SECTION 2
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF RUTHERFORD COUNTY SOLDERS Abernathy, Dr. Charles Clayton, Jr. a native of Giles County, Tennessee, was born near Pulaski, Tennessee, on October 9, 1827. He was a son of Charles Clayton Abernathy Sr. and Susannah Waddy Harris Abernathy, of Giles County. He moved to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, around 1850 and while there lived with his cousin, Dr. Jesse Jones Abernathy. He received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1851. Soon after he moved back to his native home of Pulaski, he married Martha J. Stockard of Maury County, and set up his medical practice until disrupted by the Civil War. In 1862 he received a surgeon’s commission in the Confederate Army and was first stationed at a hospital in Chattanooga, Tennessee. On December 3, 1862, he was appointed surgeon of Colonel Joseph B. Palmer’s Eighteenth Tennessee Infantry Regiment, CSA, and was very active in his duties following the Battles of Murfreesboro and Chickamauga. He was transferred to the Third Tennessee Infantry Regiment, CSA, in 1863 and was surgeon of that regiment when captured on September 1, 1864, during the Battle of Jonesboro. He was exchanged that month at Rough and Ready, Georgia. He was again captured near Pulaski on December 25, 1864, during Hood’s retreat south following the Battle of Nashville. He was imprisoned first at Camp Chase, Ohio, then transferred to Point Lookout, Maryland, for a
period of time before being sent to Fort Delaware, Delaware. He took the oath of allegiance at the latter place on July 15, 1865, and was released and sent home. Dr. Abernathy came back to Pulaski following the war and resumed his medical practice. His wife died in 1878, and he married Mrs. Josephine Wilkinson McNairy, a widow, in 1880. Abernathy died at Pulaski in 1903 and is buried there. Alexander, Henry Clay was born near the Crescent community of the Barfield (Eleventh) District on May 14, 1843, to Madison Howe Alexander and Catherine Suttle Alexander. His paternal grandparents were Daniel and Sally Alexander Alexander, cousins, who in 1827 came to Rutherford County from Smith County, Tennessee. His maternal grandparents were William and Elizabeth A. Suttle, early settlers of Rutherford County. Alexander enlisted in Company D, Forty-fifth Tennessee Infantry Regiment, CSA, in November 1861 at Murfreesboro as a private. Records show that he was discharged from that company on March 25, 1862, and did not take part in any major battle with that command. On November 19 of that year, he enlisted in Company C, Eighty-fourth Tennessee Infantry Regiment, CSA, at McMinnville, Tennessee,
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but company records state that he had been absent without leave from the company since December 18, 1862. No further evidence of service could be found for him. Following the war, Alexander married Katherine Leontine Ellis on November 4, 1868. She was a daughter of Noble D. and Elizabeth Lockhart Ellis of Williamson County, and a sister of Christopher Columbus Ellis, who appears later. He farmed in both the Fourteenth and Eleventh Districts of the county until his death on December 5, 1884. He is buried in the Alexander Cemetery near the Crescent community of the Eleventh District. Alexander, James Madison, elder brother of Henry Clay Alexander, was born on April 21, 1837, near the Crescent community. As a young man he assisted his father in running the family plantation. At the commencement of the Civil War, he left his home to join Company D, Forty-fifth Tennessee Infantry Regiment, CSA, on October 21, 1861, at Murfreesboro. He fought in the ranks as a private at the Battles of Shiloh, Baton Rouge, and Murfreesboro. In April 1863 he was detached to service in the quartermaster department. At the end of the war, he was serving in the commissary department of the army under General Richard Taylor and was with the surrender of those troops at Citronelle, Alabama, on May 4, 1865. Following the war, Alexander pursued farming in the Eleventh District and also operated a grocery store in the Crescent community. On December 2, 1873, he married Cassandra A. Burrus, daughter of Lafayette and Eliza Ready Burrus, of Rutherford County. He was a brother-in-law of Fletcher Ready Burrus, who appears later in this volume. Alexander moved to Murfreesboro during the 1880s and died at his residence on North Academy Street on June 7, 1893. He is buried in the Alexander Cemetery near Crescent. Allen, William Albert, a native of the Cainsville community of Wilson County, was born on February 14, 1847, to John M. and Felicia Ann Lasater Allen. He enlisted for service in the Confederate Army in April 1862, at the age of fifteen, and was placed in J. M. Phillips’s cavalry company. The company joined Major John R. Davis’s Tennessee Cavalry Battalion, CSA, in September of that year and in early 1863, it was organized into Company D, Eighth (Smith’s) Tennessee Cavalry Regiment, CSA. Allen was captured near Bardstown, Kentucky, on October 6, 1862, but was paroled by Union authorities and released. He rejoined his command and was wounded in the hip during the Battle of New Hope Church, Georgia, on May 25, 1864. In the fall of that year, while
Rutherford County’s Civil War
participating in General Wheeler’s raid into Middle Tennessee, he received two severe saber cuts to the forehead in a skirmish near Readyville and was captured by members of the Seventh Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment, USA. He was sent to the Federal prison at Camp Chase, Ohio, and held there until February 12, 1865, when he was paroled and released. He was able to rejoin his command before its surrender in North Carolina and was paroled at Greensboro in May 1865. Allen moved to Navarro County, Texas, after the war. He married Martha Jane French on September 23, 1869, in Navarro County. She was a native of Marshall County, Alabama, and a daughter of Moses and Lucinda French of that county. The couple moved to his native Cainsville community in 1874 and remained there until the 1910s, when they moved to Murfreesboro to live with a son. Allen worked as a farmer for much of his life. He died in Murfreesboro on January 5, 1930, and is buried in the Milton Cemetery. Anderson, Charles W., a native of Franklin, Kentucky, was born on November 28, 1825, to Harry and Adaline Hickman Anderson. His parents moved to Nashville in 1835 where Anderson received a good education under Dr. Moore, a noted schoolmaster of the day. He went into the grocery business at an early age and later became freight agent for the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad. On September 10, 1852, he married Martha Ann Love, daughter of Charles and Rhoda Ham Love, of Rutherford County. He moved to Rutherford County following his marriage and settled in the Florence community. At the commencement of the Civil War, he was appointed transportation quartermaster at Chattanooga. After the Battle of Shiloh in April 1862, Anderson returned home. General Nathan Bedford Forrest and his troops passed through the neighborhood in pursuit of General Buell, and Anderson met with him and expressed his interest in joining his command. He became General Forrest’s
Rutherford County’s Civil War
aide-de-camp, serving on his staff with the rank of lieutenant, and remained with him until the surrender in 1865. After the war Anderson returned to Florence and began to repair his home and farm that had been destroyed by Union troops under General McCook. He was able to return his farm to a profitable state after many years of hard labor. In later life he and his wife moved to Murfreesboro where he died on February 2, 1908. He is buried in Evergreen Cemetery. Arnett, Henry Clay was born near Readyville in the McCrackin (Nineteenth) District in January 1830 to William Major Arnett and his wife, Mary Trott Arnett. His paternal grandparents were Samuel A. and Ann Reed Arnett, who arrived in the Readyville area before 1810. His maternal grandparents were Benjamin and Sarah Jenkins Trott, who also came to that area of the county, during the 1810s. Arnett began a career in farming as a young man and was married on July 29, 1856, to Martha Ann Burnett, daughter of Thomas and Lucinda Elizabeth Daniel Burnett of the McCrackin District. Arnett was drafted into the Confederate Army and enlisted in Company D, Forty-fifth Tennessee Infantry Regiment, CSA, on November 3, 1862, at Murfreesboro as a private. His baptism of fire came at the Battle of Murfreesboro, where he was wounded in the hip during Breckenridge’s charge on the afternoon of January 2, 1863. He went home to recuperate and never returned to the army. He spent the remainder of his life in the Nineteenth District and continued to farm. He died on October 15, 1919, and is buried in the Arnett Cemetery near Readyville. Arnold, Edwin A., a native of Mecklenburg County, Virginia, was born on April 13, 1818, to Joseph A. and Frances Drumright Arnold. He and his parents migrated to the Tenth District of Bedford County during the early 1830s. His paternal grandparents were John and Susanna Johnson Arnold of Mecklenburg County, Virginia. His maternal grandparents were Captain William Drumright Sr., a Revolutionary War officer, and his wife, Stacy Andrews Drumright, also of Mecklenburg County, Virginia. He was an uncle of James O. Oslin and a first cousin once removed of William B. Drumright, both of whom appear later in this volume. Arnold came to Murfreesboro around 1840 and married Harriet McClanahan on June 10, 1841. She was a daughter of Rutherford County’s second sheriff, Matthew McClanahan and his wife, Sarah Bradley McClanahan. Arnold was well known during antebellum days as a brick mason and builder of fine buildings and residences throughout Murfreesboro and Rutherford County. His own home, Daffodil Hill, located on East Main Street, is a testa-
15 ment of his excellent craftsmanship. At the advent of the Civil War, he helped raise a company which later became Company I, Forty-fifth Tennessee Infantry Regiment, CSA, and was elected second lieutenant at the company’s organization. He was with the company at the Battle of Shiloh but was soon after discharged due to his advanced age. He raised a company of cavalry soon after his discharge and joined the command of General Nathan Bedford Forrest. While Forrest’s troops were in Columbia, Tennessee, in 1863, Arnold was captured by the Federals and sent to Camp Morton prison in Indianapolis, Indiana. He remained in prison for eighteen months and was released near the end of the war. During his postwar career, Arnold continued to be engaged in the brick mason trade and served two terms as sheriff of Rutherford County from 1870 to 1873 and 1876 to 1880. He died in Murfreesboro on November 11, 1884, and is buried in Evergreen Cemetery. Arnold, Francis Marion was born in the Cainsville community of Wilson County on July 21, 1830. He was a son of Davis G. and Martha Puckett Arnold of Cainsville. On August 5, 1852, he married Elizabeth A. Puckett daughter of Francis and Dosey Thorp Puckett of Wilson County, and like many rural men of the south, he made his living as a farmer. Arnold enlisted in Company I, Eighteenth Tennessee Infantry Regiment, CSA, on November 7, 1862, at McMinnville, Tennessee, as a private. He fought in the Battles of Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, and New Hope Church. He was captured by the Federals at Ruff’s Mill, near Marietta, Georgia, on July 5, 1864, and was sent to the Union prison at Camp Douglas, Chicago, Illinois. He remained there until March 16, 1865, when he took the oath of allegiance to the United States. He was then sent to Point Lookout, Maryland, for exchange and made his way back home. He resumed his livelihood as a farmer and by 1870 had moved his family to the Milton (Sixteenth) District of Rutherford County