DOB: February 4, 1838 DOD: October 6, 1866 Age at Enlistment: 23 Date of Enlistment:  May 9, 1861 Place of Enlistment:  Franklin, TN Rank at Enlistment: 1st Sergeant Rank at Discharge: Captain Casualty:  He was wounded in left elbow at Perryville, KY October 8, 1862 and taken to a hospital in Harrodsburg, KY.  He was captured October 10, 1862 when Federal troops occupied the town.  Later exchanged at Vicksburg, MS in December 1862.  He was wounded in left forearm at Chickamauga September 19, 1863.  Oscar was captured sometime between January to April, 1865. Comments:  Oscar came from a wealthy family, his father, Tilman, designed the Courthouse on the square in Franklin.  His family’s house was on West Main Street on what is now Petway Street.  His younger brother Andrew and his nephew Tilman Haynes both served in the company and his older brother, Tilman, served in Company C of the Rock City Guards before being promoted to Captain in the Quartermaster Department.  He had a younger sister named Sallie who is noted in the History of the 124th Ohio Infantry as being fond of singing Confederate songs to Union Soldiers.  Oscar studied Law at Cumberland University and appears on the 1858 Directory for the school and is working as a lawyer in Franklin according to the 1860 Census.  He was elected 1st Sergeant when the Williamson Grays formed and later elected the third and final Captain of the company at the regiment’s reorganization at Tupelo, MS to replace John House who was promoted to Major of the regiment on April 30, 1862.  He was wounded at Perryville and captured two days later at Harrodsburg, KY on October 10.  He was exchanged and sent to Vicksburg on the  Steamboat Mary Crane on November 29, 1862 from Louisville, KY.  On interesting note, the ship was captured and burned by Guerillas after dropping off the prisoners at Vicksburg.  Listed as being sick in hospital in Rome, GA in Feb. and March of 1863.  An interesting account of Captain Atkeison is given in the Pro-Union paper Nashville Dispatch issue of September 8, 1863: “A soldier named Jay Church, of Capt. Atkieison’s company (D), first Tennessee (rebel) infantry, who was made prisoner yesterday, gives a gloomy picture of affairs in Dixie. He left his regiment in company with a boy named Ike Brown, of this town, as it was crossing the Tennessee closely pressed by the Federals. He says that those of the Franklin boys who remain are weary and despondent, anxious to be home once more, and are sick and tired of the rebellion. He represents Capt. Atkeison as a clever fellow, well liked by his comrades, and subject to fits of sadness and despair.” On September 17, 1864 he is listed as being in the hospital for unknown reasons.  George Nichols states he was not present for the Tennessee Campaign in 1864.  In January 1865 he was granted a 30 day furlough and somewhere down the line he was captured and held at a prison camp in Athens, GA.  He is listed as taking oath there on July 18, 1865.  His discharge papers describe him as:  Skin Tone: Dark, Hair: Black, Eyes: Hazel, Height 5’8”.  He died a little over a year later for unknown reasons and is buried in Rest Haven Cemetery in Franklin with his father Tilman.

Atkeison-Petway House courtesy of the Williamson County Heritage Foundation

Oscar’s Grave at Rest Haven Cemetery in Franklin, TN