onham was one of the finest looking
officers in the entire army. His tall, graceful figure, his commanding
appearance, his noble bearing, and soldierly mien were all qualities
to excite the confidence and admiration of his troops. He wore a
broad-brimmed hat, with a waving plume floating out behind, and sat
his horse as knightly as Charles the Bold, or Henry of Navarre. His
soldiers were proud of him, and loved to do him homage. He endeared
himself to his officers, and while he was a good disciplinarian as far
as the volunteer service required, he did not treat his officers with
that air of superiority, nor exact that rigid military courtesy that
is required in the regular army. I will here give a short sketch of
his life for the benefit of his old comrades in arms.

* * * * *

MILLEDGE LUKE BONHAM

Was born near Red Bank in that part of Edgefield District now included
in Saluda County, South Carolina, on the 25th day of December, 1813.
His father, Captain James Bonham, who had come from Virginia to South
Carolina about the close of the last century, was the son of Major
Absalom Bonham, who was a native of Maryland, but who enlisted for the
war of the Revolution in a New Jersey regiment, and became a Major of
the line on the establishment of that State. After the Revolution he
moved to Virginia. Captain James Bonham was himself at the siege of
Yorktown as a lad of fifteen, in a company whose captain was only
twenty years old. He first settled in this State in the District of
Colleton, and there married. After the death of his wife, he moved to
Edgefield District, and there married Sophie Smith, who was the mother
of the subject of this sketch. She was the daughter of Jacob Smith and
his wife, Sallie Butler, who was a sister of that Captain James Butler
who was the forefather of the illustrious family of that name in
this State, and who with his young son, also named James, was cruelly
massacred along with others at Cloud's Creek, in Edgefield District,
by "Bloody Bill" Cunningham.

Milledge L. Bonham received his early education in the "old field"
schools of the neighborhood, and his academic training under
instructors at Abbeville and Edgefield. He entered the South Carolina
College and graduated with second honor in 1834. Soon thereafter the
Seminole or Florida war broke out, and he volunteered in the company
from Edgefield, commanded by Captain James Jones, and was Orderly
Sergea