Born on this day (Oct 20) in 1820 was Confederate Major General Benjamin Franklin Cheatham. Cheatham was born in Nashville. He served in the Mexican-American War with the 1st Tennessee at Monterrey and later as colonel of the 3rd Tennessee. After the war, he went out to the California gold rush, then came home and farmed. When the war started, Cheatham was commissioned a brigadier general and rose to major general in the Army of Tennessee. He fought at Belmont, Shiloh, Perryville, Stones River, Chickamauga, Kennesaw Mountain, Atlanta, Spring Hill, Franklin, and Nashville. Sam Watkins of the 1st Tennessee served under him and writes about him often in Company Aytch. The men liked Cheatham. He was a hard fighter and one of them. After the war he farmed in Tennessee, served as superintendent of the state prisons, and was postmaster of Nashville when he died in 1886.

On this day, October 16, 1859, John Brown and about 21 men seized the federal armory and arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. Brown was a fanatic. He had already killed pro-slavery settlers in Kansas. He believed he was chosen by God to start a slave uprising that would tear the country apart. The plan was simple and reckless. Take the guns. Arm the slaves. March through the South. It collapsed in hours. Local militia and townspeople trapped him in the engine house. The next day, U.S. Marines under Robert E. Lee and J.E.B. Stuart stormed the building. Brown was wounded, captured, and later hanged. His raid failed. Most Northerners condemned the raid as the work of a fanatic. A smaller group of abolitionists and newspapers turned him into a martyr.

Born on this day in 1837 was Ellison Capers, a fellow Citadel graduate and one of only four alumni of the South Carolina Military Academy to reach the rank of general in the Confederate army. Capers was born in Charleston and graduated from The Citadel in 1857. He taught mathematics and rhetoric there until the war started. He was present at the bombardment of Fort Sumter and fought at Secessionville. He later commanded the 24th South Carolina in the Army of Tennessee. He was wounded at Jackson, fought at Chickamauga, and then severely wounded at Franklin. After States Rights Gist was killed at Franklin, Capers took the brigade and was promoted to brigadier general on March 1, 1865. After the war he served briefly as South Carolina’s secretary of state, then entered the Episcopal ministry. He became bishop of South Carolina in 1893. Capers Hall on The Citadel campus is named for him and his brother Francis, which houses the History Dept. He died in Columbia in 1908.

Born on this day in 1809 was Confederate Maj. Gen. Sterling Price. Price was born in Prince Edward County, Virginia, and moved to Missouri as a young man. He practiced law, served in the state legislature, and spent a term in Congress. In 1838 he commanded militia during the Mormon War in Missouri. He took the surrender at Far West and helped drive the Mormons out of the state. In the Mexican-American War he raised a regiment of Missouri volunteers. He fought in New Mexico and later in Chihuahua, and came home a brigadier general of volunteers. He was elected governor of Missouri and served from 1853 to 1857. When the Civil War started he first tried to keep Missouri neutral. After that failed he took command of the Missouri State Guard and then a Confederate army. He won at Wilson’s Creek and captured Lexington. He fought at Pea Ridge, Iuka, Corinth, and other battles. In 1864 he led a long raid into Missouri that reached the outskirts of St. Louis and Kansas City before he was driven back. After the war he went to Mexico and tried to start a Confederate colony. It did not last. He returned to St. Louis and died there in 1867.