James Patton Anderson James Patton Anderson ( February 16 , 1822 – September 20 , 1872 ) was an American physician , lawyer , and politician , most notably serving as a United States Congressman from the Washington Territory , a Mississippi state legislator , and a delegate at the Florida state secession convention to withdraw from the United States . He also served in the American Civil War as a general in the Confederate States Army , serving in the Army of Tennessee . Early life and career . " Patton " Anderson was born near Winchester in Franklin County , Tennessee . As a young boy , he moved with his family to Kentucky in 1831 , where he lived for most of his childhood , and then to Mississippi in 1838 . He attended the medical school of Jefferson College in Canonsburg , Pennsylvania in 1840 , before a family financial crisis forced him to withdraw a short time before graduation in 1842 . Soon after his return home , Anderson began practicing medicine . He studied law at Montrose Law School in Frankfort , Kentucky , and was admitted to the bar in 1843 , establishing a practice in Hernando in DeSoto County , Mississippi . He also entered the state ' s militia forces with the rank of captain in 1846 . He later served in the Mexican - American War , commanding the 2nd Battalion , Mississippi Rifles with the rank of lieutenant colonel as of February 22 , 1848 . That July he was mustered out of the volunteer service . Anderson later entered politics , serving in the Mississippi House of Representatives and befriending Jefferson Davis , a fellow former Mississippi volunteer officer in the U . S . Army . He also found work as a gold prospector . When Davis became Secretary of War under President Franklin Pierce , he appointed Anderson as U . S . Marshal for the Washington Territory . Anderson relocated there to Olympia and served as marshal for several years before being selected to represent the territory in the 34th Congress as a Democrat . After his two - year term , concerned that the Union was collapsing , he moved back to the South to the state of Florida , living as a plantation owner near Monticello ; he entitled his estate " Casa Bianca . " He was an active participant in the Florida state secession convention . Civil War . Just prior to the start of the American Civil War , Anderson was appointed a captain in the Florida Militia on January 11 , 1861 . Soon after Florida ' s secession , Anderson was one of three deputies ( delegates ) from Florida to the Provisional Confederate Congress , beginning February 4 and resigned on May 2 . He accepted a commission as the colonel of the 1st Florida Infantry on April 1 , and initially served under Braxton Bragg in Pensacola . There he commanded the 2nd Brigade in the Army of Pensacola from October 12 to January 27 , 1862 . He was promoted to the rank of brigadier general on February 10 , 1862 , and was assigned to the Western Theater , commanding a brigade in the Battle of Shiloh in April . He fought with the Army of Tennessee during the battles of Perryville , Stones River , Chickamauga , and Chattanooga , before being promoted to major general on February 17 , 1864 . After briefly serving as commander of the Confederate District of Florida , Anderson returned to the field in July 1864 during the Atlanta Campaign . He led a division in Leonidas Polk ' s Corps in the Army of Tennessee at the battles of Ezra Church , Utoy Creek , and in the early stages of the Battle of Jonesboro before suffering a serious jaw wound on the evening of August 31 . Temporarily unfit for duty , he was relieved of his command and sent home to Monticello . He later returned to duty in April 1865 during the Carolinas Campaign , against his physicians ' orders , and served with his men for the remainder of the war until their surrender to Union forces at Greensboro , North Carolina , in the spring of 1865 . He was paroled on May 1 , and would be pardoned by the U . S . Government on December 2 , 1866 . Postbellum life . Following the war , Anderson resided in Memphis , Tennessee , although he faced difficulty working due to his injuries sustained during the war . He sold insurance for a while and eventually became the editor of a small agricultural newspaper . He was collector of delinquent state taxes for Shelby County . Anderson eventually died in relative poverty at his home in Memphis at the age of 50 , due primarily to lingering effects of his old war wound . He was buried there in the city ' s Elmwood Cemetery , Memphis , Tennessee .