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James B. Terrill

Confederate States Army brigadier general (1838-1864)

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 6, 2026
Entity authorityQ6129191
Source-derived summary

James B. Terrill, often identified as James Barbour Terrill (February 20, 1838 – May 30, 1864) was a lawyer and an officer in the Confederate States Army.

He was practicing law in Warm Springs, Virginia, when the American Civil War began. He joined the Confederate Army and was elected major of the 13th Virginia Infantry Regiment in May 1861. He became colonel of the regiment after the Battle of Chancellorsville on May 15, 1863. On May 30, 1864, he was killed in action at the Battle of Totopotomoy Creek or Battle of Bethesda Church, which immediately preceded the Battle of Cold Harbor during the Overland Campaign. Terrill had already been nominated to the grade of brigadier general. The Confederate Senate posthumously confirmed the appointment on May 31, 1864, to rank from June 1, 1864.

Early life

James Barbour Terrill was the son of Colonel William H. Terrill. For many years, William Terrill was the prosecuting attorney for Bath County, Virginia.

James B. Terrill was a graduate of Virginia Military Institute, class of 1858.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “James B. Terrill” as confederate States Army brigadier general (1838-1864). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1838, 1864, 1861, 1863—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1838-02-02. The account is most persuasive where James, Terrill and Confederate can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as confederate States Army brigadier general (1838-1864). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 6, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6129191. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1838, 1864, 1861 and 1863.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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  2. Expand the search: follow James B. Terrill primary sources, James B. Terrill archive and James research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from James B. Terrill” 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.