Rank Brigadier General | Name William Tucker | |
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Born May 9, 1827
Iredell County, North Carolina ( 1827-05-09 ) Died September 14, 1881(1881-09-14) (aged 54)
Okolona, Mississippi Place of burial Odd Fellows Cemetery
Okolona, Mississippi Allegiance United States of America
Confederate States of America Service/branch Confederate States Army Infantry | ||
Years of service 1861 – 1865 (CSA) | ||
William Feimster Tucker (May 9, 1827 – September 14, 1881) was a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.
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Early life
Tucker was born in Iredell County, North Carolina. He attended Emory and Henry College in Abingdon, Virginia, and graduated in 1848. That same year he moved to Houston, Mississippi. In 1855, he was elected probate judge of Chickasaw County. Tucker then studied law and was admitted to the bar and began practicing.
Civil War
Tucker entered the Confederate Army as a captain of Company K, 11th Mississippi Infantry Regiment. He was part of Barnard Bee's brigade at the First Battle of Manassas. Soon afterwards Tucker's company was sent to the West and merged with the 41st Mississippi Infantry Regiment. Tucker was commissioned colonel of the regiment in May 1862. He led the regiment at the Battles of Perryville, Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, and Chattanooga before being promoted to brigadier general to rank from March 1, 1864. Tucker's field duty ended that summer after suffering a severe wound at the Battle of Resaca during the Atlanta Campaign. In the last weeks of the war he commanded the District of Southern Mississippi and East Louisiana.
Post-War and murder
After the war, Tucker returned to Chickasaw County and again practiced law. He was elected to the state legislature in 1876 and 1878. He was assassinated on September 14, 1881, in Okolona, Mississippi. It was alleged that a man whom Tucker had a case pending against had hired two men to assassinate him.