Alfred Iverson , Jr . Alfred Iverson , Jr . ( February 14 , 1829 – March 31 , 1911 ) was a lawyer , an officer in the Mexican - American War , a U . S . Army cavalry officer , and a Confederate general in the American Civil War . He served in the 1862 – 63 campaigns of the Army of Northern Virginia as a regimental and later brigade commander . His career was fatally damaged by a disastrous infantry assault at the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg . General Robert E . Lee removed Iverson from his army and sent him to cavalry duty in Georgia . During the Atlanta Campaign , he achieved a notable success in a cavalry action near Macon , Georgia , capturing Union Army Maj . Gen . George Stoneman and hundreds of his men . Early years . Iverson was born in Clinton , Jones County , Georgia . He was the son of Alfred Iverson , Sr . , United States Senator for Georgia and a fierce proponent of secession , and Caroline Goode Holt . The senator decided on a military career for his son and enrolled him in the Tuskegee Military Institute . Iverson ' s career as a soldier began at the age of 17 , when the Mexican - American War began . His father raised and equipped a regiment of Georgia volunteers and young Iverson left Tuskegee to become a second lieutenant in the regiment . He left the service , in July 1848 , to become a lawyer and contractor . In 1855 , his Mexican - American War experience gained him a commission as a first lieutenant in the 1st U . S . Cavalry regiment . In that role he served in efforts to suppress the violence known as Bleeding Kansas . Civil War . Early assignments . At the start of the Civil War , Iverson resigned from the U . S . Army and received a commission from his father ' s old friend , Confederate President Jefferson Davis , as colonel of the 20th North Carolina Infantry , a unit he played a strong role in recruiting . His regiment was initially stationed in North Carolina , but was called to the Virginia Peninsula in June 1862 , for the Seven Days Battles . He distinguished himself at the Battle of Gaines ' s Mill , in the division commanded by Maj . Gen . D . H . Hill , by leading the only successful regiment of the five that were assigned to capture a Union artillery battery . Iverson was severely wounded in the charge and his regiment took heavy casualties . Unfortunately for Iverson and the Confederacy , this battle would turn out to be the high point of his military career . Iverson recovered in time to rejoin the Army of Northern Virginia in the Maryland Campaign . In the Battle of South Mountain , his entire brigade was forced to retreat after their brigade commander , Brig . Gen . Samuel Garland , was mortally wounded . Iverson ' s regiment ran away at the Battle of Antietam a few days later , although he was able to rally them to return to the battle . After the battle , Iverson was promoted to brigadier general on November 1 , 1862 , and given command of the brigade , causing the more senior colonel who had been in temporary command to resign from the Army . His first assignment commanding his new brigade was at the Battle of Fredericksburg , but he was assigned to the reserve and saw no action . Conflict soon resulted , however . When he attempted to name a new colonel for the 20th North Carolina , a personal friend from outside of the regiment , 26 of his field officers signed a letter of protest against the action . Iverson attempted to arrest all 26 officers , but eventually cooled off . His friend was not placed as the new colonel , but Iverson petulantly refused all winter to promote any of the other candidates for the position . At Chancellorsville , Iverson ' s brigade participated in Lt . Gen . Thomas J . " Stonewall " Jackson ' s famous flanking march , suffering heavy casualties ( including Iverson himself , wounded in the groin by a spent shell ) , but managed to get less credit and notice than two other brigades in the line . Returning to the rear to get support for his flank , many of his officers concluded that he was shirking . His reasonable performance at Gaines ' s Mill the previous year forgotten , rumors swirled that he had achieved his command only by family political influence . Gettysburg . The nadir of Iverson ' s career was at the Battle of Gettysburg , where on July 1 , 1863 , his brigade of North Carolinians unknowingly marched into a tragic ambush to the northwest of town . The division of Maj . Gen . Robert E . Rodes began its attack from Oak Hill with the brigades of Col . Edward A . O ' Neal and Iverson . The attack fell apart for multiple reasons . Rodes acted somewhat hastily , seeing limited Union forces at his front , but that reinforcements were arriving from the town . Douglas Southall Freeman faulted Rodes for selecting two brigade commanders " who had not distinguished themselves in the battles of May " [ i . e . , Chancellorsville ] . Because of a misunderstanding , O ' Neal used only three of his four regiments and he attacked on a narrow front at a place different than Rodes had carefully indicated . Although the two brigades were meant to attack in support of each other , there is confusion about who was supposed to move first . O ' Neal ' s ineffective attack was repulsed , leaving Iverson ' s flank exposed . But the most significant problem was that the two brigade commanders chose not to lead their brigades in person , remaining behind their advance . After the battle there were rumors among the North Carolinians that Iverson was too drunk to lead , but his battle report indicated that he deliberately chose to remain behind and historians present no evidence that alcohol was involved in his decision . In the words of the historian of the 23rd North Carolina , " unwarned , unled as a brigade , went forward Iverson ' s deserted band to its doom . " As O ' Neal ' s men fell back , Iverson ' s 1 , 350 men began to drift left toward a stone wall behind which veteran regiments of Brig . Gen . Henry Baxter ' s Union brigade were hidden . As the Confederates approached within 50 to 100 yards of the wall , the Union soldiers opened fire , hitting at least 500 men , felling them almost in parade - ground alignment . Most of the survivors of three of Iverson ' s regiments were captured by a Union countercharge . From Iverson ' s vantage point , it seemed as if his brigade was surrendering , and he exclaimed to Rodes that his men were " cowards " . Many of his men lay prone in battle formation while others waved white handkerchiefs . He did not realize that the former were dead or wounded and the latter surrounded and trapped under heavy fire . Upon reaching the front after conferring with Rodes , Iversen may have suffered a nervous breakdown , overwhelmed by the fate his men had suffered , possibly as many as 900 casualties , one of the most significant brigade losses at Gettysburg . ( The men were later buried in shallow graves on this spot on Oak Ridge , which is known to locals as Iverson ' s Pits , and is a favorite site for believers in the supernatural . ) Iverson was " unfit for command " for the rest of the battle . He commanded fragments of his brigade attached to the brigade of Brig . Gen . Stephen Dodson Ramseur . During the retreat from Gettysburg , Iverson ' s brigade fought credibly against Union cavalry in Hagerstown , Maryland , but Gen . Robert E . Lee wanted nothing more to do with the tarnished officer . At Williamsport , Maryland , Lee assigned Iverson as temporary provost marshal , which removed him from combat command , reassigning his men to another brigade . Georgia and North Carolina . He was removed altogether from the Army of Northern Virginia in October 1863 , ordered back to Georgia to replace Maj . Gen . Henry R . Jackson in command of the state forces , headquartered at Rome . He spent several months reorganizing the Georgia troops in preparation for the defense of the state against Maj . Gen . William T . Sherman ' s Atlanta Campaign . In 1864 , Iverson commanded a cavalry brigade in Maj . Gen . William T . Martin ' s division , Maj . Gen . Joseph Wheeler ' s cavalry corps , during the Atlanta Campaign . On July 29 , near Macon , Iverson ' s 1 , 300 cavalrymen defeated about 2 , 300 under Maj . Gen . George Stoneman , taking about 200 prisoners . During Iverson ' s pursuit , he and his men captured an additional 500 at Sunshine Church on July 31 , including Stoneman . Iverson was on duty in North Carolina at the end of the war . As commander in Greensboro he watched his garrison slip away until it was unable to stop fugitive soldiers from plundering part of the city . Postbellum career . After the war , Iverson engaged in business at Macon , moving to Florida in 1877 to farm oranges . He died in Atlanta , Georgia , and is buried there in Oakland Cemetery .