William Nelson Rector Beall

William Nelson Rector Beall. March 20, 1825 - July 25, 1883. Beall's grave is about 70 feet up the slope., Beall was born in Bardstown, Kentucky, but his family moved to Arkansas. He graduated from West Point in 1848, and largely served on the western frontier. He resigned from the U.S. Army as Arkansas seceded. Beall is not known to have lived in Nashville, so why is he buried here? It was likely because his wife Felicia Bass was from here. She would have seen him buried as she lived until 1921., Arkansas held a state convention in March 1861 and was against secession from the U.S. In April, U.S. President Lincoln called for troops to invade the C.S.A. Opinions changed and when the convention reassembled in May, the vote was 69 to 1 for secession. Like Arkansas, Beall had been reluctant and was one of the last Southerners to resign., Beall entered Confederate service at his U.S. rank of captain but was promoted to brigadier general on April 11, 1862. In August he was placed in command of Port Hudson, Louisiana on a strategic bluff on the east bank of the Mississippi River. He immediately began designing a line of fortifications., In 1863 it became apparent U.S. forces would make a significant effort to take Port Hudson and Vicksburg. In May the U.S. Army had about 30,000 troops in-position to lay siege to the Confederate line, held by only about 7.000. On May 27 the U.S. Army made a general assault all along the line. Beall played a key role in their repulse. U.S. casualties were close to 2000 with up to 450 killed; total C.S. casualties were no more than 274. On June 13, the U.S. opened a huge artillery bombardment. Shells fell at the rate of more than one a second. The Confederates were advised they might be massacred if another assault was made. Beall and the defenders further enhanced their reputation by repulsing another assault, the U.S. troops suffering another 1,805 casualties. Due to starvation and the July 4 surrender of Vicksburg, Port Hudson surrendered on July 9. The defenders had endured 46 days of siege, the longest in American military history., After the surrender Beall was sent to prison. Confederate prisoners were freezing to death in the colder climates of the U.S. For the Confederates to get permission to send blankets and clothes to the prisoners, the U.S. government demanded badly needed Confederate cotton. Beall was released on parole to serve as a Confederate agent for this trade. He had an office in New York City.