Edmund Pettus
| Edmund Pettus | |
|---|---|
 |
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United States Senator from Alabama |
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In office March 4, 1897 – July 27, 1907 |
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| Preceded by | James L. Pugh |
| Succeeded by | Joseph F. Johnston |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
July 6, 1821 Athens, Alabama, U.S. |
| Died | July 27, 1907 (aged 86) Hot Springs, North Carolina, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Alma mater | Clinton College of Tennessee |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |
 United States of America Confederate States
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| Service/branch |
 United States Army Confederate Army
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| Years of service | 1847–1849 (USA) 1861–1865 (CSA) |
| Rank |
 Lieutenant (USA) Brigadier general (CSA) |
| Battles/wars |
Mexican–American War American Civil War |
Edmund Winston Pettus (July 6, 1821 – July 27, 1907) was an American lawyer, soldier, and legislator. He served as a Confederate general during the American Civil War, during which he was captured three times. After the war he was a Grand Dragon of the Alabama Ku Klux Klan and a Democratic U.S. Senator.
The Edmund Pettus Bridge across the Alabama River in Selma, Alabama, was named in his honor, ironically later becoming a landmark of the African-American Civil Rights Movement.
Edmund W. Pettus was born in 1821 in Limestone County, Alabama. He was the youngest son of John Pettus and Alice Taylor Winston, brother of John J. Pettus, and a distant cousin of Jefferson Davis. Pettus was educated in local public schools, and later graduated from Clinton College located in Smith County, Tennessee.
Pettus then studied law in Tuscumbia, Alabama, under William Cooper and was admitted to the state's bar association in 1842. Shortly afterward he settled in Gainesville and began practicing as a lawyer. On June 27, 1844, Pettus married Mary L. Chapman, with whom he would have three children. Also that year he was elected solicitor for the seventh Judicial Circuit of Alabama.
During the Mexican–American War in 1847–49, Pettus served as a lieutenant with the Alabama Volunteers, and after hostilities he moved to California, where he participated in paramilitary violence against Yukis and other American Indians.
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