During the Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse on May 12, 1864, Daniel led his brigade in a fierce counterattack on the "Muleshoe" (also known as the "Bloody Angle"), trying to recapture that important position from the Army of the Potomac, which had captured it at dawn. He was struck in the abdomen by a Minie ball, inflicting a mortal wound.
He died in a field hospital the next day and his body was taken to Halifax and buried in the Old Colonial Cemetery.
Unknown to Daniel, Robert E. Lee had recommended his promotion to major general just prior to his death.
Fellow North Carolinian and close friend, Brigadier General Bryan Grimes later wrote, "He was decidedly the best general officer from our state. Though in all possibility I gained a brigadier at his death, I would for the sake of the country always remained in the status quo than the country should have lost his services."
General Grimes named one of his sons Junius Daniel Grimes (who would become a well-known Washington, D.C. attorney in the late 19th century).
The Junius Daniel Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy in Weldon, North Carolina , was named in Daniel's honor.
--Old Secesh
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