Thomas T. Munford

Thomas Taylor Munford (March 29, 1831 – February 27, 1918) was an American farmer and Confederate brigadier general during the American Civil War.

Munford was born in Richmond, Virginia, to Col. George Wythe Munford and Lucy Singleton Taylor. On July 30, 1849, Munford enrolled at Virginia Military Institute and was graduated in July 1854, standing 14th in a class of 24. He married Henrietta Tayloe in 1853. Prior to the Civil War, Munford was a cotton planter in Mississippi and farmer in Bedford County, Virginia.

With the outbreak of the Civil War, Munford was mustered into the Confederate States Army in May 1861 by Col. Jubal A. Early and served as a lieutenant colonel with the 30th Virginia Mounted Infantry at the First Battle of Manassas. When the cavalry was reorganized under J.E.B. Stuart, he was promoted to Colonel of the newly designated 2nd Virginia Cavalry. In the Shenandoah Valley, Munford served under Stonewall Jackson, succeeded Turner Ashby upon that officer's death, and fought well at the battles of Cross Keys and Harrisonburg. During the Peninsula Campaign, he led his men at the Battle of White Oak Swamp and served with efficiency in the 2nd Manassas Campaign. Munford was given independent command in the Maryland Campaign. During that campaign he successfully cleared Leesburg, Virginia of Union forces at the Battle of Mile Hill so that the army could cross the Potomac from there and lead his troops in a key defensive position protecting Crampton's Gap at the Battle of South Mountain. His men saw limited action at Sharpsburg. They participated in several of Stuart's cavalry battles during the 1863 Gettysburg and Bristoe Campaigns, as well as in cavalry actions in the spring of 1864 under Fitzhugh Lee.

Munford was appointed brigadier general in November 1864, although the commission was never officially confirmed. He took command of Fitzhugh Lee's cavalry division late in the war with that general's promotion and fought at Five Forks, High Bridge, and Sayler's Creek. He led men away from the Army of Northern Virginia prior to Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House and escaped with a goal of reaching North Carolina to link up with the army of Joseph E. Johnston during the Carolinas Campaign. However, hearing that Johnston had since surrendered, Munford dispersed his force after reaching Lynchburg, Virginia.

His first wife died in 1863, and Munford was remarried to Emma Tayloe in 1866. After the war, Munford worked as an iron manufacturer, writer, and cotton planter. He served as President of the Virginia Military Institute Board of Visitors from 1884 to 1888.

In 1918 at the age of 86, Munford died at the home of his son in Uniontown, Alabama, and was buried in Lynchburg, Virginia.

External links and references

*Evans, Clement A., "Confederate Military History", Vol. III, pp. 639-641.
* [http://members.aol.com/jweaver300/grayson/munford.htm Virginia Civil War Page]