Known as "Fighting Dick," Richard Heron Anderson (1821-1879) was the ranking South Carolinian in the Confederate Army, although he had been relieved of his command and was not present when Lee surrendered at Appomattox. Born in Sumter County, he graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1842, fought in the Mexican War, seeing action at Veracruz and Cherubusco, and was stationed at various western frontier posts with the U.S. Army until 1861. He then resigned his commission, entered the Confederate Army as a Major, and was promoted first to Brigadier General, then Major General after the Peninsular Campaign in Virginia. As a Lieutenant General under Longstreet, he commanded Longstreet's Corps at Spotsylvania. During the postwar years, he unsuccessfully farmed his family plantation, worked as a railroad agent, and was made a state phosphate agent in Beaufort shortly before his death.
Courtesy of the South Caroliniana Library.
