Henry DeLamar Clayton
From Dixiepedia: The PC-Free Encyclopedia
Henry DeLamar Clayton (7 March 1827 - 3 October 1889) was born in Pulaski County, Georgia. He graduated Emory and Henry College, Virginia, and read law in Eufala, Alabama. In 1849, he passed the bar and opened an office in Clayton, Alabama. In 1857, he ran for the State legislature from Barbour County and served two terms until 1861. He also formed a militia company (Clayton Guards) and served as its captain, then as Col. of the 3rd Alabama Volunteers, August, 1860. Clayton tried to have his regiment accepted into Confederate service at Pensacola in January 1861. While initially unsuccessful, Clayton was ordered to take command of all Alabama troops at Pensacola as they arrived. In March 1861, when the 1st Alabama Infantry Regiment was organized, Clayton was their Col., an office he exercised for a year. Clayton resigned his commission and returned home in January 1862. He then organized the 39th Alabama and commanded it when it became part of Brig. Gen'l Franklin Gardner's brigade. They accompanied Gen'l Braxton Bragg in his 1862 Kentucky Campaign. At Murfreesboro, as part of Brig. Gen'l Zachariah Deas' brigade, Clayton was wounded and then promoted to Brig. Gen'l. He was given Alexander P. Stewart's old brigade (18th, 32nd, 36th, 38th, and 58th AL regiments). Clayton's Brigade fought at Chickamauga, Chattanooga, and at Rocky Face Ridge. After New Hope Church, Clayton was promoted to Major Gen'l and commanded what had been Gen'l A. P. Stewart's Division -- Gibson's, Stovall's, Strahl's, and Clayton's (now Holtzclaw's) brigades. Clayton participated in all the subsequent actions of the Army of Tennessee (excluding Franklin), up until April of 1865 when Clayton voluntarily retired, citing stress.
Following the war, Clayton resumed his law practice, was elected a circuit court judge (May 1866), was removed by the Reconstruction government, was re-elected (1874, 1880), and became president of the University of Alabama (1886). He died in Tuscaloosa, and is buried in Eufaula.
