Civil War Confederate Brigadier General. Born and raised in Massachusetts, he was against both slavery and secession, but was unwilling to support the Union cause and served the Confederacy during the Civil War. In 1831 he left Massachusetts and ventured west where he joined a party of trappers and hunters on expeditions that led him to Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico before settling in Fort Smith, Arkansas in 1834. In Arkansas he became a teacher, editor and owner of a newspaper as well as a successful lawyer. He was an advocate for the Native American Indians and helped garner a three-million-dollar settlement for the Choctaw Indians from the United States Senate. With the outbreak of the Mexican War he joined the United States Army, commanding a troop of volunteer cavalry that was credited for its honorable performance at the Battle of Buena Vista. After the war he assumed his law practice. In 1849 he was admitted, along with Abraham Lincoln, to practice before the United States Supreme Court. At the start of the Civil War he assisted Confederate General Ben McCulloch in formulating alliances American Indian tribes. After being commissioned Brigadier General on November 21, 1861, he led a brigade of Native Americans at the Battle of Pea Ridge. His men did not perform well and allegations made regarding his troops' conduct forced him to resign his commission, be arrested and be briefly imprisoned in Texas. Distrusted and held in contempt by many Southerners and considered a traitor by many Northerners he spent several years after the war as a wanderer. He lived in New York in 1865 but fled to Canada after being accused of inciting an Indian revolt. President Andrew Johnson pardoned him in August of 1865 and he returned to Arkansas where he was charged with treason. After vindicating himself he moved to Memphis, Tennessee to practice law and edit a newspaper before settling in Washington DC where he continued his practice and edited “The Patriot”. An avid reader who loved the classics and became proficient in Hebrew, Greek, Latin and French, he wrote “Prose Sketches and Poetry Written in the Western Country” (reportedly the first published work dealing with the area west of Arkansas), “Hymns to God and Other Poems”, “Lyrics and Love Songs”, “Maxims of the Roman Law” and “Some of the Ancient French Law, as Expounded and Applied in Doctrine and Jurisprudence and Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry”. He died at the house of the Scottish Rite Temple in Washington DC at the age of 81.
Civil War Confederate Brigadier General. Born and raised in Massachusetts, he was against both slavery and secession, but was unwilling to support the Union cause and served the Confederacy during the Civil War. In 1831 he left Massachusetts and ventured west where he joined a party of trappers and hunters on expeditions that led him to Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico before settling in Fort Smith, Arkansas in 1834. In Arkansas he became a teacher, editor and owner of a newspaper as well as a successful lawyer. He was an advocate for the Native American Indians and helped garner a three-million-dollar settlement for the Choctaw Indians from the United States Senate. With the outbreak of the Mexican War he joined the United States Army, commanding a troop of volunteer cavalry that was credited for its honorable performance at the Battle of Buena Vista. After the war he assumed his law practice. In 1849 he was admitted, along with Abraham Lincoln, to practice before the United States Supreme Court. At the start of the Civil War he assisted Confederate General Ben McCulloch in formulating alliances American Indian tribes. After being commissioned Brigadier General on November 21, 1861, he led a brigade of Native Americans at the Battle of Pea Ridge. His men did not perform well and allegations made regarding his troops' conduct forced him to resign his commission, be arrested and be briefly imprisoned in Texas. Distrusted and held in contempt by many Southerners and considered a traitor by many Northerners he spent several years after the war as a wanderer. He lived in New York in 1865 but fled to Canada after being accused of inciting an Indian revolt. President Andrew Johnson pardoned him in August of 1865 and he returned to Arkansas where he was charged with treason. After vindicating himself he moved to Memphis, Tennessee to practice law and edit a newspaper before settling in Washington DC where he continued his practice and edited “The Patriot”. An avid reader who loved the classics and became proficient in Hebrew, Greek, Latin and French, he wrote “Prose Sketches and Poetry Written in the Western Country” (reportedly the first published work dealing with the area west of Arkansas), “Hymns to God and Other Poems”, “Lyrics and Love Songs”, “Maxims of the Roman Law” and “Some of the Ancient French Law, as Expounded and Applied in Doctrine and Jurisprudence and Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry”. He died at the house of the Scottish Rite Temple in Washington DC at the age of 81.
Bio by: Bigwoo
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