DOB:  January 12, 1837 DOD:  November 27, 1874 Age at Enlistment: 24 Date of Enlistment:  July 23, 1861 Place of Enlistment:  Nashville, TN Rank at Enlistment:  Private Rank at Discharge:  Private Casualty:  None Comments:  James was born and raised in District 6 of Williamson County, which is in the northern part of the county.  He enlisted in the Williamson Grays in July 1861 and appears as present on every roster until February 1864.  He married on December 1, 1862, to America Mitchell, so he was granted at least one leave of absence.  They had their first child nine months later.  Sometime after 1864 James became an ambulance driver according to George Nichols and it would appear he stayed in that position for the rest of the war.  James had a rough life following the war.  In 1868, his wife passed away along with two daughters.  James remarried later the same year to Lovey Jackson.  In 1872, he got in an altercation with Joseph Wyatt that ended in a murder.  According later witnesses, it seems that Claud and Wyatt had gotten into an altercation one day.  One witness states that Wyatt said Claud had pulled a weapon on him but otherwise both men left the initial altercation unhurt.  Wyatt had spent the rest of the day trying to borrow a shotgun from someone.  Claud had another daughter pass away and was in a cemetery digging her grave with several other men the following day.  Wyatt showed up with a shotgun and announced to the group that he was going to kill Claud.  Witnesses say Claud said he did not want to hurt Wyatt and if he put the gun down they could sort it out “fist and skull.”  Wyatt finally left and Claud buried his daughter that afternoon.  The next day found Wyatt at the home of Jacob Morris.  Jacob’s daughter was outside and saw Claud in a nearby field.  She told her father about Claud and as Jacob went out one door of his house he heard gunfire come from the otherside.  He went to the other end of his house to find Wyatt lying dead in the doorway and found Claud standing in his yard with a shotgun.  Other witnesses state that Wyatt was a difficult man and never forgot an insult.  A Franklin police officer stated he always expected to have trouble with him when he came to town. The shooting was ruled self defense.  Claud’s story does not end there.  Two years later in 1874, James Claud was murdered by P. H. Davis.  The circumstances of which are still being researched.

Portrait of James Claud from Ancestry.com