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Fixed fortifications are monuments to the stupidity of man. -- General George Patton Jr |
The most popular Confederate division commander was the "Stonewall of the West"-Patrick R. Cleburne. Appropriately, the native of County Cork was born on St. Patrick's Day and became the only product of the Emerald Isle to become a Confederate major general. Failing the language requirements for a druggist's degree, he served with the British 4lst Regiment of Foot as an officer for a number of years before purchasing his way out.
Emigrating to America, he became a druggist and then a highly successful property attorney. He joined the Confederacy, and his military assignments included: captain, Company F, lst Arkansas State Troops (early 1861); colonel, lst Arkansas State Troops (early 1861); colonel, 15th Arkansas (designation change July 23, 1861); commanding 2nd Brigade, lst (Hardee's) Division, Army of Central Kentucky, Department #2 (fall 1861 - March 29, 1862); commanding 2nd Brigade, Hardee's Division, Army of the Mississippi July 2 - August 15, 1862); commanding 2nd Brigade, Buckner's Division, Left Wing, Army of the Mississippi (August 15-30, October - October 8, and October - November 20, 1862); commanding 2nd Brigade, Buckner's Division, Hardee's-Breckinridge's Corps, Army of Tennessee (November 20 - December 1862); major general, CSA (December 20, 1862 to rank from the 13th); commanding the division (December 1862 - November 30, 1863); commanding division, Hardee's (Polk's old)- Cheatham's Corps, Army of Tennessee (November 30, 1863 - January 1864, January-August 3 1, and September 2 - November 30, 1864); and commanding the corps (August 31 - September 2, 1864). At the head of the Yell Rifles, he served in Arkansas before being named as commander of the state unit. Transferred with William J. Hardee to central Kentucky, he was promoted to brigadier general and fought at Shiloh and during the siege of Corinth. Taking part in the Kentucky Campaign, he was wounded at both Richmond and Perryville. Promoted to major general, he commanded a division at Murfreesboro, during the Tullahoma Campaign, and at Chickamauga. A favorite of Jefferson Davis, he is credited with covering the retreat from Chattanooga after his splendid defense of Tunnel Hill. That winter he proposed that in order to reinforce the Confederate armies slavery would have to be abolished in a "reasonable time" and blacks be recruited for military service on the promise of their freedom. The proposal was rejected by the Richmond authorities and would not be passed by the Confederate Congress until a couple of months after Cleburne's death. Cleburne went on to command his division, and briefly the corps, through the Atlanta Campaign and then with Hood into middle Tennessee. At the battle of Franklin on November 20, 1864 he became the senior of six Confederate generals to die in this fight, which did little more than commit mass suicide against the Union works. His death was a calamity to the Confederate cause perhaps only exceeded by the death of Stonewall Jackson. First buried near Franklin, Cleburne's remains were later removed to Helena, Arkansas. |
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This Day in History
1865:
Confederate General Joseph Johnston officially surrenders his army to General William T. Sherman at Durham Station, North Carolina.
1865: John Wilkes Booth is killed when Union soldiers track him down to a Virginia farm 12 days after he assassinated President Abraham Lincoln. 1865: Joseph E. Johnston surrenders the Army of Tennessee to Sherman. 1937: The ancient Basque town of Guernica in northern Spain is bombed by German planes. 1952: Armistice negotiations are resumed. 1971: The U.S. command in Saigon announces that the U.S. force level in Vietnam is 281,400 men, the lowest since July 1966. 1972: President Nixon, despite the ongoing communist offensive, announces that another 20,000 U.S. troops will be withdrawn from Vietnam in May and June, reducing authorized troop strength to 49,000. |