Editing Patrick Cleburne (section)

==American Civil War==
When the issue of [[Secession in the United States|secession]] reached a crisis, Cleburne sided with the [[Southern United States|Southern states]]. His choice was not due to any love of slavery,<ref>Symonds, p. 44</ref> which he claimed not to care about, but out of affection for the Southern people who had adopted him as one of their own. As the crisis mounted, Cleburne joined the local militia company (Yell Rifles) as a private soldier. He was soon elected captain.<ref name=Hook/> He led the company in the seizure of the [[Tower Building of the Little Rock Arsenal|U.S. Arsenal at Little Rock]] in January 1861. When Arkansas left the Union, the Yell Rifles became part of the 1st Arkansas Infantry. Cleburne's regiment was assigned to the force under [[William Hardee]], training in northeast Arkansas and conducting brief operations in southeast Missouri before Hardee's force was ordered to cross the Mississippi River and join [[Albert Sidney Johnston]]'s [[Army of Central Kentucky]] in the fall 1861. The 1st Arkansas was designated the [[15th Arkansas Infantry Regiment (Josey's)|15th Arkansas]] in late 1861. Cleburne was promoted to [[Brigadier General (CSA)|brigadier general]] on March 4, 1862.<ref name=Hook/>

[[File:Missionary Ridge.png|thumb|300px|Battle of Missionary Ridge, November 25, 1863 {{legend|#ff0000|Confederate}} {{legend|#0000ff|Union}}]]
[[File:Patrick R. Cleburne statue at Ringgold Gap.jpg|thumb|Cleburne's statue at Ringgold Gap, Georgia by sculptor Ron Tunison<ref name="THMD-30189" />]]
Johnston withdrew his army from Bowling Green, Kentucky, through Tennessee, and into Mississippi before electing to attack the invading Union forces under [[Ulysses S. Grant]]. Cleburne served at the [[Battle of Shiloh]], leading a brigade on the left side of the Confederate line, as well as at the [[siege of Corinth]]. That fall, Cleburne and his men were transported to Tennessee in preparation of [[Braxton Bragg]]'s [[Confederate Heartland Offensive]].  In that campaign, Cleburne was loaned to [[Edmund Kirby Smith]], whose smaller army led the invasion. At the [[Battle of Richmond]] (Kentucky), Cleburne was wounded in the face when a minie ball pierced his left cheek, smashed several teeth, and exited through his mouth, but he recovered in time to re-join Hardee and Bragg and participate in the [[Battle of Perryville]].<ref name=Fredriksen105107>Fredriksen, pp. 105–07.</ref><ref>[http://thisweekinthecivilwar.com/?p=1990 Major General Patrick Ronayne Cleburne, CSA (1828-1864)]</ref> After the [[Army of Tennessee]] retreated to its namesake state in late 1862, Cleburne was promoted to division command and served at the [[Battle of Stones River]], where his division advanced three miles as it routed the Union right wing and drove it back to the Nashville Pike and its final line of defense. He was promoted to [[Major General (CSA)|major general]] on December 13.<ref name=Eicher176>Eicher, p. 176.</ref>

During the campaigns of 1863 in [[Tennessee]], Cleburne and his soldiers fought at the [[Battle of Chickamauga]]. They successfully resisted a much larger Union force under Maj. Gen. [[William T. Sherman]] on the northern end of Missionary Ridge during the [[Battle of Missionary Ridge]], and [[Joseph Hooker]] at the [[Battle of Ringgold Gap]] in northern Georgia, in which Cleburne's men again protected the Army of Tennessee as it retreated to Tunnel Hill, Georgia. Cleburne and his troops received an official Thanks from the [[Confederate Congress]] for their actions during this campaign.<ref name=Fredriksen105107/>

Cleburne's strategic use of terrain, his ability to hold ground where others failed, and his talent in foiling the movements of the enemy earned him fame, and gained him the nickname "Stonewall of the West." Federal troops were quoted as dreading to see the blue flag of Cleburne's Division across the battlefield.<ref>Reynolds, pp. 244–47.</ref> General [[Robert E. Lee]] referred to him as "a meteor shining from a clouded sky".<ref>Rand, p. 138.</ref>

===Proposal for emancipation and enlistment of Blacks===
By late 1863, it had become obvious to Cleburne that the Confederacy was losing the war because of the growing limitations of its manpower and resources.<ref name=Connelly318319>Connelly, pp. 318-19.</ref> In 1864, he dramatically called together the leadership of the Army of Tennessee and put forth the proposal to emancipate all slaves ("emancipating the whole race upon reasonable terms, and within such reasonable time") in order to "enlist their sympathies" and thereby enlist them in the Confederate Army to secure Southern independence.<ref>Daniel Mallock. "Cleburne's Proposal." [[North & South - The Official Magazine of the Civil War Society|''North & South'']], vol. 11, no. 2, p. 64.</ref><ref>Hamner, Christopher. "[http://teachinghistory.org/history-content/ask-a-historian/24634 Black Confederates]." [http://www.teachinghistory.org Teachinghistory.org] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110711054633/http://teachinghistory.org/ |date=July 11, 2011 }}. Accessed 30 June 2011.</ref> Cleburne argued that emancipation did not have to include black equality, noting that "necessity and wise legislation" would ensure relations between blacks and whites would not materially change.<ref>Levin 2005, pp 102-103</ref> This proposal was met with polite silence at the meeting, and while word of it leaked out, it went unremarked, much less officially recognized.<ref name=Connelly318319/> From his letter outlining the proposal:<ref>Official Records, Series I, vol. 52, Part 2, [http://www.civilwarhome.com/cleburneproposal.htm pp. 586–92.]</ref>

{{Blockquote|Satisfy the negro that if he faithfully adheres to our standard during the war he shall receive his freedom and that of his race ... and we change the race from a dreaded weakness to a position of strength.

Will the slaves fight? The [[helots]] of Sparta stood their masters good stead in battle. In the [[Battle of Lepanto (1571)|great sea fight of Lepanto]] where the Christians checked forever the spread of Mohammedanism over Europe, the galley slaves of portions of the fleet were promised freedom, and called on to fight at a critical moment of the battle. They fought well, and civilization owes much to those brave galley slaves ... [Cleburne also cites the prowess of revolting slaves in Haiti and Jamaica] ... the experience of this war has been so far that half-trained negroes have fought as bravely as many other half-trained Yankees.

It is said that slavery is all we are fighting for, and if we give it up we give up all.  Even if this were true, which we deny, slavery is not all our enemies are fighting for.  It is merely the pretense to establish sectional superiority and a more centralized form of government, and to deprive us of our rights and liberties.}}

Cleburne's proposal was vigorously attacked as an "abolitionist conspiracy" by General [[William H. T. Walker]], who strongly supported slavery and also saw Cleburne as a rival for promotion. Walker eventually persuaded the commander of the Army of Tennessee, General [[Braxton Bragg]], that Cleburne was politically unreliable and undeserving of further promotion. "Three times in the summer of 1863 he was passed over for corps commander and remained a division commander until his death."<ref>TL Connelly. (2001) ''Autumn of Glory: The Army of Tennessee, 1862–1865'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=MuSJcY6iH8gC&dq=cleburne+treason&pg=PA319 Pages 319–320].</ref>