Maj. John Jenkins was the commander of the 3rd South Carolina Cavalry Regiment.

Brigadier-General Micah Jenkins was born on Edisto island in 1839. After his graduation at the South Carolina military academy, at the head of his class, he with the co-operation of his classmate, Asbury Coward, founded the King's Mountain military school in 1855. His military genius was valuable in the first organization of troops in 1861, and he was elected colonel of the Fifth regiment, with which he went to Virginia, in the brigade of Gen. D. R. Jones. In the latter part of 1861 he was in command of that brigade, and had grown greatly in favor with his division commander, General Longstreet. Longstreet proposed to begin the reorganization, a matter approached with much misgiving, in this brigade, and he declared that he hoped to hold every man in it if Jenkins could be promoted brigadier-general. "Besides being much liked by his men, Colonel Jenkins is one of the finest officers of this army," Longstreet wrote. Beauregard also added his approval to this recommendation. Still in the rank of colonel, Palmetto sharpshooters, he commanded R. H. Anderson's brigade in the battles of Williamsburg and Seven Pines, and was warmly commended by Longstreet and D. H. Hill and by J. E. B. Stuart, whom he supported at Fort Magruder. He was again distinguished at Gaines' Mill, and at Fray- ser's Farm, having been ordered to silence a battery, Longstreet supposing he would use his sharpshooters alone, he threw forward his brigade and captured the guns, bringing on the battle. July 22, 1862, he was promoted brigadier-general, and continuing in command of the same brigade, participated in the battles of August 29th and 30th, Second Manassas, and was severely wounded. He was on duty again at the battle of Fredericksburg and during the Suffolk campaign, his division now being commanded by General Pickett, and was on the Blackwater under Gen. D. H. Hill, during the Gettysburg campaign. When Longstreet was sent to the assistance of Bragg at Chattanooga, Jenkins' brigade was transferred to Hood's division, and reached the field of Chickamauga after the battle. During the investment of Chattanooga he commanded the attack upon the Federal reinforcements arriving under Hooker, and then accompanied Longstreet in the Knoxville campaign, commanding Hood's division. He took a conspicuous part in the operations in east Tennessee, and then, early in 1864, returned to Northern Virginia. Field was now in charge of the division, and Jenkins led his famous old brigade to battle on May 6th, the second day of the Wilderness fighting, when the splendid veterans of the First corps arrived in time to check the current of threatened disaster. As he rode by the side of Longstreet, he said to his chief, "I am happy. I have felt despair for the cause for some months, but now I am relieved, and feel assured that we will put the enemy across the Rapidan before night." Immediately afterward, by the mistaken fire of another body of Confederates, he and Longstreet were both wounded, Jenkins mortally. General Longstreet has written of him: "He was one of the most estimable characters of the army. His taste and talent were for military service. He was intelligent, quick, untiring, attentive, zealous in discharge of duty, truly faithful to official obligations, abreast with the foremost in battle, and withal a humble, noble Christian. In a moment of highest earthly hope, he was transported to serenest heavenly joy; to that life beyond that knows no bugle call, beat of drum or clash of steel. May his beautiful spirit, through the mercy of God, rest in peace ! Amen !"