James Lawson Kemper (June 11, 1823 – April 7, 1895) was a lawyer, a Confederate general in the American Civil War, and the 37th Governor of Virginia. He was the youngest brigade commander and only non-professional military officer in the division that led Pickett's Charge, during which he was severely wounded. Early and family life Kemper was born at Mountain Prospect plantation in Madison County, Virginia, the son of William and Maria Elizabeth (Allison) Kemper. His father's family had emigrated from near what became Siegen, Germany, in the early 18th century. His great-grandfather had been among the miners recruited for Governor Alexander Spotswood's colony at Germanna, Virginia, and his merchant father had moved to the new town of Madison Court House in the 1790s after his father had died falling from a horse in 1783, leaving his widow to take care of five daughters and a son. By the time young James was born, his paternal grandmother and four aunts also lived at the plantation William Kemper had bought for $5,541.40 in 1800. His maternal great-grandfather, Col. John Jasper Stadler, had served on George Washington's staff as a civil engineer and planned fortifications in Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina during the American Revolutionary War, and his grandfather John Stadler Allison served as an officer in the War of 1812 but died when his daughter Maria was very young. Although several of his paternal ancestors were involved in the German Reformed Church, William Kemper was an elder in the local Presbyterian church. His mother was devout but also hosted dances and parties that lasted several days. His brother, Frederick T. Kemper, later founded Kemper Military School. James Kemper had virtually no military training as a boy. Still, his father and a neighboring planter, Henry Hill of Culpeper, founded Old Field School on the plantation to educate local children, including A.P. Hill, who became a lifelong friend. From 1830–1840, Kemper boarded during winters at Locust Dale Academy, which had a military corps of cadets. Kemper later attended Washington College (now Washington and Lee University) and also took civil engineering classes at nearby Virginia Military Institute. At Washington College's graduation ceremony in 1842, 19-year-old Kemper gave the commencement address, taking for a topic "The Need of a Public School System in Virginia." Kemper then returned home, where he joined a Tee-Total (Temperance) Society as well as studied law under George W. Summers of