Marcus Joseph Wright | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of Wright 1895 | |
| Born | (1831-06-05)June 5, 1831 Purdy, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Died | December 27, 1922(1922-12-27) (aged 91) Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Place of burial | |
| Allegiance | Confederate States of America |
| Service | Confederate States Army |
| Years of service | 1861-1865 (CSA) |
| Rank | Brigadier General (CSA) |
| Battles / wars | |
| Relations | John Vines Wright (brother) |
Marcus Joseph Wright (June 5, 1831 – December 27, 1922) was a lawyer, author, and aConfederate general in theAmerican Civil War. He was agent for collection of Confederate records forWar of the Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, a U.S. War Department publication.
Wright was born inPurdy,Tennessee. He was admitted to the Tennesseebar, and practiced law atMemphis. He was clerk of the common law and chancery court.[1] He was lieutenant colonel of a Tennessee militia regiment designated the 154th Tennessee militia regiment.[1] His brother wasJohn Vines Wright.[2]
Wright's militia regiment was mustered intoConfederate States Army service as the 154th Senior Tennessee Infantry.[1] In 1861, Wright was ordered to establish a fortification atRandolph, Tennessee, on theMississippi River.Fort Wright was Tennessee's first military training camp in the Civil War and is named after Marcus Joseph Wright.[3][4] Later in the war Wright was the Confederate military governor ofColumbus,Kentucky, from February 1862 until its evacuation, and with his regiment was present at theBattle of Belmont and theBattle of Shiloh, where he was wounded.[1] He served on the staff ofMajor GeneralBenjamin F. Cheatham duringGeneralBraxton Bragg's invasion of Kentucky where he fought at theBattle of Perryville.[1]
Wright was promoted tobrigadier general on December 13, 1862, and fought in theTullahoma Campaign, at theBattle of Chickamauga and theBattle of Missionary Ridge. In 1863-64 he was in charge of the district ofAtlanta. After the evacuation of the city he commanded atMacon, Georgia. At the end of the war, he commanded the District of North Mississippi and West Tennessee.[1] He was paroled May 19, 1865 atGrenada, Mississippi.[1]
After the war, Wright returned to the practice of law at Memphis, He was Sheriff of Shelby County from 1870 to 1872, and for a time was assistant purser of the United States Navy Yard inMemphis, Tennessee.[1][5] He became the editor of theColumbia, Tennessee,Journal newspaper, and on September 2, 1875, he married Pauline Womack ofAlabama.[6] Wright later moved toWashington, D.C., to practice law.
In 1878, Wright was appointed agent of theUnited States War Department for collecting Confederate military records.[7] He worked on this project until June 1917.[1] He published numerous magazine articles and several books, including:
Wright died in Washington, D.C., on December 27, 1922, and was buried inArlington National Cemetery on the south side of theConfederate Memorial.[8] He is one of only two former Confederate generals interred in the cemetery (the other beingJoseph Wheeler).[9]
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