Campaigns · Belmont, Shiloh, Perryville, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, and Atlanta
Alfred Jefferson Vaughan, Jr., in Dinwiddie County, Virginia, on May 10, 1830. Graduating from the Virginia Military Institute in 1851, he became a civil engineer and moved to California. He worked on the staff of an official of the Northern Pacific Railroad, then settled in Marshall County, Mississippi as a planter. When both his native Virginia and his adopted Mississippi seceded from the Union, Vaughan turned away from his formerly Unionist views and began organizing a company of Mississippi troops.
The state did not have to means to provide arms and equipment, so Vaughan took the troops to Tennessee, where they became part of the 13th Tennessee Infantry. Vaughan participated in almost every major battle and engagement in the Western theater, including Belmont, Shiloh, Perryville, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge and part of the Atlanta Campaign. Eight horses were shot from under him, and he earned a reputation for being a "fighting officer." He was promoted to brigadier general as of November 18, 1863, in recognition for his service to the Confederacy at Chickamauga.
Vaughan ended his military service at Vining's Station, at which his leg was blown off by an exploding shell. After recovering from his wound, he returned to Mississippi and worked as a farmer. Vaughan later joined the Grange movements; opened a mercantile company in Memphis, Tennessee; was elected clerk of the criminal court in Shelby County, Tennessee twice and served as the head of the Tennessee chapter of the United Confederate Veterans.
Vaughan died on October 1, 1899, in Indianapolis, Indiana.