Civil War Confederate Brigadier General, US Congressman. Born in Madison County, Kentucky, he migrated to Mississippi in 1830 from his family's Alabama home, where he had studied law privately, having been admitted to the bar in 1829. Appointed in 1839 by the Martin Van Buren administration to the Federal bench in Mississippi, he was a United States district judge for 22 years before the Civil War. His early public career also included terms in the state legislature and a brief, stormy period in the United States House of Representatives marked by an argument, nearly ending in a duel, with Henry A. Wise, a future Confederate governor of Virginia. A States-Rights advocate, he was a delegate to the 1860 Democratic convention and a member of the 1861 Mississippi secession convention. When the Civil War began, he joined state troops as a Private, rose to Major, then Colonel of the 14th Mississippi. At the Battle of Fort Donelson, he served with the rank of Brigadier General of Mississippi State Troops. He was shot through the right lung and surrendered with the garrison. After exchange, he served under Major General Sterling Price in the Battle of Iuka and Corinth. He was made Major General of Mississippi State Troops in 1863, then was commissioned Brigadier General in the Confederate army that following spring. His last assignment, under cavalry commander Brigadier General James R. Chalmers in the Department of Mississippi and East Louisiana, ended on December 27, 1864, when he was wounded in a skirmish at Eqypt, Mississippi, and his left arm was amputated. After the war he returned to the state legislature and fought Reconstruction policies. He later would die in Aberdeen, Mississippi, where he was practicing law.
Civil War Confederate Brigadier General, US Congressman. Born in Madison County, Kentucky, he migrated to Mississippi in 1830 from his family's Alabama home, where he had studied law privately, having been admitted to the bar in 1829. Appointed in 1839 by the Martin Van Buren administration to the Federal bench in Mississippi, he was a United States district judge for 22 years before the Civil War. His early public career also included terms in the state legislature and a brief, stormy period in the United States House of Representatives marked by an argument, nearly ending in a duel, with Henry A. Wise, a future Confederate governor of Virginia. A States-Rights advocate, he was a delegate to the 1860 Democratic convention and a member of the 1861 Mississippi secession convention. When the Civil War began, he joined state troops as a Private, rose to Major, then Colonel of the 14th Mississippi. At the Battle of Fort Donelson, he served with the rank of Brigadier General of Mississippi State Troops. He was shot through the right lung and surrendered with the garrison. After exchange, he served under Major General Sterling Price in the Battle of Iuka and Corinth. He was made Major General of Mississippi State Troops in 1863, then was commissioned Brigadier General in the Confederate army that following spring. His last assignment, under cavalry commander Brigadier General James R. Chalmers in the Department of Mississippi and East Louisiana, ended on December 27, 1864, when he was wounded in a skirmish at Eqypt, Mississippi, and his left arm was amputated. After the war he returned to the state legislature and fought Reconstruction policies. He later would die in Aberdeen, Mississippi, where he was practicing law.
Bio by: Ugaalltheway
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