JAGwinn
Retired User
- Joined
- Jun 13, 2016
- Location
- Bloomington, IL Corvette Gold
SLAUGHTER, Benjamin Gabriel
Retired dentist; born Boyle Co., Ky., March 8, 1845; he is a descendant of Revolutionary patriots on both sides; son of Gabriel Stout and Elizabeth (Drake) Slaughter; father’s occupation manufacturing hemp, rope and bagging, also farming; paternal grandparents Augustine Smith and Susanna (Fisher) Slaughter; maternal grandparents Capt. Abraham Stout and Hannah (Prall) Drake; received primary education in school of John Pope, Academic at Danville, and Lexington, Ky., and Transylvania University; enlisted in Confederate army at Chattanooga, Tenn. Feb., 1862, as private in Co. “A”, Capt. John H. Morgan’s old squadron of Kentucky Cavalry; was sent to join command at Corinth, Miss.; he was in Morgan’s raid on Lebanon, Tenn., known as the “Lebanon Races” and twice wounded by pursuing cavalrymen and left for dead on the Carthage pike; captured and sent to Camp Chase, O., and by intercession of his mother was allowed parole of city of Columbus for special treatment; having rejected the oath, was exchanged at Vicksburg, Miss., Sept., 1862, and assigned to duty in Capt. Tom Quirk’s Scouts, remnant of Morgan’s old squadron; afterward detailed to go with Capt. Ellsworth (Lightning Operator) on raid to Bearwallow, Ky., where he was wounded four times, once having brains shot out and receiving ball in hip, which later disabled him permanently; skull crushed with butt of pistol and left jaw bone broken and again left as dead; afterward captured and was in prison at Nashville Penitentiary, Fort McHenry, and Fortress Monroe, Va., and confined in dungeon at Old Point Comfort and exchange at City Point, Va.; went with Morgan on a raid to Mt. Sterling, Ky. as dismounted man in 1864, and was offered discharge by the general; command surrounded and surprised with bloody fight following; lost left eye by gun shot in third charge when every man in charge was killed or wounded; was carried to residence of Dr. R.P. Drake and treated nine weeks, then sent home to Danville, Ky. on parole, no further exchange being allowed by Gen. Grant’s orders; began his business career as a farmer, later entered dentistry, and still later became editor and proprietor of “The Home Journal,” Winchester, Tenn.; served four years as immigration agent Iron Mountain, Missouri Pacific and Texas Pacific railroad; married Lucy Osborne of Bedford Co., Tenn. Sept., 1867; member F. & A.M., also N.G., and Past Noble Grand of Wartrace lodge, and Past Chief Patriarch Wartrace Encampment I.O.O.F. and member of F.U. of A.; he has been sent a number of times as delegate from Turney Camp to annual reunion of U.C.V. and is chaplain of said camp; commissioned Major on Gen. Clay Stacker’s staff, Second Tennessee brigade, U.C.V., and again by Gen. John B. Gordon as Commissary general with rank of colonel on staff of Gen. George W. Gordon, Tenn. Div., U.C.V.; member of Baptist church and was ordained deacon at New Hope church in 1869; moved from Kentucky to Bedford Co., Tenn. in 1868, and to Winchester, Tenn. in 1883, where he now lives.
Source: Who’s Who in Tennessee, Memphis: Paul & Douglass Co., Publishers, 1911;