William Wirt Adams William Wirt Adams ( March 22 , 1819 – May 1 , 1888 ) was a United States district court judge for the state of Mississippi , a soldier for the Republic of Texas , and a Confederate officer and general in the American Civil War . Early life and career . Adams was born in Frankfort , Kentucky , to Anna Weisiger Adams and Judge George Adams ( a personal friend to American statesman and orator Henry Clay ) . He was a brother of Daniel Weissiger Adams , another future Civil War general . In 1825 his family moved to and settled in Natchez , Mississippi . His father was a district court judge for the state of Mississippi from 1836 to 1839 . William attended college at Bardstown College in Bardstown , Kentucky . Upon graduation in 1839 , he enlisted as a private for the Republic of Texas under Edward Burleson , received a commission to adjutant of the regiment , and was involved in the Military campaign of northeast Texas against Native Americans settled there . He returned to Mississippi where he married Sallie Huger Mayarant in 1850 . There he pursued banking and planting in Jackson , Mississippi , and Vicksburg , Mississippi . From 1850 to 1861 he owned and operated a successful business and , from 1858 to 1860 , he served two sessions in the Mississippi House of Representatives . Civil War . In 1861 after Mississippi seceded from the Union , Adams was appointed commissioner from Mississippi to Louisiana . As such , he helped the latter to secede from the Union . In February of that year , the Confederate States of America formed in Montgomery , Alabama . President Jefferson Davis offered Adams a cabinet position there as Confederate Postmaster General , but he declined . After settling his banking interests , he formed and enlisted the " Wirt Adams " Cavalry Regiment into the Confederate States Army at Memphis , Tennessee , in August 1861 . Later , in September , his command was ordered to Columbus , Kentucky , and then , in October , to Headquarters , General Albert Sidney Johnston , Bowling Green , Kentucky . From there they fought a rear - guard action in the Confederate retreat from Kentucky to Nashville , Tennessee , and subsequently to Corinth , Mississippi . Later , at the Battle of Shiloh , they were positioned on the extreme right flank of the infantry and fought with it near the Tennessee River at Greer ' s Ford . Then they were on outpost duty during the Siege of Corinth . Later , four of the regiment ' s companies aggressively attacked and pursued Union Army elements for two miles , near Booneville , Mississippi . As a Colonel , Adams , alongside General Sterling Price , later combined his regiment with an Arkansas regiment under Colonel William F . Slemons at Iuka , Mississippi . Upon leaving General Price , Adams captured a trainload of Union Army troops from Corinth . His orders next took him Washington County , Mississippi . There he guarded local plantations and observed troop movements in and around Vicksburg , Mississippi . After the fall of Vicksburg , both his regiment and the 28th Mississippi Cavalry harassed and skirmished units under General William Tecumseh Sherman who were advancing on Confederate - held positions . Commissioned as brigadier general in September 1863 , Adams was assigned command of a brigade composed of both his regiment and the command of Colonel Logan . In February 1864 , he was ordered to attack General Sherman ' s advance on Meridian , Mississippi . Near the end of the war , he operated alongside General Nathan Bedford Forrest in Alabama . He and his brigade surrendered near Ramsey Station , Sumter County , Alabama , on May 4 , 1865 . His farewell address was delivered to his command two days later . His parole is dated Gainesville , Alabama , May 12 , 1865 . Postbellum career . Upon conclusion of the Civil War , Adams resided in Vicksburg and Jackson , Mississippi . In 1880 he was appointed as a Mississippi state revenue agent . He resigned in 1885 and took the position of postmaster in Jackson by appointment of President Grover Cleveland . He died in Jackson on May 1 , 1888 , in a street encounter with a local newspaper editor , John Martin , who had bitterly criticized Adams in his paper , and is buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Jackson .