Kanawha County (a former U.S. Representative), after which Washington College awarded him a Master's degree in June 1845. He was admitted to the Virginia bar on October 2, 1846. Military and early political career After Congress had declared war on Mexico in 1846, President James K. Polk called for nine regiments of volunteers. Kemper and his friend Birkett D. Fry of Kanawha County traveled to the national capital on December 15, 1846, hoping to secure commissions in the First Regiment of Virginia Volunteers. After traveling to Richmond and returning to Washington for more networking, Kemper learned he had been appointed the unit's quartermaster and captain. During the Mexican–American War, Kemper received favorable reviews and met many future military leaders, but his unit arrived just after the Battle of Buena Vista and mainly maintained a defensive perimeter in Coahuila province. Honorably discharged from the U.S. Army on August 3, 1848, Kemper returned to practice law in Madison County and neighboring Orange and Culpeper Counties. He represented many fellow veterans making land claims, as well as speculated in real estate and helped form the Blue Ridge Turnpike Company (between Gordonsville and the Shenandoah Valley. Interested in politics, Kemper first campaigned for office in 1850 but lost the contest to become clerk of the Commonwealth's constitutional convention. Promoting himself as proslavery, anti-abolitionist, and pro-states' rights, Kemper defeated Marcus Newman and was elected to represent Madison County in the Virginia House of Delegates in 1853 (the year his father died at age 76). A strong advocate of state military preparedness, as well as an ally of Henry A. Wise, Kemper rose to become chairman of the Military Affairs Committee. By 1858, he was serving as a brigadier general in the Virginia militia. In late 1861, Kemper became Speaker, a position he held until September 1863. Much of his term as Speaker coincided with his service in the Confederate States Army. Civil War After the start of the Civil War, Kemper served as a brigadier general in the Provisional Army of Virginia and then a colonel in the Confederate States Army, becoming head of the 7th Virginia Infantry. At First Bull Run, Kemper led the regiment as part of Jubal Early's brigade. His regiment was later assigned to Brigadier General A.P. Hill's brigade in Major General James Longstreet's division of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. On May 26, 1862, Hill was promoted to division