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Gideon Johnson Pillow (June 8, 1806 – October 8, 1878) was a wealthy and influential American lawyer, politician, landowner and speculator, slaveowner, United States Army major general of volunteers during the Mexican-American War and Confederate brigadier general in the American Civil War. Pillow had several disputes and rivalries with fellow officers during both wars. Pillow received the Thanks of the Confederate Congress for driving off the Union force at the 1861 Battle of Belmont, Missouri. He controversially failed to exploit a temporary break through of Union lines by his troops which might have allowed the Confederate garrison of Fort Donelson to escape at the February 1862 Battle of Fort Donelson. The next night, before the surrender of the fort, he also passed command, to which he had just been restored, to Brigadier General Simon Buckner, in order to personally escape with a few aides before Buckner surrendered most of the garrison to the Union Army of Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant. These actions sent his military career and reputation into eclipse. Bankrupt after the war, Pillow resumed a successful legal career. ==Early life== Pillow was born on June 8, 1806 in Williamson County, Tennessee,〔Warner, Ezra J. ''Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders.'' Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1959. ISBN 978-0-8071-0823-9. p. 241.〕 to Gideon Pillow and Ann Payne Pillow. He came from a well connected, property owning family with a reputation for Indian fighting and loyalty to Andrew Jackson.〔Hughes, Nathaniel Cheairs, Jr. ''The Battle of Belmont: Grant Strikes South''. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1991. ISBN 978-0-8078-1968-5. p. 30.〕 He graduated from the University of Nashville in 1827 and practiced law in Columbia, Tennessee, according to some sources as a partner of future President James K. Polk.〔〔Bearss, Ed C. ''Pillow, Gideon Johnson''. In ''Historical Times Illustrated History of the Civil War'', edited by Patricia L. Faust. New York: Harper & Row, 1986. ISBN 978-0-06-273116-6. p. 585.〕〔Contrary to other sources, Mark R. Cheathem states that Pillow and Polk practiced law in Columbia, Tennessee and were friends but did not practice together. He also states that Pillow successfully represented Polk's younger brother in a court case arising from a duel. Cheathem, Mark R. "Pillow, Gideon Johnson". In ''Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: A Political, Social, and Military History'', edited by David S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2000. ISBN 0-393-04758-X. p. 1523.〕 Regardless whether Pillow and Polk were partners, they became friends.〔Cheathem, Mark R. "Pillow, Gideon Johnson". In ''Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: A Political, Social, and Military History'', edited by David S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2000. ISBN 0-393-04758-X. p. 1523.〕 Pillow married Mary Elizabeth Martin, March 24, 1831.〔 In 1831, Tennessee Governor William Carroll appointed Pillow as district attorney general.〔Hughes, 1991, p. 31.〕 Pillow served as a brigadier general in the Tennessee Militia from 1833 to 1836.〔Eicher, John H., and David J. Eicher, ''Civil War High Commands.'' Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001. ISBN 978-0-8047-3641-1. p. 430.〕 Pillow played "an important role" in the 1844 Democratic Party convention which nominated Polk for president, although Pillow exaggerated his contribution to the exclusion of other prominent Polk supporters.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Gideon Johnson Pillow」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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