Honorable Milledge L. Bonham, U.S. & C.S. House of Representatives (South Carolina 4th District)

ColorizedPast

Corporal
Joined
Aug 27, 2016
Location
Hangzhou, China (Wisconsin, USA)
Honorable Milledge Luke Bonham, U.S. & C.S. House of Representatives (South Carolina 4th District)

170126 Milledge L Bonham.jpg


Milledge Luke Bonham was born near Redbank (Saluda), South Carolina on 25 December 1813. He was a first cousin once removed to Andrew Pickens Butler. Senator Charles Sumner denigrated and abused Butler in his “Crime Against Kansas” speech. Another cousin, Representative Preston Smith Brooks brutally beat Sumner in retaliation for the speech.

Bonham graduated from South Carolina College at Columbia in 1834. He served as captain and adjutant general of the South Carolina Brigade in the Seminole War in Florida in 1836. His brother James Butler Bonham died at the Battle of Alamo.

He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1837 and practiced law in Edgefield, South Carolina. He was lieutenant colonel and then colonel of the 12th U.S. Infantry Regiment during the Mexican-American War. Returning home, he was the major general of the South Carolina Militia. He served in the state house of representatives from 1840 to 1843. He was solicitor of the southern circuit of South Carolina from 1848 to 1857. He was elected as a Democrat to the U.S. House of Representatives succeeding his cousin Preston Smith Brooks representing the 4th District from 4 March 1857 until his resignation on 21 December 1860 following South Carolina’s secession.

Bonham served as the Commissioner from South Carolina to the Mississippi Secession Convention and helped persuade its member to also secede from the Union. He was appointed major general and commander of the Army of South Carolina by Governor Francis W. Pickens in February 1861. He was appointed brigadier general in the Confederate Army on 19 April 1861 and commanded the 1st Brigade of the Confederate Army of the Potomac under P.G.T. Beauregard. He fought at the First Battle of Manassas (Bull Run) commanding his brigade as well as two artillery batteries and six companies of cavalry in the defense of Mitchell’s Ford on Bull Run.

He resigned his commission 27 January 1862 to enter the Confederate Congress. On 17 December 1862, the South Carolina General Assembly elected Bonham as governor by secret ballot. He served until December 1864. During his term, the General Assembly enacted a prohibition against distilling in 1863 and demanded more land be used to grow food instead of cotton. Bonham rejoined the Confederate Army as brigadier general of cavalry in February 1865 and was active in recruiting when the war ended.

Bonham owned an insurance business in Edgefield and in Atlanta, Georgia, from 1865 to 1878. Returning to politics, Bonham was again a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1865 to 1866 and a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1868. He was a member of the South Carolina taxpayers’ convention in 1871 and 1874. Retiring from public service, he resumed the practice of law in Edgefield and engaged in planting. He was appointed state railroad commissioner in 1878 and served until his death at White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia on 27 August 1890.

170126 Milledge L Bonham comparison.jpg
 
Back
Top