The South's Irish General - Patrick Cleburne

His Liberal Views Cost the 'Stonewall Jackson of the West' Promotion

Feb 7, 2009 Chris O'Brien

Loved by his men, admired by his peers, hard-fighting Cleburne was passed over for Army command for his unpalatable views on arming slaves to fight for the South.

The Battle of Franklin, Tennessee, in November 1864 claimed the lives of no less than six Confederate Generals. The most senior of the slain was Major General Patrick Ronayne Cleburne, an Irish native who had arrived in New Orleans aged twenty-one in 1849.

Cleburne in the British Army

Cleburne’s remarkable military career had begun at eighteen when he enlisted as a Private in the British 41st Regiment of Foot.. He had failed the entrance exam to become a surgeon at a Dublin College and could not face the shame of returning to the family home in Co.Cork humiliated.

He expected to serve in the Indian Sub-Continent but spent an unhappy time guarding food supplies and evicting fellow countrymen during the Great Famine.

On turning twenty-one, Cleburne received some funds from the estate of his dead father and bought his way out of the occupying British Army to make a new life in the United States like so many of his peers.

Cleburne's Pre-War Life

Cleburne settled in Helena, Arkansas and worked as a druggist, while studying diligently to become an Attorney. He became an American citizen in 1855 and was admitted to the Bar a year later.

Twice that year Cleburne cheated death. He survived drowning in the Mississippi when a steamboat ran over a small skiff in which he was a passenger. Three men died in the tragic incident. A month later he was wounded in the back in a shoot-out in Helena assisting his friend; only his hardy constitution enabling him to survive.

His work as a Circuit Lawyer stimulated an interest in political debate, espousing the Democratic cause and he spoke eloquently at Political meetings and debates. Though he thought a great deal of his family, assisting several of them to emigrate and settle in America, he was painfully shy and bashful around women, and never married.

Cleburne's Rapid Promotion

When the Civil War broke out in April 1861, Cleburne was elected Captain of his local Militia Company, the Yell Rifles, his military experience soon recognised by his comrades. Service under General William Hardee saw Cleburne rise rapidly to Colonel, commanding the 15th Arkansas Regiment and he fought at the Battle of Shiloh in April 1862 with the rank of Brigadier General.

In the ensuing Kentucky Campaign, Cleburne was wounded at both Richmond and Perryville and promoted to Major General, commanding a Division at the climactic battles of Murfreesboro and Chickamauga.

One of his greatest feats was his masterful rearguard action at Ringgold Gap in November 1863, where he saved General Braxton Bragg’s retreating Army of Tennessee by defying the forces of both Generals William T. Sherman and Joseph Hooker. He was given the soubriquet ‘The Stonewall Jackson of the West.’

Cleburne's Views Hampered Promotion

Long a favourite of the South’s President Jefferson Davis, Cleburne subsequently shocked the Confederate hierarchy by suggesting that slaves should be liberated and enlisted to form African-American Regiments to aid the Confederate cause. He was far ahead of his time in his thoughts, but lost a great deal of political goodwill with his practical but politically suicidal memorandum.

Cleburne was passed over for Army command because of his views, though he continued to lead his Division and latterly Corps through the Atlanta Campaign of 1864 and then on General John B Hood’s abortive Middle Tennessee foray, until his tragic death at Franklin.

Sources

A Meteor Shining Brightly Essays on Major General Patrick R. Cleburne Ed. Mauriel Phillips Joslyn: Mercer University 2000

One of Cleburne's Command The Diary of Capt. Samuel T. Foster Ed. Norman D. Brown: University of Texas 1980

The Army of Tennessee by Stanley F. Horn: University of Oklahoma 1993

Sherman's March : Atlanta to the Sea : Time-Life Series 1986

Who was Who in the Civil War by Stewart Sifakis: Facts On File 1988

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Major General Patrick Ronayne Cleburne