Administrative Information

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Preferred Citation

James Lawson Kemper Papers, Accession #4115, Special Collections Dept., University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

This collection, originally deposited for microfiling in 1952 (M630), was given without restriction by Mr. Francis B. Hastings, 3011 Manchester Road, Shacker Heights, Ohio 44122 on September 5, 1978.

Biographical/Historical Information

James Lawson Kemper (1823-1985), Confederate general and governor of Virginia, was born June 11, 1823, in Madison County, Virginia. He attended the Virginia Military Institute and Washington College, received his B.A. from the latter in 1842, and commenced practicing law a year later. At the outbreak of the Mexican War in 1846 Kemper was comissioned a captain in the Virginia volunteers, but did not see active service. Returning to Virginia and his law practice, in 1853 he married Cremora Conway Cave, affectionately called "Belle" by her husband. They were to have six children. The same year Kemper was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates for the first of five terms, the last (1861-1863) as speaker of the house. He headed the committee on military affairs and was appointed president of the Board of Visitors at the Virginia Military Institute. In 1861 Kemper advocated calling the state convention that eventually declared Virginia's secession from the Union on April 17.

Kemper joined the Confederate army receiving a comission as colonel of the 7th Virginia Regiment on May 2, 1861. He led his regiment with great skill and valor at First Bull Run and Williamsburg, which resulted in his promotion to brigadier general on June 3, 1862. Commanding a brigade in the Army of Northern Virginia, he fought in the Seven Days Battles, Second Bull Run (where he temporarily commanded a division), Antietam, and Fredericksburg. After serving with Longstreet's First Corps in North Carolina during the Battle of Chancellorsville, he rejoined Lee's army as a brigade commander for the Gettysburg campaign in Pickett's division. At Gettysburg, Kemper led his brigade in the ill-fated Pickett's charge of July 3, 1863, and was severely wounded and captured. Returned on a prisoner exchange in 1864, he was deemed unfit for futher field service, and was relegated to the command of the Virginia Reserves. Kemper was promoted to major general on September 19, 1864, and after Appomattox he was paroled by United States military authorities on May 2, 1865.

Kemper returned to his law practice and resumed his involvement in politics in Reconstrudction-era Virginia. He favored reconciliation with the north with an eye to rebuilding Virginia's shattered economy by attaching railroads, commercial business, and industry to the Old Dominion. At first he opposed the reign of the Republican Party under President Ulysses S. Grant, attending the 1860 Democratic National Convention, and speaking for presidental candidate Horace Greeley in 1872. In 1873, with the support of General William "Billy" Mahone, the powerful postwar Conservative Party leader, Kemper captured the party nomination for governor, and won the ensuing election. His campaign made no attacks on the Grant administration, adopting a "wait-and-see" attitude. As John Scott wrote to Kemper on December 18, 1873 after taking to Grant, "when they have got the whites of Virginia as allies they can then let the negro go and will do it." Later, Kemper's support of Grant led to rumors of a Grant-Kemper ticket in 1876.

As governor Kemper urged full civil rights and protection for the freedmen. Believing that the state should pay its debts, Kemper broke with Mahone and joined the "Debt-payer" faction in fighting the "Readjustors" or "Repudiators" in state politics. He also fought for a new constitution and the restoration of Virginia to normal relations with the United States. After his term as governor, he returned to his law practice, and died in April 7, 1985, in Orange County, Virginia.

Scope and Content Information

This collection of James Lawsoon Kemper papers contains correspondence, business papers, and legal papers of James Lawson Kemper (1823-1895), lawyer, politicans, Confederate general, and governor of Virginia (1874-1877).

The correspondence series spans the years in 1852 to 1895, with most material covering the years 1884-1889. A few letters pertaining to Kemper's service in the Confederate army as commander of the Virginia Reserves in 1864 regard measures for the storing of provisions in order to withstand the advancing Union armies under Ulysses S. Grant. Most of the letters refer to business conditions in Reconstruction Virginia, and Kemper's own business affairs and law practice. Two letters from William Mahone and Fitzhugh lee discuss state politics. A series of letters in 1888 and 1889 between Kemper and his son Heber concern Heber's unsuccessful search for employment in New York City and the search for Kemper's missing son James, rumored to have committed suicide. Kemper later attempted to collect on James' life insurance policy; however, young James finally turned up alive several years later and Kemper was forced to repay the insurance company. Included in the correspondence series are letters from Kemper's son-in-law John P. Thompson, who later turned Kemper's home, Walnut Hills, into a summer resort.

The series of business papers, dating from 1840 to 1891, includes bills, receipts, tax records, land surveys, and checks. They are evidence of Kemper's desire to diversify his business interests after the war in an effort to achieve economic recovery. This series also includes some business papers belonging to Kemper's eldest son, Meade, a doctor.

The legal papers series, dating from 1824 to 1892, includes deeds, bonds, court fees, licenses, and wills. Kemper buit a thriving law practice, doing most of his business in Madison, Orange, and Albemarle counties. Incuded are papers relating to Kemper's administration of the Thomas Shirley estate. The printed material section dating from 1864 to 1891, includes a Confederate war order and advertising broadsides.

Organization

This collection is organized into four series: correspondence, business papers, legal papers, and printed material. Each series is arranged chronologically, with a few topical folders in both the business and legal paper series.