Alfred Jefferson Vaughan , Jr . Alfred Jefferson Vaughan , Jr . ( May 10 , 1830 – October 1 , 1899 ) was an American civil engineer , planter , soldier , and writer . He served as a Confederate general during the American Civil War , in which he was wounded twice , and fought mainly in the Western Theater of the conflict . After the war Vaughan resumed farming , was active in Confederate veteran affairs , and was a published author . He also was part of the early formation of the Grange Movement in the United States . Early life and career . Alfred J . Vaughan , Jr . was born in 1830 in Dinwiddie County , Virginia , a son of Alfred Jefferson Vaughan and his wife Dorothy . He entered the Virginia Military Institute ( VMI ) on July 17 , 1848 , and graduated 15th in a class of 29 cadets on July 4 , 1851 . Throughout his final year he served as " a cadet captain and company commander " . While attending VMI , Vaughan was a classmate of William Y . C . Humes , who stood 2nd in the class and would also serve as a Confederate general in the Civil War . Vaughan took up civil engineering as his chosen profession , and initially moved to Saint Joseph , Missouri , working as a surveyor for the Hannibal and St . Joseph Railroad . Soon afterward he relocated to Southern California , where he served as deputy U . S . surveyor . He then briefly was on the staff of an official for the Northern Pacific Railroad . In this work Vaughan served as the private secretary of Alfred Cumming ( uncle of Confederate general Alfred Cumming ) who represented the railway in peace treaty talks with the Indians living on the upper portion of the Missouri River . Finally settling in Marshall County , Mississippi , Vaughan took up work as a farmer . There he met Martha Jane Hardaway ( 1838 – 1911 ) and they were married on November 6 , 1856 , having eight children together . He was still working as a planter in Marshall County when the war began in 1861 . Civil War service . When the Civil War began in 1861 , Vaughan chose to follow his home and adopted states and the Confederate cause , despite his strong Unionist feelings . He raised a company of fellow Mississippians for service , however the state was unable to arm and equip them , so Vaughan led them north to Moscow , Tennessee . There his men ( dubbed the " Dixie Rifles " ) were added to the 13th Tennessee Infantry Regiment , and Vaughan entered the Confederate Army as its captain that May . That June the regiment was reorganized , and on June 7 he was elected its lieutenant colonel . Vaughan and his regiment first saw action during the Battle of Belmont on November 7 , 1861 . On December 4 he was promoted to colonel and was given command of the 13th Tennessee . He then fought during the Battle of Shiloh on April 6 – 7 , 1862 , and was lightly wounded on the first day of the battle . Vaughan ' s conduct in this fight has been described as : " . . . he led his troops in a charge against the Union right , routing an Ohio regiment and causing a nearby battery to abandon 3 of its guns . " Beginning that fall he was given brigade command in the Army of Tennessee and both its previous namings ( Army of Kentucky and of Mississippi ) . Recovering from the injury , Vaughan participated in the Battle of Richmond on August 29 – 30 , and the Battle of Perryville on October 8 . He also fought during the Battle of Stones River ( also called the Battle of Murfreesboro ) from December 31 to January 2 , 1863 . Vaughan ' s most notable service was during the Battle of Chickamauga on September 17 – 18 , 1863 , after which he was given a field promotion personally by Confederate President Jefferson Davis " for conspicuous gallentry . " Vaughan was promoted to brigadier general effective November 18 , 1863 , " in recognition for his service to the Confederacy at Chickamauga . " An account of his performance in that fight follows : During the Chattanooga Campaign that followed , Vaughan fought at the Battle of Missionary Ridge on November 25 , 1863 . He then participated in the Atlanta Campaign of 1864 , and on July 4 Vaughan led his brigade during a skirmish at Vining ' s Station just after the Battle of Marietta on the previous day . Up to this point he had escaped serious injury , despite having at least eight horses shot from under him in combat . However , in this fight he was severely wounded when his leg was cut off by an exploding artillery shell , ending his active military service with the Confederate States . On May 10 , 1865 , Vaughan was paroled from Gainesville , Alabama , and returned home . Postbellum career and death . After the American Civil War ended in 1865 , Vaughan returned to farming in Mississippi . In 1872 he moved to Tennessee , where into 1873 he participated in the Grange Movement at Memphis . He served as a general agent of the movement , responsible for the organization of state granges in Mississippi , Arkansas , and Tennessee . Vaughan also opened a mercantile business while in Memphis . In 1878 Vaughan was elected clerk of the criminal court of Shelby County , Tennessee , and was re - elected in 1882 . From 1897 until his death Vaughan has the head of the United Confederate Veterans chapter in Tennessee . Also in 1897 he published his book " Personal Record of the Thirteenth Regiment , Tennessee Infantry " . He died two years later in Indianapolis , Indiana , and his body was returned to Memphis for burial in the city ' s Elmwood Cemetery .