De Witt Clinton Fort
   HOME

TheInfoList



Click Here for Items Related To - De Witt Clinton Fort
OR:
De Witt Clinton Fort on:   [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Amazon]

De Witt Clinton Fort (June 8, 1830,
Hardeman County, Tennessee Hardeman County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 25,462. Its county seat is Bolivar. History Hardeman County was created by the Tennessee General Assembly in 1823 from parts of Ha ...
– May 25, 1868,
Hempstead, Texas Hempstead is a city in and the county seat of Waller County, Texas, United States. It is part of the metropolitan area. History On December 29, 1856, Richard Rodgers Peebles and James W. McDade organized the Hempstead Town Company to sell lots ...
). He was a member of the Texas House of Representatives and soldier in the
Confederate army The Confederate States Army (CSA), also called the Confederate army or the Southern army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fi ...
during the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
.


Background

Fort received his A.B. degree from
Centre College Centre College, formally Centre College of Kentucky, is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Danville, Kentucky, United States. Chartered by the Kentucky General Assembly in 1819, the col ...
,
Danville, Kentucky Danville is a list of Kentucky cities, home rule-class city and the county seat of Boyle County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 17,236 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Danville is the principal city of the Danville Micr ...
in 1850. He was admitted to the practice of law in 1852 in Mississippi and in 1857 in Texas. He was elected to serve in the
Eighth Texas Legislature The 8th Texas Legislature met from November 7, 1859 to April 9, 1861 in its regular session, a first called session, and an adjourned session. All members of the House of Representatives and about half of the members of the Senate were elected in ...
(1859-1861) and the special "Adjourned Session" (March 18, 1861 - April 9, 1861). Fort closed his
Austin County, Texas Austin County is a rural, agricultural dominated county in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, the population was 30,167. Its seat is Bellville. The county and region was settled primarily by German emigrants in the 1800s. Austi ...
law office for the duration of the war in June 1861 and paid his own travel expenses to join J.E.B. Stuart's cavalry in Virginia for the
First Battle of Manassas The First Battle of Bull Run, called the Battle of First Manassas
. by Nathan Bedford Forrest Nathan Bedford Forrest (July 13, 1821October 29, 1877) was an List of slave traders of the United States, American slave trader, active in the lower Mississippi River valley, who served as a General officers in the Confederate States Army, Con ...
. By the end of the war he had served with the Confederate units in Texas, Virginia, Mississippi, Tennessee and Missouri. He was wounded during the closing weeks of the war. His unit surrendered about one month after General Lee's surrender. Fort was "clubfooted" and badly crippled from birth and unsuitable for military service. However, by the time he surrendered, his small band had closed down the Memphis & Charleston Railroad to Union military travel and only large Union cavalry patrols would venture outside the Union military headquarters at Memphis, TN. He carried the sobriquet, Captain "Clubfoot" Fort, C.S.A. proudly.


See also

*
Mat Luxton Mat Luxton (February 27, 1844January 22, 1924), formally James Madison Luxton, was a Confederate-aligned guerrilla and Texas deputy sheriff in the 19th-century United States. American Civil War J. M. Luxton, age 18 at enlistment, was a younger ...


References


''14 Letters to A Friend'' by Laurier B. McDonald
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fort, De Witt 1830 births 1868 deaths People from Hardeman County, Tennessee Politicians from Austin, Texas People of Texas in the American Civil War Centre College alumni Texas lawyers Members of the Texas House of Representatives 19th-century American lawyers Confederate States Army soldiers Nathan Bedford Forrest 19th-century members of the Texas Legislature