Humphrey Marshall ( general ) Humphrey Marshall ( January 13 , 1812 – March 28 , 1872 ) was a four - term antebellum United States Congressman and a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army and a Confederate Congress man during the American Civil War . Early life and career . Marshall was born in Frankfort , Kentucky , to John Jay ( 1785 - 1846 ) and Anna Birney Marshall . John Jay Marshall was a legislator , law reporter and judge , whose father , also named Humphrey Marshall , was a member of the United States Senate from Kentucky . This elder Humphrey Marshall was a nephew of Chief Justice John Marshall ' s father , Thomas Marshall . The younger Humphrey Marshall ' s uncle James G . Birney was a well known abolitionist , and two first cousins , William Birney and David B . Birney , served as major general s in the Union army . Another cousin later served as the Lieutenant Governor of Michigan . Marshall graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point , New York , in 1832 , was assigned to the mounted rangers , served in the Black Hawk War , and was breveted as a second lieutenant . However , he resigned from the Army in April 1833 to study law . He was admitted to the bar in 1833 and practiced in Frankfort for two years before moving to Louisville . He became captain in the Kentucky militia in 1836 , major in 1838 , and lieutenant colonel in 1841 . In 1836 he raised a company of volunteers and marched to defend the Texas frontier against the Indians , but his force disbanded on hearing of General Sam Houston ' s victory at San Jacinto . In 1846 he became colonel of the 1st Kentucky Cavalry during the Mexican - American War , where he fought at the Battle of Buena Vista as a part of Zachary Taylor ' s Army of Occupation . Returning from Mexico , Marshall engaged in agricultural pursuits in Henry County , Kentucky . He was elected from Kentucky ' s 7th District as a Whig to the Thirty - first and Thirty - second Congresses and served from March 4 , 1849 , until his resignation on August 4 , 1852 . During this time , he supported Henry Clay ' s Compromise of 1850 . Marshall was then appointed Minister to China from 1852 – 54 . Returning to Kentucky , he was elected on the American Party ticket to the Thirty - fourth and Thirty - fifth Congresses ( 1855 – 59 ) . He was renominated by acclamation , but declined to run for a fifth term . In 1856 , he was a member of the national council of the American Party in New York City , where he was instrumental in abolishing all secrecy in the political organization of the party . Civil War and later career . Marshall ' s native Kentucky was a border state . Marshall , a moderate in his political views , supported John C . Breckinridge for president in the Election of 1860 and advocated the commonwealth ' s neutrality . When his efforts failed and Union troops occupied Kentucky , Marshall enlisted in the Confederate army with the rank of brigadier general , and aided the recruitment effort . He was stationed in western Virginia , but saw limited combat . In January 1862 , he lost a minor battle in eastern Kentucky to future President James A . Garfield . Garfield ' s Federal cavalry had chased off Marshall ' s cavalrymen at Jenny ' s Creek near Paintsville , Kentucky . Marshall withdrew to the forks of Middle Creek , two miles from Prestonsburg , on the road to Virginia . Garfield attacked on January 9 , precipitating the Battle of Middle Creek . He eventually forced Marshall to withdraw after a day ' s fighting . Frustrated by his inability to secure a good assignment , Marshall briefly resigned his commission in June 1862 . However , he soon returned to the army and participated in Braxton Bragg ' s Kentucky operations in the fall of 1862 . Resigning again from the army in June 1863 , he moved to Richmond , Virginia , and continued the practice of law . In November , he was elected to the Second Confederate Congress as a representative from Kentucky ' s 8th District . With the collapse of the Confederacy , he briefly fled to Texas . After the war , Marshall moved to New Orleans . His citizenship was restored by President Andrew Johnson in December 1867 . He later returned to Louisville and resumed his law practice . He died in Louisville and was buried in the State Cemetery in his native Frankfort . Author daughter . Humphrey Marshall ' s daughter , Nelly Nichol Marshall ( born in Louisville , Kentucky , 8 May 1845 ; died in Washington , D . C . , 19 April 1898 ) , was an author . In addition to numerous poems and many magazine articles , she published novels entitled : " Eleanor Morton , or Life in Dixie " ( New York , 1865 ) , " Sodom Apples " ( 1866 ) , " Fireside Gleanings " ( Chicago , 1866 ) , " As by Fire " ( New York , 1869 ) , " Wearing the Cross " ( Cincinnati , 1868 ) , " Passion , or Bartered and Sold " ( Louisville , 1876 ) , and " A Criminal through Love " ( 1882 ) . She married Col . John J . McAfee , of the Confederate army , in 1871 .