Patrick Cleburne
Patrick Cleburne | |
---|---|
Birth name | Patrick Ronayne Cleburne |
Nickname(s) | "Stonewall of the West" |
Born | Ovens, County Cork, Ireland | March 16, 1828
Died | November 30, 1864 Franklin, Tennessee | (aged 36)
Buried | 34°32′30″N 90°35′34″W / 34.54167°N 90.59278°W |
Allegiance | United Kingdom Confederate States |
Service | British Army Confederate States Army |
Years of service | 1846–1849 1861–1864 |
Rank | |
Unit | 41st Regiment of Foot (1846-49) |
Battles |
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Signature |
Born in
Early life
Patrick Ronayne Cleburne was born in
Three years after joining the British Army, Cleburne bought his discharge and emigrated to the United States with two brothers and a sister. After spending a short time in Ohio, he settled in Helena, Arkansas, where he was employed as a pharmacist and was readily accepted into the town's social order.[3] During this time, Cleburne became close friends with Thomas C. Hindman, who later paralleled his course as a Confederate major general. The two men also formed a business partnership with William Weatherly to buy a newspaper, the Democratic Star, in December 1855.
In 1856, Cleburne and Hindman were both wounded by gunshots during a street fight in Helena with members of the
American Civil War
When the issue of
Johnston withdrew his army from Bowling Green, Kentucky, through Tennessee, and into Mississippi before electing to attack the invading Union forces under
During the campaigns of 1863 in
Cleburne's strategic use of terrain, his ability to hold ground where others failed, and his talent in foiling the movements of the enemy earned him fame, and gained him the nickname "Stonewall of the West." Federal troops were quoted as dreading to see the blue flag of Cleburne's Division across the battlefield.[10] General Robert E. Lee referred to him as "a meteor shining from a clouded sky".[11]
Proposal for Emancipation and Enlistment of Blacks
By late 1863, it had become obvious to Cleburne that the Confederacy was losing the war because of the growing limitations of its manpower and resources.[12] In 1864, he dramatically called together the leadership of the Army of Tennessee and put forth the proposal to emancipate all slaves ("emancipating the whole race upon reasonable terms, and within such reasonable time") in order to "enlist their sympathies" and thereby enlist them in the Confederate Army to secure Southern independence.[13][14] Cleburne argued that emancipation did not have to include black equality, noting that "necessity and wise legislation" would ensure relations between blacks and whites would not materially change.[15] This proposal was met with polite silence at the meeting, and while word of it leaked out, it went unremarked, much less officially recognized.[12] From his letter outlining the proposal:[16]
Satisfy the negro that if he faithfully adheres to our standard during the war he shall receive his freedom and that of his race ... and we change the race from a dreaded weakness to a position of strength.
Will the slaves fight? The
great sea fight of Lepantowhere the Christians checked forever the spread of Mohammedanism over Europe, the galley slaves of portions of the fleet were promised freedom, and called on to fight at a critical moment of the battle. They fought well, and civilization owes much to those brave galley slaves ... [Cleburne also cites the prowess of revolting slaves in Haiti and Jamaica] ... the experience of this war has been so far that half-trained negroes have fought as bravely as many other half-trained Yankees.It is said that slavery is all we are fighting for, and if we give it up we give up all. Even if this were true, which we deny, slavery is not all our enemies are fighting for. It is merely the pretense to establish sectional superiority and a more centralized form of government, and to deprive us of our rights and liberties.
Cleburne's proposal was vigorously attacked as an "abolitionist conspiracy" by General William H. T. Walker, who strongly supported slavery and also saw Cleburne as a rival for promotion. Walker eventually persuaded the commander of the Army of Tennessee, General Braxton Bragg, that Cleburne was politically unreliable and undeserving of further promotion. "Three times in the summer of 1863 he was passed over for corps commander and remained a division commander until his death."[17]
Death and legacy
Prior to the campaigning season of 1864, Cleburne became engaged to Susan Tarleton of
According to a letter written to General Cheatham from Judge Mangum after the war, Cleburne's remains were first laid to rest at Rose Hill Cemetery in
William J. Hardee, Cleburne's former corps commander, had this to say when he learned of his loss: "Where this division defended, no odds broke its line; where it attacked, no numbers resisted its onslaught, save only once; and there is the grave of Cleburne."[20]
Several geographic features are named after Patrick Cleburne, including
The Patrick R. Cleburne Confederate Cemetery is a memorial cemetery in Jonesboro, Georgia, which was named in honor of General Patrick Cleburne.[23]
In popular culture
- Cleburne is the subject of Justin S. Murphy's 2008 graphic novel, Cleburne.
- Cleburne plays a prominent role in Daniel F. Korn's novel about Shiloh, Dawn's Gray Steel.
- Cleburne is a major character in the alternate history novel Shattered Nation: An Alternate History Novel of the American Civil War, by Jeffrey Evan Brooks.
- Cleburne is prominent in The Fenians' song "Rebel Sons of Erin."
- He has been the subject of a handful of biographies, including Stonewall of the West: Patrick Cleburne and the Civil War by Craig Symonds and the anthology A Meteor Shining Brightly, edited by Mauriel Phillips Joslyn.
- In the alternate history novel 1862 by Robert Conroy, General Cleburne defects to the Union after the British join the war on the side of the Confederacy.
- In Southern Victory Series, Cleburne is still alive in 1914, and briefly appears with Stephen Ramseur attending a speech given by President Woodrow Wilsonin Richmond that confirms the Confederacy's commitment to the Quadruple Entente.
- "Stonewall of the West", from the CD/album, Cross Over the River; Confederate Collection, by singer-songwriter Jed Marum, 2006
- During a 1994 interview (00:40:20) on Franklin about a year before the end of the war — he was called the Stonewall Jackson of the West and well-known and adored by his men. He's been largely forgotten today. He's buried right there at Helena [Arkansas] where Crowley's Ridge comes to the Mississippi. I'm very fond of Cleburne. I got the same reaction at Cleburne's death that his men got. I was greatly saddened to lose him. You get a great fondness for these people or a severe dislike for them, and if you have a dislike for them, you lean over backward hoping not to let it show. I'm sure it does."[24]
See also
- List of American Civil War generals
- Bibliography of the American Civil War
- Bibliography of Ulysses S. Grant
Notes
- ^ a b "Bride Park Cottage". Historical Marker Database. Retrieved September 24, 2015.
- ^ a b c Eicher, p. 176.
- ^ a b Welsh, pp. 40–41.
- ^ a b c Hook, pp. 14–15.
- ^ Joslyn, p. 26.
- ^ Symonds, p. 44
- ^ "General Patrick R. Cleburne Memorial". The Historical Marker Database. Retrieved March 13, 2017.
- ^ a b Fredriksen, pp. 105–07.
- ^ Major General Patrick Ronayne Cleburne, CSA (1828-1864)
- ^ Reynolds, pp. 244–47.
- ^ Rand, p. 138.
- ^ a b Connelly, pp. 318-19.
- North & South, vol. 11, no. 2, p. 64.
- ^ Hamner, Christopher. "Black Confederates." Teachinghistory.org. Accessed 30 June 2011.
- ^ Levin 2005, pp 102-103
- ^ Official Records, Series I, vol. 52, Part 2, pp. 586–92.
- ^ TL Connelly. (2001) Autumn of Glory: The Army of Tennessee, 1862–1865 Pages 319–320.
- ^ Joslyn, p. 100.
- ^ Du Bose, p. 401.
- ^ a b Foote, p. 671.
- ^ Jacobson and Rupp, pp. 414, 434–35; Welsh, pp. 40–41.
- ^ Gannett, Henry (1905). The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States. Govt. Print. Off. p. 84.
- ^ Georgia Building Authority (1997). Patrick R. Cleburne Confederate Cemetery. Galileo. Retrieved September 1, 2010.
- ^ "[Stars in Their Courses] | C-SPAN.org".
References
- Connelly, Thomas L. Autumn of Glory: The Army of Tennessee 1862–1865. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1971. ISBN 0-8071-2738-8.
- Du Bose, John Witherspoon. General Joseph Wheeler and the Army of the Tennessee. New York: Neale Publishing Company, 1912. OCLC 3997217.
- Eicher, John H., and ISBN 0-8047-3641-3.
- ISBN 0-394-74913-8.
- Fredriksen, John C. America's Military Adversaries: From Colonial Times to the Present. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2001. ISBN 1-57607-603-2.
- Hook, Richard, and Philip R. N. Katcher. American Civil War Commanders. Vol. 4, Confederate Leaders in the West, Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2003. ISBN 1-84176-319-5.
- Jacobson, Eric A., and Richard A. Rupp. For Cause & for Country: A Study of the Affair at Spring Hill and the Battle of Franklin. Franklin, TN: O'More Publishing, 2007. ISBN 0-9717444-4-0.
- Joslyn, Mauriel. A Meteor Shining Brightly: Essays on the Life and Career of Major General Patrick R. Cleburne. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 2000. ISBN 0-86554-693-2.
- Levine, Bruce. Confederate emancipation: Southern plans to free and arm slaves during the Civil War. Oxford University Press, 2005. ISBN 0-19803-367-2
- Rand, Clayton. Sons of the South. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1961. OCLC 1081994.
- Reynolds, John Hugh. Makers of Arkansas History. New York: Silver, Burdett and Co., 1905. OCLC 1610015.
- ISBN 0-7006-0820-6.
- U.S. War Department. The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Recordsof the Union and Confederate Armies. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1880–1901.
- Welsh, Jack D. Medical Histories of Confederate Generals. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 1999. ISBN 978-0-87338-853-5.
Further reading
- Buck, Irving A., Irving Ashby (1908). Cleburne and his command. New York : Neale Pub. Co. OCLC 367544780(First published 1908 by Neale Publishing Co.)
- Nash, Charles Edward (1898). Biographical sketches of Gen. Pat Cleburne and Gen. T. C. Hindman. Little Rock, Ark., Tunnah & Pittard, printers. OCLC 3492441(First published 1898 by Tunnah & Pittard)
- Purdue, Howell, and Elizabeth Purdue. Pat Cleburne, Confederate General: A Definitive Biography. Hillsboro, TX: Hill Junior College Press, 1973. ISBN 978-0-912172-18-7.
- Stewart, Bruce H. Invisible Hero: Patrick R. Cleburne. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 2009. ISBN 978-0-88146-108-4.
External links