Samuel W. Ferguson

Brigadier-General Samuel Wragg Ferguson (November 3, 1834February 3, 1917) was a senior officer of the Confederate States Army who commanded cavalry in the Western Theater of the American Civil War. After the civil war, Ferguson served as a member of the Mississippi River Commission. Early life and education Samuel Wragg Ferguson was born in Charleston, South Carolina, on November 3, 1834, to James, a planter, and Abby Ann (née Barker) Ferguson. Educated at a private school in Charleston, he entered the United States Military Academy in 1852 and graduated in 1857. Before graduation, he joined Colonel Albert Sidney Johnson's Utah Expedition. He then went to St. Louis to join his regiment. After the expedition, he was assigned to Fort Walla Walla in the Washington Territory, where he stayed from 1859 to 1860. This all changed when he received the results of the 1860 presidential election. Hearing of the election of Abraham Lincoln, he immediately resigned and left for Charleston, South Carolina. American Civil War In March 1861, Ferguson was commissioned a captain in the South Carolina militia, afterwards being appointed Lieutenant and aide-de-camp to C.S. Army Brigadier-General P. G. T. Beauregard. He was one of the officers who received the formal surrender of U.S. Army Major Robert Anderson at Fort Sumter, raised the first Confederate States flag, and posted the first guards at Fort Sumter. After the siege, he was sent to present the first Confederate flag struck by enemy shot to the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States. He was a lieutenant-colonel and aide-de-camp to General Beauregard during the Battle of Shiloh. During the Battle of Farmington, he was in the 28th Mississippi Cavalry Regiment. He commanded the unit while defending Vicksburg, and helped stop attacks made by U.S. Major-General William T. Sherman and U.S. Commodore David Porter. On July 28, 1863, Ferguson was promoted to brigadier-general. He was subsequently recommended for promotion to Major-General, but Joseph Wheeler quickly objected. During Sherman's March to the Sea, Ferguson and his cavalrymen harassed the flank of the United States Army. When Sherman got close to Savannah, Ferguson's men left their horses and covered the Confederate retreat. He was then ordered to Danville, Virginia, but before arriving was ordered to go to Charlotte, North Carolina. From Charlotte he escorted Jefferson Davis into Georgia, where his unit was disbanded.