Claudius Wistar Sears (November 8, 1817 – February 15, 1891) was a United States Army officer, an educator, and a Confederate general during the American Civil War.

During the war, Sears was part of the Confederate garrison that was captured following the Siege of Vicksburg in 1863, and would be wounded twice in combat.

He attended the United States Military Academy in West Point in July 1837, and graduated four years later, standing 31st out of 52 cadets.

[1] At the start of the American Civil War in 1861, Sears chose to follow the Confederate cause and enlisted in the 17th Mississippi Infantry Regiment that May,[1] and elected captain of its Company G soon afterward.

Following the six-week-long siege of the garrison and its surrender on July 4, Sears was captured by Union forces, and was exchanged that fall.

[2] He died two years later at Oxford in Lafayette County, Mississippi, and is buried there in the city's Saint Peter's Cemetery.