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Confederate (CSA)

Colonel

John Doby Kennedy

(1840 - 1896)

Home State: South Carolina

Education: South Carolina College

Command Billet: Commanding Regiment

Branch of Service: Infantry

Unit: 2nd South Carolina Infantry

Before Sharpsburg

He studied law, and was admitted to the bar just before the war. He also served as a lieutenant in a Camden pre-war militia unit. On April 9, 1861 he became captain of Company E, 2nd South Carolina. Upon the promotion of Col Kershaw to brigadier-general he became colonel of the Second regiment (June 1862).

On the Campaign

He was wounded as many as 6 times during the war. He was hit in the instep and Achilles tendon while crossing a fence along the Hagerstown Pike in the regiment's initial assault at Sharpsburg on 17 September 1862.

The rest of the War

In December 1864, in command of the Brigade, he was promoted to the temporary rank of brigadier-general.

After the War

He was a politician, elected to the South Carolina state house of representatives, 1878-82, the last two years as Lieutenant Governor. He was an unsuccessful candidate for Governor of South Carolina in 1882. He served as US Consul General to Shanghai, China under President Cleveland from 1885-1889. He died suddenly of a stroke in 1896.

References & notes

His basic service information from Warner.1 His gravesite is on Findagrave.

Birth

1/5/1840; Camden, SC

Death

4/14/1896; Camden, SC; burial in Quaker Cemetery, Camden, SC

Notes

1   Warner, Ezra J., Generals in Gray, Lives of the Confederate Commanders, Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1959  [AotW citation 22167]