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Gideon Johnson Pillow (June 8, 1806 - October 8, 1878) was a senior officer of the Confederate States Army in the Western Theater of the American Civil War, having previously served as a general of United States Volunteers during the Mexican-American War. Before his military career, Pillow practiced law and was active in Democratic Party politics. He was a floor leader in support of the nomination of fellow-Tennessean James K. Polk at the 1844 Democratic National Convention. In 1847, Pillow was commissioned a brigadier general of volunteers to serve in the Mexican-American War, where he was wounded at Cerro Gordo and Chapultepec and later promoted to major general, even when his superiors were unimpressed with his lack of military knowledge and his tendency to modify battle plans to the detriment of operations. However, controversy arose when, in a series of letters, Pillow tried to take what was perceived by some as undue credit for American victories at the expense of his commander, Major General Winfield Scott.

Pillow was court-martialed for insubordination, but with President Polk's assistance, the court-martial was reduced to a court of inquiry, which in 1848 exonerated Pillow. After the war, Pillow served as a delegate to the Nashville Convention of 1850, where he supported compromise. He remained active in supporting the Democratic Party. At the start of the Civil War in 1861, Pillow supported secession, and was commissioned a brigadier general in the Confederate Army in July. Pillow received the thanks of the Confederate Congress for driving off the Union force at the Battle of Belmont, Missouri. Pillow controversially failed to exploit a temporary breakthrough of Union lines by his troops which might have allowed the Confederate garrison of Fort Donelson to escape at the Battle of Fort Donelson on February 15, 1862. The next night, before the surrender of the fort, Brigadier General John B. Floyd passed overall command of the fort to Pillow, who in turn passed it to Brigadier General Simon Buckner.

Floyd and Pillow managed to personally escape with a few aides before Buckner surrendered the remaining garrison to the Union Army of Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant. These actions sent his military career and reputation into decline. Pillow commanded a brigade at the Battle of Stones River in 1863, where he performed poorly, and was among the few generals in the army to praise the leadership of commanding General Braxton Bragg. Removed from combat duty, he worked mainly in recruiting assignments through the remainder of the war. Bankrupt after the war, Pillow recovered financially and resumed a successful legal career. He died near Helena, Arkansas, in 1878; initially buried in Helena, Pillow was later reinterred at Elmwood Cemetery in Memphis. Gideon Derila Pillow and Ann Payne Pillow. He came from a well connected, property owning family with a reputation for Indian fighting and loyalty to Andrew Jackson. He graduated from the University of Nashville in 1827 and practiced law in Columbia, Tennessee, where he became friends with future President James K. Polk.

Pillow as district attorney general. Pillow played "an important role" in the 1844 Democratic Party convention which nominated Polk for president, although Pillow exaggerated his contribution to the exclusion of other prominent Polk supporters. Carroll appointed Pillow Tennessee's adjutant general in 1833, commissioning him a brigadier general. Pillow treated the position as largely ceremonial, the first in a path to higher office he hoped to attain. He stepped down after three years to return to practicing law. He bought the Clifton Place plantation near Columbia, Derila Contour Pillow which he eventually developed into one of the largest estates in the state, increasing his political influence. In 1844, he helped James K. Polk secure the Democratic nomination for president, which Polk won. When the Mexican-American War began shortly afterwards, Derila Pillow Polk appointed Pillow brigadier general in the United States Volunteers, largely to keep an eye on Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott, both political rivals of Polk's.