Dudley M. DuBose

Dudley M. DuBose
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Georgia's 5th district
In office March 4, 1871 – March 3, 1873
Preceded by	Stephen A. Corker
Succeeded by	James C. Freeman
Personal details
Born	Dudley McIver DuBose (1834-10-28)October 28, 1834 Memphis, Tennessee, U.S.
Died	March 2, 1883(1883-03-02) (aged 48) Washington, Georgia, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Sallie Toombs
Children	Robert Toombs DuBose Camille DuBose Dudley DuBose Louisa Toombs DuBose
Occupation	Lawyer, politician
Military service
Allegiance	Confederate States of America
Service/branch	Confederate States Army
Years of service	1861–1865
Rank	Brigadier General
Commands	15th Georgia Infantry Regiment DuBose's Brigade
Battles/wars	American Civil War

Dudley McIver DuBose (October 28, 1834 – March 2, 1883) was an American lawyer who rose through the ranks of the Confederate States Army to become a Brigadier General during the American Civil War, and later served one term in the United States House of Representatives from Georgia.^[1]

Early and family life

Dudley McIver DuBose was born on October 28, 1834 near Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee to Alfred Bishop Cassells DuBose (1804- ) and his second wife, the former Camilla Dunn, daughter of a local doctor. They had married the previous November at the Methodist Church,^[2] and would have three additional sons—Alfred DuBose Jr. (1838-), Julius DuBose (1840-) and Swepson DuBose (1858-), as well as daughters Elizabeth (1835-), Catherine (1841-) Harriet (1843-) and Mytis (1850-). The family's ancestors had emigrated as Huguenots from France to the midlands of South Carolina, where they operated extensive plantations using enslaved labor (mostly cultivating cotton by 1800). His father, A.B.C. DuBose, was born in South Carolina and owned at least one plantation and 84 slaves in Shelby County, Tennessee in 1850,^[3] but a decade later, after Dudley DuBose was established on his own, moved the rest of his family to Arkansas where he continued to farm using an overseer and slave labor.^[4]

Meanwhile, Dudley DuBose attended the University of Mississippi at Oxford, then returned to Tennessee and graduated from the Lebanon Law School in 1856. On April 15, 1858, in Washington, D.C., DuBose married Sallie Toombs (1835-1866), a distant cousin and the last surviving child of United States Senator Robert Toombs, a lawyer and slaveholder from Wilkes County, Georgia who was initially a Unionist but became an ardent secessionist. He would become the Confederate Secretary of State, then an ardent critic of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, and emigrate from the United States after the Confederate surrender, only to return to Georgia and his legal practice after his daughter's death and come to lead the state's Democrats with the aid of longtime friend Alexander H. Stevens and this son-in-law.^[5] Dudley DuBose's family would include sons Rev. Robert Toombs DuBose (1859-1929) and future Judge Dudley DuBose of Montana, as well as daughters Camilla and Julie.^[6] Although this DuBose would remain in Georgia, a South Carolina cousin, William Porcher DuBose, who become chaplain of this DuBose's regiment in 1863, ultimately settled in Tennessee after becoming chaplain of and a professor in the newly founded The University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee.

Early career

Admitted to the bar in 1857, Dudley DuBose began his private legal practice in Memphis, Tennessee, and soon expanded it to Georgia. Before the American Civil War as discussed below, the newly married couple moved to Augusta, Georgia, the former state capitol on the Savannah River near the South Carolina border, where DuBose practiced law.

Civil War

DuBose volunteered to fight in the Confederate States Army during the Civil War, rising through the ranks from his initial commission as a lieutenant in the 15th Georgia Infantry Regiment. His regiment was initially assigned to a brigade led by his father-in-law, now Brigadier General Robert A. Toombs. The regiment fought in the Seven Days Battles, the Second Battle of Bull Run and the Battle of Antietam. In January 1863 DuBose was promoted to the rank of colonel, and commanded the regiment. DuBose and his Georgians served under Brigadier General Henry L. Benning in Major General John B. Hood's division of James Longstreet's corps, including in the Siege of Suffolk. At the Battle of Gettysburg on July 2, 1863, his regiment participated in Hood's attack on the Union III Corps, fighting at Devil's Den.

In September 1863 DuBose returned to Tennessee and led his regiment at the Battle of Chickamauga, where he was wounded, and later fought in the Knoxville Campaign.

Longstreet's corps returned to Virginia in 1864. DuBose saw combat at the Battle of the Wilderness, in May 1864, and temporarily led Benning's brigade in the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House and the Battle of Cold Harbor. On November 16, DuBose was promoted to brigadier general and command of a brigade in Major General Joseph B. Kershaw's division, taking the place of Brigadier General William T. Wofford. Gen. DuBose led his brigade in the later stages of the Siege of Petersburg and the Appomattox Campaign. On April 6, 1865, as the war was nearly ended and while still serving in Kershaw's division, DuBose was among the many Confederates captured during the Battle of Sailor's Creek, days before Major General Lee surrendered the Army of Northn Virginia at Appomattox Court House.

Postbellum career

Following the war, DuBose moved to his wife's hometown, Washington, Wilkes County, Georgia, although his father-in-law Robert A. Toombs would spend several years traveling to Cuba, France and Canada rather than accept the Union victory, before finally returning to Georgia in 1867 and again assuming political power without ever asking for a pardon, nor being able to vote much less hold political office. Meanwhile, this DuBose's wife Sallie died in 1866, age 30, which caused her mother to return to Georgia to help DuBose run the household and care for her young grandchildren, followed months later by Toombs himself.^[7]

Following controversy concerning fellow Confederate veteran Stephen A. Corker of Burke County, Georgians elected DuBose as a Democrat to the Forty-second Congress, and he served from March 4, 1871 – March 3, 1873. He lost in the next election to Republican James C. Freeman of Spalding County, Georgia, who would also only serve one term and then move to nearby Atlanta. After his Congressional term ended, DuBose resumed his legal practice for a decade, mostly with his father-in-law, who took pride in being an "unreconstructed" Confederate, and had regained his power in Georgia by 1872.^[8]

Death and legacy

Dudley DuBose suffered a stroke while traveling, was carried to his home in Washington, Georgia and died on March 2, 1883,^[9] days before his (and his father-in-law's) political ally, the powerful former Confederate Vice-President and Georgia Governor Alexander H. Stephens. DuBose was survived by his in-laws, children and grandchildren. He is interred beside his wife in Rest Haven Cemetery,^[10] as would be his mentor, Senator Toombs and other family members.

See also

• List of American Civil War generals (Confederate)

References

• Eicher, John H., and David J. Eicher, Civil War High Commands. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001. ISBN 978-0-8047-3641-1.
• Sifakis, Stewart. Who Was Who in the Civil War. New York: Facts On File, 1988. ISBN 978-0-8160-1055-4.
• Warner, Ezra J. Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1959. ISBN 978-0-8071-0823-9.

• United States Congress. "Dudley M. DuBose (id: D000510)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved on 2008-02-13

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress website http://bioguide.congress.gov.