St. John Richardson Liddell

Liddell was born to a wealthy plantation family near Woodville, Mississippi. He was a schoolmate of future Confederate President Jefferson Davis, whom he would interact with several times during the early years of the Civil War on behalf of fellow general Albert Sidney Johnston.

He attended the United States Military Academy from 1834 to 1835, but resigned prior to graduating. Liddell then moved to Catahoula Parish and established his own prosperous plantation, "Llanada," near Harrisonburg, Louisiana. His famous feud with Charles Jones, known as the Jones-Liddell feud, which eventually led to his death, began in the 1850s.

In 1866, Liddell wrote his memoirs, in which he was highly critical of the Confederate leadership and his fellow officers, including Davis and Bragg. The memoirs themselves are actually a collection of several separate manuscripts, letters, and battlefield records, which he was unable to combine before he was murdered.

In them, his criticisms arise mainly from the failure of Bragg's subordinates, including Cleburne, Bishop Polk, John C. Breckinridge, Simon Bolivar Buckner, Joseph Wheeler, D.H. Hill, and James Longstreet, to support Bragg, which in the end leaves Liddell as one of the few writers of the period who was generous to Bragg. His writing reveals his minority opinion of praise for officers such as General John Floyd and Gideon Pillow, whom nearly all modern historians consider inept. He expresses disgust for Judah P. Benjamin, whom most historians consider one of the most able Confederate Cabinet officials.

He mentions several times the growing sense of futility he and other officers felt in the unlucky Army of Tennessee. It was plainly clear to them after the fall of Forts Henry and Donelson that their cause was doomed unless they could concentrate their forces and wage an offensive campaign; however, political intrigue always seemed to squander any gains made by the army. Liddell comes off as a fair, impartial officer, even proposing that had the south recruited generals like George H. Thomas, whom he considered the best Union Commander, things may have turned out differently.

Liddell refused promotion, and endeavored to help any officer he was assigned to, regardless of whether they were liked or not. He was opinionated and outspoken, yet his opinion was valued and he held the ear of the echelons of Confederate command, including Davis, A.S. Johnston, Bragg, and Hardee. He spent his vast personal fortune on equipping his own brigade, even though it was from a different state. The brigade itself was the only unit in the Army of Tennessee never to court-martial an enlisted soldier.

Liddell was murdered in 1870 by Col. Charles Jones in the culmination of a twenty-year real estate dispute. He was buried on his sprawling plantation in Louisiana.

The St. John Richardson Liddell Chapter #271 of the Military Order of the Stars & Bars in Bay Minette, Alabama, was named for the former general.

• List of American Civil War generals (Confederate)
• Moses J. Liddell was the oldest son of St. John Richardson Liddell and was appointed as a territorial justice of territory of the Montana Supreme Court.

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• Obituary of General St. John Richardson Liddell