nd in 1855, at the age of fifteen, entered the South Carolina College
at Columbia. He entered the law office of Major W.Z. Leitner soon
after, and was admitted to practice in January, 1861, and in April of
that year joined the Confederate Army as Captain of Company E, Second
South Carolina Regiment, under the command of Colonel J.B. Kershaw. In
1862 he was made Colonel of the Second South Carolina Regiment, and
in 1864 was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General, and held that
position to the close of the war, having surrendered with General
Johnston at Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1865. General Kennedy was
six times wounded, and fifteen times was hit by spent balls. At
the close of the war he resumed his practice of law at Camden, but
abandoned it soon after and turned his attention to farming. In 1877
he once more returned to the bar, and has since been actively and
prominently engaged in his practice. In 1876 he was a member of the
State Democratic Executive Committee, and was its chairman in 1878.
In December, 1865, he was elected to Congress, defeating Colonel C.W.
Dudley, but did not take his seat, as he refused to take the ironclad
oath. In 1878-9 he represented his county in the Legislature, and was
Chairman of the Committee on Privileges and Elections. He was elected
Lieutenant Governor of the State in 1880, and in 1882 was a prominent
candidate for Governor, but Colonel Hugh Thompson received the
nomination over General Bratton and himself. He was elected Grand
Master of the Grand Lodge A.F.M. of South Carolina in 1881, and served
two years. As a member of the National Democratic Convention in
1876, he cast his vote for Tilden and Hendricks, and in 1884 was
Presidential Elector at large on the Democratic ticket. President
Cleveland sent him as Consul General to Shanghai, China, in 1886.
In 1890 he was Chairman of the State Advisory Committee, of the
straightout Democratic party. In early life he was married to Miss
Elizabeth Cunningham, who died in 1876. In 1882 Miss Harriet Boykin
became his wife.

The above is taken from Cyclopaedia of Eminent and Representative Men
of the Carolinas of the Nineteenth Century.

Notes on General Kennedy's life, furnished by one of his soldiers:

He was born at Camden, S.C., January 5th, 1840. While in his 'teens
he became a member of the Camden Light Infantry, of which J.B. Kershaw
was Captain; elected First Lieutenant in 1860. Upon the secession
of South Carolina, Dece