Columbia, SC 29208, United States
James Chalmers graduated from South Carolina College (present-day University of South Carolina) in 1851 with a law degree.
Columbia, SC 29208, United States
James Chalmers graduated from South Carolina College (present-day University of South Carolina) in 1851 with a law degree.
https://www.amazon.com/Reply-Hon-Bragg-Singleton-Mississippi/dp/0483563536?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=0483563536
1879
https://www.amazon.com/Contested-Election-Represent-Mississippi-Fifty-First/dp/1120739950?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=1120739950
1889
James Ronald Chalmers was born on January 11, 1831, in Halifax County, Virginia, United States. He was the son of Joseph Williams and Fannie Henderson Chalmers. His grandfather, a Scotch planter, was a near relative of the celebrated minister, Dr. Thomas Chalmers, his father, born in Halifax County and educated at the University of Virginia, practiced law in his native state.
James Chalmers graduated from South Carolina College (present-day University of South Carolina) in 1851 with a law degree.
James Ronald Chalmers was admitted to the bar in 1853. He became a district attorney in 1858, served as a delegate to Mississippi’s secession convention, and then raised a military company when the Civil War began. Entering the Confederate Army as a captain, he was soon appointed colonel of the 9th Mississippi Infantry and first saw action near Pensacola, Florida. Promoted to brigadier general on 13 February 1862 on the recommendation of Gen. Braxton Bragg, Chalmers distinguished himself at Shiloh, where his brigade held the far right of the Confederate line on the first day of the battle.
He assumed command of cavalry operating in northern Mississippi before returning to his brigade in time to take part in Bragg’s 1862 invasion of Kentucky. Chalmers led an ill-advised assault on a Union garrison near Munfordville but redeemed himself at Stones River, Tennessee, where on 31 December 1862 he led his men against a formidable Federal position.
In March 1863 he received command of the 5th Military District, with responsibility for the northern counties of Mississippi. Chalmers organized a cavalry force and sparred with Federal detachments that made expeditions into the region.
At the beginning of 1864 Chalmers’s division was assigned to Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest’s command. Relations between the two officers were occasionally strained, and Chalmers may have felt that his services merited promotion instead of a subordinate position under Forrest. Chalmers was present during the controversial April 1864 attack on a garrison of black soldiers and Tennessee Unionists at Fort Pillow, Tennessee. The high death rate among the black troops led to charges that a massacre took place, although Chalmers’s role remains unclear. According to his report, the Federals refused to surrender, and many were killed while attempting to escape. Chalmers was with Forrest during a successful raid into West Tennessee as well as during John Bell Hood’s invasion that culminated in disastrous battles at Franklin and Nashville. The two generals and their troops retreated to Mississippi and ended the war in Alabama, where Chalmers surrendered and was paroled in May 1865.
Following the war, Chalmers returned to Mississippi where he resumed his law career and became a prominent Mississippi political figure during Reconstruction. He served as a member of the state senate from 1876 to 1877 and, after Mississippi was readmitted into the Union, Chalmers was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives for three terms. He retired from politics in 1888 and moved back to Vicksburg, Mississippi, where he continued to practice law until his death.
James Ronald Chalmers reached the rank of brigadier general and was a noted cavalry commander involved in numerous actions.
He participated in the invasion of Kentucky and at the Battle of Murfreesboro. In November 1862, at the Battle of Munfordville, Kentucky, he distinguished himself by demanding the surrender of the Union garrison (which was refused).
Chalmers was elected to the United States House of Representatives for three terms.
James Ronald Chalmers was an ardent State rights Democrat, he voted in favor of secession.
Chalmers bolted the Democratic Party in 1882 and returned to Congress with Republican support after a campaign marked by allegations of fraud on both sides. His congressional career ended with a defeat by a Democratic opponent in 1884, after which he abandoned politics.
In 1854, Chalmers moved to Friars Point, Mississippi, and married Rebecca Arthur, with whom he had two daughters Susan Arthur Chalmers (didn't survive infancy) and Kate Henderson Chalmers.
Chalmers was re-elected in 1880 but the election was contested by his Republican African-American opponent, John R. Lynch.
