{{Short description|American politician (1822–1872)}} {{Use American English|date=March 2017}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2017}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = James Patton Anderson | image = James Patton Anderson.jpg | office = Deputy from [[Florida]]<br />to the [[Provisional Confederate States Congress|Provisional Congress<br />of the Confederate States]] | term_start = February 4, 1861 | term_end = February 17, 1862 | predecessor = New constituency | successor = Constituency abolished | state1 = Washington Territory | district1 = {{ushr|Washington Territory|AL|At-large}} | term_start1 = March 4, 1855 | term_end1 = March 3, 1857<br />(Delegate) | predecessor1 = [[Isaac Ingalls Stevens|Isaac Stevens]] | successor1 = [[Columbia Lancaster]] | office2 = Member of the [[Mississippi House of Representatives]] | term2 = 1850 | birth_date = {{birth date|1822|2|16}} | birth_place = {{Nowrap|[[Franklin County, Tennessee]], U.S.}} | death_date = {{death date and age|1872|9|20|1822|2|16}} | death_place = [[Memphis, Tennessee]], U.S. | resting_place = [[Elmwood Cemetery (Memphis, Tennessee)|Elmwood Cemetery]],<br />Memphis, Tennessee, U.S. | party = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] | spouse = Henrietta Adair (m. 1853) | alma_mater = [[Washington & Jefferson College|Jefferson College]] | occupation = [[Lawyer]], [[farmer]] | allegiance = {{flag|United States|1860}}<br />{{flag|Confederate States|1865}} | branch = <!-- EDITORS NOTE: Please do not add the Army flag adopted by the U.S. government in 1956 (84 years after Anderson's death) as it would be historically inaccurate. Thank you. -->[[United States Volunteers]]<br />{{army|CSA|size=23px}} | service_years = 1847–1848<br />1861–1865 | rank = [[File:Union Army LTC rank insignia.png|30px]] [[Lieutenant colonel (United States)|Lieutenant Colonel (USA)]]<br />[[File:Confederate States of America General-collar.svg|35px]] [[Major general (CSA)|Major General (CSA)]] | commands = [[1st Florida Infantry]]<br />Anderson's Brigade<br />Anderson's Division | battles = '''[[Mexican–American War]]'''<br />'''[[American Civil War]]'''<br /> *[[Battle of Shiloh]] *[[Battle of Perryville]] *[[Battle of Stones River]] *[[Battle of Chickamauga]] *[[Battle of Missionary Ridge]] *[[Battle of Ezra Church]] *[[Battle of Utoy Creek]] *[[Battle of Jonesboro]] | footnotes = }}
'''James Patton Anderson''' (February 16, 1822 – September 20, 1872) was an American slave owner,<ref>{{Citation|title=Congress slaveowners|date=2022-01-13|url=https://github.com/washingtonpost/data-congress-slaveowners|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=2022-01-15}}</ref> physician,<ref>Hewitt, p. 23.</ref> lawyer, and politician, most notably serving as a [[United States Congressman]] from the [[Washington Territory]], a [[Mississippi]] state legislator, and a delegate at the [[Florida]] state [[secession]] convention to withdraw from the United States. He also served in the [[American Civil War]] as a [[General officers in the Confederate States Army|general]] in the [[Confederate States Army]], serving in the [[Army of Tennessee]].
==Early life and career== James Patton Anderson was born near [[Winchester, Tennessee|Winchester]] in [[Franklin County, Tennessee]]. He was the son of Col. [[William Preston Anderson|William P. Anderson]] and his second wife, Margaret L. (Adair) Anderson.<ref name=":0">{{cite BDA1906 |wstitle= Anderson, James Patton |volume= 1 |pages= 108-109 |short=x}}</ref> As a young boy, he moved with his family to [[Kentucky]] in 1831, where he lived for most of his childhood, and then to [[Mississippi]] in 1838. He attended the medical school of [[Washington & Jefferson College|Jefferson College]] in [[Canonsburg, Pennsylvania]] in 1840, before a family financial crisis forced him to withdraw a short time before graduation in 1842. Soon after his return home, Anderson began practicing medicine.
He studied law at Montrose Law School in [[Frankfort, Kentucky]], and was admitted to the bar in 1843, establishing a practice in [[Hernando, Mississippi|Hernando]] in [[DeSoto County, Mississippi]]. He also entered the state's [[militia]] forces with the rank of [[Captain (United States O-3)|captain]] in 1846. He later served in the [[Mexican–American War]], commanding the [[2nd Battalion, Mississippi Rifles]] with the rank of [[Lieutenant colonel (United States)|lieutenant colonel]] as of February 22, 1848.<ref name=":0" /> That July he was mustered out of the volunteer service.<ref name=Eicher104>Eicher, p. 104.</ref> J. Patton Anderson lived, likely as a boarder, in the household of [[Nathan Bedford Forrest]] in [[De Soto County, Mississippi]] at the time of the [[1850 U.S. census]]. Anderson had organized the company in which Bedford's brother [[John N. Forrest]] had served during the Mexican War.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hurst |first=Jack |title=Nathan Bedford Forrest: A Biography | year=1993 |location=New York |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf | isbn=978-0-307-78914-3 |lccn=92054383 |oclc=26314678 |language=en-us |page=26}}</ref><ref>{{citation|work=United States Census, 1850 |via=FamilySearch |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M4LH-RSM |title=Entry for Bedford Forrest and Mary Ann Forrest, 1850}}</ref>
Anderson later entered politics, serving in the [[Mississippi House of Representatives]] and befriending [[Jefferson Davis]], a fellow former Mississippi volunteer officer in the [[United States Army|U.S. Army]]. He also found work as a gold prospector. When Davis became [[United States Secretary of War|Secretary of War]] under President [[Franklin Pierce]], he appointed Anderson as [[United States Marshals Service|U.S. Marshal]] for the [[Washington Territory]]. Anderson relocated there to [[Olympia, Washington|Olympia]] and served as marshal for several years before being selected to represent the territory in the [[Thirty-fourth United States Congress|34th Congress]] as a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]].<ref name=":0" />
After his two-year term, concerned that the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] was collapsing, he moved back to the [[Southern United States|South]] to the state of [[Florida]]. His aunt Ellen Adair White Beatty, who owned the "Casa Bianca" plantation outside [[Monticello, Florida|Monticello]] in Jefferson County, Florida, invited him and his family to live at the plantation and manage it for her.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ledger containing handwritten autobiography of J. Patton Anderson |url=https://original-ufdc.uflib.ufl.edu/UF00085793/00001/30x?search=autobiography |access-date=2022-11-06 |website=original-ufdc.uflib.ufl.edu |language=en}}</ref> He was an active participant in the [[List of signers of the Florida Ordinance of Secession|Florida Secession Convention]].
==American Civil War== Just prior to the start of the American Civil War, Anderson was appointed a [[Captain (United States O-3)|captain]] of the Jefferson Rifles<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bittle |first1=George C. |title=Florida Prepares for War, 1860-1861 |journal=The Florida Historical Quarterly |date=October 1972 |volume=51 |issue=2 |page=144 |url=http://palmm.digital.flvc.org/islandora/object/ucf%3A25417 |access-date=14 June 2023}}</ref>{{efn|The Jefferson Rifles were eventually mustered in as Company H of the [[3rd Florida Infantry Regiment]] in July 1861. However, Anderson had already been promoted by that time and was no longer leading the unit.}} in the Florida Militia on January 11, 1861. Soon after Florida's secession, Anderson was one of three deputies (delegates) from Florida to the [[Provisional Congress of the Confederate States]], beginning February 4 and resigned on May 2. He accepted a commission as the [[Colonel (United States)|Colonel]] of the [[1st Florida Infantry Regiment|1st Florida Infantry]] on April 1, and initially served under [[Braxton Bragg]] in [[Pensacola, Florida|Pensacola]]. There he commanded the 2nd Brigade in the Army of Pensacola from October 12 to January 27, 1862.<ref name=Eicher104/>
He was promoted to the rank of [[Brigadier general (CSA)|Brigadier general]] on February 10, 1862, and was assigned to the [[Western Theater of the American Civil War|Western Theater]], commanding a brigade in the [[Battle of Shiloh]] in April. He fought with the [[Army of Tennessee]] during the battles of [[Battle of Perryville|Perryville]], [[Battle of Stones River|Stones River]], [[Battle of Chickamauga|Chickamauga]], and [[Chattanooga Campaign|Chattanooga]].
Anderson was promoted to [[Major general (CSA)|Major general]] on February 17, 1864,.<ref name=Eicher104/> He served a brief stint (March–July 1864) commanding the Confederate District of Florida, before leaving to rejoin the [[Army of Tennessee]] during the [[Atlanta campaign]]. On July 29, he assumed command of [[Division (military)|division]] previously commanded by to Maj. Gens. [[Jones M. Withers]] and [[Thomas C. Hindman]]. Anderson would lead the division, in Lt. Gen. [[Stephen D. Lee]]'s Corps at the [[Battle of Utoy Creek|Utoy Creek]], and in the early stages of the [[Battle of Jonesboro]] before suffering a serious jaw wound on the evening of August 31.<ref name=Eicher104/> Temporarily unfit for duty, he was relieved of his command and sent home to Monticello.
He later returned to duty in April 1865 during the [[Carolinas campaign]], against his physicians' orders, and served with his men for the remainder of the war until their surrender to [[United States Army|federal forces]] at [[Greensboro, North Carolina]], in the spring of 1865. He was paroled on May 1, and would be pardoned by the U.S. Government on December 2, 1866.<ref name=Eicher104/>
==Later life== Following the war, Anderson resided in [[Memphis, Tennessee]], although he faced difficulty working due to his injuries sustained during the war. He sold insurance for a while and eventually became the editor of a small [[agricultural journalism|agricultural newspaper]]. He was collector of delinquent state taxes for [[Shelby County, Tennessee|Shelby County]].
Anderson died in relative poverty at his home in Memphis at the age of 50, due primarily to lingering effects of his old war wound. He was buried there in the city's [[Elmwood Cemetery (Memphis, Tennessee)|Elmwood Cemetery]], Memphis, Tennessee.
==See also== * [[List of American Civil War generals (Confederate)|List of American Civil War generals]]
==Notes== {{Notelist}}
== References == {{reflist}}
==Further reading== * Eicher, John H., and [[David J. Eicher]], ''Civil War High Commands.'' Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001. {{ISBN|978-0-8047-3641-1}}. * Hewitt, Lawrence L. "James Patton Anderson." In ''The Confederate General'', vol. 1, edited by [[William C. Davis (historian)|William C. Davis]] and Julie Hoffman. Harrisburg, PA: National Historical Society, 1991. {{ISBN|0-918678-63-3}}. * Linedecker, Clifford L., ed. ''Civil War, A-Z: The Complete Handbook of America's Bloodiest Conflict''. New York: Ballantine Books, 2002. {{ISBN|0-89141-878-4}}. * Raab, James W. J. Patton Anderson, Confederate General: A Biography. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co., 2004. * Sifakis, Stewart. ''Who Was Who in the Civil War.'' New York: Facts On File, 1988. {{ISBN|978-0-8160-1055-4}}. * ''Sketch of General Anderson's Life'', Special Collections, Robert Manning Strozier Library, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida. * {{Cite journal |last=Uhler |first=Margaret Anderson |date=1982 |title=Well and Strong and Fearless: Etta Anderson in Washington Territory, 1853–1856 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4518675 |journal=Montana: The Magazine of Western History |volume=32 |issue=3 |pages=32–39 |issn=0026-9891}} * [[Ezra J. Warner (historian)|Warner, Ezra J.]] ''Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders.'' Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1959. {{ISBN|978-0-8071-0823-9}}.
==External links== * [http://ufdc.ufl.edu/jpa The James Patton Anderson Papers] at the [[University of Florida]] * {{CongBio|A000192}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, J. Patton}} [[Category:1822 births]] [[Category:1872 deaths]] [[Category:American military personnel of the Mexican–American War]] [[Category:Confederate States Army major generals]] [[Category:Delegates to the United States House of Representatives from Washington Territory]] [[Category:Deputies and delegates to the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States]] [[Category:Farmers from Tennessee]] [[Category:Law enforcement officials from Washington (state)]] [[Category:Members of the Mississippi House of Representatives]] [[Category:Mississippi lawyers]] [[Category:People from Franklin County, Tennessee]] [[Category:People of Florida in the American Civil War]] [[Category:Signatories of the Constitution of the Confederate States]] [[Category:Signatories of the Provisional Constitution of the Confederate States]] [[Category:Tennessee lawyers]] [[Category:United States Army officers]] [[Category:19th-century United States Marshals]] [[Category:Washington (state) Democrats]] [[Category:Washington & Jefferson College alumni]] [[Category:19th-century American lawyers]] [[Category:U.S. state legislators who owned slaves]] [[Category:19th-century United States representatives]] [[Category:19th-century members of the Mississippi Legislature]] [[Category:Burials at Elmwood Cemetery (Memphis, Tennessee)]]