Daniel Killingsworth

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Daniel Clay Killingsworth, II (22 June 1835 - 15 September 1862) was a lawyer and Confederate officer.

Contents 1 Before the War 2 Private Life 3 War Service 4 Death

[edit] Before the War

Killingsworth was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama in 1835. He was an early graduate of the University of Mississippi. When the War Between the States began he was practicing as a lawyer in Oxford, Mississippi.

[edit] Private Life

He married Mary Ann Lamar, sister of famed Mississippian L.Q.C. Lamar, in July 1861 - she was also niece to Mrs. Howell Cobb.

[edit] War Service

Killingsworth was mustered into Company G (Lamar Rifles) 11th Mississippi Infantry Regiment, as Captain on 1 August 1861. He was promoted to Major of the Regiment on 16 November, Lieutenant-Colonel 18 January 1862, and finally to Colonel, 10 May 1862.

He participated in nearly all of the major campaigns in the East, including First Manassas, Seven Pines, Gaines' Mill, Second Manassas, and Sharpsburg.

At Sharpsburg, Maryland:

"Holding the extreme right [at Crampton's Gap on 14 September], the 11th Mississippi was quickly surrounded and nearly annihilated by the New Jersey Brigade. Within twenty minutes the Legion suffered 72 percent casualties, many taken as prisoners of war."

"In this horrible predicament the Regiment likely would have followed Munford's men in panicked retreat up the mountain. But its Colonel, D. C. Killingsworth, held them to their impossible work until he had been twice shot, once mortally. By holding on to the last possible moment Killingsworth bought time for Howell Cobb to assemble a last-ditch stand in the gap, further forestalling Union penetration into Pleasant Valley where it would compromise Gen. Robert E. Lee's tenuous hold on South Mountain and with it the Confederate expedition into Maryland. Thus, prolonging the war for three years."

(from Teague)

[edit] Death

Killingsworth died the next day at Burkittsville, Maryland. He is buried at St. Peter's Episcopal Cemetery, Oxford, Mississippi.

He was succeeded by LTC Buford in command of the Regiment.