John H. Caldwell

In 1860 he was a 24 year old farmer living with his parents, brother Robert, and 10 slaves on their farm in Cabarrus County, NC. He enlisted at Concord, NC on 18 April 1861 and mustered on 18 June as First Sergeant of Company B, 10th North Carolina Infantry. He was appointed 3rd Lieutenant on 1 July (to date from 28 June), and his regiment was re-designated the 20th North Carolina Infantry on 14 November 1861. He was reelected to his post in April 1862.

He was in combat on South Mountain on 14 September and at Sharpsburg on 17 September 1862, and was mentioned as having "conducted [himself] with soldier-like gallantry" by General D.H. Hill.

He was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant on 12 October 1862 (to date from 26 April). He was wounded by a gunshot to his right thigh in May 1864 and was in hospitals in Richmond and Lynchburg, VA. He returned to his unit in October. He was surrendered and paroled at Charlotte, NC on 24 May 1865.

By 1870 he was farming his own place back in Cabarrus County.

His service from his Compiled Service Records,1 online from fold3. The D H Hill quote is from the general's after-action report. Personal details from family genealogists and the US Census of 1860 & 1870. His gravesite is on Findagrave.

He married Sarah Elizabeth Parks (1842-1872) in July 1866 and they had 2 sons. Sarah died at the birth of their second, John P Caldwell, in March 1872; infant John and his father died in July that year.

12/28/1835; Mecklenburg (later Cabarrus) County, NC

07/01/1872; Cabarrus County, NC; burial in Rocky River Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Concord, NC