John Richard B. Best

Second son of wealthy planter Orasmus Harden Best (1815-1887), in 1860 he was a 20 year old law student living with his parents, 4 siblings, and 35 slaves on the family plantation at Allendale in the Barnwell District, SC. On 7 September 1861, along with his brother William, he enlisted as 2nd Corporal of Company G, First South Carolina Infantry at Fort Johnson in the Barnwell District. He was appointed 5th Sergeant by April 1862 and commissioned First Lieutenant of Company E to date from 1 September 1862.

He commanded his company in Maryland and was wounded by a gunshot through his shoulder in action at Sharpsburg on 17 September 1862.

He was detached to arrest deserters from 27 May 1863 to at least the end of the year, and was in a hospital in Richmond for a leg ulcer in July 1863. He was himself arrested on 9 June 1864, charge not given, but was released and returned to duty on 9 August. He was wounded again, on 30 September 1864 at Forts Harrison near Petersburg, VA by a gunshot which took off two of his toes and another which lodged in his hip. He was in Richmond hospitals to 23 October and furloughed home, disabled for the rest of the war.

He was a planter in Barnwell County, SC.

His service from his Compiled Service Records,1 online from fold3, with details from his bio sketch in the History 2 and the Memoirs.3 Personal details from family genealogists and the US Census for 1860; he is often seen as Richard Best. His memorial is on Findagrave.

He married Clio Legard Bignon (1844-1885) in March 1862 and they had 8 children.

His brother William was also wounded at Sharpsburg.

07/19/1840; Allendale, SC

1903; burial in Swallow Savannah Cemetery, Allendale, SC