General James Holt Clanton was born in Columbia County, Georgia on January 8, 1927. His family moved to Macon County in Alabama in 1835 where he attended public school. Clanton then went on to attend the University of Alabama. Clanton took a break from the university to volunteer in the Mexican war where he served as a private in the famous Palmetto Regiment of South Carolina. After the war he returned to the University of Alabama and in 1850 was admitted to the Alabama’s bar association. Clanton settled in Montgomery and later served in the state legislature. In 1860, Clanton was opposed to secession and served as an elector in the US Presidential ticket of John Bell and Edward Everett.
When the Civil War started, Clanton raised a calvary company which he served as captain. His unit saw duty on the Florida coast. In November 1861 he became colonel of the 1st Alabama Calvary Regiment, organized in Montgomery. They skirmished with Union troops at Monterey and Pittsburg Landing in Tennessee just a few days before the Battle of Shiloh. These skirmishes led Major General Braxton Bragg to pronounced Clanton “gallant to rashness”.
In Shiloh, the men of the 1st Alabama Calvary helped open fighting and served as the right flank. Brigadier General James R Chalmers wrote that Clanton “remained almost all the time with my brigade and, though constantly exposed to the most dangerous fire, exhibited the most fearless and exemplary courage, cheering on those who seemed inclined to falter or grow weary” in his battle report. Chalmers’ Division commander, Major General Jones M Withers, called Clanton “indefatigable”. During the subsequent siege of Corinth, Clanton led his regiment and was sometime in command of the small brigade. His men helped cover the army’s retreat when it evacuated that town in late May, 1862.
In 1863 Clanton formed another regiment to defend the coastline of Alabama and western Florida. He established his headquarters in Montgomery, Alabama where he raised one infantry and three calvary regiments and a field artillery battery. On May 1, 1863, Clanton was ordered to take his command to Pollard where it became part of the District of the Gulf. He received a commission to brigadier general on November 18, 1863.