My guess is that, with pretty much everybody being of English origin, the Browns, and the Smiths, and the Jacksons are going to predominate. Combine that with the traditional English practice of using boring first names like John and James and Robert and William, and that’s just asking for a snooze fest. Honestly, I’m talking two George Andersons here, two William Jacksons, two John Morgans, two William Smiths, two William Terrys, and no less than three William Walkers!
There were some pretty good ones too though. Let’s check ‘em out …
#10 – Collett Leventhorpe / Danville Leadbetter
Now, here’s what I was expecting. Two surnames, both of which are multisyllabic and sound teddibly British. You know, Cadwallader Throckmorton, Marmaduke Fortenberry, Worthington St. Hubbinsfield …
Unfortunately, this these two will have to do. There just weren’t that many out there.
Our first fellow, Collett Leventhorpe, actually was British. Related to royalty, he attended posh Westminster School and then was an officer in the British Army. Later, he got into “trade,” traveled in the US, and met and married a North Carolina belle. He spent the first few years of the Civil War defending his adopted state, then went North to fight at Gettysburg, where he was severely wounded and also captured.
Hard to believe, but our second, Danville Leadbetter, was actually a Yankee! Born in Maine, he attended West Point, then moved around the country building fortifications. Retiring in Mobile, he joined the Confederates, designing fortifications for them, especially around Knoxville. An unreconstructed Confederate, he never got a pardon, fled to Mexico, then died in Canada.
#9 – Barnard Bee
Also known as Barnard E. Bee and B.E. Bee. Well, not really. But wouldn’t it have been cool?
Barnard Bee was a Charleston blue blood. A West Point grad, he fought in the Mexican-American War, then spent the remaining years before the Civil War fighting out West.
Bee was mortally wounded at the 1st Battle of Bull Run, becoming one of the first general officers to be killed in the war. Before suffering his fatal wound, he did achieve some measure of immortality by (supposedly) giving Stonewall Jackson his nickname.
By the by, Barnard had a brother named Hamilton P. Bee, also a Confederate general.
#8 – Carnot Posey
It’s the combination. Carnot Smith would probably have been just fine. And John Posey certainly would pass muster as well.
By the way, we’re back to two surnames again. Carnot just so happens to be French. Posey is English, comes from a town in Oxfordshire, and means “pea island.” I have no idea about Carnot.
A Mississippian, Carnot Posey had some interesting ties to the University of Virginia. First, he went to law school there. Second, badly wounded at the nearby Battle of Bristoe Station, he was transported to the university with the other wounded. He would die on campus, supposedly in the same room where he lived when he attended the school. Finally, he was buried on the grounds.
Having fought in the Mexican War, Posey rose up through the ranks pretty quickly. He was incredibly active in the early years of the war, serving in the Valley Campaign and the Seven Days, and at Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg.
#7 – Felix Zollicoffer
Hard to believe, but Felix Zollicoffer already made it here, in the Union post. Turns out that Union Gen. Speed Fry’s main claim to was shooting Zollicoffer, at the Battle of Mill Springs.
Zollicoffer was from Tennessee, a descendant of Swiss immigrants to North Carolina in the early 18th Century. A newspaperman, Zollicoffer also had a little military experience, and was involved in politics as well.
When war broke out, Zollicoffer was appointed a brigadier general right from the get go, one of the South’s few political appointees. He was assigned the rather difficult area of pro-Union Eastern Tennessee, but did pretty well up to the Battle of Mill Springs.
There, he made the mistake of riding into the Union lines during a driving rainstorm. The near-sighted Zollicoffer even started discussing strategy with Fry. When another Confederate appeared and started firing on the Union soldiers, Fry shot and killed his new-found friend.
#6 – Roswell Ripley
Nothing like two surnames and a little alliteration, right?
Looks like we’ve got ourselves another Yankee here. Sure enough, Roswell Ripley was born in Ohio, then moved with his family to Massachusetts and then New York.
After graduating from West Point and fighting in the Mexican-American and Seminole Wars, Ripley met and married a Southern belle while stationed in Charleston. Less than 10 years later, he would participate in the bombardment of Ft. Sumter. After fighting in the Peninsula Campaign and at Antietam and Fredericksburg, he would eventually return to Charleston to lead the city’s defense.
Post-bellum, Ripley would reside in England, only returning to the US (to New York City) in the late 1880s. Dying soon after his return, he would be buried in Charleston.
#5 – Lunsford Lomax
And that goes ditto. Even better, Lunsford’s middle name was Lindsay. Yup, Lundsford Lindsay Lomax.
Alright, this is getting ridiculous. Lomax is a native Rhode Islander! Turns out, though, that he was also a military brat, with his father, Major Mann Page Lomax, merely stationed there at the time. Even better, the Lomaxes are one of the First Families of Virginia. So, Lunsford is a true son of the Old Dominion after all.
Lomax was a West Point grad, serving out West prior to the Civil War, including in Bleeding Kansas. During the war, Lomax really got around. He was a staff officer, a cavalry colonel, fought around Richmond and Petersburg, was in the Valley Campaign, helped form Mosby’s Rangers, and spent some time in the Western Theater as well.
His career after the war was pretty interesting too. And that included serving as president of Virginia Tech, helping compile the Official Records of the Civil War for the War Department, and acting as the commissioner for Gettysburg National Park.
#4 – Stand Watie
And if that isn’t bad enough, you have your pick from other names this guy went by, including Standhope Uwatie, Degataga (or De Gata Ga), Tawkertawker (or Tahkahtokah), and Isaac S. Watie (don’t know how that last one got in there – it’s sounds pretty darn normal).
So, what gives here? Turn out Stand Watie was actually a leader of the Cherokee, and was born Degataga, son of Uwatie. Translating his first name (which means “stand firm”) into English and using his father’s name as his surname, Watie came up with the name he would be known to history by.
Stand Watie’s life up to the Civil War was eventful. A native Georgian, he helped publish the first Native American newspaper in the US, the Cherokee Phoenix. Active in tribal politics, he then signed the Treaty of New Echota, which precipitated the removal of the tribe to Indian Territory, modern-day Oklahoma. There, he was the subject of assassination attempts and the center of a bloody feud over his signing of the treaty.
A slave-owner, Watie sided with the South, organizing a regiment of cavalry. During the conflict, he fought at Pea Ridge, ambushed a steamboat, and captured a supply train worth $1.5M.
Watie was the last Confederate general to lay down his arms. Retiring to his plantation, he would die a mere six years after the war had ended.
#3 – Gideon Pillow
Once again, Pillow’s bad enough. Couldn’t his parents simply have called him John or James or William? Interestingly, that surname was originally Pilhough (from a town in Derbyshire, in the UK). I’m guessing it’s pronounced the same, but that spelling does seem a lot less risable.
Gideon Pillow was a Tennessee lawyer who got into politics and garnered some military experience as well. As for the former, he was an important delegate at Democratic conventions, including spearheading the nomination of friend and fellow Tennessean James Knox Polk. And as for the latter, Pillow fought in the Mexican-American War, and was even promoted to Major General (though he also narrowly escaped a court martial).
And with that background, it wasn’t too surprising that Pillow was commissioned a brigadier general for the South. Though his first action, at the Battle of Belmont, was a success, his second was not. He was largely responsible for allowing Grant to pen in and capture 12,000 Confederates at the Battle of Fort Donelson. He ended the war mostly behind a desk.
After the war, he successfully continued his law career. He would pass away in 1878 at age 72 of yellow fever.
#2 – States Rights Gist
You knew this guy was going to appear here, didn’t you? If you’re any kind of Civil War buff, that is.
What’s interesting about that name was that it was given way back in 1831. But, then again, that was also right at the height of the Nullification Crisis. Indeed, Gist’s father was a huge supporter of John C. Calhoun, the instigator and leader of the crisis.
States, as he was called, hailed from a prominent South Carolina family. A lawyer by trade, he seemed more active in the South Carolina militia, where he rose to the rank of brigadier general.
Gist’s Civil War career spanned the conflict, from the bombardment of Ft. Sumter to his death at the debacle of Franklin in late 1864 (he was one of six Confederate generals killed there). In between, Gist also fought at First Manassas, around Charleston, and at Vicksburg, Chickamauga, Chattanooga, and Atlanta.
#1 – Young Moody
“The Young and the Moody” – wasn’t that a soap opera at one time?
Actually, it just so happened to be a band:
They’re pretty much everything that comes up when you Google “young moody.” You have to add “confederate” or “general” if you want to get our guy.
Though a Virginia native, Young Moody would later move to Alabama, where he was a teacher, merchant, and clerk of courts. At the outbreak of war, he joined a regiment there, serving under the wonderfully named Archibald Gracie III. The two served together in northern Virginia and then at the battles of Perryville, Chickamauga, and Knoxville. Moody would wrap up his Civil War career at Appomattox.
Though he would survive the war, Moody would die less than a year later of yellow fever.
Honorable Mention
- Mistaken identity - John Adams, John Kennedy, Beverly Robertson
- Alliterative absurdity - Thomas Toon, Braxton Bragg, Dudley DuBose
- 3 or more - Winfield Scott Fetherston, Simor Bolivar Buckner, Phillip St. George Cocke, Pierre Gustave Toussaint Beauregard, Camile Armand Jules Marie de Polignac
- Just more weirdness - Alpheus Baker, Evander Law, Eppa Hunton, Basil Duke, Birkett Fry, Maxcy Gregg, Leonidas Polk, Hiram Granbury, Zebulon York, Jubal Early, Theophilus Holmes, Rufus Barringer, Bushrod Johnson
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