Micah Jenkins Biography 1835-1864

Micah Jenkins photo taken between 

                                         April 1861 to July 1862

Born December 1 1835  Edisto Island, South Carolina

Died May 6, 1864 in Spotsylvania County, Virginia at 28 years old

He served the Confederacy between 1861 and 1864

Final Rank Brigadier General

Served in Battles First Battle of Bull Run, Battle of Seven Pines, Second Battle of Bull Run, Battle of Chickamauga, Battle of the Wilderness

Early life

Jenkins was born on Edisto Island, South Carolina. He graduated first in his class from the South Carolina Military Academy, now called The Citadel, in 1854. Jenkins then organized the King's Mountain Military School from 1855 to 1861. 

Civil War service

He recruited the 5th South Carolina Infantry Regiment and became their colonel on April 13, 1861. He fought under David R. Jones at the First Battle of Bull Run and later was brigaded under General Richard H. Anderson. During the April 1862 reorganization of the army, Jenkins retained his command of the 5th South Carolina. At the Battle of Seven Pines, Anderson was temporarily put in division command while Jenkins got brigade command (of his own regiment, the 6th South Carolina, and the Palmetto Sharpshooters). He led it with distinction in that battle, being wounded in the knee. Also during that year Jenkins was Colonel of the Palmetto Sharpshooters. Then Colonel Jenkins declared that his faith and providence protected him and that “No Yankee bullet would ever kill him”. Considered one of the war's "boy generals", he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General on July 22, 1862, at the age of 26. He was later wounded at the Second Battle of Bull Run in August 1862, this time in the shoulder and chest adding to his belief that no Yankee bullet would ever kill him. Consequently, Jenkins was absent from the Army of Northern Virginia when it fought the Battle of Antietam.

Jenkins' brigade served in the division of Major General George Pickett at the Battle of Fredericksburg, although it was not engaged. Pickett's division participated in the campaign of Lieutenant General James Longstreet against Suffolk, Virginia, in 1863, but Jenkins' brigade was retained near Richmond, Virginia,  missing the Battle of Gettysburg. 

Jenkins and his brigade went with the First Corps, Army of Northern Virginia, to Tennessee in the fall of 1863, and participated in the second day's fighting of the Battle of Chickamauga on September 20. On January 16, 1864, Jenkins led his brigade to victory in the small Battle of Kimbrough's Crossroads against Federal cavalry. During the Battle of the Wilderness, Jenkins was riding with Lieutenant General Longstreet when both were struck down by friendly fire on May 6, 1864. Jenkins died of his head wound a few hours later, and was buried in Magnolia Cemetery, Charleston, South Carolina.  Jenkins died true to his belief that “no Yankee bullet would kill him” when he succumbed to death by a Rebel ball from friendly fire.