Evander McIver Law was born on August 7, 1836, in Darlington, South Carolina, to Ezekiel Law and Sarah McIver. His father was a lawyer and judge who saw on the South Carolina Court of Appeals. In 1860, his father owned $20,000 of real estate and $23,650, and he enslaved at least 28 people. Law graduated from the South Carolina Military Academy in 1856 and served as a history professor at Kings Mountain Military Academy from 1858 to 1860. He moved to Alabama, in 1860 to establish his own military academy there.

 

Law served as a captain in the Alabama militia during the secession crisis. He helped recruit the 4^th Alabama Infantry, and in April 1861, he became a captain in the new regiment. He received a promotion to lieutenant colonel the following month. Law was wounded in the arm during the First Battle of Bull Run, but he eventually recovered and rejoined his regiment. He was promoted to colonel on October 28, 1861, and to brigadier general on October 3, 1862. He took part in the Seven Days Battles, the Second Battle of Bull Run, the Battle of Antietam, the Battle of Chancellorsville, and the Battle of Gettysburg. The Confederate army transferred him to the Army of Tennessee in the Western Theater for several months, and he fought in the Battle of Chickamauga. He returned to the Army of Northern Virginia by early 1864, however, and he received a gunshot wound to the head during the Battle of Cold Harbor. Law remained in the army after the injury, and he was promoted to major general on March 20, 1865.

 

He married Jane Elizabeth Latta on March 9, 1863, and they had at least five children, including Evander, born around 1865; William, born around 1868. By 1870, the family was living in York County, South Carolina, and Law was working as a lawyer. The family owned $20,000 of real estate and $2,500 of personal property, and they employed a Black “domestic servant” and a Black “farm laborer.” They returned to Tuskegee, Alabama, in the early 1870s before moving to Florida around 1881. Law established the South Florida Military College in Bartow, Florida, in 1895 and administered the institution until around 1903. He also served as a trustee of the Summerlin Institute from 1905 until 1912, and he edited the Bartow Courier Informant. He died in Bartow on October 31, 1920.

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