Edmund Meredith Shackelford (September 26, 1786 – March 1, 1857) was an American Brigadier General.

Military & Civilian Career

Edmund Shackelford was a 2nd Lieutenant in the War of 1812. He served in the Georgia militia from August 23, 1812 through March 6, 1814. He served in Capt. William E. Adams' Company of Riflemen in Major William Alexander's Rifle Battalion. On 19 September 1813 he was promoted to Brigade Inspector. In Pickett's History of Alabama on page 559, Shackelford is called a Brigadier General. However, his proper rank of Lieutenant is reflected in a letter to sisters Ann and Frances, and it is believed the assignation of General is revisionist based upon his later career in the area's Indian conflicts.

Shackelford served under General Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson was the seventh President of the United States . Based in frontier Tennessee, Jackson was a politician and army general who defeated the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend , and the British at the Battle of New Orleans...

, later 7th President of the United States, at the Battle of New Orleans

Battle of New Orleans

The Battle of New Orleans took place on January 8, 1815 and was the final major battle of the War of 1812. American forces, commanded by Major General Andrew Jackson, defeated an invading British Army intent on seizing New Orleans and the vast territory the United States had acquired with the...

 in January 1815. He continued serving with Jackson in the Indian wars in what was then America's frontier, and now Alabama and Florida, including the Battle of Horseshoe Bend

Battle of Horseshoe Bend

The Battle of Horseshoe Bend , was fought during the War of 1812 in central Alabama...

 and the Battle of Pensacola.

Shackelford moved to Alabama by 1828, by which time he was a General in the Alabama militia. From 1831-1837 he was Sheriff of Autauga County, Alabama. During the 1836 Indian Wars along the Chattahoochee River, he worked with Generals Winfield Scott

Winfield Scott

Winfield Scott was a United States Army general, and unsuccessful presidential candidate of the Whig Party in 1852....

 and Thomas Jesup

Thomas Jesup

Brigadier General Thomas Sidney Jesup, USA was an American military officer known as the "Father of the Modern Quartermaster Corps". He was born in Berkeley County, West Virginia. He began his military career in 1808, and served in the War of 1812, seeing action in the battles of Chippewa and...

. Notably, when General Scott was recalled to Washington in 1836 due to controversies over his leadership during the 2nd Seminole War, General Shackelford was in charge until General Jesup arrived later in the year to assume command.

In 1845, the year Andrew Jackson died, Shackelford wrote to him as a result of the continuing political controversies surrounding General Winfield Scott's removal from command. As Scott was soon to become the popular hero of the Mexican War, Shackelford's concerns seem justified:

General Andrew Jackson, Hermitage, Near Nashville, Tennessee.

Nashville, Tennessee

May 30th 1845

General,

You are no doubt aware of the charges made against me for several years

past of having by a course of intrigue obtained the Command of the Army in the

Creek War in 1828 and of having in the same way caused the removal of General Scott

from the command of that army, and also from the direction of affairs in Florida.

These charges I understand have been recently revived. To put them down

I have to appeal to you for a statement of facts as you know them to have existed

at the time, as well in regard to my being placed in Command, as to the removal of

General Scott after he had the command. I therefore respectfully request you to

state whether you did not, yourself, designate me for the Command of the Army

employed against the Creeks without consulting me, and without solicitation on my

part or that of my friends on my behalf.

Whether General Scott was removed by your order from the Command of that Army

as consequence of any influence used or attempted to be used by me, or in consequence

of his own acts, as admitted in his official reports, and which acts you disapproved,

and whether I had any agency in his removal from the direction of affairs in Florida.

I regret, General, this to be compelled to trouble you. With my personal affairs

in the present state of your health, but there is no other recourse left me for the

defense of my reputation against the reiterated of my enemies.

With the highest Consideration

And regards I am,

Your Obliged Servant,

/s/ General SHACKELFORD

Life

Shackelford was born in Hancock County, Georgia on September 26, 1786. He was one of ten children of John Shackelford (1736–1800), a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and Frances Wade Butler (1736-unknown). He is a descendant of the large Roger Shackelford family that immigrated to Virginia before 1678. Edmund Shackelford married Rebecca Power Brodnax in 1814. These Shackelfords and Brodnax families were pioneers of Georgia and Alabama. They had four children.

Gen. Shackelford's home in Autauga County, Alabama is now known as the community of Kingston, Alabama.

Shackelford died in Leon County, Florida. It is believed he was on one of his plantations there. The body was shipped back home, and he was buried in Old Town Cemetery, Autauga County, Alabama.

External links

• FindaGrave Memorial for Edmund Meredith Shackelford