John Garnett Fauntleroy

Known by his middle name, Garnett, he was living with his family in King and Queen County, VA at the 1850 and 1860 US Censuses. He mustered as Private, Company C, 5th Virginia Infantry on 7 June 1861 at King & Queen Court House.

He was killed in action on 17 September 1862 at Sharpsburg.

[At Sharpsburg] ...we took position somewhat under a hill, supporting a battery above us. The battery, it was plain, was a target, for several of the Federal guns, and their shots were making the ground on which it stood dangerous and bloody. Now and then a shell would explode, or a solid shot strike near us. Once, I saw a soldier hurled from his saddle very near me, the cannon shot having struck him and thrown his body several feet from his horse. I later learned that he was John Garnett Fauntleroy with whom I had often played when we were school-mates at Fleetwood Academy.

Service and other details from Robert J. Driver, Jr.'s 5th Virginia Cavalry (roster, 1997) via the Historical Data Systems database. The quote above from George W. Beale's A Lieutenant of Cavalry in Lee's Army (1918).

1842

09/17/1862; Sharpsburg, MD