 | Memoirs of the war of secession |  |
A Sketch of His Life.
General Hagood was one of South Carolina's most distinguished
sons. He was born in Barnwell County on February 21,
1829. His family was one of English extraction and settled originally
in Virginia, but prior to the Revolutionary war moved to
this State, located in the Ninety-Six District. Early in the
present century, Johnson Hagood, the grandfather for whom
he was named, removed from Charleston, where he was a prominent
lawyer, to Barnwell County, and there his son, Dr. James O.
Hagood, was, previous to the civil war, a successful planter.
Dr. Hagood practiced his profession of medicine for more than
fifty years, and greatly endeared himself to the people among
whom he lived. He died in January, 1873.
General Hagood got his early education at the Richmond
Academy in Augusta, Ga., and at the age of sixteen years he
entered the Citadel in Charleston, graduating in November, 1847,
with the highest honors of his class. After his graduation he
studied law under the Hon. Edmund Bellinger, a distinguished
lawyer of his day, and was admitted to the bar in 1850. The next
year Governor John H. Means appointed him deputy adjutant
general of militia, a portion of his duties consisting of drilling the
militia at its various encampments over the State. In December,
the Barnwell District, which important legal position he held
until hostilities broke out in 1861. Then he resigned to enter the
Confederate army. During the decade prior to the war he was
also engaged in conducting his large plantation.
When South Carolina passed the Ordinance of Secession he
was brigadier general of militia; he was at once made colonel of
the First South Carolina Volunteers and took part in the bombardment
of Fort Sumter under General Beauregard in April,
1861. He was then transferred from the volunteer corps to the
Confederate States Army, retaining his rank as colonel. He was
present at the battle of Bull Run. Returning to South Carolina
he was engaged in the operations around Charleston, and at the
battle of Secessionville, June 16, 1862. Immediately after that
battle he was promoted by President Davis to the rank of brigadier
general, and served on the coast of South Carolina until
May, 1864, being engaged in the defense of Charleston during
General Gilmore's siege of that city, and in the defense of Fort
Wagner and the operations on James Island. In May, 1864, he
was, with his command, withdrawn from Charleston and ordered
to Petersburg, Va., where he arrived May 7th, and at Walthall
Junction, a few miles beyond, met the advance forces of General
B. F. Butler, consisting of five brigades. With 1,500 of his men,
supported by 1,100 men of Johnson's Tennessee brigade, he
repulsed them in the open field, many of his most gallant field
and staff officers being killed and wounded. This gave time for the
concentration of troops from the southward for the defense of
Petersburg against Butler's advance. He served under General
Beauregard at Petersburg and afterwards under the same general
in Hoke's Division at Drury's Bluff against Butler and in
the operations at Bermuda Hundreds. During the latter period
he was instrumental in the erection of a battery at Howlett's
House on the James River which, sweeping Butler's transports in
the bend of the river, caused Butler to conceive the idea of cutting
the famous Dutch Gap canal to escape, in his further advance
up the river, the fire of this battery. The first pieces with which
the battery was mounted were two 20-pound Parrots captured by
Hagood's Brigade at the battle of Drury's Bluff. After General
Beauregard had succeeded in bottling up Butler in the peninsular
division, was ordered to join General Lee. It reached him at Cold
Harbor just prior to the battle of June 3, 1864, in which it was
actively engaged. At the siege of Petersburg, which ensued, this
brigade served in the trenches at one time sixty-seven days without
relief, and in that period was reduced by casualties and
disease from 2,300 men to 700 present for duty. At another time
the next officer in rank to the brigadier present for duty was a
captain, and four of the five regiments were commanded by lieutenants.
At a later period during the month of August in the
fighting on the Weldon road, General Hagood became the hero
of as daring and gallant an exploit as is found in the history of
the war. His command had been ordered to charge the enemy,
and when the line of their works was reached some 200 of his
men, having gotten into a re-entering angle where they were
exposed to a severe cross fire, a line was pushed out surrounding
them, and a mounted officer of the enemy galloping out of a
sallyport, seized the colors of the Eleventh regiment and called
upon them to surrender. Several officers and men prepared to
do so, but had not been carried in when General Hagood, whose
horse had been previously shot, proceeding towards them, called
upon his men to shoot the officer. In the confusion they seemed
bewildered and failed to do so. The general, having now come
up to the spot, demanded the colors, telling the officer he was free
to return to his troops. Instead of so doing he commenced to
argue about the desperate position of the small band of Confederates.
General Hagood, cutting him short, demanded a direct
answer, and receiving a decisive negative, shot him from his
horse. His orderly, Stoney, seized the falling colors, and the
general, springing into the saddle of his adversary, succeeded in
withdrawing his men with as little loss as could have been
expected from the terrific fire to which they were exposed in
retiring.
Some years after the war it was a pleasing incident to General
Hagood that by furnishing a statement of the facts he was
enabled to assist in procuring a pension from the United States
Government for the gallant officer with whom the fortunes of
war had placed him in conflict and who had survived the wound
inflicted. General Beauregard, in forwarding the report of this
herein described and of devotion to his flag reflects the highest
credit upon the officer who performs it and should be held up to
the army as worthy of imitation under similar circumstances.
Brigadier-General Hagood is a brave and meritorious officer who
has distinguished himself already at Battery Wagner and Drury's
Bluff and participated actively in the battle of Ware, Bottom's
Church, Cold Harbor and Petersburg, June 16 and 17, 1864, and
I respectfully recommend him for promotion at the earliest
opportunity."
Shortly before Christmas, 1864, General Hagood was ordered
to re-enforce the troops in North Carolina, and was engaged in the
operations around Wilmington and afterwards in General Hoke's
Division at the battles of Kinston and Bentonyille. Retiring
before overwhelming numbers, General Hagood's command surrendered
with General Johnston at Greensboro, N. C.
His brigade entered the war 4,500 strong; at its conclusion only
499 veterans remained of that gallant band, including himself
and his staff. At the termination of hostilities, General Hagood
returned to active supervision of his planting interests. But
he was not long permitted to devote his entire time and attention
to his private affairs. In 1871 the burden of taxation under
a profligate carpetbag rule in South Carolina having become well-nigh
intolerable, General Hagood became a delegate to the State
Taxpayers' Convention held at Columbia and composed of the
most intelligent and responsible men in the State. The Convention
was called to consider the enormous and increasing State
debt and to ascertain if possible its actual amount and what portion
of it had been legally contracted. A false statement of the
State's liabilities was placed before them by Governor R. K.
Scott and the State officers, and a false set of books were produced.
The history of the work of this Convention looking to
the final repudiation of a good proportion of the fraudulent
public debt is familiar to many. General Hagood was the chairman
of the committee that made the investigation, being
appointed to that position on February 20, 1871.
In 1876 General Hagood was nominated on the Democratic
ticket for comptroller-general, and by his patient, prudent and
courageous course during the exciting campaign that followed,
order and the downfall of the corrupt Radical rule in the old
Palmetto State.
His management as county chairman of the campaign in Barnwell
was perfect in its organization and such as to gain the confidence
of all moderate Republicans as well as Democrats. The
colored voters flocked in large numbers to the Democratic standard
and joined the Democratic clubs, and although hitherto
there had been a Republican majority of 1,800, almost wholly
colored, the county was carried by a majority of more than 1,100
for the Democratic ticket. More than 2,000 mounted men in red
shirts escorted General Hampton through Barnwell County,
camping from time to time at various points where he stopped to
speak, and the enthusiasm of all classes was unexampled.
During the Ellenton riots General Hagood was placed by the
Republican Judge Wiggins in command of an armed posse to
repress the disturbance. And during the uncertain and perilous
time between the election in November, 1876, and the recognition
of the Hampton government by President Hayes, when any
moment might have precipitated a collision between the rival
parties, Governor Hampton called only two of the State officers
to his assistance—General Hagood and Attorney-General James
Connor. Acting in entire accord with General Hampton they
were both an advisory council and his executive officers during
the existence of the dual governments. It was largely through
the influence of General Hagood that over a thousand of the
negroes in the county at the time united in the voluntary contribution
by the citizens of the State of one-tenth of the texes they
had paid the previous year to the support of the Hampton government
before it had been formally recognized by President
Hayes. In May, 1877, he formally took possession of his office in
the State capitol and at once entered upon the duties thereof. He
applied himself to the task of thoroughly organizing and systematizing
his department, which task he successfully accomplished.
At the regular election in 1878, his admirable conduct of the
office was recognized and rewarded by a re-election and he continued
in this office another two years, only to be still more honored
by the people, who, in 1880, elected him governor of the
State.
His inaugural address was an able paper; it was characteristic
of the man. Brief, practical, suggestive, it discarded generalities
and dealing with the matter in hand, set forth succinctly the
present condition of the State, marked the improvements which
had followed the restoration of honest government in 1876, and
indicated in what direction, in his opinion, further progress
could be made. He contrasted the then conditions with those of
the period of riotous misrule that preceded. In concluding his
address he said: "But the political equality of all men in South
Carolina is now as fixed a feature of her policy as is the Blue
Ridge in her geography. It can neither be suppressed nor
evaded. The solution of the problem requires the wisest thought,
the gravest counsel. It seems to me that I see it in firmness, moderation,
justice. Let these characterize every act of legislation.
It is my duty as governor to take care that the laws are faithfully
executed in mercy. I repeat the pledge made before my election
—that in the discharge of this high trust I shall know neither
white man nor colored man, but only citizens of South Carolina
alike amenable to her laws and entitled to their protection."
Governor Hagood's administration upon these lines was a success.
Notwithstanding his expressed desire to retire at the end
of his term, the disposition of the people of the State was strong
for his re-election as their chief executive, and it was upon his
declaration that he would not accept a renomination that they
began to look elsewhere for his successor. The press of the State,
upon his retirement, without exception generously voiced the universal
approval he had earned.
Since Governor Hagood's retirement at the close of his term he
has taken but little part in active politics. Without further
aspiration for office, he took his position in the ranks and simply
sought to do his duty as a citizen to his party and his country.
He devoted his attention chiefly to his agricultural pursuits and
to the development of the local enterprises and industries of his
county. He was instrumental in the formation of a building and
improvement association, an oil and fertilizer factory, a bank, a
graded school and other enterprises. He always took a deep
interest in agriculture and education.
In 1869 he was elected the first president since the war of the
South Carolina Agricultural and Mechanical Society, holding
also for two terms chairman of the State Board of Agriculture.
He was the pioneer in and a strong advocate for the diversification
of the State's farming industry, to which much of its present
success is due; and his contributions to the agricultural press,
together with his own success in the new departure, notably grass
culture and stock farming, contributed much to that end.
He was always a warm supporter of the common schools and
the State university.
Since 1876 he has been chairman of the board of visitors of the
South Carolina Military Academy. To the welfare of this school
—his alma mater—his time and his services have been given without
stint.
Governor Hagood in 1854 married Eloise, daughter of Judge
A. P. Butler, then United States Senator, and of whom General
M. C. Butler is a nephew. He has one son, Butler Hagood.
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