Wounded in the Mexican War battles of Cerro Gordo and Chapultepec

Earned the Thanks of Confederate Congress for his heroic action at the battle of Belmont, Missouri

(1806-78) Born in Williamson County, Tennessee, he graduated from the University of Nashville, and was a law partner of James K. Polk, future President of the United States, in Columbia, Tennessee. He was active in Democratic politics, and was floor leader in support of the nomination of fellow Tennessean James K. Polk at the 1844 Democratic National Convention. Pillow was commissioned Brigadier General of Volunteers and fought in the Mexican War. He was wounded in the battles of Cerro Gordo and Chapultepec, and promoted to Major General. After the Mexican War, he served as a delegate to the Nashville Convention of 1850. Pillow supported the candidacy of Senator Stephen A. Douglas in the presidential election of 1860. With the election of Abraham Lincoln as president, Pillow ultimately supported secession as was the will of the majority of people in Tennessee. In addition to his law practice and management of the family farm, Pillow engaged in highly profitable land speculation. By 1860, he was one of the largest landholders in the South and possibly the wealthiest man in Tennessee. Pillow was commissioned a Brigadier General in the Confederate Army in July 1861, and he received the Thanks of the Confederate Congress for driving off the Union forces at the Battle of Belmont, Missouri. At Fort Donelson, in February 1862, Pillow managed to personally escape with a few aides before General Simon B. Buckner formally surrendered the remaining garrison to the Union Army commanded by General Ulysses S. Grant. Pillow later commanded a brigade at the Battle of Stones River, Tennessee in 1863. Afterwards, he was assigned to the conscript bureau in Tennessee, and was Commissary General of Yankee Prisoners of War. In his post war career, he returned to his law practice, this time in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was a partner of former Tennessee Governor Isham G. Harris.

Signature With Closing: 3 3/4 x 2 3/4, signed in ink, Your obt. servt., Gid. J. Pillow. Very nicely mounted to a larger gray piece of paper, 4 3/4 x 3 1/2, lined around the outer edges in red ink. Excellent condition.