US Congressman, American Civil War Confederate Brigadier General, and 70th Governor of South Carolina. He served in the US House of Representatives from South Carolina's 4th district from March 1857 until December 1860. The Confederate House of Representatives from February 1862 until October 1863, and as Governor of South Carolina from December 1862 until December 1864. Born into a prestigious family in Redbank (now Saluda), South Carolina, he attended private schools before enrolling at South Carolina College in Columbia, South Carolina and graduated in 1834. In 1836, during the 2nd Seminole War in Florida, he served as a captain and adjutant general of the South Carolina Brigade. After studying law, he was admitted to the bar in 1837 and set up a law practice in Edgefield, South Carolina. In 1840 he entered politics and was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives, serving until 1843. Following the outbreak of the Mexican-American War, he served as a lieutenant colonel and then a colonel in the 12th infantry Regiment of the US Army. After the war, he returned home and was appointed a major general in the South Carolina militia and served as solicitor to the southern circuit of South Carolina from 1848 until 1857. In 1856 he was elected to the US House of Representatives, serving two terms from March 1857 until December 1860. In February 1861 he became a brigadier general in the Army of South Carolina and commanded the First Brigade of the Confederate "Army of the Potomac" under the command of General P.G.T. Beauregard and saw action at the First Battle of Manassas (or First Battle of Bull Run). In January 1862 he resigned his commission to join the Confederate House of Representatives from South Carolina and served until December 1864. In February 1865 he then returned to the Confederate Army at his former rank as a cavalry commander. After the American Civil War ended the following April, he served in the South Carolina House of Representatives until 1866 and ran an insurance business in Atlanta, Georgia until 1878. After retiring from public service, he returned to his law practice in Edgefield. In 1878 he became the South Carolina Railroad Commissioner, serving until his death in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia at the age of 76.