DOB:  Feb 1845 (month from the 1900 Census) DOD:  May 24, 1902 Age at Enlistment: 16 Date of Enlistment:  May 9, 1861 Place of Enlistment:  Franklin, TN Rank at Enlistment:  Private Rank at Discharge:  2nd Corporal Casualty:  None Comments:  John first appears in the 1850 Census living with his mother in Franklin, TN.  It is assumed his father had passed away but no confirmation has been found.  John appears in the 1860 Census attending school and makes him a good candidate to be one of the Harpeth Academy students that walked out of class with Captain Hanner.  He enlisted in the Williamson Grays at their formation.  Loving Woldridge of the company was this uncle through his mother and Thomas Woldridge was his first cousin.  In August of 1861 he was sick in a hospital at Staunton, VA.  He was ordered to the hospital at Tupelo, MS in July or August of 1862 according to his service record but it does not state if he is sick or working there.  John appears to have been promoted to Corporal during the Atlanta Campaign and kept his rank of Corporal after 1st Tennessee reorganization in April 1865.  He was 1 of 7 to surrender with Johnston at Greenboro, N.C. on April 26, 1865.  After the war he married Isabella McEwen, the younger sister of James K. P. McEwen of the Williamson Grays, on July 30, 1868.  The couple had four children and lived in a house on the NW corner of South Margin and 3rd Avenue.  The 1880 Census states his occupation as a Livery Store Keeper, the 1900 Census shows his occupation as an Editor, and his death certificate in 1902 states he works for the State Land Commission.  He died of a Cerebral Hemorrhage after a three day stay in Nashville.  John is buried in Section F of Mount Hope Cemetery in Franklin.  Former comrades James Cook, William Pollard, William Cunningham, and Robert Richardson were all pall bearers. 

Group shot of some of the Williamson Grays who served the entire war and surrendered in 1865.  John is standing on the left (From the Confederate Veteran Magazine).

John’s grave at Mount Hope Cemetery