James L . Kemper James Lawson Kemper ( June 11 , 1823 – April 7 , 1895 ) was a lawyer , a Confederate general in the American Civil War , and the 37th Governor of Virginia . He was the youngest of the brigade commanders , and the only non - professional military officer , in the division that led Pickett ' s Charge , in which he was wounded and captured but rescued . Early life . Kemper was born in Mountain Prospect , Madison County , Virginia , the son of William and Maria E . Allison Kemper and brother of Frederick T . Kemper ( the founder of Kemper Military School ) . His father was of German ancestry , which had been in Virginia since the colonial era . His grandfather had served on the staff of George Washington during the American Revolutionary War , but he himself had virtually no military training . He graduated from Washington College ( now Washington and Lee University ) in 1842 , becoming a lawyer . After the start of the Mexican - American War , he enlisted and became a captain and assistant quartermaster in the 1st Virginia Infantry , but he joined the service too late ( 1847 ) to see any combat action . By 1858 he was a brigadier general in the Virginia Militia . Kemper was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 1853 . He became chairman of the Military Affairs Committee , where he was a strong advocate of state military preparedness . In early 1861 he became Speaker , a position he held until January 1863 . Much of his term as Speaker coincided with his service in the Confederate States Army . Civil War . After the start of the Civil War , Kemper served as a brigadier general in the Provisional Army of Virginia , and then a colonel in the Confederate States Army , becoming head of the 7th Virginia Infantry . At First Bull Run , Kemper led the regiment as part of Jubal Early ' s brigade . His regiment was later assigned to Brig . Gen . A . P . Hill ' s brigade in Maj . Gen . James Longstreet ' s division of the Confederate Army of the Potomac from June 1861 to March 1862 . On May 26 , A . P . Hill was promoted to division command and Kemper got the brigade . After a gallant performance at the Battle of Seven Pines during the Peninsula Campaign , Kemper was promoted to brigadier general on June 3 , 1862 . Leading the brigade through the Seven Days Battles , he then became a division commander after Robert E . Lee reorganized the army ( commanding half of James Longstreet ' s old division ) . At the Second Battle of Bull Run , Kemper ' s division took part in Longstreet ' s surprise attack against the Union left flank , almost destroying Maj . Gen . John Pope ' s Army of Virginia . Afterwards , his division was merged into General David R . Jones ' s command and Kemper reverted to brigade command . At the Battle of Antietam he was south of the town of Sharpsburg , defending against Maj . Gen . Ambrose E . Burnside ' s assault in the afternoon of September 17 , 1862 . He withdrew his brigade in the face of the Union advance , exposing the Confederate right flank , and the line was saved only by the hasty arrival of A . P . Hill ' s division from Harpers Ferry . When George Pickett returned to duty after Antietam , he took command of the troops Kemper had led at Second Bull Run . In 1863 , the brigade was assigned to Pickett ' s Division in Longstreet ' s Corps , which meant that he was absent from the Battle of Chancellorsville , while the corps was assigned to Suffolk , Virginia . However , the corps returned to the army in time for the Gettysburg Campaign . At the Battle of Gettysburg , Kemper arrived with Pickett ' s Division late on the second day of battle , July 2 , 1863 . His brigade was one of the main assault units in Pickett ' s Charge , advancing on the right flank of Pickett ' s line . After crossing the Emmitsburg Road , his brigade was hit by flanking fire from two Vermont regiments , driving it to the left and disrupting the cohesion of the assault . Kemper rose on his stirrups to urge his men forward , shouting " There are the guns , boys , go for them ! " This bravado made him a more visible target and he was wounded by a bullet in the abdomen and thigh and captured by Union troops . He was rescued by Sgt . Leigh Blanton of the 1st Virginia and was carried back to Confederate lines on Seminary Ridge . General Robert E . Lee encountered Kemper being carried on a stretcher and inquired about the seriousness of his wound , which Kemper said he thought was mortal . He requested that Lee " do full justice to this division for its work today . " During the Confederate Army ' s retreat from Gettysburg , Kemper was again captured by Union forces . He was exchanged ( for Charles K . Graham ) on September 19 , 1863 . For the rest of the war he was too ill for combat , and commanded the Reserve Forces of Virginia . He was promoted to major general on September 19 , 1864 . Postbellum career . It had not been possible to remove the bullet that had wounded Kemper at Gettysburg , and he suffered from groin pain for the rest of his life . After the war he worked as a lawyer and served as the first Governor of Virginia after Reconstruction from January 1 , 1874 , to January 1 , 1878 having defeated Republican Robert W . Hughes with 43 . 84 % of the vote . Jones ( 1972 ) argues that Kemper and like - minded Conservatives implemented racial policies which were less anti - Negro and which gave fuller recognition than historians have conceded . The Virginia Redeemers attempted to shape race relations to conform to what C . Vann Woodward has defined as the Conservative philosophy . Jones concludes that Kemper and the Virginia Redeemers deserve to rank in history alongside the Wade Hamptons and other proponents of the Conservative philosophy . Kemper died in Walnut Hills , Orange County , Virginia , where he is buried . In popular media . Actor Royce D . Applegate portrayed Kemper in two films , " Gettysburg " ( 1993 ) and " Gods and Generals " ( 2003 ) .