General John D.
Kennedy.
Second South Carolina Regiment, and in 1864 was
promoted to the rank of Brigadier General, and held that position to the
close of the war, having surrendered with General Johnston at Greensboro,
North Carolina, in 1865. General Kennedy was six times wounded, and
fifteen times was hit by spent balls. At the close of the war he
resumed his practice of law at Camden, but abandoned it soon after and
turned his attention to farming. In 1877 he once more returned to
the bar, and has since been actively and prominently engaged in his
practice.In 1876 he was a member of the State Democratic Executive Committee, and was its chairman in 1878. In December, 1865,he was elected to Congress, defeating Colonel C. W. Dudley, but did not take his seat, as he refused to take the iron clad oath. In 1878-9 he represented his county in the Legislature, and was Chairman of the Committee on Privileges and Elections. He was elected Lieutenant Governor of the State in 1880, and in 1882 was a prominent candidate for Governor, but Colonel Hugh Thompson received the nomination over General Bratton and himself. He was elected Grand Master of the Grand Lodge A.F.M. of South Carolina in 1881, and served two years. As a member of the National Democratic Convention in 1876, he cast his vote for Tilden and Hendricks, and in 1884 was Presidential Elector at large on the Democratic ticket. President Cleveland sent him as Consul General to Shanghai, China, in 1886. In 1890 he was Chairman of the State Advisory Committee, of the straightout Democratic party. In early life he was married to Miss Elizabeth Cunningham, who died in 1876. In 1882 Miss Harriet Boykin became his wife.
The above is taken from Cyclopedia for Eminent and Representative Men of the Carolinas of the Nineteenth Century.
Notes on General Kennedy's life, furnished by one of his soldiers:
He was born at Camden, S.C., January 5th, 1840. While in his teens he became a member of the Camden Light Infantry, of which J. B. Kershaw was Captain; elected First Lieutenant in 1860. Upon the secession of South Carolina,December 20th, 1860, Captain Kershaw was elected Colonel of the SEcond South Carolina Volunteers, and Lieutenant Kennedy was chosen Captain of the Camden Volunteers, a company composed of members of the Camden Light Infantry and those who united with them for service in the field. This company became Company E, Second South Carolina Volunteers, was ordered to Charleston April 8th, 1861, and witnessed from their position on Morris Island the siege of Fort Sumter, April 12th, 1861. The Second Regiment formed part of the First Brigade, commanded by General M. L. Bonham, of the Army of the Potomac, as the Confederate Army in Northern Virginia was then called. In the spring of 1862 the troops who had volunteered for twelve months reorganized for the war, the Second South Carolina Volunteers being, I believe, the first body of men in the army to do so. At reorganization Captain Kennedy was elected Colonel, in which capacity he served until 1864, when he was promoted to the command of the brigade, which he held until the close of the war. In 1862 the name of the army was changed to the Army of Northern Virginia, the Federals having called theirs the Army of the Potomac. The Second was engaged in every battle fought by the army in Virginia, from the first Manassas to Petersburg, except Second Manassas, and was also in battle of Chickamauga, battles around Knoxville, Averysboro, and Bentonville, and surrendered at Greensboro April 27th 1865. General Kennedy was in every battle in which his command was engaged, and was wounded six times and struck fifteen times.He died in Camden, S.C., April 14th, 1896.
