Carter-Archer House - Havre de Grace, MD - Civil War Discovery Trail Sites on Waymarking.com

The plaque says, "James J. Archer was born here at the Carter-Archer house on December 18, 1817, the eight of John and Ann Stump Archer's eleven children. James Archer graduated Princeton in 1835, attended Bacon College in Kentucky, and studied law a the University of Maryland. He practiced law in 1847, when he was commissioned a caption in the U.S. Army during the Mexican War (1846-1848). He was cited for "meritorious conduct" at the Battle of Chapultepc (Sept. 12-13, 1847) and brevetted to major.

Archer returned to civilian life after the war, but rejoined the army in 1855, serving in Washington and Oregon until the outbreak of the Civil War. He resigned his commission and joined the Confederacy, rising from the rank of captain through colonel and then brigadier general. He commanded at various times soldiers from Texas, Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee. Archer and his troops served with distinction in the Peninsula Campaign, the battle of Cedar Mountain and Second Manassas, Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's siege of Harpers Ferry, and the battle of Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville.

Archer led some of the firs Confederates engaged at the Battle of Gettysburg. One of his men fired the shot that killed Union Gn. John Reynolds. While Archer's men were being pressed back, he was captured. Archer was chronically ill for most of the war, and a year's imprisonment at Johnson's Island, Ohio, ruined what was left of his health.

After being exchanged, he rejoined the army briefly but died on October 24, 1864, in Richmond and was burried there in Hollywood Cemetery."

Type of site: Historic Home Admission Charged: No Charge Website: [Web Link] Address: Not listed Phone Number: Not listed Driving Directions: Not listed

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