Governor Alfred M. Scales
lie* nsis
«1
ltri“;nlior Gc*nt*r;il in llic* War II<*-
Iu«*c*ii (In* Stales. a member off Ihe General
Assembly, a member of Congress, and the
only Confederate General to become
Governor.
CAROLINA furnished Iwo
Lieutenant Generals to the
Confederacy: Daniel H. Hill
and Theophilus H. Holmes. It
furnished eight Major Generals:
Robert Ransom; Matt W. Ransom;
William D. Pender
«
killed
Ц
Robert
F. Hoke; W. H. C. Whiting (killed);
Stephen D. Ramseur i killed i;
Bryan Grimes and John F. Gilmer.
It also furnished twenty-six Brig¬
adiers. Carolina also furnished
high ranking naval officers; includ¬
ing J. W. Cooke, commander of the
ram Albemarle; Captain J. N.
Maffit of the cruiser Florida, and
Captain James Iredell Waddell,
commander of the Shenandoah
who was the only one to carry the
Confederate flag around the world.
Confederate officers were sup¬
posed to be greedy for ofiice. yet
only one Confederate General
ever reached the United States
Senate. Matt W Ransom; and only
one ever became Governor — Alfred
Moore Scales. The Governor was
named after Carolina’s illustrious
son, Alfred Moore, who became a
Justice of the Supreme Court of
the United States. Scales was born
on November 26. 1827 in Rocking¬
ham County, which was also the
birthplace of David S. Reid, the
first Democratic Governor of the
State. However as he later moved
to Greensboro, he is associated
with Guilford, the county of Gov¬
ernor John M. Morehead, and John
F. Gilmer, who was tendered a
post in Lincoln's cabinet.
Educated by Caldwell
The Governor was educated at
the famous academy of Rev. David
Caldwell, which was the alma
mater of five Carolina Governors.
Later he attended the University
but never took a degree there.
Then he studied law first under the
brilliant Judge Thomas Settle
(who made the remembered cam-
aign against Vance»; then under
ustiee William H. Battle.
He began his consistent career
of office holding in the House of
Commons in 1852, and the same
year saw him the Democratic can¬
didate for Congress in a district
heavily Whig. He was again in
the Commons in 1854, where he
served as Chairman of the Com¬
mittee on Finance. In 1857 he was
successful in his desire to serve
as Congressman, but he served only
one term being defeated for re-
election. Thereafter and until the
outbreak of the Civil War he was
Clerk and Master in Equity in
Rockingham County.
In 1860 he was presidential elec¬
tor on the Breckenridgc ticket,
and he favored calling the Conven¬
tion of 1861 which adopted the
Ordinance of Secession. He entered
the Confederate service as Cap¬
tain of Co. "H” 13th North Caro¬
lina. and when Col. W. D. Pender
(killed at Gettysburg! was pro¬
moted to be a General, Scales was
selected as Colonel of the 13th. In
this capacity he commanded the
regiment during the severe fight¬
ing of the Seven Days around
Richmond, and at Fredericksburg
and at Chancellorsville. Here he
was shot through the thigh and
severely wounded, While recover¬
ing from the effects of this wound
he received notice of his promotion
to be Brigadier in June 1862.
Wounded a Second Time
When he was finally able to re¬
port for duty, he was assigned to
the command of Render’s Brigade.
As such, he was in command on the
first day at Gettysburg, where
every field officer in his entire
brigade, save one. was killed or
wounded. Scales himself being
wounded by a shell splinter as he
led his troops on Seminary Ridge.
When he was wounded, he was
placed in the same ambulance as
the mortally wounded Pender, and
borne from the field. It was on ac¬
count of this wound that he was
not present when his brigade
formed a part of Longstreet's
column under Pickett which as¬
saulted Cemetery Ridge on the
third day, when the scales of war
trembled in the balance and finally
settled against the Confederates.
He recovered from his wound
sufficiently to resume command of
his Brigade in Northern Virginia
in 1864, but he was absent on sick
leave when Lee surrendered.
After the war he resumed the
practice of law at Greensboro, and
we find him in the legislature of
1866. In 1874 he was elected to
Congress, and he served five terms,
during part of which he was Chair¬
man of the then important Com¬
mittee on Indian Affairs.
Elected Governor in 1884
He was elected as Governor in
1884, his opponent being the
famous Tyre York, and Scales was
the only Carolina Brigadier who
ever reached the executive man¬
sion. His administration witnessed
the rise of the Populist party. Dur¬
ing his term the foundations of
State College were laid.
When his term as Governor ex¬
pired. he retired from political life.
He was thereupon elected as Pres¬
ident of the Piedmont Bank at
Greensboro and served in this ca¬
pacity until his death in February
1892.
He was the first layman ever to
be elected as Moderator of the
Synod of North Carolina He mar¬
ried a granddaughter of Chief
Justice Leonard Henderson. That
brings in so many big folks that
we had better call it a day.
In Scales the politician was lost
in the statesman.
On January 14. 1771 the Duke
of Beaufort, Grand Master of
England commissioned Colonel
Joseph Montford of Halifax. North
Carolina Provincial Grand Master
of and for America.
This was the highest Masonic-
rank ever attained by a citizen of
the American colonies.
This fact is preserved in the
inscription on the monument
erected in 1911 in honor of Colonel
Montfort:
THE FIRST. THE LAST. THE
ONLY GRAND MASTER OF
AMERICA.
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