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James Edwin Slaughter was born in Slaughter's (Cedar) Mountain, Virginia, in June of 1827. He was the great-nephew of President James Madison, and attended the Virginia Military Institute until 1846. He withdrew from VMI to accept a commission in the US Army. After serving in the Mexican War, he remained in the army until the Civil War. Slaughter was dismissed from the service in May of 1861, and joined the Confederate army. Appointed to Brig. Gen. Braxton Bragg's staff, he was promoted to brigadier general on March 8, 1862. Slaughter became Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston's assistant inspector general at Shiloh. He held this position under Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard and Bragg; then served as chief of artillery and chief of staff under Maj. Gen. John B. Magruder. For the rest of the war, Slaughter served with Magruder in Texas. When the Confederacy surrendered, Slaughter moved to Mexico for several years, then returned to the United States. Living in Mobile, Alabama, he worked as a civil engineer, then as postmaster. After moving to New Orleans, he went on a visit to Mexico. He died while visiting Mexico City, on January 1, 1901, and was buried there.
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