Danville Leadbetter Danville Leadbetter ( August 26 , 1811 – September 26 , 1866 ) was a career U . S . Army officer and later he served as a Confederate general during the American Civil War . A trained engineer , Leadbetter supervised the construction of forts before and during the war , and is noted for his controversial involvement in the November 1863 Battle of Fort Sanders in eastern Tenneesee . Afterward the conflict he left the United States and lived out the remainder of his life on foreign soil . Early life and career . Danville Leadbetter was born in Leeds , Maine . He attended the United States Military Academy in West Point in July 1832 , and graduated four years later , standing third out of 49 cadets . He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 1st U . S . Artillery on July 1 , 1836 . Leadbetter transferred to the Army Engineers on November 1 , but as a brevet second lieutenant to rank from July 1 . He then returned to the 1st Artillery on December 31 , and went back and forth between the two regiments and ranks throughout 1837 . Leadbetter was promoted to first lieutenant on July 7 , 1838 , and was promoted to captain on October 16 , 1852 . Leadbetter spent 1853 – 57 at Mobile , Alabama , working on the construction and / or repair of the city ' s harbor forts . He resigned from the U . S . Army on the last day of 1857 and settled in Alabama . There he later became the state ' s chief engineer . Civil War service . Choosing to follow his adopted home state and the Confederate cause , entered service in the Confederate States Army on March 16 , 1861 , as a major in the army ' s regular engineers . He was sent to Mobile , Alabama , to oversee the defenses under construction . By August 3 he was the acting chief of the Confederacy ' s Engineer Bureau , a post he would hold until November 11 . Two days later Leadbetter returned to Mobile and continued his work there . He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel that October . Leadbetter was promoted to brigadier general on February 27 , 1862 , and began his Western Theater service . In May he was given command of the 1st Brigade in the District of East Tennessee ( Department Number Two ) , and held this position until July 3 . He next served as the Engineer of various Confederate districts and armies , and was assigned Chief Engineer of the Department then Army of Tennessee in the fall of 1863 . Knoxville . As the Chief Engineer of the Army of Tennessee , Leadbetter was responsible for the layout of the Confederate defensive lines prior the siege and Battle of Chattanooga . During Lt . Gen . James Longstreet ' s Knoxville Campaign that winter against Union - held Knoxville , Tennessee , Leadbetter was sent by army commander Gen . Braxton Bragg to aid the Confederate planning against the Federal positions . Leadbetter arrived on November 25 and consulted with Longstreet , using his prior knowledge of the fortifications in Knoxville he had designed the year before . For two days Longstreet , his subordinates , and Leadbetter reconnoitered the Union lines around Knoxville . After a second look at Fort Sanders , the dominating feature of the Federal defenses , Leadbetter recommended to hit them there . The result of this counsel led to the selection of the attack route and the ultimately unsuccessful Battle of Fort Sanders on November 29 . Leadbetter ' s last Confederate command was the District of the Gulf ( Department of Alabama , Mississippi , & East Louisiana ) from November 22 to December 12 , 1864 . There is no record of him receiving a parole from the U . S . Government when the Civil War ended . Postbellum . After the war Leadbetter fled to Mexico ( as did many other ex - Confederate officers ) and then went to Canada , where he died in Clifton in 1866 . His body was returned to Alabama and buried in Magnolia Cemetery within the city of Mobile , Alabama . Assessment . Exactly how much and the quality of Leadbetter ' s service to the Confederate Army is debatable . Military historian Ezra J . Warner states he was usually highly thought of by several of his superiors ; however Edward Porter Alexander , whom Leadbetter served with during the Knoxville operations , was critical in post - war writings of his involvement and influence in the campaign . Alexander believed that in the selection of the artillery site to attack Fort Sanders , " Leadbetter evidently had no appreciation of the ground " he himself had earlier assessed as unpracticable and very exposed . Alexander believed Longstreet knew better , " but was misled in some way I have never [ been ] able to understand " and that accepting Leadbetter ' s recommendations " robbed him of most of his few remaining chances of victory . " Engineer assignments and dates . Leadbetter was the lead engineer of the following Confederate units , followed by his starting date :