Collett Leventhorpe Collett Leventhorpe ( May 15 , 1815 – December 1 , 1889 ) was a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War . Early life . Collett Leventhorpe was born May 15 , 1815 to Thomas Leventhorpe and Mary Collett in Exmouth , Devon , England . Thomas died , probably of tuberculosis , about nine weeks after Collett ' s birth . Leventhorpe ' s ancestry could be traced back to the 14th century and was connected to royalty through marriage and service . Leventhorpe studied at Winchester College until the age of fourteen . For the next three years he was educated by a private tutor . In 1832 Leventhorpe purchased the rank of ensign in the 14th Regiment of Foot ( the Buckinghamshire ' s ) , in the army of King William IV . Leventhorpe was stationed in Ireland for the next three years . He purchased a lieutenancy on November 2 , 1835 , and was stationed in the British West Indies . After several years of duty there he spent a year in Canada . Leventhorpe reached the level of Captain of Grenadiers , on November 16 , 1842 . He then transferred to the 18th Regiment of Foot and on October 24 , 1842 he sold his Captaincy in order to travel to South Carolina on business for an English company . Antebellum life . In 1843 , while on an extended holiday in the United States , Leventhorpe traveled to Asheville , North Carolina , where he met his future wife , Louisa Bryan , daughter of General Edmund Bryan , of Rutherfordton , NC . Leventhorpe entered the Medical College of Charleston in Charleston , South Carolina . He graduated at the top of his class then married Louisa on April 1 , 1849 and the couple made their home in Rutherfordton . Interestingly , Leventhorpe never practiced medicine . In 1849 , Leventhorpe applied for and was granted United States citizenship . Civil War . When North Carolina seceded Leventhorpe offered his military services to his adopted state . His community standing and military background won him the rank of colonel in the 34th North Carolina Infantry . He spent the early months of the War drilling and disciplining the regiment and by December he was given temporary command of a brigade . During the winter of 1861 - 62 he was at Fort Branch near Hamilton , North Carolina guarding the Roanoke River and the Weldon Railroad Bridge . In April 1862 he was transferred to the 11th North Carolina , elected its colonel and was sent to the Atlantic coast to head the District of Wilmington . Later that year he manned the defenses along Virginia ' s Blackwater River . Returning to North Carolina in December , he led his troops impressively at the Battle of White Hall , which slowed Federals under Brigadier General John G . Foster in their advance toward Goldsboro , North Carolina . In mid - December , Leventhorpe ' s 11th North Carolina was attached to the brigade of Brig . Gen . J . Johnston Pettigrew . During this period , Leventhorpe complained that he was being held back from higher command because of his foreign birth and lack of political connections , though he was offered a command in the cavalry but declined it due to his lack of experience in that branch . After helping repulse an attack during the Siege of Washington , in April 1863 , Pettigrew ' s Brigade joined General Robert E . Lee ' s Army of Northern Virginia for the Gettysburg Campaign as part of Major General Henry Heth ' s division in Lieutenant General A . P . Hill ' s Corps . With the rest of Heth ' s command , the 11th North Carolina participated in the July 1 fighting at the Battle of Gettysburg . Leventhorpe was seriously wounded in fighting against the Iron Brigade after flanking the 19th Indiana south of Herbst ' s Woods . He was wounded in the left arm , shattering the bone , and hip and was removed from the field . Leventhorpe was captured by Union cavalry during the retreat to Virginia . The Union surgeon tending to him detected that gangrene had set in his wound and suggested amputation but Leventhorpe refused , so submitted to allowing the surgeon to cauterize the wound with nitric acid and Leventhorpe refused anesthesia , saying he " would have died , rather than let an enemy see that a Confederate Officer could not endure anything without a complaint . " His arm discharged bone fragments for three months . He survived the operation , but was held at Fort McHenry and Point Lookout for eight months before he was exchanged , with friends in England sending him money to purchase necessities while held in prison . After he was released , he resigned his commission with the 11th North Carolina and took command of one of the North Carolina Home Guard brigades tracking down deserters . He was later commissioned brigadier general of state troops and he defended the Roanoke River , Fort Branch , and the Petersburg & Weldon Railroad . His state generalship made him the Confederacy ' s only English born soldier to hold that rank . On February 18 , 1865 , he also became a Brigadier General in the Confederate ranks , but 3 weeks later he refused the appointment , choosing instead to remain in state service . His troops defended Raleigh when Major General William T . Sherman marched through North Carolina . He and his men retreated to Greensboro , where they surrendered on April 26 , 1865 . Post - War career . After the war , Leventhorpe was involved in several business enterprises and politics following the War . He and his wife moved to New York City and also traveled frequently to England . Leventhorpe was sympathetic to the Ku Klux Klan during Radical Reconstruction , though no record exists of his joining the Klan . He eventually settled in Wilkes County , North Carolina , where he died on December 1 , 1889 .