Alexander Blackburn Bradford
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Alexander Blackburn Bradford (June 2, 1799 – July 10, 1873) was a politician and public figure in both Tennessee and Mississippi.
He was born on June 2, 1799, in Jefferson County, Tennessee, the son of East Tennessee pioneers and grandson of two Revolutionary War veterans. After studying law at the University of Tennessee, he served as a senate clerk under James K. Polk in the Thirteenth General Assembly of Tennessee. He was only twenty years old at the time.
In 1821, Bradford moved to Jackson, Tennessee, becoming one of its first settlers. On November 14 of that year, he was admitted to the bar of the first Circuit Court of Madison County. He was soon thereafter named first district attorney, at the time called solicitor general, for the Western District of Tennessee. In 1834, Bradford served as one of two prosecuting attorneys in the trial of John A. Murrell, one of the most notorious criminals of the early South. In 1821, Bradford married Darthula Miller, the daughter of Chancellor Pleasant Miller and granddaughter of Governor William Blount. One of Bradford's three daughters, named for her mother, married Captain Henry E. Williamson, CSA.
In addition to being a well-known lawyer, Bradford was a gifted military commander. In 1831, he was elected brigadier-general of the 14th Brigade, Tennessee Militia (the equivalent of today's National Guard). Two years later, he was elected major general of the Western District of Tennessee.
In 1836, Osceola, Chief of the Seminole Indians, led an uprising known as the Second Seminole War. Bradford volunteered for the war in Florida enlisting as a private; he was soon elected Colonel. He received praise during the war for leading a charge at the battle at Withlacooche River. Also, in 1836, he organized and was commander of the "Madison Grays," a company of Tennessee volunteers to aid the beleaguered Texans in the War for Texas Independence.