Johnson K . Duncan Johnson Kelly Duncan ( March 19 , 1827 – December 18 , 1862 ) was one of the few generals in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War who was born and raised in the North . An antebellum officer in the U . S . Army , Duncan commanded the Confederate forts defending New Orleans during the Union Navy ' s successful attacks that led to the fall of the South ' s largest city . Early life and career . Duncan was born and raised in rural Chanceford Township in southeastern York County , Pennsylvania , which borders the broad Susquehanna River . He was appointed to the United States Military Academy on July 1 , 1845 , and graduated from West Point in June 1849 . A good student , he ranked 5th in a class of 43 cadets . With his high academic standing , he was breveted as a second lieutenant and assigned to the Second U . S . Artillery in July of that year . Not long afterwards , on October 31 , he was given the full rank of second lieutenant and reassigned to the Third Artillery . He saw his first combat action serving in the Florida hostilities against the Seminole Indians . From 1850 until 1853 , he was attached to Forts Sullivan and Preble in Maine , primarily serving on garrison duty . Promotion came relatively slowly in the antebellum army , and officers often resigned to take up civilian pursuits . Duncan Johnson was no exception . On Christmas Eve in 1853 , his promotion to first lieutenant came through , but he was frustrated with army life . He was the assistant on the Northern Pacific railroad exploration until December 1854 . He tendered his resignation from the U . S . Army on January 31 , 1855 , and entered private life in Louisiana . Duncan became the Superintendent of Construction and Repairs in New Orleans , in charge of the branch mint , marine hospital , quarantine warehouse , and the Pas a l ’ Outre boarding station . Duncan , in collaboration with P . G . T . Beauregard , completed the work on the New Orleans Branch Mint in early 1859 . From then until 1860 , he was professionally occupied as a civil engineer , surveyor , and architect in New Orleans , becoming also , in 1860 , Chief Engineer of the Board of Public Works of the state of Louisiana . Civil War . When the Southern states began seceding from the Union , Duncan reentered military service , this time as an enemy of the United States Army . He enlisted in the CSA forces as a colonel of the 1st Louisiana Regular Artillery Regiment and rose in rank and status rather quickly . Promoted to brigadier general of Louisiana troops on January 7 , 1862 , he was assigned to command the defenses of New Orleans and the Lower Mississippi , and he quickly became widely known as one of the finest artillerists in that region . He commanded Forts Jackson and St . Philip at the time of their capture by Admiral David Farragut on April 25 , 1862 , and became a prisoner of war . After being exchanged , Duncan was assigned to the staff of General Braxton Bragg , becoming Chief of Staff . Johnson K . Duncan contracted a malarial fever and died far from his native York County at Knoxville , Tennessee , at the age of only 36 . He was buried in the McGavock Confederate Cemetery on the Carnton Plantation in Franklin , Tennessee .