Jean-Jacques-Alfred-Alexander Mouton (10 February 1829 – 8 April 1864) was a Brigadier-General of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.
Biography[]
Mouton was born in Opelousas, Louisiana, the son of US Senator Alexandre Mouton. His family was Cajun, and he was reluctant to head to West Point because he spoke little English; his father was adamant, and he enlisted in 1846. He scored good grades, including in French class, but it was evident that he struggled with the new language that he was learning. In 1850 he graduated 38th out of 44 students, but he resigned his position shortly after. He moved to Lafayette Parish in Louisiana and became a member of the vigilante committee, and from 1850 to 1861 served as a Brigadier-General in the state militia.
At the start of the American Civil War, he raised Louisiana volunteers, and it became the 18th Louisiana Infantry Regiment. At the Battle of Shiloh in 1862, his regiment was mauled and was sent back home to replenish its ranks. Mouton attempted to defend sugar cane farms from Godfrey Weitzel's Union army in the Battle of Labadieville, but his force was brushed aside and fought a series of guerrilla actions at Bayou Teche. He was a commander in the Battle of Irish Bend and many other conflicts in Louisiana, and his regiment was later sent to Texas during the Red River Campaign against Nathaniel Banks' invading Union army. On his horse, he made a perfect target, and a sharpshooter dropped him from his saddle with a bullet. Loved by his regiment, Mouton's brigade sought to avenge him, but it lost one-third of its strength.