Joseph Brevard Kershaw was born in Camden, South Carolina, on January 5, 1822, and died in Camden on April 13, 1894, the 33rd Anniversary of the Union surrender of Fort Sumter, and is buried in the Quaker Cemetery in Camden.

Kershaw was home-educated and took up law as his preferred area of expertise. He served twice as a state legislator in South Carolina, and voted in support of South Carolina secession at the South Carolina Secession Convention.

When the Union administration threatened invasion, Kershaw assembled a regiment and became part of the Confederate military force as a colonel. Kershaw was present at Fort Sumter, and was promoted to brigadier general after the Battle of Manassas (Bull Run). In 1864, he was placed in command of McLaw's Division, 1st Corps, of the Army of Northern Virginia.

Kershaw and his brigade were present at Fort Sumter, First Manassas, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg and Chickamauga. After Kershaw's old brigade had been detached and sent to fight in South Carolina, Kershaw, leading his division, was captured at the Battle of Five Forks, in spite of official records indicating he surrendered at Saylor's Creek, according to Joseph B. Kershaw S.C.V. Camp # 82 in April, 1865. General Kershaw surrendered to troopers with Custer's cavalry.

After the war, Kershaw returned home to Camden and served as a state court judge from 1877 to 1893.

In 1888, the name of the South Carolina town of Welsh's Station was changed to Kershaw in honor of Major General Joseph Brevard Kershaw.