Mosby Parsons

Mosby Monroe Parsons
Born May 21, 1822
Charlottesville, Virginia
Died August 15, 1865
Camargo, Mexico
Allegiance United States United States of America
Confederate States of America Confederate States of America
Service/branch  United States Army
 Confederate States Army
Years of service 1846–48 (USA), 1861–65 (CSA)
Rank Brigadier General
Battles/wars Mexican-American War
- Battle of El Brazito
- Battle of Sacramento
American Civil War
- Battle of Carthage (1861)
- Battle of Wilson's Creek
- Battle of Pea Ridge
- Battle of Prairie Grove

Mosby Monroe Parsons (May 21, 1822 – August 15, 1865) was a United States officer in the Mexican-American War and brigadier general of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.

Early life and career

The eldest child of Gustavus Adolphus Parsons and his wife Patience Monroe Bishop, Mosby M. Parsons was born in Charlottesville, Virginia. When he was 13, his parents moved to Cole County, Missouri. Two years later, they moved again to Jefferson City, which Parsons would thereafter make his home. As a young man, Mosby read law and was admitted to the bar in 1846. He served as a volunteer in the Mexican-American War with the rank of captain in Colonel Alexander W. Doniphan's regiment and was cited for gallantry at the Battle of Sacramento on February 28, 1847. Returning to Missouri after the war, he married Mary Wells on September 18, 1850. However, his wife died just three years later, leaving him with an infant son, Stephen Kearney Parsons.

Parsons served as the United States District Attorney for western Missouri. In 1856 was elected to the state legislature. He became a state senator in 1858, serving until the Civil War began in early 1861.

Civil War

During the secession crisis in Missouri, Parsons was appointed brigadier general in command of the Sixth Division of the Missouri State Guard. He arrived too late to participate in the skirmish at Boonville, but he went on to lead his division at Carthage and the Battle of Wilson's Creek in Missouri. Although his Missouri State Guardsmen participated in the Battle of Pea Ridge in Arkansas, Parsons was absent from this action seeking an appointment into the Confederate Army in Richmond, Virginia.

Parsons was commissioned a brigadier general of the Confederacy on November 5, 1862 and led his infantry brigade in the Battle of Prairie Grove, Arkansas one month later. His force would participate in the attack at Helena, Arkansas on July 4, 1863, and assisted Richard Taylor in thwarting Union Major General Nathaniel Banks' Red River Campaign of 1864 in Louisiana (Battle of Pleasant Hill), as well as opposing Union Major General Frederick Steele's Camden Expedition in Arkansas, including participation at the Battle of Jenkins' Ferry.

Parsons was appointed a major general by Trans-Mississippi Departmental Commander Kirby Smith on April 30, 1864, although his promotion was never confirmed by Jefferson Davis.

Post-war death

After the war's end, Parsons, like many other Missouri Confederates, chose to go to Mexico rather than return to Missouri. He and three companions, including his brother-in-law, Capt. Austin M. Standish, and former Confederate Congressman Aaron H. Conrow were attacked, captured, and executed by a band of regular Mexican cavalry near China, Mexico on August 15, 1865. The bodies of Parsons and his comrades were thrown into the San Juan River. In 1868, Parsons's son (Kearny Parsons) and sister (Mildred Standish), along with the family of Aaron Conrow, sued the Mexican government via the United States and Mexico Claims Commission Convention. In 1875, a judgment in the amount of almost $50,000.00 in gold was awarded to each of the plaintiffs.

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