Stephen Dodson Ramseur Stephen Dodson Ramseur ( May 31 , 1837 – October 20 , 1864 ) was a Confederate general in the American Civil War , at one point the youngest in the army . He impressed Lee by his actions at Malvern Hill and Chancellorsville , where his brigade led Stonewall Jackson ’ s flank attack , taking 50 % casualties . On the first day of Gettysburg , he dramatically routed a Union brigade , sending it running through the town , though his superiors did not authorise further pursuit . Ramseur also distinguished himself in the Overland campaign and the Valley campaign , where he was mortally wounded at Cedar Creek . Early life . Dodson Ramseur generally did not use his first name ; intimate friends called him " Dod " . He was born in Lincolnton , North Carolina to Jacob Able and Lucy Mayfield Dodson Ramseur . He was a second cousin to future Confederate generals John Horace Forney and William H . Forney . Ramseur attended Davidson College , where he studied mathematics under Daniel Harvey Hill , another future Confederate general . He continued at the United States Military Academy , graduated in 1860 , was commissioned a second lieutenant , and was assigned to the 3rd and 4th U . S . Artillery regiments just before the start of the war . Civil War . Ramseur did not wait until North Carolina seceded from the Union , joining the Confederate States Army in Alabama , but quickly transferred to the 10th North Carolina Militia . He became the lieutenant colonel of the 3rd North Carolina Infantry on May 27 , 1861 . He was injured with a broken collarbone while being thrown from his horse in July and was out of service until the following spring . Peninsula Campaign . At the start of the Peninsula Campaign in 1862 , Ramseur commanded artillery in Brig . Gen . John B . Magruder ' s division , but he was elected colonel of the 49th North Carolina Infantry on April 12 , 1862 . In the Seven Days Battles , Ramseur saw his first significant action at the Battle of Malvern Hill , where he led a futile charge against the strong Union defense and was severely wounded in the right arm . The arm mangled and paralyzed , Ramseur returned home to recuperate . After the Battle of Antietam , he returned from leave as commander of a brigade of four North Carolina regiments in Brig . Gen . Robert E . Rodes ' s division of Lt . Gen . Thomas J . " Stonewall " Jackson ' s corps . Promoted to brigadier general on November 1 , 1862 , he became , at 25 years old , the youngest general in the Confederate army at that time . This was a remarkable accession to rank for someone who had missed so many battles , but Gen . Robert E . Lee had been very impressed by Ramseur ' s aggressive performance at Malvern Hill . Chancellorsville . In the Battle of Chancellorsville , Ramseur ' s was the lead brigade in Jackson ' s famous flank march of May 2 , 1863 , against the Union right . Maj . Gen . J . E . B . Stuart , in temporary command of the corps after Jackson was mortally wounded , ordered three cheers for the brigade ' s aggressive assault and recommended that Ramseur be promoted to major general ; this would not come to pass for another year . Ramseur ' s performance was actually overly aggressive because his brigade moved out in front of the other brigades too quickly , became exposed , and ran out of ammunition . They had to have reinforcements rush in from the neighboring brigade to help consolidate their gains . His brigade had higher casualties in the battle — more than 50 % — than any other Confederate brigade . On the following day , he was wounded again , this time in the leg . General Lee wrote about Ramseur ' s brigade after the battle : Gettysburg . In the Battle of Gettysburg , on July 1 , 1863 , Ramseur ' s brigade was one of five Rodes led in an assault south from Oak Hill against the right flank of the Union I Corps . Ramseur started in reserve , but the failed attacks by the brigades of Brig . Gens . Alfred Iverson and Edward A . O ' Neal required him to move forward to keep the assault from petering out . Rather than repeating their direct assaults , he swung around to the left , across the Mummasburg Road , and hit the defenders in the rear , routing them and driving them back through the town . ( This assault was not as difficult as Iverson ' s and O ' Neal ' s because the Union defenders had now only one brigade in position instead of two and they were low on ammunition . ) Ramseur was dismayed when ordered to halt the pursuit of his foe at the foot of Cemetery Hill . This was the last fighting at Gettysburg for Ramseur ; Rodes ' s division sat idle just northwest of Cemetery Hill for the next two days and retreated to Virginia with the rest of the Army of Northern Virginia . Ramseur returned home on leave to marry Ellen E . " Nellie " Richmond and they spent three months together in the Confederate army winter encampment . The Wilderness . In the Wilderness , the start of Lt . Gen . Ulysses S . Grant ' s 1864 Overland Campaign , Ramseur was once again kept in reserve . On May 7 , 1864 , his brigade was called forward and smashed into Maj . Gen . Ambrose Burnside ' s IX Corps , which was attempting to outflank Ramseur ' s corps . Both Lee and corps commander Lt . Gen . Richard S . Ewell wrote in admiration of his gallant attack , which drove Burnside ' s troops back over a half mile . At Spotsylvania Court House , his brigade counterattacked the II Corps of Maj . Gen . Winfield S . Hancock after its assault on the Mule Shoe at the " Bloody Angle " . Desperate hand - to - hand fighting , some of the most intense of the war , lasted for over 20 hours . He was wounded again in this attack , shot from his horse in the right arm , but refused to leave the field . Major General . Ramseur assumed command of Jubal A . Early ' s division when that general took over from Ewell after Spotsylvania . He received a temporary promotion to major general on June 1 , 1864 , becoming the youngest West Point graduate to ever be promoted to major general in the Confederate Army . He fought at Cold Harbor and was the first division to intercept Grant before he could capture Petersburg . 1864 Valley Campaign . In June 1864 , Ramseur and the rest of Early ' s corps was sent by Lee to the Shenandoah Valley to draw Union forces away from Petersburg , in the Valley Campaigns of 1864 . They conducted a long and successful raid down the Valley , into Maryland , and reached the outskirts of Washington , D . C . , before turning back . Maj . Gen . Philip Sheridan was sent by Grant to drive Early from the Valley . On September 19 , 1864 , Sheridan attacked the Confederates at the Battle of Opequon , also known as the Third Battle of Winchester . Ramseur ' s division was routed by a strong Union assault near Stephenson ' s Depot ; Ramseur allegedly wept openly and immaturely blamed his men for the retreat . His colleague Rodes was mortally wounded . Cedar Creek and death . In a surprise attack a month later , Early routed two thirds of the Union army at the Battle of Cedar Creek on October 19 , but his troops were hungry and exhausted and fell out of their ranks to pillage the Union camp ; Ramseur managed to corral a few hundred soldiers out of his division and stood with them in the center of the line as Sheridan counterattacked . They held off the Union assault for an hour and a half . Ramseur displayed great bravery in rallying his troops , but he was mounted conspicuously on horseback and drew continuous fire . He was wounded in the arm and his horse was shot out from under him . A second horse was also killed . On his third horse , he was struck through both lungs and fell , later to be captured by Union soldiers of the 1st Vermont Cavalry . Dodson Ramseur died the following day near Meadow Mills , Virginia , at Sheridan ' s headquarters in the Belle Grove Mansion . His last words were , " Bear this message to my precious wife — I die a Christian and hope to meet her in heaven . " The day before the battle , word reached Ramseur of the birth of a baby daughter . He is buried near his birthplace , Lincolnton , in St . Luke ' s Episcopal Cemetery . Jubal Early ' s account of Ramseur at Cedar Creek sums up the man and his accomplishments : Legacy . The town of Ramseur in eastern Randolph County , North Carolina is named in Stephen Dodson Ramseur ' s honor .