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Richard Henry Anderson

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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RICHARD HENRY ANDERSON (1821-1879), American soldier, was born in South Carolina on the 7th of October 1821. Graduating at West Point in 1842, he served in the Mexican War (in which he won the brevet of first lieutenant) and in the Kansas troubles of 1856-1857,becomingfirstlieutenant in 1848 and captain in 1855. At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861 he resigned his commission in the U.S. army, and entered the Confederate service as a brigadier-general, being promoted major-general in August 1862 and lieutenant-general in May 1864. With the exception of a few months spent with the army under Bragg in 1862, Anderson's service was wholly in the Army of Northern Virginia. Under Lee and Longstreet he served as a divisional commander in nearly every battle from 1862 to 1864, winning especial distinction at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. When Longstreet was wounded at the battle of the Wilderness, Anderson succeeded him in command of the 1st corps, which he led in the subsequent battles. His services at the battle of Spottsylvania were most important. He remained with the army, as a corps commander, to the close of the war, after which he retired into private life. He died at Beaufort S.C. on the 26th of June 1879.