Person Record
Metadata
Name |
Mouton, Jean Jacques Alfred Alexander |
Born |
02/18/1829 |
Birthplace |
Opelousas, Louisiana |
Notes |
Mouton was born in Opelousas, Louisiana on February 18, 1829. He spoke French fluently and learned English when a young adult. Mouton attended West Point and graduated in 1850; however he resigned his commission to work as a railroad construction engineer and command a brigade of Louisiana militia. When the war began, he raised a company from Lafayette Parish and was then elected Col. of the 18th Louisiana Infantry in October 1861. For outstanding service at the Battle of Shiloh with this unit, he received a promotion to Brig. Gen. on April 18, 1862. During the battle, he received a wound to the face, and while he was recuperating from this wound, he contracted erysipelas for which he had to go to New Orleans for treatment. Upon regaining his health, Mouton assumed command in October of a brigade of Lousiana troops in the Bayou La Fourche region of Maj. Gen. Richard Taylor's District of West Louisiana. In December 1863, Maj. Gen. Taylor organized a division out of Mouton's old brigade and Brig. Gen. Camille J. Prince de Polignac's Texas infantry brigade, with Mouton in command. This division formed a vital part of Taylor's army when the Red River Campaign began; the men participated in the Battle of Mansfield on April 8. Among the division's losses was Brig. Gen. Mouton, who suffered a fatal wound leading a charge. Mouton was first buried on the battlefield at Mansfield; however it was exhumed and moved to the family plot in Lafayette, Louisiana. |
![Alfred Mouton [Jean Jacques Alfred Alexander Mouton]](https://s3.amazonaws.com/pastperfectonline/images/museum_132/060/thumbs/09850500107.jpg)
