McGowan, Brig. Gen. Samuel

Brigadier-General Samuel McGowan was born of Scotch-Irish parentage in Laurens county, October 19, 1819, and was graduated at the South Carolina college in 1841. He embarked in the practice of law at Abbeville, but answered the call of his country in 1846 and started for the Mexican war as a private in the Palmetto regiment. He was soon appointed to the general quartermaster's staff, with the rank of captain, in which capacity he served during the war, first on the staff of General Quitman and afterward with Generals Worth and Twiggs. As volunteer aide to General Quitman at the storming of Chapultepec and the capture of Garita de Belen he was distinguished for gallantry. On his return to South Carolina he continued with much success the practice of his profession, and sat twelve years in the lower house of the State legislature; but also retained his connection with military matters, becoming major-general in the State militia. Upon the secession of South Carolina he was commissioned brigadier-general in the State army and assigned to command of one of the four brigades first formed, and in that capacity assisted General Beauregard during the reduction of Fort Sumter. Upon the transfer of the troops to the Confederate service he joined General Bonham in Virginia, and served as a volunteer aide at the battles of Blackburn Ford and First Manassas. Then returning to South Carolina he was elected lieutenant-colonel of the Fourteenth regiment, and in the spring of 1862, while in service on the coast, was promoted colonel. Soon afterward, with Gregg's brigade, he began a distinguished career in the army of Northern Virginia. He was wounded at Cold Harbor, where he led his regiment in several daring charges; retrieved the ground lost by another brigade at Frayser's Farm, and continued on duty in spite of his injury until after Malvern Hill. For his gallantry in these battles he was recommended by General Gregg for promotion. After fighting at Cedar Run he was wounded at Second Manassas, and for some time disabled, but he rejoined his regiment after the battle of Sharpsburg and commanded it at Fredericksburg. There General Gregg was killed, and in January, 1863, Colonel McGowan was promoted brigadier-general and became Gregg's successor in command of the gallant brigade. In this capacity he served until the end of the war, receiving several wounds, the most severe of which befell him at Chancellorsville and during the fight at the bloody angle at Spottsylvania Court House. After the surrender at Appomattox he returned to his home and resumed the profession from which he had been twice diverted by war. He was elected to Congress in 1865, but was not permitted to take his seat; made a thorough canvass of the State as an elector-at-large on the Democratic presidential ticket in 1876; in 1878 was elected to the legislature, and in 1879 was elected associate justice of the supreme court. In the latter office he won lasting honor and distinction as he had upon the field. of battle. His death occurred in December, 1893.

REF: Confederate Military History Vol. 5, pg. 412

Manigault, Brig. Gen. Arthur

Brigadier-General Arthur Middleton Manigault was born at Charleston in 1824. He was a great- grandson of Gabriel Manigault, a native of Charleston, and a famous merchant who was treasurer of the province in 1738; after the declaration of independence advanced $220,000 from his private fortune for war purposes, and in 1779, with his grandson Joseph, served as a private soldier in the defense of Charleston. General Manigault entered business life at Charleston in youth. In 1846 he went to the Mexican war as first lieutenant of a company of the Palmetto regiment, and served in the army of General Scott from Vera Cruz to the City of Mexico. Returning to Charleston he was in the commission business until 1856, and then was engaged in rice planting until the beginning of the Confederate war, when he raised a company of volunteers. He served as inspector-general on the staff of General Beauregard during the period including the reduction of Fort Sumter, after which he was elected colonel of the Tenth South Carolina regiment. Under Gen. R. E. Lee he commanded the First military district of South Carolina, with headquarters at Georgetown. After the battle of Shiloh he and his regiment were transferred to the army in Mississippi under General Bragg, forming part of the brigade composed of the Tenth and Nineteenth South Carolina and three Alabama regiments, commanded by General Withers until the latter was given division command, afterward by Patton Anderson and later by Colonel Manigault. He was in brigade command from the summer of 1862, and participated in the occupation of Corinth during the siege, and the operations of the army in Tennessee and Kentucky. In April, 1863, he was promoted to brigadier-general. At the battle of Stone's River his brigade under his gallant leadership was distinguished in the assaults upon the Federal line, and at Chickamauga again was conspicuous in the attacks upon the position held by George H. Thomas. In both these battles the brigade suffered severely in the loss of officers and men, but the remnant fought through the Atlanta campaign of 1864 among the bravest of the heroes of that memorable struggle, from Dalton to Ezra church. He subsequently participated in the operations under General Hood, until he fell severely wounded in the disastrous battle of Franklin, Tenn. After the conclusion of hostilities he engaged in rice planting in South Carolina. In 1880 he was elected adjutant-general of the State, was continued in this office, and was about to be re-elected when he died from the effects of his wound received at Franklin, August 16, 1886.

REF: Confederate Military History Vol. 5, pg. 414