David Willis Colburn

In 1860 he was a 23 year old farm worker living with farmer John Downey and his family on their place near Marion in Perry County, AL. He enlisted there on 11 June 1861 and mustered as a Private in Company K, 11th Alabama Infantry.

He was sent to a hospital in Frederick, MD by 12 September, left behind, and captured there.

He was in US Army General Hospital #1 in Frederick, MD to 22 September and afterward was a prisoner at Fort Delaware to 2 October, then sent to Aikens' Landing, VA for exchange. He was in a hospital in Richmond, VA on 11 October, furloughed for 20 days, and formally exchanged on 10 November 1862.

He was wounded by a "spent shell to his hip" and captured again, at Salem Church, VA on 3 May 1863, treated at the Lincoln US Army General Hospital in Washington, DC, then sent to the Old Capitol Prison on 22 May. He was paroled there on 10 June 1863 with no later military record.

In 1870, with wife and new baby, he was back farming with John Downey at Marion, AL. He had his own farm there by 1880 and to at least 1900. In 1910 he was retired and lived in Hamilton County, TN.

His service from his Compiled Service Records,1 online from fold3. He's also on the Confederates In Frederick List.2 Personal details from family genealogists and the US Census of 1860-1910. His gravesite is on Findagrave.

He married Frances “Fannie” Barr (1846-1882) and they had 6 children between 1869 and 1881. He married again, Francis Lavonia "Fannie" Moore (1862-1942) in April 1887 and they had 3 more.

He could be confused with another David Colburn from Marion, AL: that man was 46 years old when he enlisted in the 28th Alabama Infantry in January 1862, and he died at Tupelo, MD on 29 June 1862.

01/1837; Marion, AL

10/04/1912; Chattanooga, TN; burial in Chattanooga Confederate Cemetery, Chattanooga, TN