East Tennessee's John C. Vaughn fought at Vicksburg

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East Tennessee's John C. Vaughn fought at Vicksburg

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Photo by Thomas County Historical Society
Photo courtesy of The Collections of the Thomas County (Ga.) Historical Society John C. Vaughn
A merchant before the war and an ardent Confederate during the conflict, East Tennessean John C. Vaughn commanded a brigade during a fateful turn in the Battle of Vicksburg.
Vaughn was a brigadier general during the 1863 battle; Vaughn’s Brigade was comprised of the 60th, 61st and 62nd Tennessee Infantry regiments. Vaughn’s soldiers were East Tennessee men far from their hills and valleys. They’d arrived at Vicksburg the day after Christmas of 1862 to help defend that important city from federal forces.
Their commander was no soldier by training but he’d served in the Mexican War, and his Confederate fervor helped make him a willing fighter. Vaughn was at Fort Sumter in South Carolina when war began in April 1861. In 1865 he’d be one of the last men with Jefferson Davis as the war ended.

For the rest: http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2013/jun/29/east-tennessees-john-c-vaughn-fought-at/
 
Thanks for the post ! Had a number of east Tennessee Confederates that served under General Vaughn. " The Last Confederate General " John C. Vaughn and his East Tennessee Cavalry " by Larry Gordon is a recent book about him. Here's one of the men that served under him in the 60th TN Infantry.

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John Gray ( one of my 2 x great-grandfathers, on my maternal side )
Residence Washington County TN;
Enlisted on 7/4/1862 at Grays Station, TN as a Private.

On 7/4/1862 he mustered into "E" Co. TN 60th Infantry
discharged due to a back injury


He was listed as:
* Hospitalized Mobile, AL (date not stated)


Other Information:
died in 1923

Wife: Melvinia Wheelock

After the War he lived in Jonesboro, Washington County, TN


My Time in the Rebel Army
( by John Gray )

In 1922, one year before his death, John completed a " Civil War
Questionnaire " sent from the State of Tennessee to surviving Civil
War Veterans in the State, both Confederate and Union. Many of those
were published in several volumes by the Tennessee Civil War
Centennial Commission in the 1960s. I can still recall the thrill of
finding John's name quite by accident there in our local library in the
early 1990's. Taking the questions and his answers here is a "
statement " in his own words about his life and brief time as a Rebel
Soldier :


" My name is John Gray. I now reside at R.F.D.13,Jonesboro,
Washington County,Tenn. I am now 80 years old. During the
conflict between the North and South I served as a Confederate
Soldier in Company E 60th Tn Mtd Inf. My father was ROBERT
HALE GRAY from Cedar Creek,Washington Co,Tn. He did not
serve in the war. My mother was RACHEL BASKETTE, daughter
of CHARLES AND SARAH BASKETTE. They were from
Boone's Creek near the Boone tree in Washington County. My
gr,grandfather came here from Scotland and claimed 640 acres of
land in what is now Washington County,Tenn. Our family has
always lived by farming the land. My parents owned 200 acres of
land and $ 3,000.00 worth of property at the start of the war but
never owned any slaves. Our home was a 5-room log house. Father
did all kinds of farm work Mother cooked,spun,and wove. As a boy
I worked on the farm,plowed,and used the hoe and mattock.
Sometimes I split rails. All this was considered honorable work. The
nearest school was a mile away. I would go when I could. Altogether
I had about 18 months of schooling. I enlisted in the Confederate
Service July 4,1862 at Grays Station near Johnson City,Tenn. They
sent us to Mobile,Ala. where I took sick ( probably malaria ) and
during times of being unconscious and delirious I fell from a
window injuring my back for life. I was in the hospital in
Mobile,Alabama and treated very well. The examining board sent
me home by train and my regiment was sent to Vicksburg,Miss.
where they served in the line till the surrender of that place. I was
never called out by the army again. Since the end of the war I have
farmed and served two terms as school director. Notable men I
served with were my uncles, Anderson and Harve Gray. R.D.,
Montgomery, Tom, and Van Copass. R.D. and Van along with my
uncle Harve died in the North while prisoners of war."

John applied for a pension from the State Of Tennessee. The old Rebel died in
1923 having probably never fired a shot in anger at a Yankee or
anyone else. One of the stories my grandmaw Sallie Gray Cox would tell
me about her old rebel grandpaw was how he hated horses.To the point he wouldn't work with a team, but hire someone to do his spring plowing. She
didn't know any details but was sure it had something to do with his
service in the Confederate Army. Probably hard to do with a bad back, which she probably knew nothing about.
 
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