Andrew Jackson McConnell, Jr., 1838-1864
Biographical Note
Andrew Jackson McConnell, Jr. (Feb. 14, 1838 –July 30, 1864) was the son of Andrew Jackson and Elizabeth Dawkins McConnell. He was one of seven children in the family. The McConnell home was in Northwestern Fairfield County, South Carolina. McConnell lived in a house on land he inherited from his father when he died in 1855. He also farmed the inherited land. In 1857, he married Sally Amanda Coleman. They lost an infant. McConnell was involved in the military training company, called the Buckhead Guards, with a number of men from upper Fairfield County. When the Civil War broke out, he enlisted with the South Carolina Volunteers in Company D, 17th Regiment. He witnessed the bombardment of Fort Sumter, the aftermath of the Battle of First Manassas, was wounded at the Battle of Second Manassas, and was deployed near Vicksburg shortly before it fell. He was killed at the Battle of Petersburg on July 30, 1864. He was initially buried near the battlefield, but was eventually sent back to Fairfield County, where he was buried next to his wife and child in Coleman graveyard. Immediately following his death, his brother-in-law, John Albert Feaster Coleman began writing in McConnell’s diary until the end of the war.