Joseph Alexander Mabry , Jr . Joseph Alexander Mabry , Jr . ( January 26 , 1826 – October 19 , 1882 ) was an American folk figure and businessman active primarily in Knoxville , Tennessee , in the mid - nineteenth century . Mabry earned a fortune through land and railroad speculation during the 1850s , and was known throughout the South for his herd of race horses . During the Civil War , Mabry donated a large supply of uniforms and tents to the Confederate Army , and was rewarded with the rank of general . For the remainder of his life , he was thus often referred to by the sobriquet , " General Mabry . " In his day , Mabry was one of Knoxville ' s most influential citizens . In 1853 , Mabry and his brother - in - law , William G . Swan , donated the initial acreage for the city ' s Market Square . As president of the Knoxville and Kentucky Railroad , Mabry raised millions of dollars in funding for railroad construction in the region . After the Civil War , Mabry quickly made amends with the city ' s pro - Union businessmen , and continued to champion railroad development . By the 1870s , however , his business ventures had mostly failed , leaving him heavily in debt . In 1882 , Mabry and his son were killed in a shootout with banker Thomas O ' Connor in downtown Knoxville , an incident later chronicled by Mark Twain in his book , " Life on the Mississippi " . The Mabry - Hazen House , built by Mabry in 1858 , still stands in Knoxville . Biography . Early life . Mabry was born near modern Concord in west Knox County , Tennessee , to state legislator and farmer Joseph Alexander Mabry and Alice Hare Scott . In 1837 , the elder Mabry was killed in a duel in Tuscaloosa , Alabama , leaving Mabry to be raised by his older brother , George ( builder of the Mabry - Hood House ) . After completing school in Knox County , Mabry is believed to have attended the Holston Seminary ( in New Market ) , and possibly Tusculum College , although the latter has no record of his attendance . Pre - Civil War businesses . In the early 1850s , Mabry formed a landholding company that speculated in land on the periphery of Knoxville . In 1853 , Mabry and his brother - in - law , attorney William G . Swan , donated what is now Market Square ( then empty pastureland just north of the city limits ) to the city for the establishment of a market house , where regional farmers could sell produce . During the same period , Mabry used his connections in the Tennessee state legislature to obtain funding for railroad construction , acquiring over the years millions of dollars in bonds for the Knoxville and Kentucky Railroad ( by the time the railroad was placed in receivership in 1869 , it had been loaned over $ 2 . 3 million by the state ) . Mabry was named president of this railroad in 1858 , and had begun building the first stretch of this line to Clinton when the Civil War halted construction . Mabry raised prized racehorse s that competed in races across the South , and in 1860 he listed his occupation as " stock raiser . " In 1858 , Mabry built what is now known as the Mabry - Hazen House on a hill in East Knoxville , where he lived for the rest of his life . Mabry also served as a trustee for East Tennessee University ( now the University of Tennessee ) . Civil War . By the early 1860s , Mabry was one of Knoxville ' s largest slaveholders , and like most Democrats , he generally supported secession . During the secession crisis that followed Abraham Lincoln ' s election in November 1860 , Mabry waffled between angrily calling for " immediate secession , " and seeking a peaceful resolution to the crisis . In April 1861 , Mabry chased away a Confederate brass band attempting to interrupt a speech by pro - Unionist Andrew Johnson . The following day , however , Union supporter Charles Douglas was shot by a Confederate soldier on Gay Street in an incident for which Mabry was later charged as an accessory . In December 1861 , William " Parson " Brownlow , the vitriolic pro - Union editor of the " Knoxville Whig " , was jailed by Confederate authorities on charges of treason . While most of Knoxville ' s secessionists celebrated the arrest and called for Brownlow to be hanged , Mabry nevertheless lobbied on Brownlow ' s behalf , and managed to secure his release . Brownlow never forgot this gesture , and during the Reconstruction period following the war , Mabry was one of the few ex - Confederates spared the wrath of Brownlow ' s regime . During the war , Mabry established a supply depot that provided uniforms and tents to Confederate soldiers . He later claimed to have donated $ 100 , 000 to the Confederate cause , although historians point out that he may have earned upwards of one million dollars in contracts with Confederate purchasing agents during the course of the war . Furthermore , when the Union Army occupied Knoxville in September 1863 , Mabry quickly switched sides , and offered his assistance to the occupying forces . He took the United States Oath of Allegiance on January 29 , 1864 . Post - war activities . After the war , Mabry continued championing railroad construction . Working with fellow Confederate - turned - Unionist Charles McClung McGhee , Mabry helped extend the Knoxville and Kentucky Railroad to modern Caryville , providing invaluable railroad access to the lucrative coalfields of western Anderson County . By 1869 , however , the railroad was bankrupt and placed in receivership . Mabry ' s fortunes began to decline , and in subsequent years he fell deeply into debt . Throughout the 1860s , Mabry consistently quarrelled with Knoxville attorney John Baxter , who accused Mabry of opportunism and profiteering during the war . In 1869 , after the Knoxville and Kentucky was placed in receivership , Baxter sued Mabry , claiming that Mabry had practically pillaged the company . The two assailed one another in the press , and filed libel suits and counter libel suits against one another . Finally , on June 13 , 1870 , Mabry approached Baxter in front of the Lamar House Hotel , stated , " Business is business , " and shot Baxter in the wrist . Baxter managed to run away , and for reasons unknown , never pressed charges . Mabry – O ' Connor shootout . In December 1881 , Mabry ' s son , Will , was shot and killed by Constable Don Lusby during a barroom brawl at Snodderly ' s bar on Gay Street . Lusby was arrested for murder , but acquitted of the charge in April 1882 , leaving the Mabry family outraged . For several weeks , Mabry and Lusby exchanged threats , until finally , in August 1882 , a chaotic brawl erupted at the Knox County Courthouse involving Mabry , his son Joseph Mabry , III , Lusby , Lusby ' s father , and several others . During the fracas , Lusby and his father were shot and killed . Mabry and his son were charged with the murder of the Lusbys , but were acquitted . In 1880 , Mabry sold a parcel of land to Mechanics ' National Bank president Thomas O ' Connor under the stipulation that O ' Connor give the land to Mabry ' s son , Will . After Will ' s death , the land became O ' Connor ' s , leading Mabry to suspect that O ' Connor had somehow arranged for Will to be murdered . On October 17 , 1882 , a visibly intoxicated Mabry confronted O ' Connor at the Fair Grounds in South Knoxville , but O ' Connor backed off , saying it was neither the time nor place to settle their dispute . That evening , Mabry sent O ' Connor a message , stating he would " kill him on sight . " On the morning of October 19 , 1882 , O ' Connor stepped outside the Mechanics ' Bank and spotted Mabry walking down Gay Street . O ' Connor quickly grabbed a double - barreled shotgun , and emptied both barrells into Mabry , killing him instantly . Hearing the commotion , Joseph Mabry , III , hurried toward the bank , and upon seeing his father ' s body , drew a pistol and shot O ' Connor . As O ' Connor fell mortally wounded , he managed to fire one final shot , killing the younger Mabry . Along with these three deaths , seven bystanders were wounded by stray shot from O ' Connor ' s gun . Legacy . Mabry and his son , the latter representing the third consecutive generation of the family killed in a gunfight , were buried next to Will Mabry in Old Gray Cemetery after a funeral at the Mabry - Hazen House on October 20 , 1882 . O ' Connor was buried in the same cemetery the following day . Chapter 40 of Mark Twain ' s 1883 book , " Life on the Mississippi " , opens with an account of the Mabry - O ' Connor shootout . Mabry ' s granddaughter , Evelyn Hazen , eventually inherited the Mabry - Hazen House , and lived there until her death in 1987 . The house is now a museum . During the 1960s , Mabry ' s descendants sued the City of Knoxville over the demolition of the Market House on Market Square , which the city replaced with the Market Mall . The family argued this action violated the 1853 Mabry - Swan deed , which stipulated the land must be used for a Market House for farmers , or its ownership would revert to Mabry and Swan , or their heirs .