Brig. General James Deshler (CSA)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Deshler

James Deshler (February 18, 1833 – September 20, 1863) was a career United States Army officer and a graduate of West Point. He was a Confederate brigadier general during the American Civil War and died on the field of battle.

Early life and career

James Deshler was born in February 18, 1833 in Tuscumbia, Alabama to David Deshler 1798-1872) and Eleanor Taylor (1808-1854). Deshler went to West Point and graduated in 1854. He graduated ranking above James Ewell Brown Stuart, William Dorsey Pender and Stephen Dill Lee. After graduating, James was commissioned as a second lieutenant United States Army. His first military experience was when he was assigned to California after graduation. He was then transferred and promoted to first lieutenant United States Army in 1858 and joined a regiment to fight in the Utah War expedition. After the expedition Deshler was assigned to Fort Wise, where he remained until 1861. In 1861 Deshler resigned his post and joined the Confederate States Army.

Civil War service

After his resignation from the army, Deshler enlisted as a captain in the artillery. In September 1861 he was an assistant to Brig. Gen. Henry R. Jackson during the Battle of Cheat Mountain. Deshler was wounded at the Battle of Allegheny Mountain when he was shot through the thighs. After his recovery from his wounds he was promoted to colonel and assigned to the staff of Maj. Gen. Theophilus H. Holmes. In 1862 he was given his first command, which consisted of four regiments of Texas infantry and cavalry, the Tenth Texas Infantry regiment, Fifteenth, Seventeenth, and Eighteenth Texas Dismounted Cavalry regiments. On January 11, 1863, Deshler was captured when the Confederates surrendered at the Battle of Fort Hindman. After being exchanged he was promoted to brigadier general on July 28, 1863.

Death and burial

On the second day of the Battle of Chickamauga on September 20, 1863, while inspecting his brigade before an attack, Deshler was killed instantly by a Union artillery shell when it exploded in front of him, tearing his heart from his body. Command of his brigade was taken over by the future Senator Roger Mills, and the Confederacy won the battle. After the fighting ended, a family friend buried Deshler's body on the battlefield. Later the friend brought Deshler's father to the gravesite. They disinterred Deshler and subsequently reburied him in Oakwood Cemetery in his hometown of Tuscumbia, Alabama.

Mills remarked after Deshler's death:

I may pause here and pay a passing tribute to the memory of our fallen chief. He was brave, generous and kind, even to a fault. Ever watchful and careful for the safety of any member of his command, he was ever ready to peril his own...He poured out his own blood upon the spot watered by the best blood of the brigade. Amongst the host of brave hearts that were offered the altar of sacrifice for their country on that beautiful Sabath, there perished not one, noble, braver, or better than his. He lived beloved, and fell lamented and mourned by every officer and man of his command.

Memorials

Deshler's father founded the Deshler Female Institute in memory of his son. To further honor General Deshler, Tuscumbia's Deshler High School was named for him.

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James Deshler, Confederate general, was born on February 18, 1833, in Tuscumbia, Alabama, of Pennsylvania parents. He was appointed to the United States Military Academy at West Point from Alabama on July 1, 1850, and graduated seventh of forty-six cadets in the class of 1854. Among his classmates was the famed Confederate cavalry officer James Ewell Brown (Jeb) Stuart. Deshler was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Third Artillery on July 1, 1854, transferred to the Tenth Infantry on March 3, 1855, and promoted to first lieutenant on September 17, 1858. During this time he saw service in California; at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania; against the Sioux; and in the Utah expedition. In 1861 he was stationed at Fort Wise, Colorado Territory. He appears not to have resigned from the United States Army but to have been dropped on July 15, 1861, after overstaying a leave.

After appointment as a captain of artillery in the Confederate Army, Deshler reported to Gen. Henry R. Jackson in what is now West Virginia and served as brigade adjutant during the Cheat Mountain campaign. He was shot through both thighs at the battle of Allegheny Summit on December 13, 1861, and upon his recovery was promoted to colonel and assigned to North Carolina to serve on the staff of Gen. Theophilus H. Holmes. Deshler was Holmes's chief of artillery during the Seven Days' battles around Richmond in 1862 and later accompanied Holmes to the Trans-Mississippi Department. In October 1862 he was given command of a brigade of Texas infantry in the division of Brig. Gen. Henry E. McCulloch, then being organized at Camp Nelson, near Austin, Arkansas. His regiments were Col. Allison Nelson's Tenth Texas Infantry and Col. George H. Sweet's Fifteenth, Col. George Fleming Moore's Seventeenth, and Col. Nicholas H. Darnell's Eighteenth Texas Cavalry regiments, dismounted. The first three brigades of this division were to become known as Walker's Texas Division, but Deshler's brigade was detached to Arkansas Post soon after its organization.

Deshler was captured at the surrender of Arkansas Post in January 1863, then exchanged and promoted to brigadier general on July 28 of that year. His new brigade included the Tenth Texas Infantry regiment, a consolidation of the Fifth, Sixth, and Tenth Texas Infantry regiments; and the Seventeenth Texas Cavalry regiment (dismounted), a consolidation of the Seventeenth, Eighteenth, Twenty-fourth, and Twenty-fifth Texas Cavalry regiments, all dismounted. In Gen. Patrick R. Cleburne's division of the Army of Tennessee, Deshler was killed instantly by a federal artillery shell while inspecting his brigade before an attack during the battle of Chickamauga, Georgia, on September 20, 1863. His command was assumed by Roger Q. Mills. Deshler is buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Tuscumbia, Alabama.