Biography

Born:   Thursday, October 01, 1835 Paris TN

Died:   Monday, March 30, 1903 Nashville TN

Buried:   Mount Olivet Cemetery, Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee

Plot:    

Brigadier General William H. Jackson, one of the most prominent living [in 1899] soldiers of Tennessee, was born at Paris, Tenn., October 7, 1835. At twenty-one years he was graduated at the United States military academy (1856), and assigned as brevet second lieutenant to the mounted riflemen. In December of the same year he was commissioned second lieutenant while serving at the cavalry school for practice at Carlisle, Pa. he was on frontier duty at Fort Bliss, Tex., 1857, and in December of that year was engaged in a skirmish against the Kiowa Indians near Fort Craig, N.M. In 1859 he was engaged in the scouting in the Navajo country, and took part in the Comanche and Kiowa expedition of 1860. On May 16, 1861, in obedience to the command of his State, he resigned his commission in the United States army and entered the service of the Confederate States as captain of artillery.

In the battle of Belmont, November 7, 1861, he acted as aide on the staff of General Pillow, and was seriously wounded while executing that officer’s orders. His name is flatteringly mentioned in the reports of Generals Polk and Pillow and of Col. S. F. Marks, who, at the request of Colonel Barrow, tendered the thanks of the Eleventh Louisiana regiment to Capt. Wm. H. Jackson for valuable and gallant service rendered them. This gallant young officer was in the field again early in 1862 as colonel of the First Tennessee cavalry, winning compliments from his superior officers in every affair in which he was engaged. His name is mentioned in all the reports, and by his merit as chief of cavalry in Pemberton’s department he richly earned the commission of brigadier- general, which was bestowed upon him December 29, 1862. He had acted as chief of cavalry for Van Dorn and Price in the campaign which culminated in the battle of Corinth. On the retreat from that disastrous field he had well protected the rear of the Confederate army.

He increased his already high reputation throughout the Vicksburg campaign, and after its disastrous close he was indefatigable in his labors and rendered invaluable assistance to Gen. Joseph E. Johnston. In the Meridian campaign of February, 1864, Jackson commanded the cavalry of Polk’s army, hanging upon the flanks of the enemy and compelling his foragers to keep close to the main line. During the Atlanta campaign, Jackson commanded the cavalry corps of the army of the Mississippi, which participated in all the arduous labors and many brilliant successes of the cavalry arm of the Confederate service. When, after the brilliant cavalry victory at Newnan, Wheeler moved into the rear of Sherman’s army, Jackson’s cavalry shared in the movements that defeated Kilpatrick’s raid against the Macon road. He led his division of cavalry through the Nashville and Murfreesboro campaign, and then retiring to Mississippi, was there, in February, 1865, assigned to command of all Tennessee cavalry in Forrest’s department, with other brigades, to form Jackson’s division, one of the two provided for in Forrest’s reorganization. His last military service was the cutting off of Croxton’s brigade from the main body of Wilson’s expedition, April, 1865.

Since the close of the war General Jackson has engaged in stock raising, and is proprietor of the celebrated Belle Meade stock farm near Nashville, Tenn. He died in Nashville Tennessee on March 30, 1903 and is buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery, Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee.