Brig. Gen. Evander McIvor Law was born in South Carolina in 1836 and was a graduate of The Citadel. He taught at Kings Mountain Military Academy at Yorkville, South Carolina, and in 1860 moved to Tuskegee, Alabama, where he taught school and studied law. His stay in Tuskegee must have been brief, for in January 1861 he took command of a company of state troops and served with them as a part of the state's garrison in Pensacola, Florida, which was threatened by the continued Federal occupation of Fort Pickens. After the war began, he became lieutenant colonel of the Fourth Alabama Regiment. The Fourth's colonel fell at First Manassas, and Law was wounded in that battle but not severely enough to keep him from taking command of the regiment and becoming its colonel in November. He led the Fourth at Seven Pines and commanded Whiting's brigade at Gaines's Mill, Malvern Hill, Second Manassas, and Antietam. He became a brigadier general in October 1862. In a eulogy of later years someone described him as "one of the handsomest of men, as straight as an arrow, with jet black beard and dashing appearance. The grace of his manner was flawless." Col. William C. Oates of the Fifteenth Alabama, who knew Law well but would not have been greatly concerned with his manners, termed him a "brave man and a good fighter." But Oates complained that Law was "negligent" in writing reports of his brigade's operations, thereby failing to get credit for the brigade when credit was due.