- James Chesnut, Jr.
Infobox Military Person
name= James Chesnut, Jr.
lived=January 18 ,1815 –February 1 ,1885
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placeofbirth=Camden, South Carolina
placeofdeath=Camden, South Carolina
allegiance=Confederate States of America
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serviceyears=
rank= Brigadier General
unit=
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laterwork=James Chesnut, Jr. (
January 18 ,1815 –February 1 ,1885 ) ofCamden, South Carolina , was aUnited States Senator , a signatory of the Constitution of theConfederate States of America , and aConfederate Army general. His wife was the well knownMary Boykin Chesnut , whose diary reveals valuable observations of Southern life in theAmerican Civil War .Chesnut was a wealthy Southern planter, a defender of
slavery , and a staunchsecessionist . He graduated from the law department of the College of New Jersey (nowPrinceton University ) in 1837, and initially rose to prominence in South Carolina state politics. Admitted to the bar in 1837, he commenced practice that year in Camden and was a member of theSouth Carolina House of Representatives (1842–54) and theSouth Carolina Senate (1854–58). He had also been a delegate to the southern convention atNashville, Tennessee , in 1850.Chesnut was elected to the
U.S. Senate as a Democrat in 1858 to replaceJosiah J. Evans , and served there for two years before withdrawing onNovember 10 ,1860 , and participating in the South Carolina secession convention. (He was expelled from the Senate the next year.) When the Civil War broke out, he served the Confederate army as a colonel, brigadier general, and an aide to Confederate PresidentJefferson Davis . After the war, he returned to the practice of law in Camden.He died in Camden in 1885; interment was in Knights Hill Cemetery, near Camden. He was a first cousin of fellow Confederate general
Zachariah C. Deas .External links
*CongBio|c000348
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