Lucius Bellinger NorthrupBrigadier General, Provisional Army of the Confederate States
"He was a man with strong likes and dislikes of unimpeachable integrity, of the highest honor, generous, proud, unselfishly devoted to his friends, and with rare intellectual ability."Eugene L. Didier
 (Compiled Service Record) |
Born: September 8th, 1811, in Charleston, South Carolina, the son of Amos Bird (1784-1812) and Claudia Margaret Bellinger Northrop (1787-1855)
Pre-War: Appointed to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, from the State of South Carolina; entered the Military Academy as a Cadet on July 1st, 1827; graduated 22nd in his class from the Military Academy on July 1st, 1831, and was appointed as a Brevet Second Lieutenant of Infantry with the 7th United States Infantry Regiment; served on frontier duty at Ft. Gibson, Indian Territory, from 1831 to 1832; engaged in scouting in 1832; at Ft. Gibson, Indian Territory, from 1832 to 1833; transferred to the 1st Dragoon Regiment on August 14th, 1833; at Camp Jackson, Indian Territory, from 1833 to 1834; engaged in the expedition to the Tow-e-ash Villages in 1834; promoted to Second Lieutenant of Dragoons with the 1st Dragoon Regiment on July 21st, 1834; at Ft. Gibson, Indian Territory, in 1835; on a sick leave of absence from 1835 to 1837; promoted to First Lieutenant of Dragoons with the 1st Dragoon Regiment on July 4th, 1836; on frontier duty at Ft. Gibson, Indian Territory, from 1837 to 1839; accidentally shot himself in the right knee (the bullet lodged in his knee) in October of 1839 while in the Indian Territory, resulting in his inability to perform further duty; on no Government duty from October 6th, 1839; married Miss Maria Euphemia Joanna de Bernabeau in 1841; he studied at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from December of 1843; dropped from the rolls of the United States Army on January 8th, 1848; re-appointed as a First Lieutenant of Dragoons with the 1st United States Dragoon Regiment on August 12th, 1848; |
however performed no Government duty, being, on a certificate of disability to 1861; promoted to Captain of Dragoons with the 1st Dragoon Regiment on July 21st, 1848; at Charleston, South Carolina, from 1853 to 1861, where he was employed as a private practicing physician; resigned his commission on January 8th 1861.
Service: Appointed as Lieutenant Colonel in the Provisional Army of the Confederate States in March of 1861; appointed and served as Lieutenant Colonel & Acting Commissary General of Subsistence from March 27th to June 21st, 1861; promoted to Colonel & Commissary General of Subsistence on June 21st, 1861, to rank from March 16th, 1861; appointed as a Brigadier General & Commissary General of Subsistence in the Provisional Army of the Confederate States on November 26th, 1864, under the October 13th, 1862, at of Congress which allowed the President to appointment twenty general officers; relived (resigned) his commission as Commissary General on February 15th, 1865; engaged in farming at his plantation "Egypt" near Raleigh, North Carolina, from February to June of 1865; arrested on orders of Secretary of War Edwin M. Staunton at Raleigh, North Carolina, on June 30th, 1865, as a result of his role in the conditions faced by Federal Prisoners of War at Camp Sumter in Andersonville, Georgia; confined at Castle Thunder in Richmond, Virginia, from July to November of 1865; released on a conditional parole (not to leave the confines of the State of Virginia) on November 2nd, 1865, at Richmond, Virginia.
Post War: Purchased and worked as a farmer at his plantation "Minor Orcus" near Charlottesville, Virginia, from 1867 to February of 1890; paralyzed by an unknown illness on February 4th, 1890; admitted to, and resided at the Maryland Line Confederate Soldiers Home in Pikesville, Maryland, from 1890 to 1894.
Died: February 9th, 1894, at Pikesville, Maryland
Buried: New Cathedral Catholic Cemetery in Baltimore, Maryland
Notes
His personal relationship with President Jefferson Davis, ensured his remaining in both the United States and Confederate States Armies.
He was present at the U.S. Military Academy (West Point) during the period which poet Edgar Allen Poe was also present.
Resources
"Confederate Commissary General: Lucius Northrop and the Subsistence Bureau of the Southern Army." Jerrold Moore; White Mane Publications, Shippensburg, Pennsylvania; 1996.
"General Officers of the Confederate Army." Marcus J. Wright, The Neale Publishing Company, New York, New York, 1911.
"Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army, from its organization, September 29, 1789, to March 2, 1903." Francis B. Heitman, Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1903.
Lucius Bellinger Northrop Papers, 1841-1863; Special Collections, Alexandria Library; Alexandria, Virginia.
Lucius B Northrop Papers, 1861-1865; Missouri History Museum.
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