John Walker Stevens

He was a farmer and practicing lawyer at Dayton in Polk County, TX before the war. He was recruited on 9 March 1862 in Liberty County, Texas, and joined his Company - Company K, 5th Texas Infantry - in Richmond, VA. He first saw action on the Peninsula in May and June 1862.

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

this writer received a painful wound that left him flat on his back on the ground, where in a few minutes he received a second wound that for some time left him unconscious on the field. Upon recovering consciousness, to his horror, our lines were falling back. The idea of falling into the hands of the enemy was too horrible to be considered, so, making an effort to stand up, I found that I was not disabled so badly that I could not walk. Therefore I determined to make my exit to the field hospital, some 700 yards to the rear in an old barn.

He crossed to Shepherdstown on the 18th, and was sent to a hospital in Winchester, VA on the 19th. He returned to his Regiment at Martinsburg about the end of September. He was appointed 4th Corporal on 4 October 1862 and 2nd Corporal on 22 June 1863. He was captured in action at Gettysburg, PA on 2 July 1863 and imprisoned at Ft. Delaware and Point Lookout, VA. He was exchanged at Savannah, GA in November 1864 and was promoted to First Corporal to date from May 1864. He was home on furlough into February 1865, and on light duty near Houston to the end of the War.

He was a lawyer and judge in Hill County, TX and later a Methodist minister in Houston.

His service basics from Polley.1 Stevens published his Reminiscences2 in 1902, source of the quote above. Personal details from Schmutz3 and family genealogists. His gravesite is on Findagrave.

He married Sophronia Boyles (1832-1870) and they had 3 sons between 1858 and 1865. He married again, Caroline Arilla Ellis (1829-1903) in May 1874.

08/1832; Polk County, TX

1919; burial in Forest Hill Cemetery, Livingston, TX