{⋆★⋆} BG Pettus, Edmund W.

Edmund Winston Pettus

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Born: July 6, 1821

Birth Place: Limestone County, Alabama

Father: John Jones Pettus Sr. 1772 – 1822

Mother: Alice Taylor Winston 1790 – 1871
(Buried: Live Oak Cemetery, Selma, Alabama)

Wife: Mary Lucinda Chapman 1823 – 1906
(Buried: Live Oak Cemetery, Selma, Alabama)

Children:

Lucy T. Pettus Roberts 1845 – 1922​
(Buried: Elmwood Cemetery, Birmingham, Alabama)​
Mary Pettus Lacy 1854 – 1927​
(Buried: Live Oak Cemetery, Selma, Alabama)​
Francis Leigh Pettus 1858 – 1901​
(Buried: Live Oak Cemetery, Selma, Alabama)​

Education:

Attended Clinton College in Smith County, Tennessee​

Occupation before War:

Attorney in Gainesville, Alabama​
1844: Solicitor of Seventh Circuit​
Served in the Mexican War rising to Lt.​
1853 – 1855: Solicitor of Seventh Circuit of Alabama​
1855 – 1858: Judge of Seventh Circuit Court, Alabama​

Civil War Career:

1861 – 1863: Lt. Colonel of 20th Alabama Infantry Regiment​
1863: Helped in the Defense of Port Gibson Mississippi​
1863: Colonel of 20th Alabama Infantry Regiment​
1863: Captured during the Battle of Vicksburg, Mississippi
After war.jpeg
1863: Prisoner of War held by the Union Army​
1863 – 1865: Brigadier General of Confederate Army Infantry​
1863: Participated in the Chattanooga, Tennessee Campaign​
1864: Participated in the Atlanta Campaign​
1865: Wounded during the Battle of Bentonville, North Carolina​
1865: Paroled by the Union Army in Salisbury, North Carolina​

Occupation after War:

Attorney in Selma, Alabama​
1897 – 1907: United States Senator from Alabama​

Died: July 27, 1907

Place of Death: Hot Springs, North Carolina

Cause of Death: Not Known

Age at time of Death: 86 years old

Burial Place: Live Oak Cemetery, Selma, Alabama
 
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From Wikipedia

Later life[edit]
150px-Edmund_Pettus-photo_portrait.jpg

Edmund Pettus in his later years
After the war, Edmund Pettus returned to Alabama and resumed his law practice in Selma. Pettus served as chairman of the state delegation to the Democratic National Convention for more than two decades.[2] In 1877, during the final year of Reconstruction, Pettus was named Grand Dragon of the Alabama Ku Klux Klan. With earnings from his law practice, he bought farm land.[2]

In 1896, at the age of 75, Pettus ran for U.S. Senate as a Democrat and won, beating incumbent James L. Pugh. The state legislature, rather than state voters, elected United States Senators then. His campaign relied on his successes in organizing and popularizing the Alabama Klan and his prominent opposition to the constitutional amendments following the Civil War that elevated former slaves to the status of free citizens.[2]
 
From Wikipedia

Later life[edit]
View attachment 367536
Edmund Pettus in his later years
After the war, Edmund Pettus returned to Alabama and resumed his law practice in Selma. Pettus served as chairman of the state delegation to the Democratic National Convention for more than two decades.[2] In 1877, during the final year of Reconstruction, Pettus was named Grand Dragon of the Alabama Ku Klux Klan. With earnings from his law practice, he bought farm land.[2]

In 1896, at the age of 75, Pettus ran for U.S. Senate as a Democrat and won, beating incumbent James L. Pugh. The state legislature, rather than state voters, elected United States Senators then. His campaign relied on his successes in organizing and popularizing the Alabama Klan and his prominent opposition to the constitutional amendments following the Civil War that elevated former slaves to the status of free citizens.[2]

I've often heard of his Klan connections, but something just don't jive right. By 1877 the first Klan practically ceased to exist, which it had started dyeing out around 1873. To hear of its existence in 1877, and 1896 raises red flags as from all I've read the second incarnation wouldn't be seen until 1922.
 
I've often heard of his Klan connections, but something just don't jive right. By 1877 the first Klan practically ceased to exist, which it had started dyeing out around 1873. To hear of its existence in 1877, and 1896 raises red flags as from all I've read the second incarnation wouldn't be seen until 1922.
Yep
 
I've often heard of his Klan connections, but something just don't jive right. By 1877 the first Klan practically ceased to exist, which it had started dyeing out around 1873. To hear of its existence in 1877, and 1896 raises red flags as from all I've read the second incarnation wouldn't be seen until 1922.

I believe you are free to correct the citation should you wish.
 
I believe you are free to correct the citation should you wish.

I suppose I could after a great deal of research into the life of Edmund Pettus and his connections to that evil entity known as the KKK. I am completely ignorant of the man. I only said what I did as I have done some reading on the Klan's early years.

Plus, I personally don't have the slightest clue on how to go about correcting Wikipedia's mistakes. Which there tend to a great many in all subjects.
 
I've often heard of his Klan connections, but something just don't jive right. By 1877 the first Klan practically ceased to exist, which it had started dyeing out around 1873. To hear of its existence in 1877, and 1896 raises red flags as from all I've read the second incarnation wouldn't be seen until 1922.
Just assuming that the dates are accurate, it could mean that he was a bitter ender hanging on when the organization was dying out. Sad legacy really.
 
Just assuming that the dates are accurate, it could mean that he was a bitter ender hanging on when the organization was dying out. Sad legacy really.

I think Pettus is more well known for the bridge and it's legacy. To be honest I was grown before I knew Edmund Pettus was a Confederate officer.

As for the KKK, in the Reconstruction era while no doubt they were very motivated by race relations, that really wasn't as big a deal to them as later, and modern incarnations. "Carpetbaggers", Federal occupation, and pretty harsh crusaders in government like Governor Brownlow of Tennessee, along with folks voting for them (freemen a lot of times), were more their targets.

Reconstruction, and Federal occupation was over in a lot of Southern States by 1874, and completely over by 1876. Everywhere troops were withdrawn, organizations like the KKK just vanished. Their targets had left, and they had power in the State Capitol, they're entire reason for riding around causing havoc was gone, and so they ended up gone themselves. Only reason there's a KKK today is because of some very racially motivated folks in the early 20th Century heard of them and wanted to get together.

Thank God we ain't got to worry about them anymore.
 
I think Pettus is more well known for the bridge and it's legacy. To be honest I was grown before I knew Edmund Pettus was a Confederate officer.

As for the KKK, in the Reconstruction era while no doubt they were very motivated by race relations, that really wasn't as big a deal to them as later, and modern incarnations. "Carpetbaggers", Federal occupation, and pretty harsh crusaders in government like Governor Brownlow of Tennessee, along with folks voting for them (freemen a lot of times), were more their targets.

Reconstruction, and Federal occupation was over in a lot of Southern States by 1874, and completely over by 1876. Everywhere troops were withdrawn, organizations like the KKK just vanished. Their targets had left, and they had power in the State Capitol, they're entire reason for riding around causing havoc was gone, and so they ended up gone themselves. Only reason there's a KKK today is because of some very racially motivated folks in the early 20th Century heard of them and wanted to get together.

Thank God we ain't got to worry about them anymore.
There was a brief revival sometime in the 1890's I think under a different name but using tactics of terror over tobacco. I can't remember the specifics, but they sought revenge on the people there in Kentucky. Found two citations below for correcting my memories.
Lubliner.
 
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His capture and brief time as POW has me a bit confused. A bio that I'm reading states that He escaped after being "briefly csptured" at Port Gibson. Then it has him being exchanged and paroled on September 12, 1863 and being promoted to brigadier general 6 days after his release. He was only captured once wasn't he?
During the Battle of Port Gibson he was captured but then escaped. He them was part of the force besieged in Vicksburg which surrendered, a result of which he was paroled and exchanged.
 
He is better known to me as the commander who had his brigade(or part of it) on top of Lookout Mountain during the Battle Above the Clouds.


His brigade consisted of:

20th Alabama - Capt. John W. Davis
23rd Alabama - Lt-Col. J. B. Bibb
30th Alabama - Col. Charles M. Shelley
31st Alabama - Col. D. R. Hundley
46th Alabama - Capt. Geo. E. Brewer
 
Happy Birthday Brig. General Edmund W. Pettus! Salutes remembering General Pettus on his birthday.

View attachment 407073

View attachment 407074
The newspaper missed the following:

In 1900 Pettus introduced a Senate bill to provide pensions for ex-slaves as reparations for slavery.

The Chair of the Senate Committee on Pensions requested information from the Bureau of Pensions. The Bureau opposed the bill. Since it obviously would not be passed, the Bureau reasoned it might only serve to increase donations to possibly fraudulent lobbyists that had been collecting money from poor blacks for years. Although never proven, the lobbyists were suspected of spending most of the donations on personal expenses. The Committee speculated that as much as $100,000 in such donations had been collected. As a result, Pettus’s reparations bill died in Committee.
 
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