Charles Denroche Gore Semple (27 March 1833 – 8 May 1903) was a Confederate States Army major who served in the American Civil War.
Biography[]
Charles Denroche Gore Semple was born in Kilkenny, County Kilkenny, Ireland in 1833, and he was educated at St. John's College in Kilkenny before emigrating to the United States in 1853 and settling in Louisville, Kentucky. He worked for his family's hardware business before joining the Confederate States Army at the start of the American Civil War. He recruited a company for the 2nd Kentucky Infantry Regiment and was captured at the Battle of Fort Donelson before escaping Union captivity and returning to his brigade. He became a staff officer for General John C. Breckinridge after the Siege of Corinth and fought at the Siege of Vicksburg and at Baton Rouge, losing a horse at the Battle of Stones River and displaying valor at the Battle of Jackson, the Battle of Chickamauga (during which he was wounded), and the Siege of Chattanooga. At the Battle of New Market, his decision to bring in the Virginia Military Institute cadets won the battle for the South. After the war, he returned to Louisville and died in 1903.