Joseph Graham Morrison

He was named for his maternal grandfather, Revolutionary War figure and later General Joseph Graham. As the Civil War began he was a student at the Virginia Military Academy (Class of 1865), but he left school and was commissioned Lieutenant and ADC on his brother-in-law Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson's staff in June 1862. Jackson had married Morrison's sister Mary Anna in 1857.

Cedar Mountain in August Ö

"... was his first experience on the battlefield. His bearing was fearless and chivalric. He was riding one of the General's horses, which, shot in the jaw, was rearing and plunging, sprinkling both his rider and himself with blood. It was suggested to the General that he had better call that youth in or his career would be a short one, but he replied that his example would not be lost upon the troops and he would learn more discretion after a battle or two. He would not permit him to be recalled. Morrison escaped that day but after the General's death he was badly wounded twice and came out of the army with the loss of a foot."
(from Douglas1)

He was aide-de-camp (ADC) to General Jackson on the Maryland Campaign.

Lieutenant Morrison was with General Jackson when he was mortally wounded by his own troops at Chancellorsville in May 1863. After Chancellorsville, in July 1863, rather than transfer to General Ewell with the rest of Jackson's staff, he joined General Ramseur.

In September 1863 he transferred to the 57th North Carolina Infantry as Adjutant. By 1865 he was Captain of Company F, and lost a foot shortly after at Petersburg, while away from his regiment visiting General Hoke.

Also suffering from tuberculosis, Joseph spent the four years following the War in California recuperating. In 1869 he came home to North Carolina where he was a planter and ran the Mariposa Cotton Mills. He returned to claim the family home on his father's death in 1889, and himself passed at Charlotte on 11 April 1906.

Special thanks to Bill Torrens, who pointed me to Krick2 and the Douglas anecdote used here. The photograph above is from a group photo of Jackson's staff (1863) in the VMI Archives.

See more about the Morrison family and their famous relations on the 'behind AotW' blog.

01/06/1842; Lincoln County, NC

04/11/1906; Charlotte, NC; burial in Machpelah Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Lincoln Co