J. Patton Anderson was from Florida, the seceding state that was referred to as the “tadpole” of the Confederate states, but nevertheless he was one of the Confederacy’s great military leaders. Anderson oversaw a large plantation, Casa Bianca, and his views meshed with secessionist views sufficiently for him to be elected as a delegate to the Secession Conference held in Montgomery, Alabama. After Florida seceded, President Davis appointed Anderson as a Brigadier General. Anderson engaged the enemy in the Western theater for four years under his mentor, General Braxton Bragg, who advanced him to Major General in command of the District of Florida.
This is a complete biography of Anderson’s life, including his service in the Mexican War, his appointment as United States Marshal to the distant Washington Territory, his adventure (with his wife, Etta Adair) of taking the 1853 Washington Territory census by canoe, his election as territorial delegate to Washington City, and his entire Civil War service. J. Patton and Etta Anderson’s affectionate correspondence is an important aspect of this biography, revealing what it was like to be alive at this time and what it took to keep their family intact.

Writer and World War II veteran James W. Raab is also the author of Spain, Britain and the American Revolution in Florida, 1763–1783 (2007) and Confederate General Lloyd Tilghman (2006) and lives in St. Augustine, Florida.

James W. Raab
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 210
Bibliographic Info: photos, maps, appendix, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2004
pISBN: 978-0-7864-1766-7
eISBN: 978-0-7864-8926-8
Imprint: McFarland

Table of Contents

Preface      1

1. Scholastic and Impressionable Years      5
2. The Marriage, and Honeymoon in Washington Territory      12
3. Florida Plantation Years      22
4. Confederate Florida      34
5. Shiloh and Farmington      48
6. Invasion of Tennessee and Kentucky, the Great Railroad Move, and the Battles of Perryville and Stones River      62
7. Love Letters and Poetry      82
8. Chickamauga and Missionary Ridge      94
9. Anderson Commands in Florida-The Cow Cavalry      109
10. The Atlanta Campaign-Jonesboro      132
11. To the End of the War-Bentonville      146
12. The End of the Confederacy      160
13. The Bittersweet End      173

Appendix: J. Patton Anderson’s Confederate Staff Officers (1861–1865)      183
Notes      185
Bibliography      195
Index      201

“nicely crafted”—Military Heritage; “a welcome addition”—United States Senate.