George S. Patton Sr.

Col. George Smith Patton Sr. (June 26, 1833 – September 25, 1864) was a Confederate Colonel during the American Civil War. He was the grandfather of World War II general George S. Patton.

George Smith Patton was born June 26, 1833 in Fredericksburg, Virginia and raised in Richmond. He was the son of politician John Mercer Patton. George graduated from Virginia Military Institute (VMl), Class of 1852, second in a class of 24. After graduation, he studied law and practiced in Charleston, Virginia (now West Virginia). He married Susan Thornton Glassell in 1855.

When the American Civil War broke out, he served in the 22nd Virginia Infantry of the Confederate States of America, rising from Captain to Colonel of the regiment. As Lt. Colonel he was wounded in the shoulder at the Battle of Scary Creek in present-day West Virginia on July 17, 1861, and left on the field where he was captured. He was again wounded at Giles Court House, this time in the stomach. At the Battle of Opequon, also known as the Third Battle of Winchester, he was mortally wounded and died September 25, 1864. He is interred at the Stonewall Cemetery in Winchester. The Confederate Congress had promoted Colonel Patton to brigadier general; however, at the time, he had already died of battle wounds, so that promotion was never official.

He had several brothers who also fought for the Confederacy, and one, Lt. Col. Waller T. Patton, another VMI graduate, was mortally wounded at Gettysburg on July 3, 1863.

Patton left behind a namesake son, born in Charleston, Virginia (now West Virginia). The second George Smith Patton (born George William Patton in 1856, changing his name to honor his late father in 1868) was one of four children. Graduating from the Virginia Military Institute in 1877, this second generation Patton served as Los Angeles County, California, District Attorney and the first City Attorney for the city of Pasadena, California, and the first mayor of San Marino, California. He was a Wilson Democrat.

Patton's grandson (and Patton Sr.'s son) was the famous World War II "Old Blood and Guts" general George S. Patton Jr. (actually the third George Patton).