Edmund Pettus Edmund Winston Pettus ( July 6 , 1821 – July 27 , 1907 ) , was an American lawyer , soldier , and legislator . He served as a Confederate general during the American Civil War , during which he was captured three times , as well as a U . S . Senator after the war . The Edmund Pettus Bridge crossing the Alabama River in Selma , Alabama was named in his honor , later becoming a landmark of the African - American Civil Rights Movement . Early life and career . Edmund W . Pettus was born in 1821 in Limestone County , Alabama . He was a son of John Pettus and Alice Taylor Winston , brother of John J . Pettus , and a distant cousin of Jefferson Davis . Pettus was educated in local public schools , and later graduated from Clinton College located in Smith County , Tennessee . Pettus then studied law in Tuscumbia , Alabama , and was admitted to the state ' s bar association in 1842 . Shortly afterward he settled in Gainesville and began practicing as a lawyer . On June 27 , 1844 , Pettus married Mary L . Chapman , with which he would have three children . Also that year he was elected solicitor for the seventh Judicial Circuit of Alabama . During the Mexican – American War in 1847 – 49 , Pettus served as a lieutenant with the Alabama Volunteers , and after hostilities he moved to California . By 1853 he had returned to Alabama , serving again in the seventh circuit as solicitor . He was appointed a judge in that circuit in 1855 until resigning in 1858 . Pettus then relocated to the now extinct town of Cahaba in Dallas County , Alabama , where he again took up work as a lawyer . Civil War service . In 1861 Pettus chose to follow the Confederate cause . He was chosen as a delegate to the secession convention in Mississippi , where his brother John was serving as governor . Pettus then help organize the 20th Alabama Infantry , and was elected as one of its first officers . On September 9 he was made the regiment ' s major , and on October 8 he became its lieutenant colonel . From then on Pettus served in the Western Theater of the American Civil War . During the Stones River Campaign , he was captured by Union soldiers on December 29 , 1862 . He was exchanged a short time later , and was captured again on May 1 , 1863 . At the time Pettus was part of the surrendered garrison that had been defending Port Gibson in Mississippi , however he managed to escape and return to his own lines . He was promoted to colonel on May 28 , and given command of the 20th Alabama . During the 1863 Vicksburg Campaign , Pettus and his regiment was part of the force defending Confederate control of the Mississippi River . When the garrison was surrendered on July 4 , Pettus was again captured , and would be a prisoner until his exchange on September 12 . Six days later he was promoted to the rank of brigadier general , and on November 3 he was given brigade command in the Army of Tennessee . Pettus and his brigade participated in the Chattanooga Campaign , posted on the extreme southern slope of Missionary Ridge on November 24 , and fought during the action the following day . Pettus and his command took part in the 1864 Atlanta Campaign , fighting in the battles of Kennesaw Mountain on June 27 , Atlanta on July 22 , and Jonesborough from August 31 to September 1 . Beginning on December 17 , he temporarily led a division in the Army of Tennessee . Afterward during the 1865 Carolinas Campaign , Pettus was sent to defend Columbia , South Carolina , and participated in the Battle of Bentonville from March 19 – 21 . Pettus was wounded in this fight , hit in his right leg during the battle ' s first day . On May 2 he was paroled from Salisbury , North Carolina , and was pardoned by the U . S . Government on October 20 . Postbellum career and legacy . After the war , Pettus returned to Alabama and resumed his law practice in Selma . In 1877 , he led the Ku Klux Klan as " Grand Dragon of the Realm of Alabama " . On March 4 , 1897 , he was elected to the U . S . Senate , and was re - elected in 1903 . Pettus was serving this term when he died at Hot Springs , North Carolina , in the summer of 1907 . His body was brought back to Alabama and was buried in Live Oak Cemetery located in Selma . Pettus has been described by military historian Ezra J . Warner as " a fearless and dogged fighter and distinguished himself on many fields in the western theater of war . " and after his promotion to a general officer " he followed with conspicuous bravery every forlorn hope which the Confederacy offered . . . " Likewise historian Jon L . Wakelyn summed up his military career by saying " . . he volunteered for service in the Confederate Army and distinguished himself in the western command . " As a U . S . Senator , Pettus was " the last of the Confederate brigadiers to sit in the upper house of the national Congress . " The Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma became a civil rights landmark when on March 7 , 1965 , a band of civil rights marchers on their way to Montgomery crossed the bridge , only to be attacked by state troopers on the other side . This event has since been called Bloody Sunday .