DOB:  March 18, 1839 DOD:  March 1, 1907 Age at Enlistment: 22 Date of Enlistment:  May 9, 1861 Place of Enlistment:  Franklin, TN Rank at Enlistment:  Private Rank at Discharge:  Private Casualty:  Wounded in the left arm at Perryville October 8, 1862. Comments:  John Thomas Brown grew up about eight miles northwest of Franklin at a Plantation called “Old Town.”  It’s name deriving from the fact that it stood on an old Indian Village with burial mounds.  The house is still standing today at 2019 Old Natcez Trace Road Franklin, TN.  He typically went by Thomas or Tom and many documents show his name as J. Thomas.  He was first cousins William James Briggs through his mother and Innis Brown through his father, both men serving in the Williamson Grays.  Thomas enlisted in the Williamson Grays shortly after his return from Bethel College in West Virginia.  His wound at Perryville was severe enough he was transferred to the Commissary.  From there he was again detached and assigned to Coleman’s Scouts.  A group that being used to gather information on Federal Troops throughout Middle Tennessee.  Thomas was sent out to scout at the same time as Sam Davis.  Davis was of course captured at Pulaski, but Thomas was captured at Franklin on September 17, 1863.  Thomas was exchanged on February 27, 1865, but surrendered in Grenada, MS a few months later on May 18, 1865.  After the war he married Josephine French on December 6, 1865 and had six children.  He lived in downtown Nashville for the later part of his life.  The 1900 census states he is a grain buyer, the 1890’s Nashville City Directories state he is a salesman for Miller & Co., and his death certificate states he is a retired cotton buyer.  From at least 1894 until his death in 1907 he lived at 1120 Demonbreun in Nashville.  Thomas passed away in Nashville in 1907 and is buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Nashville. 

His grave at Mount Olivet Cemetery

Left:  Post War Photo of John Thomas Brown (from Confederate Veteran Magazine) Right:  Photo of his boyhood home “Old Town” (Courtesy of the Williamson County Heritage Foundation).