DOB:  1830 DOD:  About 1866 Age at Enlistment: 31 Date of Enlistment:  July 23, 1861 Place of Enlistment:  Nashville, TN Rank at Enlistment:  Private Rank at Discharge:  Private Casualty:  Captured at Graysville, GA on November 26, 1863. Comments:  George was a rarity in the company, he was part Indian and fought in two wars.  His family farm was south of Fairview near what is now the intersection of Union Valley Road and Pinewood Road.  The Bradfords in the company lived nearby.  George enlisted in the 3rd Tennessee Infantry Company K, along with his brother Aaron and cousin William, to fight in the Mexican War.  He enlisted on September 30, 1847, which was two weeks after Mexico City fell to U.S. forces, but the regiment was deployed to Mexico anyway.  They did not see any combat but performed garrison duty.  George is listed as being sick in the hospital in January and February of 1848.  The regiment was discharged a few months later and George returned home to Williamson County.  He married in 1850 and had eight children by the time the Civil War started in 1861.  When the Civil War broke out George enlisted in the Williamson Grays with his two brothers, Alexander and Jacob.  His brother Aaron who had gone to Mexico with him enlisted in the 24th Tennessee Infantry.  A Review Appeal Article from April 7, 1904 gives an interesting narrative of Aaron Beard but mentions George and his brother Alexander: “When the war clouds gathered in 1861 he [Aaron] took his stand for the Union, and was the only man in this district that voted against secession, his two brothers [George and Alexander] voting for it. However, when the announcement came that his state had seceded, he at once enlisted in the Confederate service and served gallantly for four years in the defense of his South land. Singular enough, the two brothers, who had voted to secede, joined the Federals. After the war he became a Democrat and his brothers Republicans.” According to the 1860 Census he was farming on or near his father’s land.  His wife gave birth to another child on July 26, 1863, which would mean he went home to visit between the battles of Perryville and Stones River when the army was encamped in Middle Tennessee in fall of 1862. George was captured at the Battle of Graysville on November 26, 1863 during the retreat from Missionary Ridge along with his brother Alexander.  Both were sent to Rock Island Prison and enlisted in the U.S. army on October 13, 1864 to get out of prison. His U.S. Enlistment papers describe him as Eyes: Gray, Hair: Dark, Complexion: Dark, Height: 5'11".  It lists that he was born in Stephenson, TN and is a farmer.  He was assigned to Company I of the 2nd U.S. Volunteer Regiment and sent to Kansas to protect against Indian attacks.  George spent most of his U.S. career as a nurse at a hospital.  He was discharged from Fort Leavensworth, KS on November 7, 1865.  After the war many of his neighbors were upset that he had joined the Union army and one day his wife rang the dinner bell and he didn't answer.  She found him near his plow with a bullet in his back.  Based on the time of his discharge he was probably killed in 1866.  There some stories that he was killed for being of Indian descent.  If this was the case it is assumed the rest of his siblings would have been killed too or left the county for the same reason.  Most of his family stayed in the county and the only thing that separates him from the rest of his family is he switched sides during the war.  No record of his burial has been found but he maybe in the Beard Family Cemetery in Williamson County. 

Beard Family Cemetery