M. W. Ransom

Confederate (CSA)

Colonel

Matt Whitaker Ransom

(1826 - 1904)

Home State: North Carolina

Education: University of North Carolina, Class of 1847

Command Billet: Commanding Regiment

Branch of Service: Infantry

Unit: 35th North Carolina Infantry

Before Sharpsburg

Lawyer, politician. North Carolina state attorney general, 1853-55; member of North Carolina house of commons, 1858-60.

In 1861 he enlisted as a Private in the 1st North Carolina Regiment, and was elected LCol. He was on the Peninsula campaign, at the Seven Days, and at Malvern Hill (wounded). In April 1862 he was appointed Colonel of the 35th North Carolina Regiment, in Ransom's (his younger brother's) brigade.

On the Campaign

He led the 35th NC in Ransom's Brigade in Walker's Division in Longstreet's Command.

The rest of the War

He continued at the head of his Regiment at Fredericksburg, and in June 1863 was promoted to Brigadier General succeeding his brother in command of his brigade. He commanded the Brigade at Plymouth, Weldon, Suffolk, Petersburg, Second Drewry's Bluff (wounded), Fort Stedman, Five Forks, and Appomattox.

After the War

He was again a lawyer, farmer, politician, US Senator (1872 - 1895), and Minister to Mexico (1895-97).

Birth

10/8/1826; Warren County, NC

Death

10/08/1904; near Garysburg, NC; burial in family plot, Halifax County, NC