Background
MUNNERLYN, Charles James was born on February 14, 1822 in Georgetown, South Carolina, United States, United States. Son of Charles Lewis and Hannah (Shackleford) Munnerlyn.
congressman planter railroad business
MUNNERLYN, Charles James was born on February 14, 1822 in Georgetown, South Carolina, United States, United States. Son of Charles Lewis and Hannah (Shackleford) Munnerlyn.
Private school.
His family first moved to Florida, and then, in 1837, to Decatur, Georgia. He attended Emory College in Georgia and studied law under A. B. Longstreet during the 1840s. He never practiced law, becoming instead a large planter in Decatur County.
He was a Methodist. He married Eugenia Shackleford on February 20, 1845, and they had nine children. He never joined a political party and seems to have largely stayed out of politics until the war began. Munnerlyn was a strong secessionist and served as a delegate to the Georgia secession convention.
When the Civil War began, Munnerlyn enlisted as a private in the 1st Georgia Volunteers and saw service in Pensacola and West Virginia during 1861 and 1862. He was elected from the Second Congressional District of Georgia to the first Confederate House. He favored the conscript law, served on the Claims, Naval Affairs, and special committees, and generally supported the administration.
After he was defeated for reelection, he entered the army. President Davis promoted him to major and ordered him to organize the regular reserves in Florida and to deliver supplies in Virginia. He also furnished 100,000 head of cattle for the army and helped Confederate officers to leave the country.
When the war ended, he returned to his plantation in Georgia, only to find his lands destroyed. He entered business in hopes of recouping his losses. Munnerlyn helped to build the Atlanta and Gulf Railroad during the late 1870s.
He served as ordinary of Decatur County in 1884.
"Peculiar institution" of slavery was not only expedient but also ordained by God and upheld in Holy Scripture.
Stands for preserving slavery, states' rights, and political liberty for whites. Every individual state is sovereign, even to the point of secession.
Spouse Eugenia Shackleford.