USA > Tennessee > Notable men of Tennessee. Personal and genealogical, with portraits, Volume II > Part 2
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federate army, Forrest displayed his most heroic qualities, with hardly a parallel but the famous deeds of Marshal Ney while covering Napoleon's retreat from Moscow. In February, 1865, he was promoted lieutenant-general, and given the duty of guarding the frontier from Decatur, Ala., to the Mississippi. With a few hundred hastily gathered men, he made his last fight at Selma, and on May 9 he laid down his arms. It is stated that he was 179 times under fire in the four years, and he said : "My provost marshal's books will show that I have taken 31,000 prisoners." After the war, he was president of the Selma, Marion & Memphis railroad until 1874. He died at Memphis, Oct. 29, 1877. By European authority he is pro- nounced the most magnificent cavalry officer that America has produced.
HON. JOSIAH PATTERSON (deceased) of Memphis, Tenn., at- torney and ex-member of Congress, was born April 14. 1837, in Morgan county. Ala. He was of Scotch- · Irish extraction-his great-grandfath- er having come from County Down, Ireland, prior to the breaking out of the Revolutionary war, and settled in Abbeville district, S. C. His father, Alexander Patterson, was a soldier throughout that struggle, and took part in the battles of Guilford Court House, Eutaw Springs, the Cowpens, the siege of Ninety-six and the siege of Savannah. He was severely wounded at the Cowpens. Malcom Patterson, the father of Josiah. was born on his father's farm in South Carolina, Dec. 1, 1791. In 1817 he migrated to Alabama, and located in Morgan county, where he continued to reside until his death in February, 1859. He was a farmer in moderate circumstances, a strict Presbyterian, a man of much reading and intelligence and one greatly honored and respected in the com- munity in which he lived. He was married twice, his second wife being Mary Deloach. the mother of Josiah. She was the
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daughter of John Deloach, of Huguenot extraction, a well-to-do farmer who came from Virginia to Tennessee, and afterward removed to a plantation near Elytown, Ala., where he died about the year 1825. Josiah, while reared under the best domestic influences, had only such advantages as were offered by the old field schools, until he was eighteen years of age, and then for two years he attended the male academy at Somer- ville, Ala., where he made considerable progress in mathematics and Latin. He then taught school in Marshall county, Miss., for a year, and in the meantime read law as the opportunity offered. In the fall of 1858 he returned home, and having with his earnings purchased the law books used in the course of study at the Lebanon Law school, began the study of law in earnest, with the aid of an instructor. In April, 1859, he was licensed to practice. On Dec. 22, 1859, he was married to Josephine Rice, the daughter of Judge Green Pryor Rice, of Somerville, Ala. In August, 1861, he volunteered in the Con- federate army as first lieutenant of Company D, First Alabama Cavalry, commanded by Col. James H. Clanton. From Sep- tember, 1861, to January, 1862, the regiment was in a camp of instruction at Montgomery, Ala., where it was thoroughly drilled. It then marched to Decatur, and joined the army of General Albert Sidney Johnston, then falling back from Bowl- ing Green, Ky., to Corinth, Miss. It was in front of the army in its movement on Shiloh, and had a severe engagement with the outposts of the enemy on Friday evening prior to the battle. At the battle of Shiloh, the regiment was on the extreme right flank of the Confederate army. It was in the rear of Pren- tiss' division at the time it surrendered, and late on Sunday evening it advanced to within 300 yards of Pittsburg Landing, when the Confederate army retired for the night. It covered the rear of the Confederate army when it fell back, on Monday evening, and remained practically on the field until the follow- ing Thursday morning, covering the retreat of the army. It participated actively in the siege of Corinth, fell back with the army to Tupelo, and at Blackland had a severe encounter with the enemy's cavalry. It now became a race between Bragg and Buell as to who would first reach Chattanooga. General Bragg
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detached three companies of cavalry and ordered them into North Alabama to operate on Buell's communications along the Memphis & Charleston railroad, while the main body moved via Montgomery. After the battle of Shiloh, Lieutenant Pat- terson was promoted to the captaincy of his company. and was second in command on this expedition. The three companies first located the enemy at Russellville, Ala., where they engaged in a severe and stubborn fight three companies of Federal cav- alry. Lieutenant Martin was here killed, and a number of others killed and wounded. Then the three companies carried on active operations until the enemy evacuated North Alabama, in September. 1862. They captured two trains, several hundred prisoners, a large amount of arms and munitions of war, and, by the destruction of the railroad, effectively prevented its oper- ation. For these services the three companies were compli- mented by General Bragg in a general order to the army. After the battle of Corinth, the Fourth and Fifth regiments of Alabama cavalry were organized, with P. D. Roddey, colonel of the former and Captain Patterson colonel of the latter. Early in January, 1863, the two regiments were ordered into Middle Tennessee, and took position at Chapel Hill-the extreme left of General Bragg's army. Here they were inspected and com- plimented in a general order for their efficiency and soldierly qualities. When Streight started on his raid from Corinth to Rome, Colonel Roddey was ordered to join General Forrest, while Colonel Patterson remained at Chapel Hill. Here his regiment was daily engaged with the enemy's outposts. until the army fell back to Chattanooga. when the regiment was ordered to join Roddey, in North Alabama. Upon returning to North Alabama, Colonel Patterson, with his regiment and three independent companies, was ordered to make a raid from East- port, Miss .. passing between the Tennessee river and Corinth, to the Mobile & Ohio railroad. for the purpose of destroying that road, so as to prevent its further operation by the enemy. The raid was entirely successful. He burned a number of bridges and a long line of trestle-work. The road was not fur- ther operated by the enemy during the war. On this raid Colonel Patterson captured about fifty of the enemy, among
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others Colonel Kendrick, and also many wagons, quartermaster's stores, and munitions of war sufficient to supply and equip a regiment. In the summer of 1863 the regiment remained in North Alabama, occasionally being engaged with the outposts of the enemy around Corinth. About the time the battle of Chickamauga was fought, the two regiments were ordered to join the main army. On the march up the Tennessee river, it was learned that the battle had been fought and the result was that Rosecrans' army was penned up in Chattanooga, and was without rations. One of the principal sources of supplies of this army was Hunt's mill, situated on the Memphis & Charles- ton railroad. in Jackson county, Ala. It was guarded by a con- siderable force, which was engaged in hauling corn from the surrounding country and grinding it at the rate of some 300 bushels daily. Colonel Patterson was ordered to ford the Ten- nessee river at what was known as the Tow Head, and destroy this mill. The attack was made at daylight the next morning. The expedition resulted in the destruction of the mill. the cap- ture of about 175 of the enemy and of a large number of wagons and supplies. The loss of the regiment in this engage- ment was one killed and four wounded. A few days after- ward Colonel Patterson was ordered to take 300 picked men from his own regiment and 300 from Roddey's, recross the river and destroy the tunnel at Cowan, on the Nashville & Chattanooga railroad. He crossed the river at Larkin's Ferry. and marched directly to the tunnel to find it was guarded by about 300 men. The attack was made about sundown, and resulted in the rout of the enemy, with a loss of twenty-five prisoners. That night, and until two o'clock in the morning. the entire force under the command of Colonel Patterson was engaged in filling up the three air-shafts with boulders and other debris excavated when the tunnel was constructed. The work was so effectively done as to delay the passage of train= through the tunnel for more than a week. Colonel Patterson · then retired in the direction of Huntsville, Ala. At Buckhorn Tavern he encountered a large force of Federal cavalry. which had driven General Wheeler across the Tennessee river. By a forced march at night this force was evaded, and two days after-
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ward Colonel Patterson crossed the Tennessee river at Lamb's Ferry. In the meantime, Colonel Roddey, early in the fall of 1863, had been appointed brigadier-general, and W. A. Jack- son had become colonel of the Fourth Alabama regiment, which made Colonel Patterson the ranking colonel in the brigade. Not long after this, Roddey's brigade became a division, and Colonel Patterson was assigned to the command of the first brigade, composed of the Fifth and Tenth Alabama cavalry and Stuart's battalion. In the latter part of January, 1864, Colonel Patterson was ordered to Cotton Gin, Miss., where he went into winter quarters. He remained there three or four weeks- recruiting his forces, drilling and making ready for the spring campaign. In February he was ordered with his brigade to join the army at Dalton. Ga. He remained at Dalton until the army. began to retire to Atlanta, when Roddey's entire command was again ordered to North Alabama, where it remained during the year. In May he crossed the Tennessee river with the Fifth Alabama cavalry and Stuart's battalion and attacked the Thir- teenth Illinois infantry at Madison Station, capturing 180 pris- oners, 400 stand of arms and a number of wagons with supplies. In recrossing the Tennessee river, at Fletcher's Ferry, he was attacked by the enemy, but repulsed them, and safely crossed the river with his prisoners and captured property. Afterward, at the time of the battle of Harrisburg. Miss., he was left in com- mand of North Alabama, with only Stuart's battalion and three independent companies. With this force he attacked, in the night-time, two regiments of the enemy's cavalry at Brooks' Crossroads. The result was a wild stampede of the enemy, and their return to Decatur in detachments, many of them on foot. and the next day Colonel Patterson's forces picked up about 150 horses, scattered over the country. Colonel Patterson's com- mand was with General Forrest at Athens, Sulphur Trestle and Pulaski, in the fall of 1864, and took an active part in that notable expedition. When General Wilson, in March, 1865. moved out from Eastport. Miss .. on his notable raid into Ala- bama, Colonel Patterson was in North Alabama with the Fifth Alabama cavalry, watching his movements. He was in front of Wilson all the way to Selma. In a night attack, two days
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before the arrival of the command at Selma, Colonel Patterson was thrown from his horse and severely injured in the left knee. The next day he was with his regiment, which, with Lyon's Kentucky regiment, met Wilder's brigade at Ebenezer Church, and repulsed it with heavy loss. He was with his command at the battle of Selma, but, owing to his wounded knee, was unable to escape with his command and was captured. He remained a prisoner at Selma a week. On the first night of the march from Selma to Montgomery he made his escape, and followed his command back into North Alabama. When he returned there he was informed that General Lee had sur- rendered. In May, 1865, he surrendered the Fifth Alabama cavalry, it being probably the last organized body of Confederate troops to surrender east of the Mississippi river. After the war, he again turned his attention to the law, and resumed the practice of his profession at Somerville, Tenn. In january, 1867, he located at Florence, Ala., where he entered into part- nership with Judge S. C. Posey, and, after his death, in Decem- · ber, 1868, with Judge H. C. Jones. In March, 1872, he located at Memphis, where he formed a partnership with Thomas C. Lowe, under the firm name of Patterson & Lowe. In January. 1876, Col. George Gantt became a member of the firm, which became Gantt, Patterson & Lowe until Mr. Lowe's death in 1878, and thereafter Gantt & Patterson until the death of Colonel Gantt. in 1897. In 1882 Colonel Patterson went as a delegate to the state convention, and was permanent chairman of the convention which nominated Gen. William B. Bate for governor. At this time the state debt question was under discussion, and in that memorable contest Colonel Patterson stood for its just and equitable settlement. In 1888 he was a candidate for elector of the state at large on the Democratic ticket, and made a thorough canvass of the state. In 1890 he was a candidate for nomination as governor, and was very largely supported by the conservative Democrats of the state. but was defeated for the nomination by John P. Buchanan, the candidate of the Farmers' Alliance. In the fall of 1890, not- withstanding he was not a candidate, his party convention, unable to agree upon either of the candidates before it, unani-
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mously nominated him for Congress. In 1892 he was again nominated and elected, without opposition. When the great financial panic of 1893 came upon the country, Colonel Patter- son took strong ground in favor of the financial policies of Mr. Cleveland, and at the extra session of Congress advocated the repeal of the purchasing clause of the Sherman act, and spoke against the free coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 to I. In 1894 he was opposed for Congress by Col. Casey Young- Colonel Patterson advocating sound money and Colonel Young the free coinage of silver. The contest resulted in many joint debates, in which the question was thoroughly discussed from the hustings. Colonel Patterson, at the primary, was nomi- nated by a large majority, and again elected. He now became a central figure in the discussion of the currency question, and delivered a great many addresses in different parts of the coun- try. In the spring of 1895 he was the principal instrument in causing the great sound money convention. which met at Men- phis, and before which Mr. Carlisle delivered his notable ad- dress. After the nomination of Mr. Bryan. in 1896, Colonel Patterson at first resolved that he would not be a candidate for re-election, but on his return to Memphis from Washington, lie found a sound money club of more than 2.500 members organ- ized, and demanding his candidacy. In the meantime, Senator E. W. Carmack had announced his candidacy, and stood squarely on the Chicago platform. Colonel Patterson an- nonnced that he would vote for Bryan, but would continue to advocate the cause of sound money. The congressional com- mittee ordered a primary to make the nomination. but Mr. Car- mack and his friends insisted on a convention. The result was that Colonel Patterson was nominated almost unanimously at the primary, and Mr. Carmack was nominated by a conven- tion composed of the Free Silver element of the district. A. notable and bitter contest was the result, and on the face of the returns Mr. Carmack was elected by a majority of 360, though some of Colonel Patterson's supporters have always maintained that he was, in point of fact, elected by a good majority. He was the only Democrat entertaining his views, and defending the administration of Mr. Cleveland, who ran that year for Con-
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gress in the Southern states. On March 4, 1897, he retired from Congress, and returned to the practice of his profession. He took George Gantt, son of his old partner, into the firm with him, and continued to practice law under the old firm name of Gantt & Patterson until February, 1900, when Mr. Gantt died. In 1899 he was appointed by President Mckinley to rep- resent the Confederacy on the Shiloh Park commission, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Col. R. H. Looney. In 1902 he formed a partnership with S. N. Neeley and W. B. Henderson, under the firm name of Patterson, Neely & Hen- derson, which firm was dissolved by the death of Colonel Pat- terson, Feb. 12, 1904. Mrs. Patterson and the three children born to their marriage are all living. Malcom Rice Patterson is a lawyer, and now a member of Congress from the Memphis district; Mary Louisa is the wife of E. B. LeMaster, a suc- cessful business man of Memphis; and Ann Eliza is the wife of Dr. Sterling J. Foster, pastor of the South Highland Pres- byterian church at Birmingham, Ala.
JOHN PRESTON YOUNG, of Memphis, Tenn .. judge of the Fif- teenth judicial circuit of Tennessee, was born April 18. 1847, at Chula- homa, Miss. His father, Rev. A. W. Young, was a Presbyterian minister of French and Scotch-Irish descent, and his mother was descended from the Preston family of Virginia and the Hart family of Kentucky. He had four ancestors in the Continental army, two of whom, Andrew Mc- Connell. on his father's side, and Nathaniel Hart, on his mother's side, were killed. His maternal grandfather. Ensign John Smith, and great-grandfather, Lieut. Francis Smith. served in the Sixth Virginia regiment of the Continental line, and survived the war. When he was twelve years of age his parents came to Memphis, where he received his primary education under the private tutorship of his father. He en-
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tered the Confederate service in September, 1864, joining Com- pany A, Fourth Tennessee infantry, as a volunteer, but was not regularly enlisted, and remained until Nov. 10, 1864, in- cluding a brief service at General Hardee's headquarters, in the Georgia campaign. . On Nov. 10, 1864, he was regularly en- listed in Company A, Seventh Tennessee cavalry, Lieut .- Col. W. F. Taylor commanding, and served until the close of the war with Forrest, being engaged at Campbellville, Lawrence- burg, Lynnville, Columbia, Hardison's Mills, Rally Hill, Hurt's Crossroads, Spring Hill, Franklin, the engagements about Nashville, Lavergne, Murfreesboro, Christiana, Fosterville, Warfields, Richland Creek, Buford, Pulaski, Anthony's Hill and Sugar Creek, all in Tennessee. and at Trion, Scottsville and Centerville, Ala., and in numerous minor skirmishes. After the war, he returned to Memphis, going thence to Oxford, Miss., where he attended the University of Mississippi for two years. He then studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1872, and began practice in Memphis. In 1888 he was elected a magistrate of Memphis, and served about fourteen years, doing the greater part of the civil business of the city. In August, 1902, he was elected to his present place for a term of eight years. For some years he has been engaged in writing the history of the Army of Tennessee, an octavo volume of 600 pages, which he expects to publish at an early date. This is to be a popular history, though a critical military history in form, involving the movements of both the Federals and Con- federates, and has received the endorsement of leading military men on both sides. It gives secret inside facts of interest, here- tofore unpublished, that will make of it a valuable reference book for the future. Judge Young belongs to the Confederate Historical association and to Camp 28, United Confederate Veterans, the oldest Confederate organization in the South. dating back to 1867. He is a member and one of the elders of the Presbyterian church. Maj. H. C. Warinner says of Judge Young: "I have known Judge Young since he began to practice law in Memphis, and found him to be an elegant gentleman, the soul of honor. He was elected magistrate and served with great efficiency and in a way to command the
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respect and confidence of his fellow-citizens. He is all that any man could wish to be. After being a magistrate and in the county court for years, he sought the nomination for the circuit court, and received it and the election. He makes an admirable judge and gives universal satisfaction to the bar and litigants. He presides with courtesy, firmness and intel- ligence. He has tried a number of important cases, and has not often been reversed by the supreme court. There is no inducement that would tempt him to do wrong."
HUGH McDOWELL NEELY, president of the Phoenix Fire and Marine Insurance Company and vice- . president of the Memphis National bank, was born in Madison county, Tenn., his parents being Moses and Jane Parks (McDowell) Neely. His ancestors came from Scotland in the early part of the eighteenth century and settled in North Carolina. They belonged to that sterling and thrifty race which has made its. mark upon every community with which it has been identified. The family were Presbyterians. Moses Neely was born in 1799 and died in 1887. His wife was born in 1805 and died in 1886. Both were born and reared near Charlotte, Mecklenburg county, N. C., famous in Revolutionary history for the first declaration of independence (1775), and were married in 1825. They removed to Tennessee in 1833. located in Madison county, and in 1839 came to Shelby county and settled near Germantown, fifteen miles from Memphis. The family belonged to the pros- perous type of planters, and were noted for energy and enter- prise, and these traits developed in a large degree in the chil- dren of Moses Neely, his descendants of the present generation having had markedly honorable and successful careers. Hugh M. Neely was reared at the old homestead, his first school being one of the old field schools, which commenced at 7 o'clock and ended at sundown. He received a good academic educa-
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tion in the Shelby Male High school, which has been added to by a course of reading all through his life that has made him a good scholar and a well-read man. He left school at nineteen years of age. to engage in planting, but a year or so after bought an interest in an old and well-established plant at Ger- mantown, Tenn., for the manufacture of cotton gins, under the firm name of Trueheart, Woodson & Co. Having but little mechanical knowledge and no practice, he filled the position of salesman and collector. This was a successful business white it lasted, but the Civil war put an end to it in 1861, and on about June Ist of that year, at the request of the military authorities at Memphis, the firm engaged in the manufacture of ordnance supplies for the Confederate States army, and continued in that line of work till December of the same year, at which time the plant closed down. It was afterward burned and totally destroyed by some Federal troops stationed in the neighborhood. In politics a Whig, and of conservative thought, he was opposed to secession, but when war was an undoubted fact he cast his fortunes with the South, and early in 1862 enlisted as a private in Company I, Thirty-eighth Tennessee infantry. In the reorganization of the Confederate army, in April. 1862, he was elected first lieutenant of his company, and in 1863 was made captain. Early in 1864 he was made acting assistant adjutant-general of Gen. J. C. Carter's brigade, and so acted until February, 1865, when he was compelled to resign on account of chronic rheumatism. His regiment fought in all of the battles in which the Army of Tennessee was engaged, among them being Shiloh, Perryville, Ky., Stone River, Chicka- manga, Dalton, along the way to Atlanta, Jonesboro, Lovejoy, Franklin, Nashville and the retreat to Sugar Creek. At Perry- ville he was severely wounded in the shoulder. and still carries the ball; was slightly wounded twice at Atlanta, on July 22, 1864, and also at the battle of Franklin. While on leave of absence after the battle of Perryville, he was captured, but escaped the next day. Returning home in the fall of 1865. he entered the employ of Brooks, Neely & Co., of Memphis, as a clerk. The following year he was admitted as a partner in the company, which had been constantly engaged in the grocery
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and cotton trade since its organization, and continued in that line until Sept. 1. 1900, when the firm went into voluntary liquidation. It was a successful house during all of its carcer, and was regarded as one of the best and strongest mercantile concerns in the Southern states. To the business Mr. Neely gave untiring labor, and aided greatly in making it the great institution it came to be. In 1876 he was made president of the Phoenix Fire and Marine Insurance company; later he was made vice-president of the Memphis National bank, and in 1892-93 was its president. He takes part in politics as a citi- z.en only. He belongs to the Presbyterian church and is a director in the Young Men's Christian association. Mr. Neely was married in August, 1886, to Mrs. Mary B. McCown, and in this happy marriage the community was gratified in the addi- tion of such a couple to its social life.
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