Milledge Luke Bonham
Confederate Brigadier General
and South Carolina Governor

Background


Birth: 25 December 1813, near Red Bank (now Saluda), Edgefield District, South Carolina

Death: 27 August 1890, at White Sulphur Springs, North Carolina

Buried: Elmwood Cemetery, Columbia, Richland County, South Carolina

General Bonham
Biography:
He attended private schools in Edgefield District and at Abbeville, S.C. and graduated from South Carolina College (now University of South Carolina) at Columbia in 1834. He served as Major and Adjutant General of the South Carolina Brigade, in the Seminole War in Florida in 1836. He studied law, was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Edgefield in 1837 and embarked on a political career in 1840, in the State House of Representatives, 1840-1844.

During the Mexican War, he was Lieutenant Colonel and Colonel of the 12th Regiment, U. S. Infantry, part of General Franklin Pierce's Brigade. Winfield Scott Hancock served as his adjutant. He served as Military Governor of one of the Mexican provinces for a year prior to returning to South Carolina to practice law.

A Major General of the South Carolina Militia, Bonham served as a member of the State house of representatives 1840-1843 and solicitor of the Second (Southern) Circuit of South Carolina 1848-1857. He was elected as a States Rights Democrat to the 35th and 36th Congresses and served from March 4, 1857 until his retirement on December 21, 1860.


In February 1861, he was appointed Major General and Commander of the Army of South Carolina by Gov. F. W. Pickens and, on April 19, 1861, a Brigadier General in the Confederate Army. He commanded in the center of General Beauregard's army in the first Battle of First Manassas, as well as battles at Fairfax, Centerville and Vienna. In July 1861, when his brigade was disbanded, Bonham lost his commission. Davis re-appointed him in October but a dispute over the loss of his seniority embittered Bonham greatly. He resigned his commission in January 1862 to take a seat in the First Regular Confederate Congress, a post he resigned upon his election as Governor of South Carolina in January 1863. He served until his term expired in December 1864. Bonham was reappointed a Brigadier General of Cavalry, on February 16, 1865, and was present during the closing weeks of General Joseph E. Johnston's campaign in the Carolinas.

Bonham was again elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives, 1865-1867 and was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1867 and 1876. He was a member of South Carolina's taxpayers' convention in 1871 and 1874, He resumed the practice of law in Edgefield, engaged in planting, and conducted an insurance business in Edgefield and Atlanta, 1865-1878. He was appointed a State Railroad Commissioner in 1878 and served until his death.

Source:
Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress

Columbia Military Prison Page or to Seed Corn Page


If you have any information about him or the units he commanded, please contact me at

Bil Brasington