James Jay Archer (19 December 1817 – 24 October 1864) was a Brigadier-General of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.
Biography[]
James Jay Archer was born in Stafford, Maryland in 1817 to a wealthy military family, and he passed the bar exam from the University of Maryland. In 1847, he was commissioned as a captain in the US Army during the Mexican-American War, serving in the voltiguers at the Battle of Chapultepec and being promoted to Major. In 1848, he moved to Texas, duelling future Union general Andrew Porter, with Stonewall Jackson serving as his second. From 1855 to 1861, Archer served in the army on the frontier, and he resigned his commission at the start of the American Civil War in 1861, leaving Fort Walla Walla to become a captain in the Confederate States Army. He commanded a regiment in John Bell Hood's Texas Brigade, and he was promoted to Brigadier-General on 2 June 1862. After Robert H. Hatton's death, he took over Hatton's three regiments, and he contributed to the victories at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. Archer was captured at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863, and he was exchanged in the summer of 1864. Due to his bad health, he was prevented from joining the Army of Tennessee under Hood in Atlanta, Georgia, and he was instead attached to the Army of Northern Virginia. He fought at Petersburg and Peebles' Farm in 1864 before dying on 24 October 1864 in Richmond at the age of 46.