Note 8 — MEXICAN WAR DIARY OF GEORGE B. McCLELLAN 1846-1847

Gideon J. Pillow was born in Williamson Co., Tennessee, on June 8, 1806. He died in Lee Co., Arkansas, on October 6, 1878. Pillow was a prominent Tennessee politician and was active in securing the presidential nomination for his intimate friend James K. Polk. In 1846 he was commissioned a brigadier general by Polk and went to the front in command of the Tennessee volunteers. In 1861 he became a brigadier general in the Confederate Army and is famous for having deserted his forces at Fort Donelson on February 15, 1862, leaving them to be surrendered to Grant the next day by his subordinate, General Simon B. Buckner. Also see Autobiography of Lieut.-Gen. Scott, Vol. II, pages 416-417.