John Mushat Gilchrist

In 1860 he was a 21 year old farmer on his widowed mother's very large place near Hayneville in Lowndes County, AL. He enrolled there as 2nd Lieutenant of Company E (later M), 6th Alabama Infantry on 17 April 1861. In April 1862 he transferred to Company A (later renamed K), 5th Alabama Infantry, his new commission dated 27 April 1862. He was promoted to Captain by August.

He was wounded in action near Turner's Gap on South Mountain on 14 September 1862 while in command of his Company.

He was home on furlough through at least October 1862. He was captured at Chancellorsville, VA on 3 May 1863 and held in the hospital at the Old Capitol Prison in Washington, DC with typhoid fever from 6 to 20 May. He was in action at Gettysburg, PA in July 1863 and was recommended for a commission in the CS Regular Army by Colonel Hall in January 1864, but was not appointed. In that recommendation, Colonel Hall wrote:

Captain Gilchrist is one of the best officers I have ever known. He is a thorough disciplinarian, a most efficient drill officer, and the most gallant + daring man in battle I have ever seen.

His service from the State of Alabama1 and his Compiled Service Records,2 online from fold3. His wounding on South Mountain is also found on a casualty list for Rodes' Brigade in the Montgomery Weekly Advertiser of 8 October 1862. Personal details from family genealogists and the US Census of 1860.

His brother James Norman Gilchrist (1840-1871) was a Private in the 6th Alabama Infantry in 1861 and Sergeant in K of the 5th; also captured at Chancellorsville and wounded at Cold Harbor.

1838; Lowndes County, AL

07/21/1864; Richmond, VA