American Confederate general, born in Winchester, VA. He graduated at West Point in 1830; served in the Mexican War as captain, and obtained the brevets of major and lieutenant-colonel. When the Civil War broke out he resigned his commission and joined the rebel army, obtaining the rank of brigadier-general. When McClellan landed his forces on the peninsula, he found Magruder in defense of the fortifications at Yorktown with but 5,000 men. McClellan with 58,000 men besieged the place. When works had been constructed, and a general attack was about to be made, Magruder withdrew with all his men and munitions. This delay (it was almost a month) probably saved Richmond, for in the interval Johnston had been able to concentrate his troops. Magruder afterward served in almost all the battles of the peninsula campaign, and was raised to the rank of major-general. In 1862 he took command of the department of Texas, and in 1863 recaptured Galveston, and raised for a time the blockade of the port. At the end of the war he went to Mexico and served in the imperial army until the overthrow of Maximilian, and afterward lectured in the United States on Mexico. He died at Houston, TX, on the 19th of February 1871.
