William Barksdale – Mississippi Fire-Eater

William Barksdale, in many ways, epitomized the image of the southern general during and after the Civil War. He was born in Smyrna, Tennessee on August 21, 1821, the eldest son of William Barksdale and Nancy Hervey Lester Barksdale. He studied law at the University of Nashville, but for the remainder of his adult life,…