Colton Greene Colton Greene ( July 7 , 1833 – September 23 , 1900 ) was an American businessman and soldier . He served as a Confederate general during the American Civil War , mostly leading cavalry units . After the war he pursued several successful civic projects and public functions in Tennessee . Early life and career . Colton Greene ( real name possibly George Colton Greene ) was born July 7 , 1833 in SC , according to his postwar application for a passport . Little is known of his parents or education , and he reportedly never married nor would discuss his past with anyone . One story , current in Memphis at the time , has it that he killed a man in South Carolina , and then came west . By 1857 he was living in St . Louis , Missouri , where he was involved in politics with the state ' s Democratic Party . Greene was a wealthy and successful wholesale grocer in St . Louis by 1860 . Also that year Greene became a partner in the St . Louis firm of Hoyt & Co . Civil War service . Choosing to follow the Confederate cause , Greene was active in the pro - secession movement in the border state of Missouri just before the American Civil War began . He was assigned as an aide - de - camp to Governor Claiborne Fox Jackson in 1861 , and helped him to coordinate the activities of the secessionists . Greene was appointed a captain in the Missouri State Guard in 1861 , and was sent by Jackson along with Capt . Basil W . Duke to Montgomery , Alabama , ( then capital of the Confederacy ) to ask the recently elected Confederate President Jefferson Davis for artillery . It was hoped these guns could be used to attack the Federal arsenal in St . Louis , however the captains arrived with their artillery too late to help in the effort , and the cannon were captured by Union troops . Despite this setback , Greene soon afterwards aided Gov . Jackson to drill recruits that had gathered in Jefferson City , as well as missions that summer into Arkansas and to Richmond , Virginia , to seek support for invading and reclaiming Missouri , now increasingly under Union control . On August 10 , 1861 , Greene saw his first combat when he served on the staff of Brig . Gen . James H . McBride during the Battle of Wilson ' s Creek near Springfield , Missouri . On October 28 , Greene was appointed colonel in the Missouri State Guard and assigned as assistant adjutant to the Confederate 7th District in Missouri , commanded by McBride . When that commander fell ill in early 1862 , Greene was ordered to lead the district , which he re - organized into a brigade consisting of two volunteer regiments . His brigade participated in the Confederate defeat during the Battle of Pea Ridge on March 7 – 8 near Bentonville , Arkansas . In the battle , Greene ' s command was part of Maj . Gen . Sterling Price ' s Division in Maj . Gen . Earl Van Dorn ' s army . Sometime during 1861 , Greene was also appointed a brigadier general in the Missouri State Guard . After the fight at Pea Ridge , Greene accompanied Price ' s force into Mississippi that spring . He requested and received permission to re - enter Missouri to gather recruits , and by the fall he had collected and trained a mounted force . Named the 3rd Missouri Cavalry , Greene was appointed its colonel in the regular Confederate Army on November 4 , 1862 . Greene led the 3rd Missouri ( part of Gen . John S . Marmaduke ' s division of the Army of the West ) at the Battle of Clark ' s Mill on November 7 at Vera Cruz , located about ten miles southeast of Ava in Douglas County , Missouri . In 1863 , Greene led Marmaduke ' s cavalry brigade ( including the 3rd Missouri ) during the Union victory at the Battle of Helena in Phillips County , Arkansas , on July 4 . Green then participated during the battles of the 1864 Red River Campaign in the Trans - Mississippi Theater . He fought in the Camden Expedition and the Battle of Poison Spring around Lee Plantation , about 10 miles from Camden , Arkansas , on April 18 , 1864 . His command was in reserve in the action and entered a hole in the Confederate line that was caused by Union artillery fire . Greene plugged that hole and sealed the victory , routing the remaining Union defensive line . This fight is noted for accusations of the murdering of wounded Federal United States Colored Troops as they surrendered , left behind when the Union forces retreated . Greene led his brigade ( part of Marmaduke ' s Division in Edmund Kirby Smith ' s Army of Arkansas ) during the Battle of Jenkins ' Ferry in Grant County , Arkansas , on April 30 , 1864 . In the Confederate loss , Greene reported a casualty total of 50 ; seven dead and 43 wounded . During the time Green was leading a brigade in 1864 he was an acting brigadier general in the Confederate States Army . On June 6 , 1864 , Greene fought during the Battle of Old River Lake in Chicot County , Arkansas . At Ditch Bayou Greene attempted unsuccessfully to delay Union forces that were approaching Lake Village , and then he withdrew to nearby Parker ' s Landing . Total Confederate casualties in the loss , including Greene ' s soldiers , was reportedly 100 men . Later that summer Greene was arrested and charged with disobeying orders , accused of failing to surrender his mules to the Confederate government . In the ensuing court - martial that fall , he was exonerated of the charges and returned to his command . After the trial , Greene fought during Sterling Price ' s unsuccessful 1864 Missouri Expedition , better known as Price ' s Raid . Marmaduke had been promoted and his brigade went to Brig . Gen . John B . Clark , leaving Greene to lead the 3rd Missouri Cavalry once more . When Clark was given divisional command after the raid , Greene again led a brigade . Postbellum . When the war ended in 1865 , Green returned to his life in St . Louis . There he found that his former partner , Stephen Hoyt , and others had seized his business interests and property , leaving Greene in poverty . He then moved to Memphis , Tennessee , to rebuild , taking up work as a banker and an insurance agent for Memphis office of the Knickerbocker Life insurance Co . of New York . Greene established his own insurance firm in 1871 and soon prospered . He then founded the State Savings Bank of Memphis , as well as organizing support in 1886 for the city ' s first municipal waterworks with the publication of the " Report on a Public Water Supply for the City of Memphis , February 23 , 1886 " , which he edited . Greene arranged the first Memphis Mardi Gras ( described as " highly successful " ) and also helped found the Memphis Public Library . Greene died in Memphis in the fall of 1900 , and was buried there in Elmwood Cemetery .