Major-General Patrick Ronayne Cleburne ( ; March 16, 1828November 30, 1864) was a senior officer in the Confederate States Army who commanded infantry in the Western Theater of the American Civil War.
Born in Ireland, Cleburne served in the 41st Regiment of Foot of the British Army after failing to gain entrance into Trinity College of Medicine, Dublin in 1846. He served at Fort Westmorland on Spike Island and was present on the island in 1849 when Queen Victoria visited Cork Harbour. Three years after joining the Army, he immigrated to the United States. At the beginning of the American Civil War, Cleburne sided with the Confederate States. He progressed from being a private soldier in the local militia to a division commander. He participated in many unsuccessful military campaigns, especially the Battle of Stones River, the Battle of Missionary Ridge and the Battle of Ringgold Gap. He was also present at the Battle of Shiloh. Known as the "Stonewall of the West", Cleburne was killed leading his men at the Battle of Franklin.
Early life
Patrick Ronayne Cleburne was born in Ovens, County Cork, Ireland the second son of Dr. Joseph Cleburne, a middle-class physician of Protestant Anglo-Irish ancestry. Patrick's mother died when he was 18 months old, and he was an orphan at 15. 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 enlisted in the 41st Regiment of Foot of the British Army, subsequently rising to the rank of corporal. Cleburne served at Fort Westmorland on Spike Island in Cork Harbour, a large fortress that was then being used as a convict depot. Seeing the wretched famine victims filling the prison cells, he was further motivated to emigrate with his family to America.
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. 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 Know-Nothing Party following a debate. Cleburne was shot in the back, turned around and shot one of his attackers, killing him. The attackers hid until Cleburne collapsed on the street and then left. After the two recovered, they appeared before a grand jury to respond to all charges brought against them. They were exonerated, and afterward, went to Hindman's parents' house in Mississippi. By 1860, he was a naturalized citizen, a practicing lawyer, and very popular with the local residents.
American Civil War
When the issue of secession reached a crisis, Cleburne sided 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 (Yell Rifles) as a private soldier. He was soon elected captain. He led the company in the seizure of the U.S. Arsenal at Little Rock in January 1861. When Arkansas left the Union, the Yell Rifles became part of the 1st Arkansas Infantry. Cleburne's regiment was assigned to the force under William Hardee, training in northeast Arkansas and conducting brief operations in southeast Missouri before Hardee's force was ordered to cross the Mississippi River and join Albert Sidney Johnston's Army of Central Kentucky in the fall 1861. The 1st Arkansas was designated the 15th Arkansas in late 1861. Cleburne was promoted to brigadier general on March 4, 1862.