Brigadier General Alfred J. Vaughan, P.A.C.S.
Brigadier General Alfred J. Vaughan was born in Dinwiddie county, Va.,
May 10, 1830, and was graduated at the Virginia military institute, July 4,
1851, as senior captain of cadets. He adopted civil engineering as his
profession, and going West located at St. Joseph, Mo. Afterward he was
deputy United States surveyor for the district of California. Returning east,
he settled in Marshall county, Miss. He was very much opposed to the
dissolution of the Union, but when his adopted State, Mississippi, and his
native State, Virginia, declared for secession he promptly determined to
abide with their decision, and at once raised a company for the Confederate
service. Since Mississippi was not yet ready to arm and equip this
company, he went with most of his men to Moscow, Tenn., and was
mustered into service as captain in the Thirteenth Tennessee. At the
reorganization of this regiment in June, 1861, he was elected lieutenant
colonel. From his first affair with the enemy he gained the reputation of a
fighting officer, and maintained this renown to the close of his military
career. He was engaged in every battle under Polk, Bragg, and Joseph E.
Johnston, including Belmont, Shiloh, Richmond (Ky), Perryville,
Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, and all the battles and numberless
skirmishes of the Dalton-Atlanta campaign until the affair at Vining Station
near Atlanta. At Richmond he ably commanded his brigade. At
Chickamauga he was made brigadier-general of the field, and succeeded to
the command of the brigade of Preston Smith, who was killed in that battle.
When he fell, Colonel Vaughan was near his side and immediately took
charge of his brigade, and by skill and courage richly earned the honor
bestowed upon him by the President of the Confederacy, From the
beginning of his career up to the battle of Chickamauga he had eight horses
killed under him. At Vining Station, July 4, 1864, his leg was taken off by
an exploding shell, and he was permanently disabled for military duty. After
the war he returned to Mississippi and engaged in farming until 1872. The
next year he opened a mercantile house in Memphis, Tenn. In 1878 the
people of Shelby county elected him clerk of the criminal court by 6,000
majority. He has served officially as major-general, commanding the
Tennessee division of the United Confederate Veterans, in all the affairs of
which he takes a lively interest.
Source: Evans, Clement, ed. Confederate Military History, Vol.
XII, Confederate Publishing Company, Atlanta, GA, 1899
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