James Dorsey Franklin

In 1860 he was a 20 year old teacher living with his father Samuel Owen Franklin (1802-1867), step-mother Mary Ellen (Fogarty), at least 8 siblings, and 37 slaves on their prosperous plantation near Sandersville in Washington County, GA. He enlisted on 10 September 1861 and mustered as 5th Sergeant of Company B, 28th Georgia Infantry. He was elected 2nd Lieutenant on 2 April 1862.

He was in action with his company in Maryland.

He was appointed First Lieutenant to date from 31 October 1862, was acting Adjutant from March to September 1863, and was promoted to Captain on 5 September 1863. He was detailed on court martial duty in November. He was wounded by a gunshot through his face under both eyes in action at Olustee, FL on 20 February 1864 and was on leave recovering in March and April. He was wounded again, at least slightly, in the Crater at Petersburg on 30 July, then shot through both hips or thighs at Fort Harrison on 29 or 30 September, and was admitted to the Jackson Hospital in Richmond, VA on 1 October. He was furloughed from the hospital on 16 October 1864 and still absent to at least December 1864 with no later record in his military file.

In 1870 he was farming his own place next door to his now-widowed step-mother Mary E Franklin and siblings in Washington County, GA. He was the first Mayor of Tennille, GA (incorporated 1875) and farmed there to at least 1880. In 1900 he was a landlord there, and was again a farmer in 1910.

His service from his Compiled Service Records,1 online from fold3, and his Confederate Officer Card. His presence in Maryland from Private A.N. Medlock in the Sandersville, GA Central Georgian of 15 October 1862. Personal details from family genealogists, the US Census of 1860-1900, and his Confederate pension application of December 1887. His gravesite is on Findagrave.

He married Ella Elizabeth Boatright (1854-1919) in November 1874 and they had 8 children.

The Georgia Archives have an excellent c. 1913 photograph of him online. Scars are clearly visible under both of his eyes.

02/17/1840; Sandersville, GA

11/05/1915; Tennille, GA; burial in Tennille Zeta Cemetery, Tennille, GA