★  Spears, James G.

James Gallant Spears

Born: March 29, 1816
Spears.jpg


Birthplace: Bledsoe County, Tennessee

Father: Dr. John Holliday Spears 1794 – 1860

Mother: Sarah Gallant 1796 – 1860

Wife: Adeline K. Brown 1823 – 1902
(Buried: Pikeville City Cemetery, Pikeville, Tennessee)​

Children:

Colonel Ashley Lawrence Spears 1842 – 1900​
(Buried: Pine Grove Cemetery, Jasper, Tennessee)​
Colonel Napoleon Bonaparte Spears 1849 – 1928​
(Buried: Elmwood Cemetery, Birmingham, Alabama)​
John Brown Spears 1851 – 1948​
(Buried: Gass Family Cemetery, Pennine, Tennessee)​
Colonel William Douglas Spears 1853 – 1929​
(Buried: Forest Hills Cemetery, Chattanooga, Tennessee)​
James Gallant Spears Jr. 1857 – 1927​
(Buried: Gass Family Cemetery, Pennine, Tennessee)​
Samuel Spears 1860 – 1919​
(Buried: Lasater Cemetery, Marion County, Tennessee)​

Occupation before War:

Attorney in Pikeville, Tennessee​
Clerk for State Circuit Court in Tennessee​
Owner of a large farm on the outskirts of Pikeville, Tennessee​
Commissioner to Oversee Construction of turnpike​
Opposed to Secession​
1860: Supporter of Stephen A. Douglas for President​

Civil War Career:

1861: Delegate and Vice President to East Tennessee Convention​
1861: The Confederacy issued a warrant for his arrest for disloyalty​
1861 – 1862: Lt. Colonel of 1st Tennessee Union Infantry Regiment​
1861: Served in the Battle of Camp Wildcat, Kentucky​
1862: Served in the Battle of Mill Springs, Kentucky​
1862 – 1864: Brigadier General Union Army Volunteers Infantry​
1862: Served in the Capture of Cumberland Gap​
Served in the Battle of Stones River, Tennessee​
1863: Court martialed due to officers saying he had bad conduct​
1863: Acquitted in his court martial and command restored​
1863: Threatened to arrest any officer who attempted to resign​
1863: Twenty – Seven Officers under his command petitioned removal​
1863: His Command was attacked at the Battle of Chickamuga​
Opposed the Emancipation Proclamation and spoke out against it​
1864: Arrested by the Union Army for speaking out​
1864: Court martialed and found to be guilty and removed from Army​
1864: Dismissed from the Union Army on August 30th

Occupation after War:

1864 – 1869: Farmer in Bledsoe County, Tennessee​

Died: July 22, 1869

Place of Death: Bledsoe County, Tennessee

Age at time of Death: 53 years old

Burial Place: Pikeville City Cemetery, Pikeville, Tennessee
 
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He was all for preserving the Union but was equally not for abolishing slavery. Lincoln himself requested an inquiry into the outspoken stance that Spears had taken on the Emancipaton Proclamation. He was allowed to resign but refused. The Army therefore dismissed him.
 
He was all for preserving the Union but was equally not for abolishing slavery. Lincoln himself requested an inquiry into the outspoken stance that Spears had taken on the Emancipaton Proclamation. He was allowed to resign but refused. The Army therefore dismissed him.

That was pretty common among many of the US soldiers who hailed from the border states. They were both pro-Union and pro-slavery, a combination which would become problematic by 1863.

Ryan
 
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