James Clay Rice
Union Army general (1829–1864)
James Clay Rice (December 27, 1828 – May 10, 1864) was a lawyer from Massachusetts who became a brigadier general of volunteers in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He was killed at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House in May 1864.
Early life
Rice was born in Worthington, Massachusetts, on December 27, 1828, to William Rice and Welthea (Cottrell) Rice. He was self-educated for most of his early life and eventually graduated from Yale University. He subsequently became a teacher in Natchez, Mississippi, and worked for a newspaper. During this time he began studying law and was admitted to the bar in New York City, where he began his practice.
Civil War
When the Civil War broke out, Rice enlisted on 28 May 1861 in the 39th New York Infantry Regiment, quickly becoming a captain of Company B and engaging at the First Battle of Bull Run. Rice was mustered out of the 39th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment on 12 Sep 1861. The next day Rice became lieutenant colonel of the newly formed 44th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment (also known as People's Ellsworth Regiment). He fought in the Peninsula Campaign and on July 4, 1862, became colonel of the regiment.
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This entry incorporates text from “James Clay Rice” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.