Thomas T. Munford | |
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Confederate Cavalry General Thomas T. Munford
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Born |
March 29, 1831 Richmond, Virginia |
Died |
February 27, 1918 (aged 86) Uniontown, Alabama |
Place of burial | Lynchburg, Virginia |
Allegiance | Confederate States of America |
Service/branch | Confederate States Army |
Years of service | 1861–1865 |
Rank |
Colonel (Acting) Brigadier General (not confirmed by congress) |
Commands held |
2nd Virginia Cavalry Munford's Cavalry Brigade Fitzhugh Lee's Cavalry Division |
Battles/wars | |
Other work | planter, manufacturer, writer |
Thomas Taylor Munford (March 29, 1831 – February 27, 1918) was an American farmer, iron, steel and mining company executive and Confederate colonel and acting brigadier general during the American Civil War.
Munford was born in Richmond, Virginia, to Colonel George Wythe Munford and Lucy Singleton Taylor. On July 30, 1849, Munford enrolled at Virginia Military Institute and was graduated in July 1852, standing 14th in a class of 24. He married Elizabeth Henrietta Tayloe, daughter of Mary Langhorne and George Plater Tayloe, in 1853. Prior to the Civil War, Munford was a cotton planter in Mississippi and farmer in Bedford County, Virginia.
With the outbreak of the Civil War, Munford was mustered into the Confederate States Army on May 8, 1861 by Colonel Jubal A. Early and served as a lieutenant colonel with the 30th Virginia Volunteer Regiment, a mounted infantry regiment, which fought at the First Battle of Manassas. When the cavalry was reorganized under J.E.B. Stuart, he was promoted to colonel of the 2nd Virginia Cavalry as the 30th Virginia Volunteer Regiment had been redesignated. In the 1862 Shenandoah Valley Campaign, Munford served under Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson as commander of a cavalry brigade of two regiments, succeeded Colonel and acting Brigadier General Turner Ashby as commander of all of Jackson's cavalry, upon that officer's death, and fought well at the Battle of Cross Keys and captured many prisoners at Harrisonburg, Virginia. During the Peninsula Campaign, he led his men at the Battle of White Oak Swamp. He served with efficiency in the Second Manassas Campaign in which he was slightly wounded at Turkey Run Bridge and the Second Battle of Bull Run. Munford was temporarily given an independent command of Robertson's brigade in the Maryland Campaign. During that campaign he successfully cleared Leesburg, Virginia of Union forces at the Battle of Mile Hill so that the army could cross the Potomac River from there. He led his troops in a key defensive position protecting Crampton's Gap at the Battle of South Mountain. His men saw limited action at the Battle of Antietam. They participated in several of Stuart's cavalry battles during the 1863 Gettysburg Campaign and the Bristoe Campaign, as well as in cavalry actions in the Overland Campaign in Spring 1864 under Major General Fitzhugh Lee.