Jacob H . Sharp Jacob Hunter Sharp ( February 6 , 1833 – September 15 , 1907 ) was a Mississippi lawyer , newspaperman and politician , as well as a general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War . He played a prominent role of several major engagements of the Army of Tennessee in the Western Theater , including the Atlanta Campaign in 1864 where he was several times recognized by his commanders and peers for bravery in combat . Early life and career . Jacob Sharp was born in Pickensville , Alabama , to Elisha Hunter Sharp and his wife , Sallie ( Carter ) Hunt , who originally hailed from Hertford County , North Carolina . His mother was the daughter of former military officer Major Isaac Carter . His brother Thomas L . Sharp would become an antebellum Mississippi State Senator and a colonel in the Confederate Army during the Civil War . He would be killed in action at the Battle of Atlanta in 1864 . As a young child , Sharp moved with this family to Lowndes County , Mississippi . At the age of fifteen , he returned to Pickens County , Alabama , in 1850 and later graduated from the University of Alabama . He subsequently returned to Columbus , Mississippi , and became an attorney . He married Miss Harris of Mississippi , a daughter of Judge Harris . Civil War service . At the start of the Civil War , Sharp enlisted in the 1st Mississippi Battalion , which was later consolidated into the 44th Mississippi Infantry ( also known as Blythe ' s Regiment ) . He rose through the ranks from private to captain and participated in the Battle of Shiloh , Bragg ' s Kentucky Campaign , and the Battle of Murfreesboro . Promoted to colonel in August 1863 , he led a brigade following the promotion of Brig . Gen . Patton Anderson and was in command of it at Chickamauga and the Battle of Missionary Ridge . During the 1864 Atlanta Campaign , General Anderson wrote in his official report on the Battle of Jonesboro , " Sharp ' s gallant Mississippians could be seen pushing their way in small parties up to the very slope of the enemy ’ s breastworks . Officers could be plainly observed encouraging the men to this work . One on horseback , whom I took to be General Sharp , was particularly conspicuous . " Sharp became a brigadier general on July 24 , 1864 , following the wounding of Brig . Gen . William F . Tucker at the Battle of Resaca and given command of the Fifth Brigade in Edward Johnson ' s division of Stephen D . Lee ' s corps of the Army of Tennessee . He participated in the Franklin - Nashville Campaign later that year . In the assault during the Battle of Franklin on November 30 , 1864 , Johnson ' s Division charged the works after dark and Sharp ' s Brigade was distinguished in the desperate struggle , taking three Union battle flags and leaving their dead and wounded in the trenches and along the works . Following the Battle of Nashville in December , the defeated Army of Tennessee recrossed the Tennessee River on December 26 . Sharp ' s Brigade was then furloughed until February 12 , 1865 , when they were reactivated . In April , he and his men surrendered at Bennett Place following the Carolinas Campaign . Postbellum activities . After the war ended later that year , Sharp returned home . He resumed his legal career and became a newspaper editor , publishing the Columbus " Independent " . He also served in the Mississippi House of Representatives for four years and late in his life lived for a while in Jackson , Mississippi . Sharp died in Columbus , Mississippi and is buried there in Friendship Cemetery .