Some in the South hold the city’s namesake in high regard

By Monica Green/Features Editor

Maj. Gen. Patrick Ronayne Cleburne, or the Stonewall Jackson of the West, is known as one of the South’s most aggressive battlefield commanders. He was “a brilliant military officer who was liked, admired and inspired by those who knew him. No man could ask for more,” Ann Kieschnick wrote in “History of Johnson County, Texas.”

But the recognition he receives today is minimal compared with his fellow Gens. Robert E. Lee, Jackson, Ulysses S. Grant and William T. Sherman.

Maruiel Joslyn wrote the book “A Meteor Shining Brightly: Essays on Major General Patrick R. Cleburne” and founded the Patrick Cleburne Society in 1998. The society has about 70 members.

“It was a group of admirers that felt like he had never really gotten the recognition we thought he deserved,” Joslyn said. “He never had any family that helped promote his memory. We just felt like he’d kind of gotten lost in history. So many generals like Lee and Jackson had people to carry on for them, but Cleburne didn’t really, so he just got kind of lost.”

The Patrick Cleburne Society, based in Sparta, Ga., is raising money to build an eight foot bronze statue to commemorate Cleburne. The statue will be built in Ringgold Gap, Ga. The society, with aid from local organizations, has received permission from the Department of Transportation to place the statue in Ringgold.

“We chose Ringgold because the battlefield is pretty much like it was at the time,” Joslyn said. “It was a victory there. It was an amazing little battle where he held off armies three times his army.

“There’s nothing for him anywhere. In all the battlefields there’s no real statue or memorial for him. We wanted something public that people could come to and understand what he is all about.”

Rob Tunison, a historical sculptor of military art, will sculpt the statue. Six-inch bronze busts of Cleburne can be obtained with a $250 donation to the society’s statue fund.

The society has a Web site, www.patrickcleburne.com.

Places

Cleburne left his mark on numerous places. One in particular is the city of Cleburne, which is named after him.

“To have a group of people think so much of your leadership and life that they name their hometown after you is a huge compliment,” said Mollie Mims, a Johnson County historian and project coordinator of the publishing of “History of Johnson County Texas.” “Because the men who fought in the Civil War with Maj. Gen. Patrick Cleburne were so impressed with him, our town bears his name. Plus ‘Lake Pat’ was named for him as well. I think it’s important to know about your local history and take pride in it.”

After the Civil War, many families from Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas and other states affected by the war, headed west to find new homes.

“After the Civil War there wasn’t anything left in Georgia, Alabama. Places like that were devastated,” said Jane Sanders, first vice president and projects director of the Cleburne County Historical Society in Heflin, Ala. “They went west looking for things. Some went to Oregon and different places. That’s why so many of the towns in Texas have names of people from around [Alabama].”

Some veterans and families settled in Texas in what was known as Camp Henderson. While searching for a new name in 1867, it was decided the town would be named after Cleburne.

The pioneers who started Johnson County named Cleburne their county seat. Many of those pioneers had served under Cleburne. One of those men was 2nd Lt. Matthew Graham, a veteran of the 10th Texas Infantry Regiment.

The highest point in Alabama sits in Cleburne County. Cleburne loved the mountains, and the county was named after him Dec. 6, 1866.

“The reason it’s called Cleburne County is because some of the people in the war came here,” Sanders said. “Jedadiah Smith lived somewhere in this area, and when they tried to pick a name he mentioned that Gen. Cleburne loved the mountains and reminded him of his home so he suggested they name it after him.”

The only thing in the county that represents Cleburne, other than the name, is a 1904 oil painting that hangs in the courthouse.

The county was estimated to have 14,700 people in 2006.

On Feb. 20, 1883, Cleburne received another namesake county. Cleburne County, Ark,. was signed into law by act of the General Assembly. It is Arkansas’ youngest county.

“The county was formed in 1883, and the Civil War was only 15 to 18 years in the past,” said Charles Stuart, president of the Cleburne County Historical Society in Heber Springs, Ark. “It was like people naming things after JFK Boulevard now, I think. It was fresh in their memory at the time.”

Though the county is named after Cleburne, like Cleburne County, Ala., they have no monuments for him.

“We’ve never been able to identify why they named Cleburne County (Ark.) for the general,” Stuart said. “There were some land developers who started this town and county from Helena, Ark. A couple were veterans of the Civil War.

“We think possibly they served with him or knew him somehow. That is the best guess as to why this county is named after him. Nothing came after it because most of the group who started this didn’t live here much. Whatever omens they were paying to him didn’t translate to people who lived here.”

When Cleburne’s boyhood home in Ireland went on sale a few years ago, someone wrote a letter to Cleburne County, Ark. telling of the news.

The county was estimated to have 24,485 people in 2006.

Although the city of Cleburne shares bonds with both counties through their namesake, it also shares another bond with Cleburne County, Ark.

“Recently they discovered a shale formation very similar to your Barnett Shale. They are now buying mineral leases and scrambling around researching them,” Stuart said. “In fact a delegation of business leaders went to Cleburne sometime last year to learn about the impact.”

Two other communities that once bore Cleburne’s name no longer exist. One was near Atlanta, and one was in Maury County, Tenn. Streets are named after him in Fayetteville and West Helena, Ark.; Atlanta and Marietta, Ga.; Franklin and Spring Hill, Tenn.; and Cleburne, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and Texarkana.

Other significant tributes to Cleburne can be seen across the nation. The Pat Cleburne Cemetery in Jonesboro, Ga., serves as the burial ground for Confederates killed in the battle that took place there.

Creation of a leader

The Pat Cleburne Society Web site, Joslyn’s book and “Pat Cleburne: Confederate General,” by Howell and Elizabeth Purdue, provide a wealth of information on who the general was and his place in history.

Born March 16, 1828, in County Cork, Ireland, Cleburne was the second son of Dr. Joseph Cleburne, a physician, and Mary Anne Ronayne Cleburne. He lost his mother when he was 18 months old, and his father passed away when he was a young teenager.

He tried to follow the family history of medical careers but failed the language requirement for a druggist’s degree at Trinity College in England. To escape the shame of his failure, Cleburne joined the 41st Regiment of Foot of the British Army. Three and a half years later, he purchased his release and immigrated to America with his sister and two brothers.

Once in America, he settled in Helena, Ark., where he became a partner in a druggist business. He became a naturalized citizen and began to study law. He was senior partner with Cleburne, Scaife and Mangum four years later.

When the Civil War began, he enlisted as a private in the Yell Refiles of Phillips, part of Arkansas State Troops. He quickly moved up in rank to captain because of his military training, discipline and personality. He became brigadier general on March 4, 1862.

Cleburne led and fought in many significant battles, such as ones in the Kentucky Campaign and Murfreesboro. Although he received a severe wound in the Battle of Richmond Kentucky on Aug. 30, 1862, he continued to lead his division. After several successful battles, Cleburne was again promoted. At the beginning of 1863, he became major general.

His “brilliant tactical command in the use of his small force,” and his strategic use of terrain remain among the most compelling in military history to study, according to the Patrick Cleburne Society.

Cleburne tried to offer Negro slaves emancipation for fighting in the Confederate Army.

In a letter to the general commanding the Army of Tennessee he wrote, “The Constitution of the Southern States has reserved to their respective governments the power to free slaves for meritorious services to the State ... The slaves are dangerous now, but armed, trained and collected in an army they would be a thousand fold more dangerous; therefore when we make soldiers of them we must make free men of them beyond all question, and thus enlist their sympathies also.”

The proposal was rejected, and many began to feel negative about Cleburne because of it. It is suggested it might be why President Jefferson Davis overlooked him for commander of the defense of Atlanta.

Cleburne died in the Battle of Franklin on Nov. 30, 1864. His last words were “Forward, men; never let it be said that Texans lagged in the fight.”

After being moved twice, his body lies in the Confederate burial ground in Helena.

Monica Green can be reached at 817-645-2441, ext. 2338, or features@trcle.com.