Milledge Luke Bonham (1813 - 1890)

Born 25 Dec 1813 in Saluda, South Carolina, United States

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 27 Aug 1890 at age 76 in White Sulphur Springs, Greenbrier, West Virginia, United States

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Preceded by 69th Governor Francis Wilkinson Pickens

Milledge Luke Bonham 70th Governor of South Carolina 1862—1864

Succeeded by 71st Governor Andrew Gordon Magrath

Biography

Milledge Bonham is Notable.

Milledge Luke Bonham was an American politician and Congressman who served as the 70th Governor of South Carolina from 1862 until 1864. Served as Captain and Adjutant General of the South Carolina Brigade in the Seminole War in Florida in 1836. During the Mexican–American War, he was Colonel of the 12th US Infantry Regiment. Appointed Major General and commander of the Army of South Carolina in February 1861. He was appointed Brigadier General in the Confederate Army on April 19, 1861.^[1]

Son of James Bonham and Sophia Butler Smith. Husband of Ann Patience Griffin. Final resting place in Elmwood Memorial Gardens, Columbia, South Carolina.^[2]

Civil War

Bonham commanded the First Brigade of the Confederate "Army of the Potomac" under P G T Beauregard. Fought in the First Battle of Manassas, commanding his brigade as well as two artillery batteries and six companies of cavalry in the defense of Mitchell's Ford on Bull Run. Resigned his commission January 27, 1862, to enter the Confederate Congress.^[1]

During the Civil War, a number of Black Union soldiers and non-commissioned officers were captured and held in Charleston Jail, the first large numbers arriving from the famous 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry from the 16 July 1863 skirmish on the Gullah island of Sol Legare and from the Second Battle of Fort Wagner on 18 July 1863. Under the acts of the Confederate Congress, these men were considered outlaws, and to be handed over and tried by the state for servile insurrection. If convicted, the penalty was death.

[...] the Fifty-fourth men were demanded by Governor Bonham, of South Carolina, from the military authorities. A test case was made; and Sergt. Walter Jeffries of Company H and Corp. Charles Hardy of Company B, were actually tried for their lives. They were successfully defended by the ablest efforts of one of the most brilliant of Southern advocates, the Union-loving and noble Nelson Mitchell, of Charleston, who, with a courage rarely equalled, fearlessly assumed the self-imposed task. Thenceforth never noticed, this devoted man died a few months after in Charleston, neglected and in want, because of this and other loyal acts.^[3]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Milledge Luke Bonham, Wikipedia: Milledge Luke Bonham, accessed July 30, 2019.
2. ↑ Milledge Luke Bonham, Find A Grave: Memorial #8959, accessed July 30, 2019.
3. ↑ Emilio, p 97

• 1850 Census: "1850 United States Federal Census"
  The National Archives in Washington D.C.; Record Group: Records of the Bureau of the Census; Record Group Number: 29; Series Number: M432; Residence Date: 1850; Home in 1850: The District, Edgefield, South Carolina; Roll: 852; Page: 4b; Line Number: 23
  Ancestry Record 8054 #5747495 (accessed 30 March 2024)
  M L Bonham (36), Lawyer, in The District, Edgefield, South Carolina, USA. Born in South Carolina.
• Emilio, Luis Fenollosa. History of the Fifty-Fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, 1863-1865, Boston, Massachusetts: Boston Book Co., 1891 (1st ed.) and 1894 (2nd ed.)
• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/8959/milledge-luke-bonham: accessed 01 July 2023), memorial page for Milledge Luke Bonham (25 Dec 1813–27 Aug 1890), Find a Grave Memorial ID 8959, citing Elmwood Memorial Gardens, Columbia, Richland County, South Carolina, USA; Maintained by Find a Grave.