Leroy Augustus Stafford Leroy Augustus Stafford ( April 13 , 1822 – May 8 , 1864 ) was a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War . Early life . Leroy A . Stafford was born on Greenwood plantation , near Cheneyville , Rapides Parish , Louisiana . He was the eldest son of wealthy land owner Leroy Stafford and his second wife , Elizabeth Calliham . His father died when he was thirteen years old . Stafford was educated at Bardstown , Kentucky , and went to college in Nashville , Tennessee . He returned to Louisiana and married Sarah Wright when he was 21 in 1843 . They had 10 children — George Waters , Sally , Elizabeth Eloise , David Theophilus , Cornelia Knox , Julia Laura , Jesse Wright , Rosalind , Leroy Augustus , and Kate Keary . Life in the Military . Stafford operated plantations in Rapides Parish for a couple of decades , and served as the sheriff of the parish in 1846 – 47 before leaving for the Mexican - American War . He enlisted in the " Rapides Volunteers " ( Company E , 3d Louisiana Infantry Regiment ) and later served in Captain Ben McCullough ' s Texas Rangers . With Louisiana ' s secession in 1861 , Stafford formed the " Stafford Guards " , a militia unit that was soon mustered into Confederate service as Company B , 9th Louisiana Infantry with Stafford as its first captain . Stafford rose through the ranks and became the regiment ' s colonel in early 1862 when Richard Taylor was promoted . With the death of Brig . Gen . William E . Starke early in the Battle of Antietam , Stafford was elevated temporarily to command of the brigade . He suffered a minor wound in his foot during the battle , but soon recovered . In the reorganization of the Army of Northern Virginia in the fall of 1862 , Stafford and the 9th Louisiana regiment were reassigned to Harry T . Hays brigade , the Louisiana Tigers . Stafford served at the battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg in 1863 . In October of that year , he was promoted to brigadier general and assigned command of the 2nd Louisiana Brigade . Death and legacy . Stafford was mortally wounded on May 5 , 1864 , at the Battle of the Wilderness in northern Virginia . A Minié ball pierced his spinal cord . He was carried to Richmond , where he died three days later in the Spottswood Hotel . He was one of three Confederate generals killed in the Wilderness , along with John M . Jones and Micah Jenkins . Stafford left behind a wife and nine children . He was buried with military honors in Richmond in Hollywood Cemetery . Among the attendees at his funeral was Confederate President Jefferson Davis . In 1886 , his remains were exhumed and reinterred on his Greenwood plantation in Rapides Parish . Honors . The Gen . Leroy A . Stafford Camp # 358 of the Sons of Confederate Veterans in Alexandria , Louisiana , is named in honor of the fallen general . The Gen . Leroy Stafford Camp # 3 of the United Confederate Veterans in Shreveport , Louisiana , was named for General Stafford as well . It was formed in 1891 and existed until the last member died in 1944 . In its 53 years of existence , over 250 Confederate Veterans were members . Many of Stafford ' s descendants were named after him .