General Patrick Cleburne

Patrick Cleburne declared in May 1861, "I am with the South in life or death, in victory or defeat." A brilliant military tactician and one of the Confederacy's most able combat officers, he rose to the rank of major general less than two years after enlisting. He fought in the Battle of Shiloh, was wounded twice during the Kentucky campaign, saved the Army of Tennessee at Ringgold Gap, and fought with distinction at Pickett's Mill and Atlanta. Quiet and soft spoken but marked by authority and competence, he was beloved by the men he commanded. In late 1864, when Confederate General John Bell Hood turned his army north into Tennessee, Cleburne met with his officers hours before the Battle of Franklin on November 30 and told his old friend Daniel Govan, "Govan, if we are to die let us die like men." After both of his horses were shot, he advanced on foot with his sword raised, encouraging his men, until a Minié ball struck him just below the heart. Three of his men found his body the next morning. He was laid to rest at St. John's Episcopal Church on the Leonidas Polk plantation near Columbia, Tennessee, and in 1871 his body was moved to the Confederate Cemetery in Helena.

Helena-West Helena, Arkansas · United States