Carte de visite photograph of Barksdale in civilian clothes. Chest up view. Image is clear with good contrast. Mount shows light wear. Period ink indetification "Barksdale" at bottom. Pencil notes on back. Oval photographer's backmark, E. & H.T. Anthony, New York.

William Barksdale (August 21, 1821 – July 3, 1863) was a lawyer, newspaper editor, US Representative, and Confederate general in the Civil War.

William Barksdale was born in Smyrna, Tennessee on August 21, 1821. After graduating from the University of Tennessee, he studied in Columbus, Mississippi, and started practicing law at the age of 21. He quickly became a vocal proslavery advocate as the editor of the Columbus Democrat and as a States’ Rights Democrat and member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

With the outbreak of the Civil War, Barksdale resigned his congressional seat and took a position as the quartermaster general of the Mississippi army until he entered the Confederate service in May 1861 as colonel of the 13th Mississippi. He was commissioned brigadier general on August 12, 1862, after his brigade fought in the Battle of Malvern Hill.

“Barksdale’s Mississippians,” consisting of the 13th, 17th, 18th, and 21st Mississippi regiments in McLaws’s division of James Longstreet’s First Corps, distinguished themselves at Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg.

At Gettysburg Barksdale both met his end and established his lasting legacy. On July 2, 1863, Barksdale smashed into the Union Third Corps at the Peach Orchard. His men crushed the Union defenses and even captured Union General Charles Graham. Then, his brigade split in twain and continued the assault. During this remarkable assault, Barksdale was hit by shot and shell, first in the knee, then in his left foot, and finally in the chest. Wounded and a prisoner, he was taken to the Joseph Hummelbaugh farmhouse, where he died from his wounds the next day.

He is buried in Greenwood Cemetery, Jackson, Mississippi.  [jet] [ph:L]

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