James Lockhart Autry
1830-1862
James Lockhart Autry
Micajah Autry’s son James Lockhart Autry grew up in Holly Springs, Mississippi and became a lawyer in 1852 at the age of 22. He married Jeannie C. Valliant in 1858 and their only child James Lockhart Autry II was born in 1859.
In 1861, James Lockhart Autry joined the Confederate Army and served as lieutenant colonel of B/F-S, 9th Regiment, Mississippi Infantry. Soon after joining the Confederate Army he wrote a farewell letter to his young son: April 11, 1861 “My dear son, Your father may fall to-night in battle. Your Mother will keep this + when you are old enough to comprehend she will read it to you. My dear boy, never do a mean or cowardly act- let all your actions be upright, just, honorable, and in accordance with the teachings of the Bible…”
Autry’s political career began when he was elected to the Mississippi House of Legislature in 1854. He served as a representative to the Mississippi Legislature from Marshall County from 1854-1859. He was also elected Speaker of the House 1857-1859.
He practiced law with Christopher Haynes Mott and Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar. Lamar was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and later went on to draft the Mississippi Ordinance of Secession and served the Confederate government throughout most of the war. Lamar wrote to Autry about the increasing dissolution of the Union and the "bad state of feeling between our Senators."
After reorganization in spring 1862, Autry became lieutenant colonel of the 27th Regiment, Mississippi Infantry. In his last letter to his wife, Autry expresses his worry and frustration on the uncertainty of war and how to protect his family; “…it almost runs me crasy to think that you & Ma will be cut off from me & perhaps treated cruelly.”
He was killed during the Battle of Murfreesboro on December 31, 1862. Description of battle appears in Daily Rebel, June 9, 1863. His promotion to general, signed by President Jefferson Davis, was on its way to Autry at the time of his death.
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