James Holt Clanton James Holt Clanton ( January 8 , 1827 – September 27 , 1871 ) was an American soldier , lawyer , and legislator . He enlisted in the United States Army for service during the Mexican – American War , and later was a Confederate Army general during the American Civil War . Following the war he returned to practicing law and later was murdered in a private feud in Tennessee . Early life and career . Clanton was born in 1827 in Columbia County , Georgia , a son of Nathaniel Holt Clanton . In 1835 the family relocated to Macon County , Alabama , where Clanton was raised and educated . Later he attended the University of Alabama located in Tuscaloosa , but he did not graduate . Clanton chose instead to join the U . S . Army and participate in the war with Mexico . In 1846 Clanton first enlisted for six months as a private in the company of Capt . Rush Elmore , which belonged to Col . Bailie Peyton ' s regiment . When that term expired , Clanton joined the company of Capt . Preston Brooks of the Palmetto Regiment . Clanton and his regiment reached Mexico City following the September 1847 battle and after the occupation there had ended he returned home to Alabama . After the war Clanton resumed studying law and in 1850 was admitted to Alabama ' s bar association , settling in Montgomery . Later Clanton served in the state ' s legislature , and in 1860 he served as an elector on the U . S . Presidential ticket of John Bell and Edward Everett . American Civil War service . Although Clanton personally was opposed to secession , he chose to follow his home state and the Confederate cause in 1861 . He first served along the Florida coast until the fall , when he was appointed a captain in the Alabama Cavalry on November 12 . Soon after Clanton was given command of the 1st Alabama Cavalry regiment and was promoted to the rank of colonel on December 3 . Clanton ' s first major action was during the Battle of Shiloh on April 6 – 7 , 1862 , in which he was part of the leading Confederate units on the battle ' s first day . Clanton next fought in the battle near Farmington , Mississippi , on May 9 , and then led a brigade during the Battle of Booneville on July 1 , where he " drove the enemy from the field . " Sometime in 1862 Clanton resigned from the army , but was later reappointed a colonel in the Confederate service . His next assignment was as an aide - de - camp to Alabama governor John G . Shorter , and later in the same capacity to Gen . Braxton Bragg . During the spring of 1863 Clanton raised three additional regiments of infantry . Beginning that September he was given command of the 2nd Brigade in the Confederate Gulf District , holding this post into early 1864 . Clanton was promoted to the rank of brigadier general on November 16 , 1863 . From February to June 1864 he served as aide - de - camp to Lt . Gen . Leonidas Polk , and then he led the cavalry brigade of the North District in the Confederate Department of Alabama and Eastern Mississippi , a unit often styled as " Clanton ' s Cavalry Brigade . " Clanton fought during the 1864 Atlanta Campaign , notably in the engagement on July 14 at the Ten Island Ford of the Coosa River against Union Maj . Gen . Lovell H . Rousseau . In this battle Clanton reportedly " lost his entire staff " and " His bravery made him well known by the generals of the Army of Tennessee . " On September 23 , 1864 , Clanton ' s command was shifted to the District of Central Alabama in the Confederate Department of Alabama , Mississippi , and Eastern Louisiana until that November . In January 1865 Clanton was appointed to command the Cavalry Brigade of the District of the Gulf within the same department . On March 25 he was badly wounded in the fighting at Bluff Spring in Florida . Clanton was hit in his abdomen and his back , and was captured there by Union soldiers . Clanton was paroled from Mobile , Alabama , on May 25 and allowed to go home to Alabama . Postbellum career and murder . Following his release , Clanton applied for and was granted a pardon by the U . S . Government effective November 4 , 1865 . In 1866 he resumed his career as a lawyer , and also was very active in Democratic politics in his state . Nelson – Clanton shootout . In September 1872 , Clanton travelled to Knoxville , Tennessee , to represent the State of Alabama in a court case against the Chattanooga and Alabama Railroad . Clanton , aware of the strong Union sentiment in East Tennessee during the Civil War , felt he was entering hostile territory , and became convinced that the railroad company was going to try and assassinate him . On the afternoon of September 27 , after the court had adjourned , one of the railroad company ' s attorneys , Tomlinson Fort ( a friend of Clanton ) , took Clanton on a tour of Knoxville . As Clanton and Fort passed the Lamar House Hotel on Gay Street , they encountered attorney David Nelson ( a son of prominent politician and judge T . A . R . Nelson ) , who had been drinking nearby in the St . Nicholas saloon . Their meeting grew hostile as Clanton suspected Nelson was insulting him , and he challenged Nelson to a duel , which Nelson accepted . Clanton drew a pistol and ordered Fort to step off space for the duel ( which Fort refused to do , pointing out that Nelson was intoxicated ) , while Nelson ran back into the saloon and obtained a double - barreled shotgun . When Nelson reemerged , he fired two shots , one of which mortally wounded Clanton . Clanton fired one shot , which missed . Nelson was arrested and charged with murder . At his highly - publicized trial in April 1873 , Nelson ' s defense team argued that Nelson had acted in self - defense , and portrayed Clanton as belligerent and prone to violent outbursts . The trial concluded on April 30 , and the jury deliberated for just five minutes before voting to acquit Nelson . Newspapers across Alabama railed against the acquittal , calling the trial a farce .