Lafayette McLaws Lafayette McLaws ( ; January 15 , 1821 – July 24 , 1897 ) was a United States Army officer and a Confederate general in the American Civil War . He served at Antietam and Fredericksburg , where Robert E . Lee praised his defense of Marye ' s Heights , and at Gettysburg , where his division made some successful assaults , but was unable to dislodge Union forces from Cemetery Ridge . After the Knoxville Campaign , he was court - martialled for inefficiency , though this was overturned for procedural reasons . Finally he was sent to his native Georgia to resist Sherman ' s March to the Sea , but had to retreat through the Carolinas , losing many men through desertion , and is presumed to have surrendered with Joseph E . Johnston in April 1865 . McLaws remained bitter about his court - martial , especially as the charges had been filed by James Longstreet , his friend and classmate at West Point , with whom he had served for years . Although he defended Longstreet against Lost Cause proponents who blamed him for losing the war , McLaws never fully forgave Longstreet for his actions . Early life . McLaws was born in Augusta , Georgia . He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1842 , placing 48th out of 56 cadets . McLaws served as an infantry officer in the Mexican - American War , in the West , and in the Utah War to suppress the Mormon uprising . While at Jefferson Barracks , Missouri , he married Emily Allison Taylor , the niece of Zachary Taylor , making him a cousin - in - law of future Confederates Richard Taylor and Jefferson Davis . Civil War . 1861 – 62 . At the start of the Civil War , resigning as a U . S . Army captain , McLaws was commissioned a major in the Confederate States Army . He was quickly promoted to colonel of the 10th Georgia Infantry regiment ; then quickly again to brigadier general in brigade and division command in the Seven Days Battles ; then , on May 23 , 1862 , to major general . He joined his childhood friend in Augusta and fellow West Point of ' 42 classmate , Maj . Gen . James Longstreet ' s First Corps in the Army of Northern Virginia as 1st Division commander and stayed with Longstreet for most of the war . During Robert E . Lee ' s 1862 Maryland Campaign , McLaws ' s Division was split from the rest of the corps , operated in conjunction with Maj . Gen . Thomas J . " Stonewall " Jackson , and captured Maryland Heights at Harpers Ferry . He marched his division to Sharpsburg , Maryland , and defended the West Woods in the Battle of Antietam . Lee was disappointed in McLaws ' s slow arrival on the battlefield . At the Battle of Fredericksburg , McLaws ' s Division was one of the defenders of Marye ' s Heights , and he satisfied Lee with his ferocious defensive performance . 1863 – 65 . At Chancellorsville , while the rest of Longstreet ' s corps was detached for duty near Suffolk , Virginia , McLaws fought directly under Lee ' s command . On May 3 , 1863 , Lee sent McLaws ' s Division to stop the Union VI Corps under Maj . Gen . John Sedgwick marching toward Lee ' s rear . He did accomplish this , but Lee was disappointed that McLaws had not attacked more aggressively and caused more harm to Sedgwick ' s corps , instead of letting him escape across the Rappahannock River . When Lee reorganized his army to compensate for Jackson ' s mortal wounding at Chancellorsville , Longstreet recommended his subordinate for one of the two new corps commands , but both men were disappointed when Lee chose Richard S . Ewell and A . P . Hill instead . McLaws requested a transfer , but it was denied . On the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg , July 2 , 1863 , McLaws commanded the second division to step off in Longstreet ' s massive assault on the Union left flank . He achieved great success ( at a high cost in lives ) in the areas known as the Wheatfield and the Peach Orchard , but the army as a whole was unable to dislodge the Union forces from their positions on Cemetery Ridge . His division did not participate in Pickett ' s Charge the next day , despite Longstreet ' s command of that assault . McLaws accompanied Longstreet ' s corps to Tennessee to come to the aid of General Braxton Bragg ' s Army of Tennessee . He arrived too late to lead his division at Chickamauga , where it was led by Brig . Gen . Joseph B . Kershaw , but he did participate in the Chattanooga Campaign . In the Knoxville Campaign later in 1863 , Longstreet relieved McLaws for the failure of the attack on Fort Sanders , citing " a want of confidence in the efforts and plans which the Cmdg Genl has thought proper to adopt . " In a letter to Confederate Adjutant and Inspector General Samuel Cooper , on December 30 , Longstreet submitted three charges of " neglect of duty " but did not request a court - martial because McLaws ' s " services might be important to the Government in some other position . " ( In that same letter , he requested a court - martial for Brig . Gen . Jerome B . Robertson , who had been charged with " incompetency " by his division commander . ) McLaws also wrote to Cooper on December 30 , disputing Longstreet ' s charges and requesting a court - martial to clear his name . Cooper forwarded Longstreet ' s letter to Secretary of War James Seddon and to Confederate President Jefferson Davis with the annotation that Longstreet was not authorized to relieve and reassign officers under his command without a formal court - martial . Davis ordered the court - martial of both generals , although he opposed relieving McLaws until a successor could be appointed . The courts - martial of Robertson and McLaws convened in Morristown , Tennessee , on February 12 , 1864 , with Maj . Gen . Simon B . Buckner serving as president of the court . The proceedings suffered delays as witnesses — including Longstreet — were not available to appear as scheduled , in some cases because Longstreet granted them leaves of absence . Cooper ' s office published the court ' s findings on May 5 , exonerating him on the first two specifications of neglect of duty , but finding him guilty of the third — " failing in the details of his attack to make arrangements essential to his success . " McLaws was sentenced to 60 days without rank or command , but Cooper overturned the verdict and sentence , citing fatal flaws in the procedures of the court , ordering McLaws to return to duty with his division . However , on May 18 , McLaws was assigned by the War Department to the Defenses of Savannah in the Department of South Carolina , Georgia , and Florida . McLaws was bitter about his fate , claiming that Longstreet had used him as a scapegoat for the failed Knoxville Campaign . Writing in his memoirs many years after the war , Longstreet expressed regret that he had filed charges against McLaws , which he described as happening " in an unguarded moment . " In time , the animosity healed between the two Confederate veterans , but McLaws never fully forgave Longstreet for his actions . McLaws left the First Corps , and since Lee would not accept him for command in Virginia , he proceeded to Savannah , which he was unable to defend successfully against Maj . Gen . William T . Sherman ' s March to the Sea in late 1864 . McLaws next saw active service opposing Sherman ' s advance into the Carolinas . At the Battle of Rivers ' Bridge on February 2 , 1865 , his command resisted the advance of the Army of the Tennessee into South Carolina . His forces delayed the Federal crossing of the Salkehatchie River until they found other crossings and turned his right flank . McLaws led a division under Lt . Gen . William J . Hardee at the Battle of Averasborough , commanding the Confederate third line of defense , and at the Battle of Bentonville . His division was little engaged at Bentonville because of vague orders . In the aftermath of these battles , McLaws had problems with the discipline of his division , holding multiple roll calls per day to prevent desertion and looting . When Gen . Joseph E . Johnston reorganized the army , McLaws lost his command assignment . He was assigned command of the District of Georgia after Bentonville . He may have surrendered with Johnston ' s army in North Carolina on April 26 , 1865 ; however , there is no record of his parole . On October 18 , 1865 , McLaws was pardoned by the U . S . government . Postbellum career . After the war , McLaws worked in the insurance business , was a tax collector for the IRS , served as Savannah ' s postmaster in 1875 - 76 , and was active in Confederate veterans ' organizations . Despite his wartime differences with Longstreet , McLaws initially defended Longstreet in the post - war attempts by Jubal Early and others to smear his reputation . Just before his death , however , his opinion changed about the lost cause movement , and he began speaking out about Longstreet ' s failures at Gettysburg . Lafayette McLaws died in Savannah and is buried there in Laurel Grove Cemetery . He is the posthumous author of " A Soldier ' s General : The Civil War Letters of Major General Lafayette McLaws " ( 2002 ) . Memorial . McLaws Circle , part of the Kingsmill development of Anheuser - Busch in the James City County , Virginia , near Williamsburg , was named in his honor in the 1970s . In 1861 , then Lt . Col . McLaws played a key role in the construction nearby of the Williamsburg Line , 4 miles of defensive works across the Virginia Peninsula , which played a crucial role in the Battle of Williamsburg of the 1862 Peninsula Campaign .