James Thadeus Holtzclaw

Background

James was born on December 17, 1832, in McDonough, Henry County, Georgia, United States. He was the son of Elijah and Elizabeth Bledsoe Holtzclaw.

Education

Holtzclaw attended Presbyterian High School in Lafayette, Georgia, and East Alabama Institute (now Auburn University) before refusing an appointment to the United States Military Academy in 1853, he read law instead.

Career

In 1855, James Holtzclaw was admitted to the bar and began his practice in Montgomery, Alabama.

Holtzclaw had no interest in politics. When the war began, he volunteered for military service in Alabama.

In 1861, he helped to capture the Pensacola Navy Yard. He served with the 18th Alabama Regiment as major and lieutenant colonel in 1861 and as a colonel in 1862-1863 before being promoted to brigadier general on July 7, 1864. Holtzclaw was wounded at Shiloh in 1862, served in Clayton's Brigade during the Battle of Lookout Mountain in 1863, and was part of the rear guard of John B. Hood's army on its retreat from Nashville in December 1864. Near the end of the war, he participated in the siege of the Spanish fort at Mobile. Holtzclaw surrendered at Mobile and was paroled at Meridian, Mississippi, in May 1865.

Holtzclaw returned to his Montgomery law practice and soon became active in Democratic politics. In 1893, he was appointed to the State Railroad Commission.

Achievements

• James Thadeus Holtzclaw for his military actions received a promotion to Brigadier General. As General, he led a brigade through the Atlanta Campaign serving as General John Bell Hood's Army rearguard until ordered to Mobile, Alabama at the end of the war.

Religion

Holtzclaw attended but never joined the Methodist Episcopal church.

Politics

Holtzclaw was a member of the Democratic Party.

Connections

On April 10, 1856, James married Mary Billingslea Cowles, by whom he had a son and a daughter.

Father:

Elijah Holtzclaw

Mother:

Elizabeth Bledsoe Holtzclaw

Wife:

Mary Billingslea Cowles Holtzclaw

1833-1883

Daughter:

Carrie Whiting Holtzclaw Kirkpatrick

1857-1922

Son:

James Thaddeus Holtzclaw

1873-1895

References

• Biographical Dictionary of the Confederacy
  1977
• Civil War High Commands
  2002
• William Lowndes Yancey and the Coming of the Civil War
  2006
• Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders
  2006
• Medical Histories of Confederate Generals
  1999