General Patrick R. Cleburne Cleburne, a native of Ireland, became one of the most popular of all the Southern division commanders. Styled the “Stonewall of the West”, for his defense of Tunnel Hill during the Battle of Missionary Ridge, he proposed a controversial plan under which slaves would be recruited for the Southern army in exchange for their eventual emancipation. He was tragically killed in action while participating in the Hood's ill-advised assaults on Federal breastworks at Franklin, Tennessee in November of 1864.