Civil War Confederate Brigadier General. A native of Iredell County, North Carolina, he graduated in 1843 from Emory and Henry College of Emory, Virginia. Shortly thereafter he uprooted his life and "without money" traveled to Northern Mississippi and settled in the frontier town of Houston. He became a teacher upon his arrival in Houston and it was at this time that he started the pursuit of becoming a lawyer. After the necessary certification process, he was admitted to the Mississippi Bar and began a law practice. With the onset of Civil War in 1861, he began his service for the Confederacy as a Captain in the "Chickasaw Guards", a Mississippi State Militia unit. Assigned to the brigade of General Barnard Elliott Bee , he was recognized for his leadership as a member of Company K of the 11th Mississippi during the 1st Battle of Manassas. In May 1862 he return to Pontotoc, Mississippi where he had the responsibility of the organization of the 41st Mississippi Infantry. He was made Colonel of this newly organized regiment and led it with distinction at the Battle of Perryville. He received a severe wound to his right arm during this Kentucky battle. He recovered in time to participate in the battles of Chickamauga and Chattanooga with the responsibilities of a brigade commander. His promotion to Brigadier General is dated March 1, 1864. During the Atlanta campaign, he was surveying General W.T. Sherman's federals at the Battle of Resaca when an exploding artillery shell shattered his left arm, which forced his retirement from active field service. His arm would remain useless for the remainder of his life. He served out the Civil War in an administrative role in the District of Southern Mississippi and East Louisiana. With the conclusion of the war, he received a parole in Jackson Mississippi on May 15, 1865. Resuming his profession as a lawyer, he was elected to a two-year term in 1876 to the Mississippi Statehouse but failed during his attempt to become a United States Congressman in 1880. He was lying on his bed perusing a letter from his son when a knock on his bedroom window interrupted him. After calling out "who's there?" he was shot in the chest, killing him. His murder was thought to be in retaliation to his exposure of a misappropriation of a trust fund. The true murderer remained unknown after a jury acquitted three defendants.