William F . Brantley William Felix Brantley ( March 12 , 1830 – November 2 , 1870 ) was an American lawyer and soldier . He served as a Confederate general in the American Civil War , mainly serving in the Western Theater during the conflict . He is also noted for the manner of his death , murdered as part of a family feud in 1870 . Early life and career . William Felix Brantley was born in 1830 in Greene County , Alabama , but moved with his family to Mississippi while still a child . He was a son of William Brantley , originally from Georgia , and his wife Marina Jolly of Alabama . By 1850 Brantley was studying law in Carroll County , Mississippi . Two years later he began practicing as a lawyer in now non - existent city of Greensboro in Webster County , Mississippi . On December 27 , 1855 , Brantley married Cornelia S . Medley , and the couple would have three children together . They were : Mary Thomas , born September 5 , 1858 , in Macon and died June 11 , 1943 , in St . Louis , Missouri ; Joseph Ransom , born September 5 , 1859 in Choctaw County and died there on September 19 , 1869 ; and an unnamed infant born in 1861 and died on June 7 of that year . By 1860 Brantley was a lawyer in Choctaw County , Mississippi , where he lived with his brother Dr . John Ransom Brantley . In 1861 he represented his county during the Mississippi state secession convention . Civil War service . When the American Civil War began in 1861 , Brantley chose to follow his home state and the Confederate cause . On April 20 he entered his state ' s forces as a captain in the Mississippi Militia . On May 21 Brantley joined the Confederate Army when his company ( called the Wigfall Rifles ) was added to the 15th Mississippi Infantry as Company D , of which he was elected its captain . In the spring of 1862 he was a captain in the 29th Mississippi Infantry , and fought at the Battle of Shiloh on April 6 , where he was wounded . That May Brantley was promoted to lieutenant colonel , and on December 13 he was promoted to colonel in command of the 29th Mississippi . He then fought during the Battle of Stones River , in which he was wounded again , hit in a shoulder on December 31 . Brantley led his regiment ( now part of the Army of Tennessee ) during the Battle of Chickamauga from September 19 – 20 , 1863 , and then with distinction in the Chattanooga Campaign that October and November . In his commander ' s report about the Battle of Lookout Mountain , Brantley was praised for his conduct : Also during 1863 Brantley ' s wife Cornelia died . He led the 29th Mississippi into the Atlanta Campaign in the spring and summer of 1864 . In the inconclusive Battle of Resaca on May 13 – 15 he was again noted for his performance , " commended for gallantry , after leading a charge on the enemy that repulsed Federal assaults three times . " During the Battle of Atlanta on July 22 , his brigade commander , Col . Samuel Benton , was mortally wounded , hit in his chest and right foot by a shell . Brantley then took command of the brigade , and would lead it for the rest of the war . On July 26 Brantley was promoted to the rank of brigadier general . He then led his brigade during the Franklin - Nashville Campaign in late 1864 . At Battle of Franklin on November 30 , Brantley ' s command consisted of the 24th , 27th , 29th , 30th , and the 34th Mississippi Infantry , plus a dismounted cavalry company . In 1865 Brantley ' s command and the remnant of the Army of Tennessee participated in the Carolinas Campaign , and he surrendered along with Gen . Joseph E . Johnston in North Carolina on April 26 . He was paroled on May 1 from Greensboro and returned home to Mississippi . Postbellum and death . After the war ended in 1865 Brantley resumed his law practice in Mississippi . He also married a woman named Julia , and an unnamed son was born 1869 , but the child died on November 10 that same year . Brantley was part of a family feud , and this led to his own death . An account of his involvement follows : Brantley died of a shotgun blast at Winona , located in Montgomery County , Mississippi , in 1870 . He was buried in a cemetery " behind the church at Old Greensboro , about three miles north of Tomnolen , Webster County , Mississippi . "