William F. Brantley

William Felix Brantley
William Felix Brantley
Born	(1830-03-12)March 12, 1830 Greene County, Alabama
Died	November 2, 1870(1870-11-02) (aged 40) near Winona, Mississippi
Place of burial	Old Greensboro Cemetery, Webster County, Mississippi
Allegiance	Confederate States of America
Service / branch	Confederate States Army
Years of service	1861–65
Rank	Brigadier General
Battles / wars	American Civil War

William Felix Brantley (March 12, 1830 – November 2, 1870) was an American lawyer and American Civil War and Confederate States of America combatant. He served as a officer and brigadier general in the military Confederate States Army during the American Civil War (1861-1865), mainly in the Western Theater during the conflict.

He was ambushed and murdered in central Mississippi in November 1870, reportedly as part of a family feud. His older brother, Dr. John Ransom Brantley, was unfortunately also killed a decade earlier in 1859 further west in Gonzales, Texas. Their younger brother Arnold Brantley was also killed in the former first county seat of Webster County, Mississippi and now non-existent town there of Greensboro three months earlier in August 1870; his unknown attackers escaped.

William Felix Brantley was born in 1830 in Greene County, Alabama, but moved with his family to Mississippi while still a child.^[1] He was a son of William Brantley, originally from Georgia, and his wife Marina (née Jolly) of Alabama. By 1850 Brantley was studying law in Carroll County, Mississippi.^[2] Two years later he began practicing as a lawyer in the former county seat and now non-existent town of Greensboro in Webster County, Mississippi.^[1]

On December 27, 1855, Brantley married Cornelia S. Medley, and the couple had three children together. They were: Mary Thomas, born September 5, 1858, in Macon and died June 11, 1943, in St. Louis, Missouri; Joseph Ransom, born September 5, 1859, in Choctaw County and died there on September 19, 1869; and an unnamed infant born in 1861 and died on June 7 of that year.

By 1860 Brantley was a practicing lawyer in Choctaw County, Mississippi. He and his family lived with one of his brothers, Dr. John Ransom Brantley.^[2] In 1861 he represented his county during the Mississippi state secession convention.^[1]

When the American Civil War / War Between the States began in 1861, Brantley chose to follow his home state and the Southern cause of the seceded states into the Confederate States of America. On April 20 he entered his Mississippi state's forces as a captain in the Mississippi Militia.^[3] On May 21 Brantley joined the newly-organized Confederate States Army when his company (called the Wigfall Rifles) was called up and added to the 15th Mississippi Infantry Regiment as Company D, of which he was elected its captain.^[4] In the spring of 1862 he was transferred as a captain in the 29th Mississippi Infantry, and fought at the Battle of Shiloh (also known in the South as Pittsburg Landing) on April 6, where he was among 10,000 Confederate casualties.

That May Brantley was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel, and on December 13 he was promoted to full colonel in command of the 29th Mississippi. He fought with them during the Battle of Stones River in Middle Tennessee, in which he was wounded again, hit in a shoulder on December 31.^[3]

Brantley led his regiment (now part of the Confederate Army of Tennessee) during the Battle of Chickamauga from September 19–20, 1863, and with distinction in the Chattanooga Campaign that October and November.^[5] In his commander's report about the subsequent Battle of Lookout Mountain, Brantley was praised for his conduct:

It is due in particular to commend Col. W. F. Brantley, Twenty-ninth Mississippi regiment and Lieut.-Col. McKelvaine, Twenty-fourth Mississippi regiment, for the skill, activity, zeal and courage I have ever observed in them under similar circumstances, but which in an especial degree signaled their actions on this occasion."^[5]

Brantley's wife Cornelia died during his wartime service in 1863.^[2] He led his 29th Mississippi Regiment into the Atlanta Campaign in the spring and summer of 1864.^[1] In the inconclusive Battle of Resaca on May 13–15, Colonel Brantley was again noted for his performance, "commended for gallantry, after leading a charge on the enemy that repulsed Federal assaults three times." During the Battle of Atlanta on July 22, 1864, his brigade commander, Col. Samuel Benton, was mortally wounded, hit in his chest and right foot by a shell.^[6] Brantley then took command of the brigade, and would lead it for the rest of the war.^[7]

On July 26 Brantley was promoted to the rank of brigadier general.^[8] He led his brigade during the Franklin-Nashville Campaign in Tennessee in late 1864. At the Second Battle of Franklin on November 30, Brantley's command consisted of the 24th, 27th, 29th, 30th, and the 34th Mississippi Infantry regiments, plus a dismounted cavalry company.^[9]

By 1865, Brantley's command and the remnant of the southern Army of Tennessee participated in the war's last phase in the southeast of the Carolinas Campaign, pursuing the Federals from the Burning of Atlanta, and their subsequent March to the Sea southeastward to the port city of Savannah, Georgia, on the Atlantic Ocean coast, then the northward rampage of federal General William T. Sherman through South Carolina, with his combined units of the Army of the Tennessee, Army of Ohio and recent Army of Georgia of the Union Army. Now General Brantley surrendered along with his commanding superior General Joseph E. Johnston and his remaining Army of the South in North Carolina on April 26.^[10] He was paroled on May 1 from Greensboro after the surrender ceremonies there of the second major Confederate Army to lay down their arms, and returned home to Mississippi.^[3]

After the War Between the States ended in 1865, Brantley resumed his law practice in Mississippi. The widower remarried, to a woman named Julia. They had a son born in 1869, but he died on November 10 that same year; no name was recorded for the infant.^[2]

Brantley was part of a family feud, which resulted in his own death by murder. An account of his involvement follows:

William’s brother, Dr. John Ransom Brantley was killed in Gonzales, Texas, in 1859. The brothers’ reprisal for this act, led to other murders. On August 16, 1870, William’s brother, Arnold J. Brantley, was shot in cold blood, according to reports. The Weekly Clarion newspaper stated in November 1870 that it was the General’s attempt to bring to justice the party responsible for this murder that led to his own death. He was shot and killed near Winona, Mississippi on November 2, 1870 as he drove his buggy from town toward his home. None of the assassins were ever apprehended.^[2]

Brantley was killed by a shotgun blast at Winona, located in Montgomery County.^[3] He was buried in a cemetery "behind the church at Old Greensboro" - (in the former first county seat and now non-existent town of Greensboro), - about three miles north of Tomnolen, Webster County, Mississippi."^[10]

• List of American Civil War generals (Confederate)

• Eicher, John H., and Eicher, David J., Civil War High Commands, Stanford University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8047-3641-3.
• Warner, Ezra J., Generals in Gray: The Lives of the Confederate Commanders, Louisiana State University Press, 1959, ISBN 0-8071-3150-4.
• Wright, Marcus J., General Officers of the Confederate Army, J. M. Carroll & Co., 1983, ISBN 0-8488-0009-5.
• civilwarreference.com Civil War Reference Network site biography of Brantley.
• theusgenweb.org Archived 2008-07-25 at the Wayback Machine, US Gen website entry for General William F. Brantley.
• 19thalabama.org 19th Alabama Infantry Regiment site Conf. Franklin Order of Battle.
• [1] The 29th Mississippi Infantry Regiment by Jack Taylor, II

• Wynne, Ben, A Hard Trip: A History of the 15th Mississippi Infantry, CSA, Mercer University Press, 2003, ISBN 0-86554-806-4.