Thomas Lanier Clingman

Thomas Lanier Clingman

Thomas Lanier Clingman (born July 27, 1812 in Huntsville , Yadkin County , North Carolina , † November 3, 1897 in Morgantown , North Carolina) was an American politician and Brigadier General of the Confederate during the Civil War .

Life

Clingman was born in Huntsville in 1812 to Jacob and Jane Clingman, b. Poindexter, born. His grandfather was Alexander Clingman, a German who emigrated to Pennsylvania . The young Clingman received his education in public schools in Iredell County as well as through private tutors. He then went to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill , founded in 1789 , studied law and graduated in 1832. Two years later, in 1834, he was admitted to the bar, opened a small law firm in his hometown of Huntsville, and turned to politics at the same time.

In 1835 he was elected to the North Carolina House of Representatives as a constituency representative . In 1836 he moved to Asheville , which was also the seat of the county seat of Buncombe County . In 1840 he was elected to the North Carolina Senate and in 1842, as a member of the Whigs , for the legislature from March 4, 1843 to March 3, 1845 in the House of Representatives of the 28th Congress . He lost the re-election to the 29th Congress, the elections to the 30th Congress and five other elections in a row. Clingman ended the last legislative term prematurely on May 7, 1858, as he was appointed to the US Senate . Here he belonged to various committees. On May 6, 1858, he was US Senator for the retired Asa Biggs and re-elected for the next term, now as a representative of the Democrats . He was a member of the Senate until March 28, 1861, when he resigned his mandate prematurely, along with other southerners .

In May 1861, Clingman volunteered in the Confederate Army and was promoted to Colonel in the 25th Infantry . Eight months later he was already a Brigadier General . Subsequently, Clingman was in command of the defense of Goldsboro , Sullivan's Island and Battery Wagner during the attack on Charleston , South Carolina , the attack on New Bern , North Carolina in February 1864, and the defense at the Second Battle of Drewry's Bluff in May 1864. At the Battle of Cold Harbor from May 31 to June 12, 1864, Clingman was wounded. In subsequent skirmishes, he was wounded several times and was only able to take command again a few days before the surrender of Greenboro .

After the war, Clingman was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention , devoted himself more and more to research on the atmosphere and electricity, and published several books on his research.

See also

• List of Confederate Generals in the Civil War

literature

• Thomas E. Jeffrey: Thomas Lanier Clingman: "Fire Eater" from the Carolina Mountains, University of Georgia Press, 1999, ISBN 0820320234 .
• Frances H. Casstevens: Clingman's Brigade in the Confederacy, 1862-1865, McFarland & Company (2002), ISBN 078641300X .
• David J. Eicher: The Civil War in Books: An Analytical Bibliography , University of Illinois, 1997, ISBN 0-252-02273-4 .
• Richard N. Current: Encyclopedia of the Confederacy (1993) (4 vol.) ( ISBN 0132759918 )
• John H. Eicher & David J. Eicher, Civil War High Commands , Stanford University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8047-3641-3 .
• Ezra J. Warner: Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders , Louisiana State University Press, 1959, ISBN 0-8071-0823-5 .

Web links

• Thomas Lanier Clingman in the database of Find a Grave (English)