Rare Southern daguerreotype of Micah Jenkins circa 1854
in fitted embossed leather case.
H3 1/2" W3"
together with compiled folio of biographical information and images of Jenkins.

Provenance : Micah Jenkins (December 1, 1835 - May 6, 1864), born in Edisto Island, South Carolina. He graduated first in his class from the The Citadel (South Carolina Military Academy) in 1854, and continued on to organize the King's Mountain Military School from 1855 to 1861.

His Civil War service includes recruitment into the 5th South Carolina Infantry Regiment and he became their colonel on April 13, 1861. He fought under David R. Jones at the First Battle of Bull Run and distinguished himself in the Battle of Seven Pines in the Peninsula Campaign of 1862, where he was wounded in the knee. In the same year Jenkins was colonel of the Palmetto Sharpshooters. Considered one of the war's "boy generals", he nonetheless advanced to the rank of brigadier general on July 22, 1862, at the age of 26. He was wounded yet again at the Second Battle of Bull Run in August 1862, this time in the shoulder and chest.

Jenkins and his brigade went with the First Corps, Army of Northern Virginia to Tennessee in early 1863, and participated in the second day's fighting of the Battle of Chickamauga on September 20. It was during the Battle of the Wilderness in 1864, that he was struck in the head while riding with Lt. Gen. James Longstreet. Both were victims of friendly fire on May 6, 1864. Jenkins died as a result of his head wound a few hours later, and was buried in Magnolia Cemetery, Charleston, South Carolina.

Literature: Davis, William C. THE IMAGES OF THE WAR: 1861-1865 (SHADOWS OF THE STORM), Vol.I. New York Doubleday, 1982.

Davis, William C. THE IMAGES OF THE WAR: 1861-1865 (THE GUNS OF '62), Vol.II. New York Doubleday, 1982.

Davis, William C. and Wiley, Bell L. CIVIL WAR: A COMPLETE PHOTGRAPHIC HISTORY. New York : Tess Press, 2000.

Eicher, John H.and Eicher, David J., CIVIL WAR HIGH COMMANDS. Stanford University Press, 2001.

Garraty, John A. and Carnes, Mark C. AMERICAN NATIONAL BIOGRAPHY (Vol. XI). New York, Oxford Press, 1999.

Heidler, David and Jeanne. ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR: A POLITICAL, SOCIAL, AND MILITARY HISTORY (Vol. II). Santa Barbara, CA.: ABC-CLIO, c2000.

McCaslin, Richard B. PORTRAIT OF CONFLICT. Fayetteville: Univ. of Arkansas Press, 1994.

Wakelyn, Jon L. BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF THE CONFEDERACY. London: Greenwood Press, 1977.