John Thomas Gay

In 1860 he was a 27 year old clerk, one of five living with wealthy merchant J.A. Reid and family in La Grange, Troup County, GA. He enlisted in La Grange, GA on 26 April 1861 and mustered as a Private in Company B of the 4th Georgia Infantry. He was frequently ill in hospitals in late 1861 into the spring of 1862, and was promoted to Junior 2nd (or 3rd) Lieutenant on 27 June 1862.

He was one of the officers of the regiment recognized by Brigadier General Doles as having "commended themselves to my special notice by their gallant and meritorious conduct" in Maryland and he was wounded by a gunshot to his chest in action and captured at Sharpsburg on 17 September 1862.

He was in a field hospital near the battlefield and admitted to US Army General Hospital #4 in Frederick, MD on 28 September. He was sent to a hospital at Chester, PA, on 2 October and on to Fort Delaware on 17 October. He was transferred to Aikens' Landing, VA on 8 November (or to Fortress Monroe, VA on 15 December) for exchange. He was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant on 13 December and was in a hospital in Petersburg, VA to 19 December, when he was furloughed home for 40 days. He was promoted again, to First Lieutenant, on 6 January 1863.

He was wounded again, on 12 July 1864 at Fort Stevens. near Washington, DC, and was on furlough to at least the end of September. By December he was in command of his company as senior officer present

He was mortally wounded by a gunshot to his lower left leg on 25 March 1865 at Fort Stedman near Petersburg, VA and was admitted to the Steuart Hospital in Richmond the next day. He died there on 29 April.

His service and his photograph from Thomas1, with details from his Compiled Service Records,2 online from fold3. The Doles reference from D.H. Hill's after-action report. Personal details from family genealogists, the US Census of 1860, as Jack Gay, and the Francis A Poythress (1836-1859) family bible records [pdf], passed down by his and Jack Gay's widow Carrie. His gravesite is on Findagrave.

He married the widow Caroline Elizabeth "Carrie" Ware Poythress (1835-1922) in January 1863 and they had a daughter Eugenia (1865-1934). Her brother Eugenius (Eugene) Ware was Junior 2nd Lieutenant of Company B when he was killed in Virginia on 25 June 1862 - Jack Gay was promoted to fill his spot.

1833; La Grange, GA

04/29/1865; Richmond, VA; burial in Stonewall Confederate Cemetery, La Grange, GA