A physician and politician before the war, Colonel Jerome Bonaparte “Polly” Robertson led the 5th Texas Infantry into Maryland in September 1862 but collapsed from previous wounds or exhaustion at South Mountain on the 14th and was taken to the rear. He commanded Hood’s Brigade after 22 October and was appointed Brigadier General on 1 November 1862, and he was wounded again, at Gettysburg, PA in July 1863. He was court-martialed in February 1864 for “defeatism” by General Longstreet and sent West to command the Reserve Forces of Texas to the end of the war.

His photograph is from MOLLUS Massachusetts Collection at the US Army Heritage & Education Center.

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