BG Johnson Hagood, CSA

Class of 1847

Hometown: Barnwell, SC

Distinguished Alumnus Photo

  • 1st Honor Graduate Class of 1847.
  • Brigadier General CSA 1861-1865.
  • Governor of SC 1880-82.
  • Comptroller SC 1876-80.
  • Admitted to practice law in 1850. Although admitted to practice law, Hagood preferred farming and returned to the family plantation in Barnwell until the outbreak of the Civil War.
  • At the outbreak of the Civil War, Hagood enlisted in the SC militia and was quickly promoted to field rank, then Brigadier General and Assistant Adjutant General SC Militia.  He was commissioned as a colonel, 1st SC Infantry, CSA, and promoted to Brigadier General, CSA July 21, 1862.  Hagood held significant commands in the Battles of Ft. Sumter, Second Battle of Bull Run, Battery Wagner, Drewry's Bluff, Cold Harbor, and the Siege of Petersburg, and commanded Ft. Anderson during the Battle of Wilmington, NC.
  • Hagood was instrumental in reviving the Association of Graduates and the recovery of the Citadel Academy and grounds from the US War Department in 1879, and the reopening of The Citadel as a military college in 1882.
  • The Citadel football stadium and town of Hagood, SC are named in his honor.
  • Hagood was a slave owner before the Civil War, a practice repudiated by The Citadel and its Corps of Cadets