David Emanuel Twiggs (February 14, 1790 – July 15, 1862), born in Georgia, was a career army officer, serving during the War of 1812, the Black Hawk War, and Mexican–American War. As commander of the U.S. Army's Department of Texas when the American Civil War broke out, he surrendered his entire command to Confederate commissioners, with facilities, armaments and other supplies valued at $1.6 million. Dismissed from the US Army and described as a traitor, he was commissioned as a general of the Confederate States Army in 1861. But, recognizing he was in poor health, he quickly resigned his commission that year. He was the oldest Confederate general to serve in the Civil War. Early life Twiggs was born in 1790 on the "Good Hope" plantation in Richmond County, Georgia, son of John Twiggs and his wife, Ruth Emanuel. A general in the Georgia militia during the American Revolutionary War, the senior Twiggs was the namesake for Twiggs County, Georgia. He was the nephew, through his mother, of David Emanuel, Governor of Georgia. Early military career Twiggs volunteered for service as a captain during the War of 1812 and made a career in the military. In 1816, Twiggs was ordered by Major General Edmund P. Gaines to set out from Fort Montgomery and establish a new fort on the border of the Alabama Territory and Spanish West Florida. This new fort was known as Fort Crawford. After serving at Fort Crawford, Twiggs became commandant of Fort Scott. In 1828, he was sent to Wisconsin to establish a fort, at the portage between the Fox and Wisconsin rivers. With three companies of the First Infantry, his forces built Fort Winnebago around what has come to be known as Fort Winnebago Surgeon's Quarters at Portage, Wisconsin. This was a base of operation during the Black Hawk War. Twiggs was commissioned as Colonel of the 2nd U.S. Dragoons in 1836 and served in the Seminole Wars in Florida, where he earned the nickname "Bengal Tiger" for his fierce temper. He also decided to act offensively against the Seminole rather than wait for them to strike first. Some of the Seminole moved deep into the Everglades, evading US forces. They never surrendered, and the US government finally gave up on hopes of removing them to Indian Territory. Mexican–American War During the Mexican–American War (1846–1848), Twiggs led a brigade in the Army of Occupation at