William W . Allen William Wirt Allen ( September 11 , 1835 – November 21 , 1894 ) was a major general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War . He rose through the ranks to command the Cavalry Corps of the Army of Tennessee in the last days of the war . Early life and career . William W . Allen was born in Montgomery , Alabama , to a prominent planter , Wade Hampton Allen , who had moved to the state from South Carolina in 1818 . His mother , Eliza Sayre , was a native of Franklin County , Ohio . Young Allen was educated in the city ' s schools before entering Princeton College in New Jersey . After graduation in 1854 , he studied law , but chose instead to return to plantation life . On August 13 , 1857 , in Montgomery , he married Susan P . Ball ( 1840 – 1915 ) , and they raised eleven children . Civil War service . After Alabama passed its Ordinance of Secession and Fort Sumter was fired upon , Allen enlisted in the newly raised Confederate army and was elected as a lieutenant in Company A , Montgomery Mounted Rifles . The following year , when the state organized the 1st Alabama Cavalry , Allen became its first major on March 18 , 1862 , and saw action at the Battle of Shiloh in April along the Tennessee River . He was subsequently promoted to colonel of the regiment before the Kentucky Campaign , and led the 1st Alabama Cavalry at the Battle of Perryville , where he received a slight wound . Later that year , he was severely wounded in the Battle of Murfreesboro while in command of a brigade . Out of action for several months while recuperating , Allen returned to field duty in early 1864 . On February 26 of that year , he was promoted to brigadier general and took command of a brigade of cavalry at Dalton , Georgia . His brigade was composed of the 1st , 3rd , 4th , 9th , 12th , and 51st Alabama Cavalry regiments , and they served in the corps of Joseph Wheeler in the Army of Tennessee . Allen led the brigade throughout the Alabama Campaign . In August , a Georgia cavalry brigade was added to Allen ' s force , and later , Anderson ' s Brigade . Allen , now in charge of a full division , participated in the Atlanta Campaign in the summer , as well as contesting Sherman ' s March to the Sea . In early 1865 , Allen ' s Division fought in the Carolinas Campaign , during which President Jefferson Davis appointed him as a major general . Allen and his men surrendered at Salisbury , North Carolina , on May 3 . Postbellum career . Allen returned home to Alabama and resumed his agricultural pursuits . He was also involved in the railroad industry and later served as the state ' s Adjutant General during the administration of President Grover Cleveland . He also was for a time a United States Marshal . Allen helped found and organize the Confederate Survivors Association of Montgomery . His bullet - holed uniform coat and his battle - flag are buried in the cornerstone of the Confederate monument in Montgomery . In 1893 , William W . Allen moved to Sheffield , Alabama , where he died . He is buried in Birmingham ' s Elmwood Cemetery . The Maj . Gen . William Wirt Allen , Chapter 199 , of the Military Order of the Stars and Bars is named in his honor and memory .