910    Death Place: Washington, DC    Burial Place: Rock Castle Farm, Amelia County, VA

Notes

1 Heitman, Francis Bernard, Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army 1789-1903, 2 volumes, Washington DC: US Government Printing Office, 1903, pg. 836 [AotW citation 449]

2 Biographical essay, Brigadier General Beverly Holcombe Robertson, also transcribed online by Jeff Weaver.
Evans, Clement Anselm, editor, Confederate Military History, 12 Volumes, Atlanta: The Confederate Publishing Company, 1899, Vol. III, Part II, pp. 656-658 [AotW citation 450]

3 Warner, Ezra J., Generals in Gray, Lives of the Confederate Commanders, Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1959, pp.259-260 [AotW citation 451]

4 Article also transcribed online by the Shaws.
Johnson, Robert U., and Clarence C. Buel, eds., Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, 4 vols., New York City: The Century Company, 1884-1887, Vol. III, pp. 251-252 [AotW citation 452]

5 Uriguen, Mikel, Photo Gallery (Generals and Brevet Generals), Generals of the Civil War, Published c. 1998, first accessed 01 January 1998, <http://www.generalsandbrevets.com/>, Source page: /sgr/robertsonbh.htm [AotW citation 453]

« Search for Another Participant