His father, John Mercer Patton, a member of the Council of State, served as Acting Governor in March 1841.

He was badly wounded at Second Manassas on August 30, 1862, and spent the remainder of the year back home in Fredericksburg recuperating.

His regiment served in North Carolina in the spring of 1863, then Patton led it northward during the Gettysburg Campaign into Pennsylvania.

His first cousin, Lewis B. Williams, Jr, commanded another Virginia regiment in Pickett's Division and was also mortally wounded.

An older brother, George Smith Patton, was killed at the Third Battle of Winchester during the Valley Campaigns of 1864.

Media mogul Ted Turner made a cameo appearance in the 1993 film Gettysburg, playing Patton.