Brig. Gen. Clement Anselm Evans

[jkBluesman]

Brig. Gen. Clement Anselm Evans (b. 1833, d. 1911). Inspiring people was Evans' greatest skill and he showed it as politician, general and minister. Born in Stewart County, Georgia he studied law in Augusta and was admitted to the bar in 1852. Practising in Lumpkin, Georgia he also entered politics as a Democrat and proofed to be successful in both fields. At the age of 21 he became county judge and at 25 he was elected to the state Senate. In 1860 he was chosen as presidential elector for John Breckinridge. The election of Abraham Lincoln as president started Evans’ interest in the military. He supported his state’s secession and raised a militia company. In November 1861 he entered the Confederate Army and rose to colonel of the 31st Georgia Regiment by April 1862. He led the regiment through the Peninsula Campaign, at Second Manassas in August and through the ensuing Maryland Campaign that ended with the Confederate retreat from Antietam in September. The high losses of general officers in the campaign brought Evans temporary command of a brigade till November. When the commander of his brigade was wounded at Fredericksburg in December, Evans again led the brigade but returned to his regiment when Gen. John B. Gordon assumed command of the brigade in spring of 1863. Thus Evans led the 31st during the Pennsylvania Campaign in summer. In February 1864 he was temporary in command of Gen. Jubal Early’s division and acted so well in that capacity that his corps commander Gen. Richard S. Ewell recommended him for promotion. Evans ascended to brigadier general in May after the fighting in the Wilderness and at Spotsylvania Court House when Gordon rose to division command. After the battle of Cold Harbor in June Evans-whom Gordon called an "intrepid leader"-became part of Early’s Valley Campaign. Lightly wounded during the victory at Monocacy on July 9, Evans returned to his brigade after two days to lead it to Washington. As the Confederates were unable to take the fortifications that protected the city, they retreated to the Shenandoah Valley. Evans led his men through victories and losses in the campaign until returning to the Army of Northern Virginia at the end of the year. As Gordon became corps commander, Evans rose to division commander at Petersburg and held that capacity until the surrender at Appomattox on April 9, 1865. After the war he used his oratory skills as Methodist minister in Georgia. He retired in Atlanta in 1892 and started to write his military memoirs as well as editing the twelve-volume work “Confederate Military History”. Until his death in 1911 he was active in veteran organizations, including the first national, the United Confederate Veterans which he founded. His grave in Atlanta’s Oakland Cemetery lies close to his old friend’s – Gordon who had died seven years earlier.

Ldr: 6
Tact: 4
Init: 4
Cmd: 3
Cav: 0

Teaches: Brave, Chargers

[jkBluesman]

I added a short introduction and a quote from Gordon.
As Cullen Battle might have mentioned Evans, Battleline might find a good quote.

[Gil R.]

Copied, thanks.