Jesse J . Finley Jesse Johnson Finley ( November 18 , 1812 – November 6 , 1904 ) was a member of the United States House of Representatives from Florida and the mayor of Memphis , Tennessee . He was also a brigadier general in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War . Early life . Finley was born near Lebanon , Tennessee . He pursued an academic course . He served as captain of mounted volunteers in the Seminole War in 1836 . Finley studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1838 . He moved to Mississippi County , Arkansas , in 1840 , where he practiced law . Finley served in the State senate in 1841 . He moved to Memphis , Tennessee in 1842 , and continued the practice of law . He served as mayor of Memphis in 1845 . He moved to Marianna , Florida , in November 1846 and was elected to the state senate of Florida in 1850 . Finley was a presidential elector on the Whig ticket in 1852 . He served as a judge of the western circuit of Florida from 1853 to 1861 . Civil War . With the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861 , Finley was appointed judge of the Confederate States court for the district of Florida in 1861 . He resigned in March 1862 and volunteered as a private in the 6th Florida Infantry of the Confederate Army , and was successively promoted to be the colonel of the regiment . He took part in the Kentucky Campaign in Maj . Gen . Edmund Kirby Smith ' s column , but his first significant combat came at the Battle of Chickamauga , where his regiment captured a battery of Union artillery , but was unsupported and forced to withdraw with 165 casualties . He was promoted to brigadier general on November 8 , 1863 ( with date of rank of November 16 ) , commanding all of the Florida infantry in the Army of Tennessee . Finley ' s Brigade , part of Maj . Gen . John C . Breckinridge ' s division , was caught up in the Confederate rout at the Battle of Missionary Ridge , but performed well in protecting the rearguard of the army as it withdrew . Army commander Gen . Braxton Bragg expressed his thanks to Finley for " his gallant bearing and prompt assistance in every emergency . " Finley ' s brigade saw heavy fighting in the Atlanta Campaign of 1864 . He was badly wounded at Resaca and placed on medical leave until the army reached Atlanta . At the Battle of Jonesborough , his horse was killed by artillery shell fragments , which severely wounded him again , but he refused to be evacuated to Atlanta until all of his wounded men had been taken care of . Finley was unable to return to his brigade for the rest of the war . He tried to reach it in North Carolina after he recovered from a second wound , but Federal troops blocked his way . He surrendered with Maj . Gen . Howell Cobb in Columbus , Georgia , and was paroled in Quincy , Florida , on May 23 , 1865 . Postbellum career . Following the war , he settled in Lake City , Florida , in 1865 and resumed the practice of law . He moved to Jacksonville , Florida , in 1871 . He successfully contested as a Democrat the election of Josiah T . Walls to the Forty - fourth Congress and served from April 19 , 1876 , to March 3 , 1877 . Finley successfully contested the election of Horatio Bisbee , Jr . , to the Forty - fifth Congress and served from February 20 to March 3 , 1879 . He presented credentials as a Member - elect to the Forty - Seventh Congress and served from March 4 , 1881 , to June 1 , 1882 , when he was succeeded by Horatio Bisbee , Jr . , who contested his election . He presented credentials on December 5 , 1887 , as a Senator - designate to the United States Senate for the term commencing March 4 , 1887 , but was not permitted to qualify for the reason that the appointment was made before the vacancy occurred . Finley died in Lake City , Florida . He was interred in Evergreen Cemetery , Gainesville , Florida .