George S. Patton, Sr.

George S. Patton, Sr. was a Confederate Colonel during the American Civil War. He is famous for being the grandfather of World War II hero George S. Patton. He was born in Fredericksburg, Virginia, graduated from Virginia Military Institute (VMI), Class of 1852, second in a class of 24. After graduation, George Smith Patton studied law and practiced in Charleston, Virginia (now West Virginia). When the American Civil War broke out, he served in the 22nd Virginia Infantry of the Confederate States of America. He was wounded at the Battle of Scary Creek in present-day West Virginia on July 17, 1861, and later killed at the Battle of Opequon, also known as the Third Battle of 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 was married to Susan Thornton Glassell. One of their grandsons was World War II hero George S. Patton.

Family
George was the son of politician John Mercer Patton. 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, Patton's father 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.