Clifford Anderson

Background

Clifford Anderson was born on March 23, 1833, in Nottoway County, Virginia, United States. His parents were Hezekiah R. and Martha M. Anderson. He was orphaned at the age of twelve, and at sixteen he moved to Macon, Georgia.

Education

Anderson had no secondary education. He studied law with his brother.

Career

Clifford Anderson served in the Georgia House of Representatives in 1859. Early in 1861, he enlisted in the Confederate Army as a private. Later he was elected captain in the Adjutant General’s Department and served as brigade inspector on the staff of Ambrose Ransom Wright.

In 1863, he was elected to the House of Representatives in the Second Confederate Congress, where he was a loyal supporter of President Davis. He served on the Conference, Joint, and Ways and Means Committees. After the war, he returned to his law practice, served as attorney general for the state of Georgia from 1880 to 1890, and helped to draw up a new law code for the state in 1893-1895.

Little is known about his private life.

Politics

A Whig, Clifford Anderson opposed secession, but after South Carolina seceded in 1860, he advocated secession for Georgia too.

Connections

In January 1857, Clifford married Anna Le Conte, by whom he had thirteen children. After her death, he married Sarah Nisbet, widow of the Confederate General Martin L. Smith and daughter of a prominent political leader in Georgia.

Father:

Hezekiah R. Anderson

Mother:

Martha M. Anderson

late wife:

Anna Le Conte Anderson

1836-1922

Wife:

Sarah Nisbet Anderson

Son:

Clifford LeConte Anderson

1862-1933

Son:

Custis Nottingham Anderson

Son:

Halbert Anderson

Son:

James LeConte Anderson

Daughter:

Ethel Anderson

Son:

Robert Lanier Anderson

Daughter:

Sarah Anderson

Daughter:

Laura Boykin Duke

Daughter:

Laura Boykin Duke

Daughter:

Mary Lee Anderson

Son:

William LeConte Anderson

References

• Biographical Dictionary of the Confederacy
  1977