Born at Port Royal, Virginia, he graduated from West Point with a brevet to 2nd Lieutenant, 7th Infantry, July 1, 1830 and commission as 2nd Lieutenant the same date. He served in garrison at Ft. Monroe, VA (Artillery School for Practice), 1831; at Newberne, NC, 1831-1832; and Beaufort, NC, 1832. He was transferred to the 1st Artillery, August 11, 1831.

Magruder was at Ft. McHenry, MD, 1833; on Recruiting Service, 1833; in garrison at Ft. Macon, NC, 1834-1835; Ft. Johnston, NC, 1835; and Ft. Washington, MD, 1835. He was promoted to 1st Lieutenant, 1st Artillery, March 31, 1836.

He was on Ordnance Duty, November 22, 1836-October 19, 1837; in the Florida War, 1837-1838; in garrison at Ft. Columbus, NY, 1838; at Plattsburg, NY, 1838-1840, during the Canada Border Disturbances; on recruiting Service, 1840-1842; in garrison at Houlton, ME, 1842-1844; on Recruiting Service, 1844-1845; and in the Military Occupation of Texas, at Corpus Christi, 1845-1846.

He was in the War with Mexico being engaged in the Battle of Palo Alto, May 8, 1846; and Battle of Resaca-de-la-Palma, May 9, 1846. He was promoted to Captain, 1st Artillery, June 18, 1846. Following Recruiting Service, 1846-1847, Magruder returned to Mexico being engaged in the Siege of Vera Cruz, March 9-29, 1847; and the Battle of Cerro Gordo, April 17-18, 1847. He was breveted to Major, April 18, 1847, for gallant and meritorious conduct in the Battle of Cerro Gordo.

He was next engaged in the Skirmish of La Hoya, June 20, 1847; Skirmish of Ocalaca, August 16, 1847; Battle of Contreras, August 19- 20, 1847; Battle of Molino del Rey, September 8, 1847; and the Storming of Chapultepec, September 13, 1847. He was breveted to Lieutenant Colonel, September 13, 1847, for gallant and meritorious conduct in the Battle of Chapultepec. Magruder was engaged in the Assault and Capture of the City of Mexico, September 13-14, 1847.

Following the War, he was in garrison at Ft. McHenry, MD, 1848-1849; on Recruiting Service, 1849-1850; on Frontier Duty at San Diego, CA, 1850-1853; on leave of absence, 1853-1855; on Frontier Duty at San Antonio, TX, 1855-1856; at Ft. Clark, TX, 1856; in garrison at Baton Rouge, LA, 1856-1857; at Ft. Adams, RI, 1857-1859; on Frontier Duty at Ft. Leavenworth, KS, 1859-1860; and in garrison at Washington, D. C., 1860-1861. He resigned on April 20, 1861 while in command at his brevet rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

While Colonel of the 1st Artillery, he had command of the military district, headquartered at San Diego, that included Los Angeles. In 1852 he and Samuel R. Dummer, a captain in the U. S. Volunteers during the Mexican War, opened a saloon in Los Angeles, the El Dorado. They purchased a lot on Main Street, adjoining the Pico House, and built a "first class drinking place", an edifice built with materials imported from Maine and sporting a shingle roof, quite an imposing site in adobe town. Magruder became involved in the first, and only, public duel in Los Angeles. Horace Bell described it as follows:

"Los Angeles with all its repute as a place of strife and turmoil, the abode of chivalry, the hot-bed of red-handed ruffianism, a place where every man carried his code strapped to his posterior, where street brawls were the order of the day, where all difficulties were settled on the spot, then and there, with bowie knife or revolver was not, strange to say, save in one instance, to witness a conflict face to face, man to man, according to the code of honor. Only one duel was ever fought in Los Angeles. . . .

. . .The subject of this sketch was one of the participants in this most horrible duel, which I am now going to relate. It occurred in 1852, the valiant Doctor being the challenging party, and John Bankhead Magruder, then Colonel of the 3rd Artillery, commanding at San Diego, the party challenged. . .

. . . Magruder paid Los Angeles a visit, and the prominent citizens hereof gave the distinguished visitor a public dinner. The Doctor was a most prominent citizen. Magruder loved wine; Magruder loved women, so it was said. No women, however, were present at the dinner, but wine flowed as wine had never flowed before. The company became exhilarated, conversation became general, and finally the question of great men came up and was generally discussed. Wheeler said that Henry Clay was the greatest American statesman. G. Thompson Burrill said that Daniel Webster was the greatest man the world had ever produced. Magruder said: 'Old Hickory Jackson was the greatest man who ever trod shoe-leather.' The Doctor said: 'My father, who was Sheriff of Cayuga County, New York, was the greatest of all Americans.' Magruder indignantly looked up, and said that the Doctor 'was a damned fool.' A challenge followed; it was accepted, to be settled on the spot, i.e., in the 10 x 20 dining room of Henry Monroe's restaurant, on Commercial Street; distance from end to end of the table; weapons, derringer pistols.

Wilson Jones, the Doctor's second, got the word, and the principals, without shaking hands, took their respective stations, the majestic form of Magruder towering above that of the diminutive Doctor, who paled and shuddered when brought face to face with the grim-visaged son of Mars. All was suspense. The word was to be: Ready! Fire! One, two, three!

At the word 'ready', to the dismay of all, the Doctor blazed away. When the smoke cleared away, to the horror of the valiant disciple of Aesculapius, his antagonist stood as stiff and defiant as an avenging demon. The Doctor quailed; Magruder glared savagely on him for a full minute. The spectators, spell-bound, looked on with horrible forebodings.

Magruder took two side steps to the right, which brought him clear of the end of the table. He then advanced the right foot full to the front, with his glaring eye-balls bent fiercely on the now terrified Doctor.

He then brought the left foot up to the rear of the right heel, and leveled his derringer at the ghastly face of the trembling Doctor. The he advanced the right foot as before, and in this way, with firm and unrelenting tread, he slowly advanced on the now thoroughly frightened Doctor, who made a movement toward the door. The spectators interposed, and cut off the possibility of retreat in that direction.

The Doctor tried to flank the Colonel by skirmishing around the table. Magruder faced to the left, as though moving on a pivot, and kept the direful derringer aimed directly at the Doctor's pallid countenance. In the excitement the Doctor ran under the table, crawled through, grasped the knees of the irate hero, and affectionately embracing them, said:

'Colonel Magruder, for the love of God, spare me for my family.'

The Colonel gave him a kick, and said:

'Damn you! I'll spare you for the hangman.'

And so ended this remarkable duel, which would have ended in 'murder most foul' only the derringers aforesaid where then and there only loaded with powder and bottle corks, a circumstance only known at the time to their respective seconds."

Magruder was appointed a Brigadier-General, Provisional Confederate Army, on June 17, 1861. He distinguished himself early on in the Peninsular Campaign. Not only was he one of the best trained Virginia officers, but he was the type to attract attention. At Big Bethel in May he won a small engagement, the much-heralded first battle of the Civil War. After the battle he was promoted to Major-General, on October 7, 1861.

Upon McClellan's advance in the spring of 1862, Magruder, commanding about 12,000 men, displayed much energy in building defensive works to delay him and in deceiving McClellan. While "keeping up the clutter" to fool McClellan, "Prince John" was in his element. He had earned this nickname for his "lordly air and brilliant ability to bring appearances up to the necessities of the occasion". He completely deceived General George B. McClellan as to the size of his force at Yorktown.

Magruder was less successful at the Seven Days battles, where it was alleged he failed to take advantage of several opportunities. Magruder's force was placed on the south side of the Chickahominy in front of the enemy's left. On June 28 Lee sent orders for him to use the utmost vigilance and, if the enemy retreated, to pursue vigorously. But Magruder did not notice a Federal retreat that day, and it was only discovered the next day by two of Longstreet's engineer officers. On June 29, though there was a serious gap in the opposing forces, Magruder was not quick enough to take advantage of the opportunity, even sending for reinforcements.

In the late afternoon he attacked gallantly, first at Allen's Farm and then at Savage Station, but was repulsed with heavy loss, and the Federal rear guard continued its retreat. There was some excuse for Magruder, however, as he erroneously believed Jackson had been ordered not to support him. On July 1, at Malvern Hill, Magruder marched on the wrong road, a mistake many found understandable, but he was nevertheless censured. He corresponded with Lee to no avail and was transferred to Texas.

John Bankhead Magruder

On October 10, 1862 Magruder was placed in command of the Trans- Mississippi Department, District of Texas. Here he was particularly aggressive, recovering Galveston from the Federal forces on January 1, 1863, capturing the U.S. revenue cutter Harriet Lane, and driving the blockading squadron out of the harbor. He continued in command until August 11, 1864 when he was assigned the District of New Mexico and Arizona where he remained until the close of the war.

Magruder disbanded his army in Texas in May, 1865, with the words, "Boys, the jig's up, just help yourselves", and every man broke ranks and went home carrying with him all the movables he could lay his hands on. Magruder did not surrender his army, he just told them to "git" and they got. It was known in Texas as the "Break-up".

After the Civil War, Magruder went to Mexico without being formally paroled and was commissioned a Major-General in the Imperial Army. Following the downfall of Maximilian he returned to the United States, settling in Houston where he died impoverished on February 18, 1871. He was buried in the lot of a friend but his remains were later re- interred to Galveston.

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