Richard Griffith

Richard Griffith (January 11, 1814 – June 29, 1862) was a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. He was mortally wounded at the Battle of Savage's Station during the 1862 Peninsula Campaign. He was one of a number of Confederate generals who were born in the North in Pennsylvania. Early life and career Griffith was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After graduating from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, he moved to Vicksburg, Mississippi, in about 1840. During the Mexican War, he served as an infantryman with the 1st Regiment of Mississippi Rifles, where he met and became friends with Colonel Jefferson Davis. After the war, he returned to civilian life and made his living as a banker and a U.S. Marshal. He was active in state and local politics, and was elected as the State Treasurer of Mississippi in 1847. He was a member of the antebellum state militia, holding the rank of brigadier general. His wife was Sallie Ann Whitfield, and they had four sons, including Benjamin Griffith who was mayor of Vicksburg, MS, 1905–1909.