| Alexander Swift Pendleton | |
|---|---|
| Nickname | "Sandie" |
| Born | September 28, 1840 Alexandria, Virginia |
| Died | September 23, 1864 (aged 23) Woodstock, Virginia |
| Place of burial | Stonewall Jackson Memorial Cemetery Lexington, Virginia |
| Allegiance | United States of America Confederate States of America |
| Service/branch | Confederate States Army |
| Years of service | 1861–64 |
| Rank | Lieutenant Colonel CSA |
| Unit | Second Corps staff, Army of Northern Virginia |
| Battles/wars | American Civil War |
| Relations | Rev. Genl. William Nelson Pendleton, Catherine Carter "Kate"Corbin was his wife. They married on December 29, 1863 at Moss Neck Manor in Virginia. |
Alexander Swift "Sandie" Pendleton (September 28, 1840 – September 23, 1864) was an officer on the staff of Confederate Generals Thomas J. Jackson, Richard S. Ewell and Jubal A. Early during the American Civil War.
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Sandie Pendleton was born in Alexandria, Virginia, the only son of future Confederate General William N. Pendleton and his wife Anzolette Elizabeth Page. He spent most of his childhood in Maryland before his father accepted the rectorship of Grace Church in Lexington, Virginia. He attended Washington College, where he first met Stonewall Jackson who was part of the same literary society. He graduated in 1857 and enrolled at the University of Virginia where he was studying for a master of arts degree when the civil war broke out.
At the outbreak of war, he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Provisional Army of Virginia and was ordered to Harpers Ferry. Stonewall Jackson was in command of the Confederate forces in Harpers Ferry and he requested Pendleton join his staff as ordnance officer. He soon showed his capabilities as a staff officer and Jackson appointed him assistant adjutant general on his staff. He served Jackson in every battle until the latter's death at the Battle of Chancellorsville in May 1863.
Following Jackson's death, he continued his service on the Second Corps staff under its new commander, Richard S. Ewell during the Gettysburg Campaign. In 1864, when Jubal A. Early assumed command of the second corps, he promoted Pendleton to chief of staff with the rank of lieutenant colonel. The Second Corps returned to the Shenandoah Valley in the summer 1864 and mounted the last Confederate invasion of the north.
Following this, the Union assigned Major General Philip Sheridan to put down resistance in the valley once and for all. Early was defeated at the Third Battle of Winchester on September 19, 1864, forcing the Confederates to retreat to nearby Fisher's Hill. When Union forces attacked on September 22, 1864, Pendleton was fatally wounded in the abdomen. He was moved to the nearby town of Woodstock, where he died the following day, September 23, 1864. Initially interred near the battlefield his body was exhumed and returned to his family in Lexington where he was buried near Stonewall Jackson on October 24, 1864.
Pendleton met Kate Corbin when the Confederate army was stationed in the vicinity of Fredericksburg during the winter of 1862. The two were engaged just prior to the Chancellorsville campaign in 1863 and married in December of that year. Kate was pregnant at the time of Sandie's death and gave birth to a son, Sandie, a month later. The child contracted diphtheria and died in September 1865. Kate Corbin next married John Mercer Brooke and is buried beside him near where Stonewall Jackson was originally buried. Kate Corbin of "Mossneck" and Diane Fontaine Maury-Corbin (dau. Matthew Fontaine Maury was married Spotswood Wellford Corbin of "Farley Vale") were related by marriage in the Corbin family of Va.
Pendleton was portrayed by Jeremy London in the 2003 Civil War film Gods and Generals.