hold ground

Patrick Cleburne

Patrick Ronayne Cleburne (March 16 or March 17, 1828 – November 30, 1864) was an Anglo-Irish soldier, serving in the British Army and as a major general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War, killed at the Battle of Franklin.

Early life

Cleburne was born in Ovens, County Cork, Ireland, the second son of Dr. Joseph Cleburne, a solid, middle-class physician of English ancestry. Patrick's mother died when he was eighteen months old and he was an orphan at fifteen. He followed his father into the study of medicine, but failed his entrance exam to Trinity College of Medicine in 1846. In response to this failure he followed in the footsteps of so many Anglo-Irish by he enlisting in the 41st Regiment of Foot of the British Army, subsequently rising to the rank of corporal.

Three years later, 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 obtained employment as a pharmacist and was readily accepted into the town's social order. By 1860, he had become a naturalized citizen, begun the practice of law, and was very popular with the local residents. During this time, he became close friends with Thomas C. Hindman, another future Confederate general from Helena, and local Democratic politician.

Service in the Confederate Army

When the secession crisis broke out, Cleburne sided firmly with the Southern states. His choice was not due to any love of slavery, which he claimed not to care about, but out of affection for the Southern people who had adopted him as one of their own. As the crisis mounted, Cleburne joined the local militia company (the Yell Rifles) as a private soldier and was quickly elected captain. He led the company in the seizure of the U.S. Arsenal in Little Rock in January 1861. When Arkansas left the Union the Yell Rifles became part of the 1st Arkansas Infantry, later renumbered 15th Arkansas, of which he was quickly elected Colonel. He was promoted to brigadier general on March 4, 1862.

Cleburne served at the Battle of Shiloh, the Battle of Richmond (Kentucky), where he was wounded in the face, and the Battle of Perryville. After the Army of Tennessee retreated to its namesake state in late 1862, Cleburne was promoted to division command and served at the Battle of Stones River, where his division advanced three miles as it routed the Union right wing and drove it back to the Nashville Pike and its final line of defense. He was promoted to major general on December 13.

During the campaigns of 1863 in Tennessee, Cleburne and his soldiers fought at the Battle of Chickamauga with a rare night assault and probably saved the Army of Tennessee from utter destruction by holding off a much larger Union force on the northern end of Missionary Ridge at the Battle of Chattanooga and at the Battle of Ringgold Gap in northern Georgia, in which Cleburne's men protected the Army of the Tennessee's rear as it retreated, escaping south and east to Tunnel Hill, Georgia. Cleburne and his troops received an official thanks from the Confederate Congress for their actions during this campaign.

Cleburne's strategic utilization of terrain, ability to hold ground where others failed, and his ability to use his smaller force to stymie the movements of the enemy earned him his fame during this time 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 from them.

It became obvious to Cleburne that the Confederate States were losing the war because of the drain on manpower and resources they were facing. In 1864, he dramatically called upon the leadership of the Army of Tennessee and put forth a proposal to emancipate slaves and enlist them in the Confederate Army to secure Southern independence. This proposal was met with extreme hostility by many, and was officially suppressed on order of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. Some have suggested that this was the reason that Cleburne would not receive further promotions, but the fact that he was not a West Point graduate and that he was Irish were also contributing factors.

His letter also predicted future events that continue to plague both the historical records of the war and the attitudes in the country:

Death and legacy

Prior to the campaigning season of 1864, Cleburne became engaged to Susan Tarleton of Mobile, Alabama. Their marriage was never to be, as Cleburne was killed during an ill-conceived assault, which he opposed, on Union fortifications at the Battle of Franklin, just south of Nashville, Tennessee, on November 30, 1864. He was last seen advancing on foot toward the Union entrenchment with his sword raised after his horse was shot out from under him. Accounts later said that he was found just inside the Federal lines and carried back to an aid station along the Columbia Turnpike. Confederate war records indicate he died of a shot to the abdomen, possibly a bullet that went through his heart. When Confederates found his body his boots were gone, as was his sword, watch, as well as anything on him of value.

Cleburne's remains were laid to rest at St. John's Church near Mount Pleasant, Tennessee, where they remained for six years. In 1870, he was disinterred and returned to his adopted hometown of Helena, Arkansas, with much fanfare and buried in Maple Hill Cemetery, overlooking the Mississippi River.

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."

Several geographic features are named after Patrick Cleburne, including:

References

Buck, Irving A., Cleburne and His Command, Dayton, Ohio: Morningside Bookshop, reprint 1992. First published 1908.
Eicher, John H., and Eicher, David J., Civil War High Commands, Stanford University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8047-3641-3.
Foote, Shelby, The Civil War: A Narrative: Vol. III Red River to Appomattox, Vintage Books, 1986, ISBN 0-394-74622-8.
Nash, Charles E., Biographical Sketches of Gen. Pat Cleburne and Gen. T.C. Hindman, Dayton, Ohio: Morningside Bookshop, reprint 1977. First published 1898.
Purdue, Howell, and Elizabeth Purdue, Pat Cleburne, Confederate General, Hill Junior College Press, 1973.
U.S. War Department, The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1880–1901.