Johnson Hagood (governor)
Encyclopedia
Confederate States Army
The Confederate States Army was the army of the Confederate States of America while the Confederacy existed during the American Civil War. On February 8, 1861, delegates from the seven Deep South states which had already declared their secession from the United States of America adopted the...
during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
and the 80th Governor of South Carolina
Governor of South Carolina
The Governor of the State of South Carolina is the head of state for the State of South Carolina. Under the South Carolina Constitution, the Governor is also the head of government, serving as the chief executive of the South Carolina executive branch. The Governor is the ex officio...
from 1880 to 1882.
Early years
Born in Barnwell, South CarolinaBarnwell, South Carolina
Barnwell is a city in Barnwell County, South Carolina, United States, located along U.S. Route 278. The population was 5,035 at the 2000 census...
, Hagood attended Richmond Academy in Augusta, Georgia
Augusta, Georgia
Augusta is a consolidated city in the U.S. state of Georgia, located along the Savannah River. As of the 2010 census, the Augusta–Richmond County population was 195,844 not counting the unconsolidated cities of Hephzibah and Blythe.Augusta is the principal city of the Augusta-Richmond County...
, and afterwards graduated at the top of his class from The Citadel
The Citadel (military college)
The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, also known simply as The Citadel, is a state-supported, comprehensive college located in Charleston, South Carolina, USA. It is one of the six senior military colleges in the United States...
in 1847. He was admitted to the bar
Bar association
A bar association is a professional body of lawyers. Some bar associations are responsible for the regulation of the legal profession in their jurisdiction; others are professional organizations dedicated to serving their members; in many cases, they are both...
in 1850, but never practiced because he preferred life on the plantation.
Civil War
When the Civil War broke out in 1861, Hagood volunteered and was appointed a brigadier general and assistant adjutant general of the South Carolina Militia. His first commission in the Confederate States Army was as a colonelColonel (United States)
In the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, colonel is a senior field grade military officer rank just above the rank of lieutenant colonel and just below the rank of brigadier general...
in the 1st South Carolina Volunteers. He participated in the Battle of Fort Sumter
Battle of Fort Sumter
The Battle of Fort Sumter was the bombardment and surrender of Fort Sumter, near Charleston, South Carolina, that started the American Civil War. Following declarations of secession by seven Southern states, South Carolina demanded that the U.S. Army abandon its facilities in Charleston Harbor. On...
and the Second Battle of Bull Run
Second Battle of Bull Run
The Second Battle of Bull Run or Second Manassas was fought August 28–30, 1862, as part of the American Civil War. It was the culmination of an offensive campaign waged by Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia against Union Maj. Gen...
, receiving appointment to brigadier general, effective July 21, 1862.
During the 1864 Overland Campaign
Overland Campaign
The Overland Campaign, also known as Grant's Overland Campaign and the Wilderness Campaign, was a series of battles fought in Virginia during May and June 1864, in the American Civil War. Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, general-in-chief of all Union armies, directed the actions of the Army of the...
, Hagood brought a brigade north to Petersburg, Virginia
Petersburg, Virginia
Petersburg is an independent city in Virginia, United States located on the Appomattox River and south of the state capital city of Richmond. The city's population was 32,420 as of 2010, predominantly of African-American ethnicity...
, and fought under Major General Robert F. Hoke in the battles of Drewry's Bluff
Battle of Drewry's Bluff
The Battle of Drewry’s Bluff, also known as the Battle of Fort Darling, or Fort Drewry, took place on May 15, 1862, in Chesterfield County, Virginia, as part of the Peninsula Campaign of the American Civil War. Five American warships, including the ironclads and , steamed up the James River to...
and Cold Harbor
Battle of Cold Harbor
The Battle of Cold Harbor was fought from May 31 to June 12, 1864 . It was one of the final battles of Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Overland Campaign during the American Civil War, and is remembered as one of American history's bloodiest, most lopsided battles...
. He and his men served in the entrenchments at the Siege of Petersburg
Siege of Petersburg
The Richmond–Petersburg Campaign was a series of battles around Petersburg, Virginia, fought from June 9, 1864, to March 25, 1865, during the American Civil War...
until December 1864, when Hoke's Division was ordered to the relief of Fort Fisher
Fort Fisher
Fort Fisher was a Confederate fort during the American Civil War. It protected the vital trading routes of the port at Wilmington, North Carolina, from 1861 until its capture by the Union in 1865....
. Hagood commanded Fort Anderson during the Battle of Wilmington
Battle of Wilmington
The Battle of Wilmington was fought February 11 – February 22, 1865, during the American Civil War. It was a direct result of the Union victory at the Second Battle of Fort Fisher.-Background:...
.
Actions During the Civil War and Beliefs on Race
After defeating Robert Gould ShawRobert Gould Shaw
Robert Gould Shaw was an American officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War. As colonel, he commanded the all-black 54th Regiment, which entered the war in 1863. He was killed in the Second Battle of Fort Wagner, near Charleston, South Carolina...
and the 54th Regiment at the second Battle of Fort Wagner
Battle of Fort Wagner
The First Battle of Fort Wagner was fought on July 10 and 11, 1863, on Morris Island in Charleston harbor during the American Civil War. An attempt by the Union Army to capture Fort Wagner was repulsed. The more famous Second Battle of Fort Wagner, which involved an assault by the 54th...
, commanding Confederate General Johnson Hagood returned the bodies of the other Union officers who had died, but left Shaw's where it was, using the logic of most Confederate officers that the African American soldiers were fugitive slaves and that the attack of the fort was a slave revolt led by Shaw. Hagood informed a captured Union surgeon that "had he been in command of white troops, I should have given him an honorable burial; as it is, I shall bury him in the common trench with the negroes that fell with him."[2]
At the end of the war, Hagood's troops served under General Joseph E. Johnston
Joseph E. Johnston
Joseph Eggleston Johnston was a career U.S. Army officer, serving with distinction in the Mexican-American War and Seminole Wars, and was also one of the most senior general officers in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War...
in North Carolina, and he may have surrendered with him at Durham Station
Durham, North Carolina
Durham is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the county seat of Durham County and also extends into Wake County. It is the fifth-largest city in the state, and the 85th-largest in the United States by population, with 228,330 residents as of the 2010 United States census...
in April, 1865, although Hagood's Brigade was commanded by its senior colonel at the time and no record of his parole has ever been found.
Postbellum career
After the war, Hagood resumed planting, but became incensed by the alleged misrule and corruption of Radical Republicans during Reconstruction. He actively campaigned for fellow Confederate general Wade HamptonWade Hampton III
Wade Hampton III was a Confederate cavalry leader during the American Civil War and afterward a politician from South Carolina, serving as its 77th Governor and as a U.S...
in the 1876 gubernatorial contest
South Carolina gubernatorial election, 1876
The 1876 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 7, 1876 to select the governor of the state of South Carolina. The election campaign was a referendum on the Radical Republican-led state government and their Reconstruction policies...
and himself was elected on the Democratic state ticket as Comptroller General. He served a term until 1880 when he was nominated by the state Democrats
South Carolina Democratic Party
The South Carolina Democratic Party is the South Carolina affiliate of the United States Democratic Party. The Democratic party thrived during the Second Party System between 1832 and the mid-1850s and was one of the causes of the collapse of the Whig Party....
for Governor. Hagood easily won the gubernatorial election
South Carolina gubernatorial election, 1880
The 1880 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 2, 1880 to select the governor of the state of South Carolina. Johnson Hagood was nominated by the Democrats and ran against L.W.R. Blair, a Greenback-Labor candidate...
that fall and his major achievement in office was the reopening of The Citadel in 1882.
Hagood died in Barnwell and was buried at Episcopal Churchyard. For his loyalty and commitment to The Citadel, Johnson Hagood Stadium
Johnson Hagood Stadium
Johnson Hagood Stadium, is a 21,000-seat football stadium in Charleston, South Carolina that is the home field of The Citadel; it is named in honor of Brigadier General Johnson Hagood CSA, Class of 1847 who commanded Confederate forces in Charleston during the Civil War and later served as...
was named in his honor. Hagood, South Carolina
Hagood, South Carolina
Hagood is an unincorporated community in the High Hills of Santee area in western Sumter County, South Carolina, United States. It lies west of South Carolina Highway 261 north of Stateburg and is the location of Magnolia Hall, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Its mail...
is named for him, as well as several streets throughout South Carolina.