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{{short description|American politician}}
{{redirect|Senator Pettus}}
{{Use American English|date=February 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name         = Edmund Pettus
|image        = Senator Edmund Winston Pettus as a Member of the 55th US Congress.jpeg
|caption      = Pettus in 1899
|jr/sr        = United States Senator
|state        = [[Alabama]]
|term_start   = March 4, 1897
|term_end     = July 27, 1907
|predecessor  = [[James L. Pugh]]
|successor    = [[Joseph F. Johnston]]
|birthname    = Edmund Winston Pettus
|birth_date   = {{birth date|1821|7|06|mf=y}}
|birth_place  = [[Limestone County, Alabama]], U.S.
|death_date   = {{death date and age|1907|7|27|1821|7|06|mf=y}}
|death_place  = [[Hot Springs, North Carolina]], U.S.
|party        = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
|relations    = {{unbulleted list|[[John J. Pettus]] (brother)|[[Caroline Randall Williams]] (great-great granddaughter)<ref name="Williams">{{cite news |title=Great-great-granddaughter of Edmund Pettus wants bridge renamed|author=WSFA 12 News Staff|url=https://www.wbtv.com/2020/07/26/great-great-granddaughter-edmund-pettus-wants-bridge-renamed/ |access-date=23 April 2023|publisher=WBTV |date=26 July 2020}}</ref>}}
|alma_mater   = [[Clinton College (Tennessee)|Clinton College]]
|allegiance   = {{unbulleted list|{{flag|United States|1847}}|{{flag|Confederate States|1865}}}}
|branch       = <!-- EDITORS NOTE: Please do not add the Army flag adopted by the U.S. government in 1956 (49 years after Pettus' death) as it would be historically inaccurate. Thank you. -->{{unbulleted list|[[United States Volunteers]]|{{army|CSA}}}}
|serviceyears = {{unbulleted list|1847–1849 ([[United States Volunteers|U.S.]])|1861–1865 ([[Confederate States Army|C.S.]])}}
|rank         = {{unbulleted list|[[File:Union army 2nd lt rank insignia.jpg|border|23px]] [[Lieutenant]] (U.S.)|[[File:Confederate States of America General-collar.svg|23px]] [[Brigadier general|Brigadier-General]] (C.S.)}}
|battles      = [[Mexican–American War]]<br />[[American Civil War]]
*[[Stones River Campaign]]{{POW}}
*[[Vicksburg campaign|Vicksburg Campaign]]{{POW}}
*[[Chattanooga campaign|Chattanooga Campaign]]
*[[Atlanta campaign|Atlanta Campaign]]
*[[Campaign of the Carolinas]]{{WIA}}{{POW}}
}}
'''Edmund Winston Pettus''' (July 6, 1821 &ndash; July 27, 1907) was an American lawyer, politician and military officer who represented [[Alabama]] in the [[United States Senate]] from 1897 to 1907.<ref name="cd">{{cite web |title=S. Doc. 58-1 - Fifty-eighth Congress. (Extraordinary session -- beginning November 9, 1903.) Official Congressional Directory for the use of the United States Congress. Compiled under the direction of the Joint Committee on Printing by A.J. Halford. Special edition. Corrections made to November 5, 1903 |url=https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/SERIALSET-04562_00_00-001-0001-0000 |website=GovInfo.gov |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |access-date=2 July 2023 |pages=1–2 |date=9 November 1903}}</ref> He served as a senior officer of the [[Confederate States Army]], commanding [[infantry]] in the [[Western Theater of the American Civil War|Western Theater]] of the [[American Civil War]]. After the war, he was [[Ku Klux Klan titles and vocabulary|Grand Dragon]], or supreme leader, of the [[Ku Klux Klan]], which terrorized and often killed African Americans.<ref name="Watson">{{Cite web|url=http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-2962|title=Edmund Pettus|last=Watson|first=Elbert L.|date=January 5, 2015|website=Encyclopedia of Alabama}}</ref><!-- (see talk) – an assertion that's questioned by some historians.{{who|date=August 2018}} -->

A [[Edmund Pettus Bridge|bridge]] across the [[Alabama River]] in [[Selma, Alabama|Selma]], built in 1940, was named after him. According to ''Smithsonian'', "The bridge was named for him, in part, to memorialize his history, of restraining and imprisoning African-Americans in their quest for freedom after the Civil War".<ref name="SMITH" /> In 1965, the bridge became a landmark of the [[civil rights movement]].

==Early life and career==
Edmund Pettus was born in 1821 in [[Limestone County, Alabama]].<ref name="SMITH">{{cite web|url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/who-was-edmund-pettus-180954501/?no-ist|title=Who Was Edmund Pettus|last=Whack|first=Errin|date=March 7, 2015|website=Smithsonian|publisher=Smithsonian.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190422005529/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/who-was-edmund-pettus-180954501/?no-ist|archive-date=April 22, 2019|url-status=|access-date=7 March 2014}}</ref> He was the youngest of nine children of John Pettus and Alice Taylor Winston, a brother of [[John J. Pettus]], and a distant cousin of [[Jefferson Davis]].<ref>Eicher (2), p. 427. Wakelyn, p. 344.</ref> Pettus was educated in local public schools, and later graduated from [[Clinton College (Tennessee)|Clinton College]] located in [[Smith County, Tennessee]].<ref name=Warner238>Warner, p. 238.</ref>

Pettus then [[reading law|studied law]] under William Cooper in [[Tuscumbia, Alabama]] and was [[Admission to the bar in the United States|admitted to the bar]] in 1842. Shortly afterward, he settled in [[Gainesville, Alabama|Gainesville]] and began practicing as a lawyer. On June 27, 1844, Pettus married Mary L. Chapman, with whom he had three sons, two of whom died in infancy, and two daughters.<ref name="Watson"/> Also that year he was elected solicitor for the seventh Judicial Circuit of Alabama.<ref name=Wakelyn344>Wakelyn, p. 344.</ref>

During the [[Mexican–American War]] in 1846&ndash;48, Pettus served as a [[lieutenant]] with the Alabama Volunteers, and after the end of hostilities he moved to [[California]].<ref name=Eicher(2)427>Eicher (2), p. 427.</ref>

By 1853, he returned to Alabama, serving again in the seventh circuit as solicitor. He was appointed a judge in that circuit in 1855 until resigning in 1858. Pettus then relocated to the now extinct town of [[Cahaba, Alabama|Cahaba]]<ref name=Warner238/> in [[Dallas County, Alabama]], where he again took up work as a lawyer.<ref name="Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress">{{cite web|url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=P000279|title=Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress|publisher=uab.edu|access-date=2009-01-31}}</ref>

==American Civil War==<!-- EDITORS NOTE: Please do not add photographs to this section. It would quickly become too unwieldy. Thank you. -->
[[File:Brig. Gen. Edmund Winston Pettus, C.S.A.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Pettus in uniform, [[Wiktionary:circa|ca.]] 1863]]
In 1861, Pettus, an enthusiastic champion of the Confederate cause and of slavery, was a Democratic Party delegate to the secession convention in Mississippi, where his brother [[John J. Pettus|John]] was serving as governor. Pettus helped organize the 20th Alabama Infantry, and was elected as one of its first officers.<ref name=Warner238/> On September 9, he was made the [[regiment]]'s [[Major (rank)|major]], and on October 8, he became its [[lieutenant colonel]].<ref name=Eicher(2)427/>

Pettus served in the [[Western Theater of the American Civil War]]. During the [[Stones River Campaign]], he was captured by [[Union Army|Union soldiers]] on December 29, 1862, and exchanged a short time later for Union soldiers. Pettus was captured again on May 1, 1863, while part of the surrendered garrison that had been defending [[Battle of Port Gibson|Port Gibson]] in [[Mississippi in the American Civil War|Mississippi]]. He managed to escape and return to his own lines. Pettus was promoted to [[colonel]] on May 28, and given command of the 20th Alabama.<ref name=Eicher(2)427/>

During the 1863 [[Vicksburg campaign|Vicksburg Campaign]], Pettus and his regiment were part of the force defending Confederate control of the [[Mississippi River]]. When the garrison surrendered on July 4, Pettus was again a prisoner until his exchange on September 12.<ref name=Eicher(2)427/> Six days later he was promoted to the rank of [[brigadier general]],<ref>Wright, p. 112. Appointed from Alabama on September 19, 1863, to rank from September 18, and confirmed by Confederate Congress February 17, 1864.</ref> and on November 3 he was given [[brigade]] command in the [[Army of Tennessee]].<ref name=Eicher(2)427/> Pettus and his brigade participated in the [[Chattanooga campaign|Chattanooga Campaign]], posted on the extreme southern slope of [[Battle of Missionary Ridge|Missionary Ridge]] on November 24, and fought during the action the following day.<ref>Eicher (1), p. 607.</ref>

Pettus and his command took part in the 1864 [[Atlanta campaign|Atlanta Campaign]], fighting in the battles of [[Battle of Kennesaw Mountain|Kennesaw Mountain]] on June 27, [[Battle of Atlanta|Atlanta]] on July 22, and [[Battle of Jonesborough|Jonesborough]] from August 31 to September 1.<ref name=Wakelyn344/> Beginning on December 17, he temporarily led a division in the Army of Tennessee.<ref>Eicher (2), p. 427. Led Stevenson's Division until wounding on March 19, 1865.</ref> During the 1865 [[Campaign of the Carolinas]], Pettus was sent to defend Columbia, South Carolina, and fought at [[Battle of Bentonville|Bentonville]] from March 19&ndash;21.<ref name=Wakelyn344/> Pettus was wounded in this fight, hit in his right leg during the battle's first day. On May 2 he was paroled from [[Salisbury, North Carolina]], and, four months after the Confederacy surrendered, Pettus was pardoned by U.S. President [[Andrew Johnson]] on October 20.<ref name=Eicher(2)427/>

==Later life and career==
After the war, Edmund Pettus returned to Alabama and resumed his law practice in [[Selma, Alabama|Selma]]. Pettus served as chairman of the state delegation to the Democratic National Convention for more than two decades.<ref name=SMITH /> In 1877, during the final year of Reconstruction, Pettus was named Grand Dragon of the Alabama [[Ku Klux Klan]].  With earnings from his law practice, he bought farm land.<ref name=SMITH />

In 1896, at the age of 75, Pettus ran for the U.S. Senate as a Democrat and won, beating incumbent [[James L. Pugh]]. The state legislature, rather than state voters, elected United States senators at that time.  His campaign relied on his successes in organizing and popularizing the Alabama Klan and his prominent opposition to the constitutional amendments following the Civil War that elevated former slaves to the status of free citizens.<ref name=SMITH /> On March 4, 1897, he began service in the U.S. Senate.  The state legislature re-elected him on January 26, 1903, and January 22, 1907. This term would begin two years later in 1909.

Pettus died at [[Hot Springs, North Carolina]], in the summer of 1907, at age 86, while still in office and elected for the next term. He is buried in [[Live Oak Cemetery]] in Selma.<ref name="Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress"/>

==Legacy==
Military historian Ezra J. Warner wrote that Pettus was "a fearless and dogged fighter and distinguished himself on many fields in the western theater of war" and after his promotion to a general officer "he followed with conspicuous bravery every forlorn hope which the Confederacy offered..."<ref name=Warner238/> Likewise historian Jon L. Wakelyn summed up his military career by saying " … he volunteered for service in the Confederate Army and distinguished himself in the western command."<ref name=Wakelyn344/> As a U.S. senator, Pettus was "the last of the Confederate brigadiers to sit in the upper house of the national Congress."<ref name=Warner238/>

===Edmund Pettus Bridge===
{{main|Edmund Pettus Bridge}} 
In 1940, a [[Edmund Pettus Bridge|bridge across the Alabama River]] in [[Selma, Alabama|Selma]] was named after him. In 1965, it became a [[civil rights movement]] landmark when 525 to 600 civil rights marchers on their way [[Selma to Montgomery marches|from Selma to Montgomery]] tried to cross the bridge, but were turned back and attacked by Alabama state troopers and members of the [[Ku Klux Klan]]. This event has since been called [[Selma to Montgomery marches|Bloody Sunday]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/about_king/encyclopedia/selma_montgomery.htm|title=Selma to Montgomery March|publisher=stanford.edu|website=King Encyclopedia|archive-date=22 January 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090122214150/http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/about_king/encyclopedia/selma_montgomery.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 2020, Pettus’ great-great-granddaughter [[Caroline Randall Williams]], Vanderbilt University writer-in-residence, proposed renaming the bridge after [[John Lewis]] because "We name things after honorable Americans to commemorate their legacies. That bridge is named after a treasonous American who cultivated and prospered from systems of degradation and oppression before and after the Civil War."<ref name="WRDW Rename">{{cite news |title=Great-great-granddaughter of Edmund Pettus wants bridge renamed |author=Staff|publisher=WSFA 12 News|url=https://www.wrdw.com/2020/07/27/great-great-granddaughter-of-edmund-pettus-wants-bridge-renamed/ |access-date=23 April 2023|date=27 July 2020}}</ref>

Writing in the ''New York Times'', Williams argued:<ref>{{Cite news |last=Williams |first=Caroline Randall |date=2020-06-26 |title=Opinion {{!}} You Want a Confederate Monument? My Body Is a Confederate Monument |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/26/opinion/confederate-monuments-racism.html|url-access=subscription|access-date=2022-07-31 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
{{blockquote|I don’t just come from the South. I come from Confederates. I’ve got rebel-gray blue blood coursing my veins. My great-grandfather Will was raised with the knowledge that Edmund Pettus was his father. Pettus, the storied Confederate general, the grand dragon of the Ku Klux Klan, the man for whom [[Selma_to_Montgomery_marches#"Bloody_Sunday"_events|Selma’s Bloody Sunday Bridge]] is named. So I am not an outsider who makes these demands. I am a great-great-granddaughter […] [Here’s] the thing: our ancestors don’t deserve your unconditional pride. Yes, I am proud of every one of my black ancestors who survived slavery. They earned that pride, by any decent person’s reckoning. But I am not proud of the white ancestors whom I know, [[self-hatred|by virtue of my very existence]], to be bad actors.|”You Want a Confederate Monument? My Body Is a Confederate Monument,” Caroline Randall Williams}}

At least one other Pettus descendant, Dave Pettus, supports renaming the bridge "Bloody Sunday Bridge."<ref name="Bloody Sunday Bridge">{{cite news |title=Pettus descendant repeats call to rename famed Alabama bridge|last=Griffin|first=Noah|url=https://www.selmasun.com/news/columnist-pettus-descendant-repeats-call-to-rename-famed-alabama-bridge/article_69ba302f-f933-5912-bc77-57f78103bc78.html|website=Selma Sun |access-date=23 April 2023 |date=5 September 2020}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of American Civil War generals (Confederate)|List of Confederate States Army generals]]
* [[List of members of the United States Congress who died in office (1900–1949)]]

==References==
'''Notes'''
{{Reflist}}

'''Bibliography'''
{{Div col|colwidth=30em}}
* [[David J. Eicher|Eicher (1), David J.]], ''The Longest Night: A Military History of the Civil War'', Simon & Schuster, 2001, {{ISBN|0-684-84944-5}}.
* Eicher (2), John H., and [[David J. Eicher]], ''Civil War High Commands.'' Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001. {{ISBN|978-0-8047-3641-1}}.
* Sifakis, Stewart. ''Who Was Who in the Civil War.'' New York: Facts On File, 1988. {{ISBN|978-0-8160-1055-4}}.
* Wakelyn, Jon L., ''Biographical Dictionary of the Confederacy'', Greenwood Press, 1977, {{ISBN|0-8371-6124-X}}.
* [[Ezra J. Warner (historian)|Warner, Ezra J.]] ''Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders.'' Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1959. {{ISBN|978-0-8071-0823-9}}.
* [[Marcus Joseph Wright|Wright, Marcus J.]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=HswLAAAAIAAJ ''General Officers of the Confederate Army: Officers of the Executive Departments of the Confederate States, Members of the Confederate Congress by States'']. Mattituck, NY: J. M. Carroll & Co., 1983. {{ISBN|0-8488-0009-5}}. First published 1911 by Neale Publishing Co.
{{Div col end}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
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* {{find a Grave|8761}}
* [http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uva.x004873381;view=1up;seq=13 Edmund Pettus and John Tyler Morgan, late senators from Alabama, Memorial addresses delivered in the House of Representatives and Senate frontispiece 1909]
* {{CongBio|P000279}}
<!-- EDITORS NOTE: Please follow the [[WP:EL]] guideline where possible and consider discussing on the talk page. Thank you. -->

{{S-start}}
{{S-par|us-sen}}
{{U.S. Senator box
|state=Alabama
|class=3
|before=[[James L. Pugh]]
|after=[[Joseph F. Johnston]]
|alongside=[[John Tyler Morgan|John T. Morgan]], [[John H. Bankhead]]
|years=1897&ndash;1907}}
{{S-hon}}
{{Succession box
|title=Oldest living U.S. senator
|before=[[Daniel T. Jewett]]
|after=[[John Conness]]
|years= October 7, 1906 &ndash; July 27, 1907}}
{{S-end}}
{{USSenAL}}
{{portal bar|American Civil War|Biography|Law|Politics}}
{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pettus, Edmund}}
[[Category:1821 births]]
[[Category:1907 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century American judges]]
[[Category:19th-century American lawyers]]
[[Category:Alabama lawyers]]
[[Category:American Civil War prisoners of war]]
[[Category:Fire-Eaters]]
[[Category:American lawyers admitted to the practice of law by reading law]]
[[Category:American militia officers]]
[[Category:American military personnel of the Mexican–American War]]
[[Category:Clinton College (Tennessee)]]
[[Category:Circuit court judges in the United States]]
[[Category:Confederate States Army brigadier generals]]
[[Category:Democratic Party United States senators from Alabama]]
[[Category:Ku Klux Klan Grand Dragons]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Alabama]]
[[Category:People from Athens, Alabama]]
[[Category:People of Alabama in the American Civil War]]
[[Category:People pardoned by Andrew Johnson]]
[[Category:United States senators who owned slaves]]
[[Category:20th-century United States senators]]
[[Category:19th-century United States senators]]