Stephen Elliott , Jr . Stephen Elliott , Jr . ( October 26 , 1830 – February 21 , 1866 ) , was a Confederate States Army brigadier general during the American Civil War . He was a planter , state legislator in South Carolina and militia officer before the Civil War and a fisherman after the war . Elliott again was elected to the state legislature after the war but was unable to serve due to his early death . Early life . Stephen Elliott , Jr . was born on October 26 , 1830 in Beaufort , South Carolina . He was the eldest son of Rev . Stephen Elliott and Ann Hutson Habersham . Rev . Elliott was a large plantation owner as well as a preacher to the Black people of the area . Education . After studying at Harvard College for a time , he graduated from South Carolina College in 1850 . He became a planter on Parris Island , South Carolina . Elliott also served in the $ 3 . He was captain of the Beaufort Volunteer Artillery , a militia company . Elliott also was known for his skill as a yachtsman and a fisherman . In 1854 , he married Charlotte Stuart . American Civil War . Elliott served in the Confederate States Army within South Carolina from the beginning of the Civil War in 1861 until the spring of 1864 , advancing from captain to colonel . In order to participate in the bombardment of Fort Sumter , he attached himself to a different unit than his Beaufort Volunteer Artillery company . The Beaufort Artillery company became an infantry company , so Elliott started his official Confederate Army service as a captain in the 11th South Carolina Volunteer Infantry Regiment . He participated in the defense of Port Royal , South Carolina . He was wounded in the leg at an engagement at Fort Beauregard , South Carolina on November 7 , 1861 . In August 1862 , he was appointed Chief of Artillery for the 3rd military district of South Carolina . He also made some raids against Union targets after the Union Army captured the South Carolina coastal islands , including making attacks with torpedoes . On April 9 , 1863 , his raiders sank the steamer " George Washington " . In 1863 , he became major and then lieutenant colonel of artillery . For a time in late 1863 , he commanded the Confederate force at Fort Sumter , where he received a head wound during the bombardment of Charleston by Union forces on December 11 , 1863 . In the spring of 1864 , Elliott was in command of Holcombe ' s Legion . At that time , he was ordered to Petersburg , Virginia with his regiment . He took command of Brigadier General Nathan G . Evans ' old brigade in the Army of Northern Virginia . He commanded his brigade at the Battle of the Wilderness . On May 24 , 1864 , Elliott was promoted to brigadier general . On June 16 , 1864 , Elliott ' s brigade counterattacked after a Union Army assault took some advanced Confederate trenches in the Petersburg defenses , establishing a salient in the Confederate line . On July 30 , 1864 , Elliott ' s brigade was defending the Confederate line at Elliott ' s Salient near the spot the Union Army ' s mine blew , which precipitated the Battle of the Crater . Elliott ' s brigade had nearly 700 soldiers killed or wounded in the explosion and ensuing battle . Elliott was asleep in a " bombproof " near the line and awakened to find the destruction and chaos surrounding him . Finding no troops nearby since he was close to the site of the explosion , he went to find his remaining men and organize a counterattack in line with a previous plan to deal with such a mine attack . After finding two of his regiments mainly intact , Elliott led them forward , positioning them to defend against an assault and to counterattack . He then impatiently jumped on the parapet to lead his men in the attack . At this moment , Elliott was seriously wounded in the chest and left arm . After several months recovering from his wounds , which in fact had not healed properly , Elliott joined General Joseph E . Johnston ' s Army of Tennessee in North Carolina , where he led a brigade of former Charleston defenders and largely untested soldiers . From January 2 , 1865 through March 1865 , the brigade was in Taliaferro ' s division of Hardee ' s corps . For the few remaining weeks of the war , the brigade was in Anderson ' s division of Stewart ' s corps . At the Battle of Bentonville on March 19 , 1865 , Elliott ordered his brigade to charge the Union left flank when he found that his line overlapped the Union line . The Union skirmish line was surprised and put to flight . The brigade ' s success did not last as they were broken and sent into retreat when they charged the strong Union main line , which was supported by artillery . At the point where the Confederate retreat halted , in the middle of an artillery barrage , Elliott tried to reform his brigade for another assault , despite receiving a piece of shrapnel in his leg . In the event , Confederate commanders saw that the brigade was too shaken to make another attack and they were ordered simply to kneel or lie down and hold their ground . Elliott had again received another serious wound . His brigade surrendered with Johnston ' s army at Bennett Place near Durham Station , North Carolina . Elliott had been sent home to convalesce from his latest wound before Johnston ' s surrender . Although the Eichers found no record of his parole or pardon , in his 1866 eulogy , Trescot noted that he had received a special Executive pardon at the request of Union General Quincy Gillmore , commanding at Hilton Head Island near Elliott ' s hut . Aftermath . After the Civil War , Elliott found that his plantation property had been seized for nonpayment of taxes and distributed to his former slaves . They treated him well upon his return but it made it clear that the land no longer belonged to him . Thereafter , he returned to a home in Charleston and a former fishing hut at the seashore , began to make a living as a fisherman and was again elected to the South Carolina legislature . However , he was completely debilitated by his wounds and exposure and died before taking office on February 21 , 1866 , at Aiken , South Carolina . He was buried in St . Helena ' s Episcopal Churchyard at Beaufort , South Carolina .