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Confederate (CSV)

Captain

James Douglas Cureton

(1830 - 1904)

Home State: South Carolina

Education: Baltimore College of Dental Surgery, Class of 1851

Branch of Service: Infantry

Unit: 6th South Carolina Infantry

Before Sharpsburg

A dentist in Winnsboro, he enlisted as 2nd Corporal, Company G, 6th South Carolina Infantry on 11 April 1861 in Summerville. He was elected 3rd Lieutenant on 22 June 1861 and First Lieutenant on 16 April 1862. He was promoted to Captain on 30 May, but was sick in a hospital in Williamsburg for most of June.

On the Campaign

He (along with Lieutenant James Brice) was captured at the home of John Hager in Frederick, MD on about 13 September 1862, having been left behind, sick.

The rest of the War

He was paroled and sent from Baltimore to Fortress Monroe, VA on 11 October 1863 and exchanged there on the 12th. He was sick with pneumonia from February 1863 on and off to May of 1864 when he was transferred to the Invalid Corps. He was assigned Court Martial duty in June, but in November 1864 was found to be "totally disqualified for service" and retired.

After the War

He returned to his dental practice in Winnsboro, SC.

References & notes

Thanks to Barry Truluck for the pointer to Cureton and the details above from his research in the US Census (1850-1900), Cureton's Compiled Service Records (via Fold3), The Watchman and Southron of 25 June 1862, and family genealogists. An obituary has his birth date as August 6, 1827. His gravesite is on Findagrave.

His sword, along with that of Lieutenant Brice, was saved by John Hager, in whose Frederick, MD house the two officers were recovering in when they were captured. In 1902, the swords were returned to Fairfield, SC to Brice's nieces following their correspondence with Mr. Hager.

More on the Web

See an excellent profile of Cureton - with a post-war picture and an image of his 1862 parole - from Jason Spellman on his blog The Significant Word (2013).

Birth

08/06/1830; Sandy Springs, Greenville County, SC

Death

11/11/1904; Pickens, SC; burial in Sunrise Cemetery, Pickens, SC