Lafayette McLaws

He graduated from West Point in 1842, saw service in the Mexican War, and was a Captain when he resigned from the US Army in March 1861. He organized the 10th Georgia Regiment and was its Colonel in June 1861. In September 1861 he was appointed Brigadier General and served under General Magruder in the Peninsula campaign. In May 1862 he was promoted to Major General and commanded his Division in Longstreet's command at the battles of the Seven Days and Second Manassas.

He led his Division in Longstreet's Command on the Maryland Campaign of 1862.

He again led his Division at Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Chickamauga, and Knoxville. He was relieved of his command by Longstreet and transferred to GA where he fought in the defense of Savannah and served under J. E. Johnston in the Carolinas campaign of 1865.

He was an insurance agent, internal revenue collector, and and postmaster in Savannah.

Basic service and biographical information from Warner.1 His gravesite is on Findagrave. His picture here from a CDV photograph in the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

He married Emily Allison Elizabeth Taylor (1824-1890) in Jefferson County, KY in 1842 and they had 8 children by 1870.

His war letters were published in A Soldier's General (2002), edited by John C. Oeffinger. The originals are among his Papers in the Wilson Library, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill [finding aid]. A collection of items personal to McLaws is in the Georgia Historical Society in Savannah.

01/15/1821; Augusta, GA

7/24/1897; Savannah, GA; burial in Laurel Grove Cemetery North, Savannah, GA