Early Life
Kemper was born in Mountain Prospect, Madison County, Virginia, the son of William and Maria E. Allison Kemper and brother of Frederick T. Kemper (the founder of Kemper Military School). His father was of German ancestry, which had been in Virginia since the colonial era. His grandfather had served on the staff of George Washington during the American Revolutionary War, but he himself had virtually no military training. He graduated from Washington College (now Washington and Lee University) in 1842, becoming a lawyer.
After the start of the Mexican-American War, he enlisted and became a captain and assistant quartermaster in the 1st Virginia Infantry, but he joined the service too late (1847) to see any combat action. By 1858 he was a brigadier general in the Virginia Militia.
Kemper was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 1853. He became chairman of the Military Affairs Committee, where he was a strong advocate of state military preparedness. In early 1861 he became Speaker, a position he held until January 1863. Much of his term as Speaker coincided with his service in the Confederate States Army.
Read more about this topic: James L. Kemper
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