BIOGRAPHIC SKETCH OF MAJOR-GENERAL P. R. CLEBURNE.
(BY GENERAL W. T. HARDEE.)
THE sketch is necessarily imperfect, from the want of official records. Most of these were lost or destroyed by the casualties attending the close of the late war; and those still in existence are difficult of access. Of Cleburne's early life little is known—the record of his service in the Southern armies belongs to the yet unwritten history of the lost cause. In better days, when the passions and prejudices engendered by civil strife shall have disappeared, and history brings in a dispassionate verdict, the name of Cleburne will appear high in the lists of patriots and warriors. Until then, his best record is in the hearts of his adopted countrymen.
With brief exceptions Cleburne served under my immediate command during his military career. He succeeded first to the brigade, and then to the division which I had previously commanded , and it is to me a grateful recollection, that circumstances enabled me to further his advancement to those important trusts. From personal knowledge, therefore, gained in an intercourse and observation extending through a period of nearly four years, I can give you an outline sketch of Cleburne s character and services.
Patrick Ronayne Cleburne was an Irishman by birth, a Southerner by adoption and residence, a lawyer by profession; a soldier in the British army, by accident, in his youth; and a soldier in the Southern armies, from patriotism and conviction of duty, in his manhood. Upon coming to the United States he located at Helena, Arkansas, where he studied and practised law.
In that profession he had, previous to the great struggle, formed a co-partnership with General T. C. Hindman. His standing as a lawyer was high, as indicated by this association with a gentleman distinguished as an orator and advocate.
It was at this period of his life that, in the unorganised and turbulent condition of society, incident to a newly settled country, he established a reputation for courage and firmnesss, which was afterwards approved by a still more trying ordeal. In the commencement of the war for Southern independence, he enlisted as a private. He was subsequently made captain of his company, and shortly after was elected and commissioned colonel of his regiment. Thus, from one grade to another, he gradually rose to the high rank he held when he fell. It is but scant praise to say, there was no truer patriot, no more courageous soldier, nor, of his rank, more able commander, in the Southern armies;
