Joseph B. Palmer

Joseph B. Palmer practiced law in Murfreesboro for twelve years with James D. Richardson, who later edited the Confederacy's papers. In the war Palmer surrendered with the garrison at Fort Donelson, was exchanged, and led a brigade in Breckinridge's division at Stones River, where a shot hit his shoulder and leg on January 2. More wounds came at Chickamauga, Jonesboro and Bentonville. Promoted to brigadier general in November 1864, he was paroled at Greensboro, went home to his practice, and declined repeated requests to run for governor.

What the plaque says

Joseph B. Palmer A brigadier general in the Confedered Army, he was born in this country in 1825, a state legislator at age 23, and major of Murfreesboro, 1855-59. Wounded six times during the Civil War, he led the Tennessee Brigade home from Greensboro, N.C., at the war's close. he built this house in 1870, died here in 1890, and is buried in nearby Evergreen Cemetery.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Stones River National Battlefield — 3.3 mi
  The Murfreesboro battlefield of December 1862, with a national cemetery built by Black soldiers, a Trail of Tears route and the story of the freedmen's settlement called Cemetery.
• Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration — 25 mi
  The Shelbyville show grounds where the Tennessee Walking Horse has been crowned world grand champion each late summer since 1939, and where the practice of soring is part of the story.
• Henry Horton State Park — 25 mi
  A Duck River park on Governor Henry Horton's former farm in Marshall County, with a mill ruin from 1845, kayak floats and the grave of a governor the House declined to impeach.
• Fort Negley — 30 mi
  The largest inland stone fort of the Civil War, built in 1862 on St. Cloud Hill by more than 2,700 conscripted Black laborers, hundreds of whom died.

More markers nearby

• State Capitol — steps away
• James Daniel Richardson — steps away
• Tennessee College for Women — 0.3 mi
• Grantland Rice — 0.3 mi