James Hagan

James Hagan (June 17, 1822 – November 6, 1901) was a United States Army captain during the Mexican–American War and a Confederate States Army colonel during the American Civil War. He was also a prosperous businessman and planter in Mobile, Alabama between both conflicts.

Although he commanded a brigade during most of 1863 and from August 1864 until the end of the war, he was never appointed a brigadier general by Confederate President Jefferson Davis or confirmed as a general officer by the Confederate Senate.

Early life James Hagan was born in County Tyrone, Ireland on June 17, 1822. His family moved to a farm near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, when he was still at an early age. His prosperous uncle, John Hagen of New Orleans, Louisiana, took him into the family business and set him up in Mobile, Alabama, to manage the Hagan business there.

American Civil War service At the beginning of the Civil War, James Hagan organized and was elected captain of a cavalry company for the Alabama Militia, the "Mobile Dragoons," which served on guard duty along the Gulf Coast.

Hagan was promoted to colonel of a new regiment, the 3rd Alabama Cavalry Regiment, on July 1, 1862. During the spring and summer of 1863, the brigade screened the left front of General Braxton Bragg's army. In November 1863, he resigned and returned to Mobile to recover from his wounds and his disappointment from not being promoted. Hagan was wounded again at the Battle of Monroe's Crossroads, near Kinston, North Carolina, on March 10, 1865, and again at Fayetteville, North Carolina, the next day.

Although Hagan was assigned as acting brigadier general in early 1865, he never received an official appointment from Jefferson Davis or confirmation by the Confederate Senate of an appointment as a general officer.

Aftermath Hagan returned to Mobile after the war, but he was penniless since his fortune had been converted to Confederate money. He worked as manager of a plantation on the Alabama River in the 1870s and early 1880s. President Grover Cleveland appointed him crier of the United States District Court in Alabama in 1885.

James Hagan died on November 6, 1901, at Mobile, Alabama. He is buried in Magnolia Cemetery in Mobile.