Richard Henry Carter
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Richard Henry Carter (April 21, 1817 – April 17, 1880) was a
Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
planter and politician, and a Confederate officer during the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
. Born to planter Edward Carter (1788–1845) and his wife Frances Toy Carter (1798–1864) at Meadow Grove near
Marshall Marshall may refer to: Places Australia *Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria ** Marshall railway station Canada * Marshall, Saskatchewan * The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia Liberia * Marshall, Liberia Marshall Is ...
in Fauquier County, Richard had several brothers and sisters. He married Mary Welby DeButts (1819–1885) and they had eleven children, many of whom died in childhood. One of his daughters, Fanny, married R. Taylor Scott. Carter served as Fauquier County's delegate in the
Virginia General Assembly The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, and the first elected legislative assembly in the New World. It was established on July 30, ...
from 1853 until 1856 (winning re-election once).Cynthia Miller Leonard, Virginia's General Assembly 1619-1978: A Bicentennial Register (Virginia State Library 1978) p. 454, 459 After Virginia declared its secession, Carter recruited the 8th Virginia Infantry and was commissioned captain of its Company B. He served throughout the war, was wounded at the
Battle of Gettysburg The Battle of Gettysburg () was a three-day battle in the American Civil War, which was fought between the Union and Confederate armies between July 1 and July 3, 1863, in and around Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The battle, won by the Union, ...
and mustered out at Appomattox Court House with the rank of Major. His brothers Winston Fitzhugh Carter and William Fitzhugh Carter also became Confederate officers (Winston dying in 1862), as did his son Edward C. Carter (1843–1928). Carter died in Panama on April 17, 1880. His corpse was returned for burial in Fauquier County.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carter, Richard Henry 1817 births 1880 deaths People from Marshall, Virginia Confederate States Army officers People of Virginia in the American Civil War Members of the Virginia House of Delegates 19th-century members of the Virginia General Assembly