Johnson Hagood (governor)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Johnson Hagood

Johnson Hagood (February 21, 1828 – January 4, 1898) was a Brigadier General in the Confederate States Army and a Democratic Governor of South Carolina from 1880 to 1882.

Born in Barnwell, Hagood attended Richmond Academy in Augusta and afterwards graduated at the top of his class from The Citadel in 1847. He was admitted to the bar in 1850, but never practiced because he preferred life on the plantation. When the American Civil War broke out in 1861, Hagood volunteered and was made a Brigadier General in the Confederate Army. He participated in the Battle of Fort Sumter, the First Battle of Manassas, and the Battle of Cold Harbor.

After the war, he resumed planting, but became incensed by the misrule and corruption of Radical Republicans during Reconstruction. Hagood actively campaigned for fellow Confederate general Wade Hampton in the 1876 gubernatorial contest and himself was elected on the Democratic state ticket as Comptroller General. He served a term until 1880 when he was nominated by the state Democrats for Governor. Hagood easily won the gubernatorial election that fall and his major achievement in office was the reopening of The Citadel in 1882.

On January 4, 1898, Hagood died in Barnwell and was buried at Episcopal Churchyard. For his loyalty and commitment to The Citadel, Johnson Hagood Stadium was named in his honor.