Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 7.djvu/426

Rh after he was promoted to brigadier-general. The brigade to which he was assigned at Tullahoma, in April, 1863, consisted of the Eighteenth, Thirty-sixth, Thirty-eighth, Thirty-second and Fifty-eighth regiments. Clayton’s brigade bore a conspicuous part at Chickamauga, in the fighting around Dalton, at New Hope church, and in all the battles of the Atlanta and Tennessee campaigns, and the final campaign in the Carolinas. General Clayton's splendid conduct in the Atlanta campaign obtained for him the commission of major-general, July 7, 1864, and he became the successor of A. P. Stewart in division command, the brigades under his command being Gibson's, Stovall's, Baker’s and his own, under Holtzclaw. He led this superb division during the battles around Atlanta, at Jonesboro, in the Nashville campaign, and up to the surrender in North Carolina. After the defeat at Nashville, Clayton, with his division and the brigade of General Pettus, covered the retreat of the army until relieved Ly General Stevenson on the next day. General Hood said: "Order among the troops was in a measure restored at Brentwood, a few miles in rear of the scene of disaster, through the promptness and gallantry of Clayton’s division, which speedily formed and confronted the enemy, with Gibson’s brigade and McKenzie’s battery of Fenner’s battalion, acting as rear-guard. General Clayton displayed admirable coolness and courage in the discharge of his duties." At the close of the war General Clayton turned his attention to planting, till elected judge of the circuit court in May, 1866. This position he held until removed, under the reconstruction acts of Congress, in 1868. From that time he practiced law and planted, until his death at Tuscaloosa, Ala., October 13, 1889. He was an active, laborious man, a gallant soldier, and a Christian gentleman.

Brigadier-General Zachary C. Deas was born in Camden, S. C., October 25, 1819. His father was James S.