Robert Plunket Maclay Robert Plunket Maclay ( February 19 , 1820 – May 20 , 1903 ) was a Confederate States Army major during the American Civil War ( Civil War ) . On May 13 , 1864 , he was assigned to duty as a brigadier general to rank from April 30 , 1864 by General E . Kirby Smith . He was never officially appointed by Confederate President Jefferson Davis and confirmed by the Confederate Senate to that rank . Early life . Robert Plunket Maclay was born in Armagh , Mifflin County , Pennsylvania on February 19 , 1820 . His parents were Samuel Plunket Maclay and Elizabeth ( Johnston ) Maclay . His grandfather and granduncle were United States Senators . An uncle was a United States Congressman . Maclay attended Lewiston Academy after which he became a cadet at the United States Military Academy at West Point , New York in 1836 . He graduated in the class of 1840 , ranking 32nd of 42 class members . He was assigned as a second lieutenant to the 8th United States Infantry Regiment . He fought in the Second Seminole War in the early 1840s . As an officer with Major General Zachary Taylor ' s forces , Maclay was wounded at the Battle of Resaca de la Palma , Texas on May 9 , 1846 , at the start of the Mexican - American War . To help him recuperate , Maclay was sent home on recruiting duty . He returned to the army in time to participate in garrison duty defending Puebla , Puebla which the U . S . Army occupied in 1847 and left at the end of the war in 1848 . On January 22 , 1849 , Maclay was promoted to captain . He was on garrison duty in Texas for eleven years and was for a time the commander of Fort Inge . Maclay married Virginia Medora Nutt in 1853 . She died in 1856 and he inherited plantations in Louisiana and Mississippi from her . Maclay resigned as captain in the U . S . Army on December 31 , 1860 in order to manage his Louisiana properties . American Civil War service . Robert P . Maclay was born in the North and had relatives in the Union Army . Nonetheless , he sympathized with his neighbors and in - laws in the South . He joined the Point Coupee Militia Regiment of the Louisiana Militia as a captain on December 16 , 1861 . He was appointed major and inspector general of the 6th Louisiana Militia Brigade on March 1 , 1862 . It was not until October 31 , 1862 that Maclay was appointed to a position in the Confederate States Army as major of artillery under the new head of the Confederate Trans - Mississippi Department , Lieutenant General Theophilus H . Holmes . Holmes assigned Maclay to the staff of Major General John George Walker , commander of an infantry division from Texas , on January 2 , 1863 . Maclay was assistant adjutant general and inspector general for Walker and later became chief of staff for the division , which fought in Louisiana and Arkansas at the Battle of Milliken ' s Bend , Red River Campaign , and Battle of Jenkins ' Ferry in 1863 and 1864 . General E . Kirby Smith succeeded Holmes as commander of the Trans - Mississippi Army on January 14 , 1863 and as commander of the Trans - Mississippi Department on February 9 , 1863 . General Smith assigned Maclay to duty as a brigadier general on May 13 , 1864 , to rank from April 30 , 1864 . Despite Smith having no authority to promote or appoint officers to general officer grade , Smith gave Maclay command of the 1st ( Waul ' s ) Brigade in John G . Walker ' s division . Later , Smith gave Maclay command of Horace Randal ' s division . Maclay was never appointed by Confederate President Jefferson Davis or confirmed by the Confederate Senate . Smith ' s appointment of a staff major to brigade command over various colonels caused dissatisfaction despite Maclay being held in high regard by his men . In January 1865 , Smith gave Maclay a 60 - day leave of absence in order to deal with the situation . There is no record that Maclay ever returned to duty . Aftermath . After the war , Maclay returned to his Mississippi and Louisiana properties as a planter . He lived near New Roads , Louisiana in Pointe Coupee Parish and was active in the Episcopal Church . Robert Plunket Maclay died on May 20 , 1903 at the home of his daughter , Levy Plantation in Pointe Coupee Parish . He is buried near Fordoche , Louisiana .