Joseph Brevard Kershaw
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1822-1894
Joseph Brevard Kershaw was born in Camden, South Carolina, on January
5, 1822. His family was part of the Southern planter aristocracy. As
a young man, Kershaw practiced law, served in the Mexican War and was
elected twice to the South Carolina legislature. After voting for
secession in the state's secession convention, Kershaw raised a
regiment and joined the Confederate army as a colonel . After Fort
Sumter and the First Battle of Bull Run, he was promoted to brigadier
general, as of February 13, 1862. Kershaw's brigade served in the
campaigns of the Eastern theater in 1862 and 1863. In the autumn of
1863, Kershaw and his troops went out west, fighting at Chickamauga.
After returning to Virginia, he was promoted to major general, on May
18, 1864, and placed in division command. Participating in the
Battles of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor and Petersburg.
Kershaw surrendered after the Battle of Sayler's Creek, on April 6,
1865. In the years following the Civil War, he returned to South
Carolina, resumed his law practice and served as a circuit court
judge for 16 years. Kershaw died on April 13, 1894, in his hometown
of Camden, South Carolina.
