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Confederate (CSV)

Private

John D. Small

(1841 - 1921)

Home State: South Carolina

Branch of Service: Infantry

Unit: 12th South Carolina Infantry

Before Sharpsburg

A 20 year old farmer on his father's place in the Lancaster District, he enlisted at the courthouse there as Private, Company E, 12th South Carolina Infantry on 26 August 1861.

On the Campaign

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

The rest of the War

He was captured, probably while a hospital patient, in Warrenton, VA on 29 September 1862 and paroled the same day. He was at Chancellorsville, VA on 2 May 1863 and reportedly one of the soldiers guarding General Jackson after his mortal wounding there. Small was wounded again, at Spotsylvania in June 1864 and had his right arm amputated. He was retired for that disability 20 December 1864 at Columbia, SC.

After the War

He was a merchant in Hanceville, Cullum County, AL by 1867, in Blountsville, Blount County by 1910, and he moved to Ocala, FL in 1911. He continued in business there until 1921 when he fell, breaking his hip, which contributed to his death a few months later at age 80.

References & notes

His service from the Rolls,1 which says he was discharged in 1863, and his Compiled Service Records from Robin Starling in Cullman County, Alabama Confederate Soldiers (2013). His capture from Kirkland.2 Personal details from family genealogists, the US Census of 1860-1920, his obituary in the Ocala Evening Star of 30 December 1921, and an undated clip from the Blount County Southern Democrat. His gravesite is on Findagrave.

He married Sarah M Baker (1840-1882) in 1867 and they had 7 children. Sarah died in May 1882, probably in childbirth with her seventh, daughter Sarah. He married again, Malinda H. "Minnie" Stokes (1869-1912) in January 1893 and they had twin sons Elmer and Homer. He married a third time, to Nora (?).

There were at least 8 Smalls in Company E.

Birth

05/27/1841; Lancaster District, SC

Death

12/1921; Ocala, FL; burial in Evergreen Cemetery, Ocala, FL

Notes

1   Thomas, John P., and and previous SC Historians of the Confederate Records, Confederate Rolls of South Carolina, Columbia: Historian of Confederate Records, 1898, Roll of Company E, 12th Reg't Inf, South Carolina Vols.  [AotW citation 24365]

2   Kirkland, Jr., Randolph W., Dark Hours: South Carolina Soldiers, Sailors and Citizens who Were Held in Federal Prisons during the War for Southern Independence, 1861-1865, Charleston: South Carolina Historical Society, 2002, pg. 423  [AotW citation 24366]