James Barbour Terrill was born in Warm Springs, Virginia, on February 20, 1838, the son of William H. and Elizabeth Pitzer Terrill. He entered the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington in 1854, where Thomas J. Jackson was one of his professors, but he did not excel. At his graduation in 1858, he stood sixteenth of nineteen cadets. He remained in Lexington to study law, and, in 1860, opened a practice back home in Bath County, where he also served as major in the Virginia militia.
When the Civil War erupted, Terrill rushed to Harpers Ferry. Named major of the 13th Virginia Infantry, he guarded fords at the First Battle of Manassas and skirmished in northern Virginia under Colonel J. E. B. Stuart. He fought in the Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1862 under Jackson, including the Battles of Cross Keys and Port Republic. After trailing Jackson east to join Confederate general Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, he fought in the Seven Days’ Battles. Twenty days later, he participated in the Second Battle of Manassas and was promoted to lieutenant colonel that autumn. In December, he helped repulse Union troops at Fredericksburg, and, on May 15, 1863, was promoted to colonel of the regiment. He was in Winchester during the Gettysburg Campaign but later fought in the Overland Campaign (1864), including at Spotsylvania Court House.
On May 30, 1864, the regiment was deployed to attack Union lines at Bethesda Church, near Mechanicsville. Terrill was shot through the body, but struggled to his feet and ordered the men forward before he was shot in the head and killed. The next day, the Confederate Senate confirmed his nomination to brigadier general.
He was buried by Union soldiers and his father reinterred his body, but his final resting place is now unknown. The family suffered more losses. Two of James Terrill’s brothers were also killed in the war, Union general William R. Terrill in 1862 and Confederate officer Philip M. Terrill in 1864. Legend holds that their father erected a monument in their honor that reads, “This monument erected by their father. God alone knows which was right.”
