James T . Holtzclaw James Thadeus Holtzclaw ( December 17 , 1833 – July 19 , 1893 ) was an Alabama lawyer , railroad commissioner , and general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War . He played a prominent role of several major engagements of the Army of Tennessee in the Western Theater . Early life and career . James T . Holtzclaw was born in McDonough in rural Henry County , Georgia , in the winter of 1833 . His parents , Elijah and Mary Holtzclaw , were from Chambers County , Alabama , where young Holtzclaw was raised and educated . He obtained his primary education at the local Presbyterian high school , East Alabama Institute , in Lafayette . In 1853 , he received an appointment to the United States Military Academy , but declined and did not formally enter the school . In December , he began to study law in Montgomery , Alabama , under the famed pro - secession " Fire - Eater " William Lowndes Yancey . He passed his bar exam in 1855 , and established a private practice in Montgomery , Alabama . A fellow lover of fine horses , he became a lifelong friend and supporter of Yancey . He married Mary A . " Molly " Cowles , a daughter of another prominent Montgomery resident . Civil War service . At the outbreak of the Civil War in early 1861 , Holtzclaw served as a lieutenant in a local militia company , the Montgomery True Blues . He participated in the capture of the U . S . Navy yard in Pensacola , Florida . In May , he enlisted in the Confederate army as a lieutenant in the 18th Alabama Infantry . In August of that same year , he was promoted to major and then in December to lieutenant colonel . In April 1862 at the Battle of Shiloh in Western Tennessee , Holtzclaw was seriously wounded in his right lung during the first day of fighting . He was initially thought to have been mortally wounded , but made an amazing recovery and was back in his duties after only ninety days . He was promoted to colonel and served for a time in Montgomery . In 1863 , he was again wounded , this time when he was thrown from his horse during the Battle of Chickamauga in northern Georgia . However , the injury was not serious enough to force him from the field . In November 1863 , he assumed command of a brigade in Stewart ' s Division in Second Corps of the Army of Tennessee and led it during the Chattanooga Campaign , including the Battle of Lookout Mountain . For a time , he temporarily led the brigade of Henry Clayton . On July 7 , 1864 , Holtzclaw received a promotion to brigadier general and assumed permanent command of Clayton ' s Brigade . He took part in John Bell Hood ' s campaign in Tennessee and was wounded a third time , this time a severe contusion on his ankle , during the Battle of Franklin on December 17 . However , he maintained his duties and his brigade acted as rear guard for the army following the disastrous Battle of Nashville . In January 1865 , he was assigned command of a division comprising his brigade and that of Mathew Ector in the Department of the Gulf and the Department of Alabama , Mississippi , and Eastern Louisiana . Subsequently , Holtzclaw assumed command of the garrison at Spanish Fort and led the defenses of Mobile and Montgomery against Union forces . Following the collapse of the Confederacy , he was paroled on May 10 in Meridian , Mississippi , and formally pardoned on November 4 . Postbellum activities . Holtzclaw resumed his legal career in the firm of Judge & Holtzclaw in Montgomery and became prominent in the local and state Democratic Party . He took an interest in the railroad industry and served as an associate state railroad commissioner shortly before his death . He was also the grand commander of the local chapter of the Freemasons . James T . Holtzclaw died at his home in Montgomery at the age of sixty and is buried in the city ' s Oakwood Cemetery .