Junius Daniel Junius Daniel ( June 27 , 1828 – May 13 , 1864 ) was a planter and career military officer , serving in the United States Army , then in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War , as a brigadier general . His troops were instrumental in the Confederates ' success at the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg . He was killed in action at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House . Early life . Daniel was born in Halifax , North Carolina , to a wealthy political family . His father , John Reeves Jones Daniel , served as an attorney general of North Carolina and member of the United States Congress . His mother , Martha Stith , came from a prominent family of early Virginians that descended from John Stith and William Randolph . Daniel was educated at an elementary school in Halifax and at the J . M . Lovejoy Academy in Raleigh . President James K . Polk appointed him to the United States Military Academy in 1846 . He graduated 33rd out of 42 in the Class of 1851 . Appointed a brevet second lieutenant in the 3rd U . S . Infantry , Daniel was sent to Newport , Kentucky as assistant quartermaster . In 1852 , he was assigned to Fort Albuquerque in the New Mexico Territory , remaining stationed at the frontier outpost for five years . Temporarily under the command of Richard S . Ewell of the 3rd Dragoons , Lieutenant Daniel saw action in a series of skirmishes with the Apache Indians in 1855 . In 1858 , Daniel resigned his commission to begin a career as a planter in Louisiana , joining his father who had moved there following his last term in Congress in 1851 . In October 1860 , Daniel married Ellen Long , daughter of Col . John J . Long of Northampton County , North Carolina . They had no children . Civil War . Though offered a commission by Louisiana after President Abraham Lincoln ' s call for volunteer troops in April 1861 , Daniel returned to Halifax and instead offered his services to his native state . He was chosen colonel of the 4th ( later 14th ) Regiment of infantry . When the period of enlistment expired , he was offered several positions , commanding the 43rd or 45th North Carolina as well as the 2nd North Carolina Cavalry . He accepted the command of the 45th Regiment as its colonel . Daniel led four regiments from Raleigh to Goldsboro and organized them into a brigade ; afterward , he organized two other brigades . In June 1862 , he was ordered to Petersburg , Virginia , where his brigade joined General Robert E . Lee ' s Army of Northern Virginia just before the Seven Days Battles , though it took no active part in the combat . Daniel was commissioned brigadier general on September 1 , 1862 , making him one of five men from Halifax County to attain that rank in the Confederate Army . He spent the fall of 1862 with his brigade at Drewy ' s Bluff in Virginia and subsequently served in North Carolina , although his unit saw limited combat action . Shortly after the Battle of Chancellorsville , he was transferred to Maj . Gen . Robert E . Rodes ' s division of Richard S . Ewell ' s Second Corps , where he served with distinction in the Gettysburg Campaign . Daniel ' s large brigade , entrusted to bear the Corps Flag , consisted of the 32nd , 43rd , 45th and 53rd North Carolina , as well as the 2nd North Carolina Battalion . On July 1 , 1863 , Daniel ' s Brigade repeatedly attacked the Union positions on McPherson ' s Ridge , eventually driving off the Union brigade of Col . Roy Stone . Initially , after his brigade ' s first assault was repulsed , Daniel heroically galloped about his retreating men , successfully rallying them and launching another assault . Daniel ' s men suffered the greatest losses of any brigade in the corps on the first day of the battle . During the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House on May 12 , 1864 , Daniel led his brigade in a fierce counterattack on the " Mule Shoe " ( also known as the " Bloody Angle " ) , trying to recapture the important position from elements of the Army of the Potomac , which had captured it at dawn . He was struck in the abdomen by a Minié ball , inflicting a mortal wound . He died the next day in a field hospital . His body was taken to Halifax and buried in the old colonial cemetery . Unknown to Daniel , Robert E . Lee had recommended his promotion to major general just prior to his death . Fellow North Carolina general and close personal friend Bryan Grimes later wrote , " He was decidedly the best general officer from our state . Though in all probability I gained a brigadier at his death , I would for the sake of the country always remained in the status quo than the country should have lost his services . " General Grimes named one of his sons Junius Daniel Grimes ( who would become a well - known Washington , D . C . , attorney in the late 19th century ) . The Junius Daniel Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy of Weldon , North Carolina , was named in the general ' s memory and honor .