Ethelbert Barksdale

Ethelbert Barksdale (1824–1893) was a United States Representative from Mississippi, as well as a member of the Confederate States Congress during the American Civil War. His brother William was killed at the Battle of Gettysburg.

Ethelbert Barksdale in ''The Guns of the South'
Ethelbert Barksdale became a staunch member of President Robert E. Lee's Confederate Party. He was the lone member of his party hailing from Mississippi to be re-elected in the wake of Nathan Bedford Forrest's moderately successful opposition to the end of slavery.

In one of Lee's darkest moments, he took comfort from Barksdale's words of support.