Background
Abraham C. Myers was born on May 14, 1811, in Georgetown, South Carolina, He was the son of Abraham Myers, a lawyer, and Belle Nathans, and the descendant of Moses Cohen, the first rabbi of Charleston.
Abraham C. Myers was born on May 14, 1811, in Georgetown, South Carolina, He was the son of Abraham Myers, a lawyer, and Belle Nathans, and the descendant of Moses Cohen, the first rabbi of Charleston.
Myers entered the United States Military Academy from South Carolina on July 1, 1828, but because of deficiency in his studies was turned back to the next class at the end of his first year. He was graduated on July 1, 1833, was appointed brevet second lieutenant, and was stationed at Baton Rouge.
Myers served in the Indian wars in Florida in 1836 - 1838 and again in 1841 - 1842. In November 1839 he became a captain in the quartermaster department. He served under General Zachary Taylor in Texas and northern Mexico and was brevetted major for gallant and meritorious conduct in the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma. Transferred to Scott's army, he was brevetted colonel for gallant conduct at Churubusco and was chief quartermaster of the Army of Mexico from April to June 1848. During the next thirteen years, still in the quartermaster service, he was stationed at various posts in the southern states.
At the beginning of 1861 he was stationed at New Orleans, where on January 28, on demand of the state officials, he surrendered the quartermaster and commissary stores in his possession. On the same date he resigned his position in the United States Army.
On March 16, 1861, he was appointed lieutenant-colonel in the quartermaster-general's department of the Confederate States Army. On March 25 he was announced as acting quartermaster-general. He became quartermaster-general in December and was raised to the rank of colonel on February 15, 1862.
During the first months of the war he procured supplies by purchase in the open market; but when this source approached exhaustion in the fall of 1861 he made contracts throughout the country with local manufacturers for cotton and woolen cloth and with tanners for leather, and he established government shops for making clothing, shoes, tents, wagons, and other equipage. He purchased horses and mules at market prices as long as possible; but by the spring of 1862, much against his inclination, he was forced to resort to impressment. He was constantly hampered by the inability of the treasury to furnish him sufficient funds, by the rapid deterioration of the currency, and by poor railway transportation.
By the middle of 1863 he had built up an extensive organization of purchasing agents, post quartermasters, shops, and supply depots; but he was never able to provide adequately for the armies, especially in the essentials of clothing and shoes. His bureau therefore became the target of severe criticism. A careful survey of the records and correspondence of Myers's office indicates that he was very efficient as an accountant, but that he was unable to rise above the routine he had learned in the old army or to overcome the laxity, carelessness, and inefficiency of remote subordinates.
On August 7, 1863, by order of Jefferson Davis, he was superseded as quartermaster-general by Brigadier general Alexander R. Lawton. The only reason ever given for the change was that it was in the interest of efficiency. Myers and his friends resented his removal, and the senate on January 26, 1864, resolved that, since Lawton had not been nominated to that body, Myers and not Lawton was legally quartermaster-general. Davis then submitted Lawton's nomination, and on February 17 it was confirmed. Myers refused to serve under Lawton and presently found himself, on a technicality, "out of the army".
He lived during the rest of the war in Georgia, "almost in want, on the charity of friends". He was never reconciled with Davis. Of his life after the war, little is known. He is said to have traveled in Europe from 1866 to 1877. He seems to have made his home at Lake Roland, Maryland, and then in Washington, D. C. , where he died on June 20, 1889.
Abraham Myers married Marion Isabelle Twiggs, the daughter of General David E. Twiggs, the commander of the Department of Texas. The couple had several children.