Martin Witherspoon Gary

Martin Witherspoon Gary
South Carolina Senate
In office
1876–1881
Preceded byLawrence Cain
Personal details
DiedApril 9, 1881(1881-04-09) (aged 50)
Political partyDemocratic
Military service
Allegiance Confederate States of America
Branch/service Confederate States Army
Rank Brigadier general
Battles/warsCivil War

Martin Witherspoon Gary (March 25, 1831 – April 9, 1881) was a Confederate attorney, soldier, and politician from South Carolina. He attained the rank of brigadier general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. He played a major leadership role in the 1876 Democratic political campaign to elect Wade Hampton III as governor, planning a detailed campaign to disrupt the Republican Party and black voters by violence and intimidation.[1]

Gary was first elected to office as a state representative in 1860. He was elected to the South Carolina State Senate in 1876 from Edgefield, South Carolina, serving two terms. He fell out with Hampton after failing to get appointments to the U.S. Senate in 1877 and 1879, and left politics in 1881 after finishing his second term. He returned to his home in Cokesbury and died in April of that year.

  1. ^ Ehren K. Foley, "Sites of Violence: Cainhoy Riot," Citations: "Plan of the Campaign of 1876" Archived 2014-11-05 at the Wayback Machine, South Carolina during Reconstruction website, 2010-2012, Papers of Martin Witherspoon Gary, South Caroliniana Library, Columbia, South Carolina, accessed 26 October 2014