John Barnett Mathews

In 1860 he was a 20 year old teacher at Franklin in Heard County, GA, son of Baptist clergyman Uel Martin Mathews (1817-1861), and oldest of 9 children living with his parents. He enlisted as a Private in Company A, 13th Georgia Infantry on 8 July 1861 at Griffin, GA and was wounded at Kings School House, VA (aka Oak Grove, first of the Seven Days) on 25 June 1862. He was elected Junior 2nd Lieutenant on 6 September.

He was "severely wounded in right arm at Sharpsburg" on 17 September 1862.

He was promoted to First Lieutenant to date from 6 October 1862 and was acting Assistant Quartermaster in February and March 1863. He was again wounded, by gunshots to his right foot and left arm, at Gettysburg, PA on 1 July 1863. He was elected Captain on 9 April 1864 and was wounded - for the 4th and 5th times - by a gunshot in the hip at the Wilderness, VA on 5 May 1864 and by a gunshot through the lower portion of his left arm" at Cedar Creek, VA on 19 October 1864. He was in hospitals and on furlough to 5 January 1865, and was serving in the staff position of Acting Assistant Adjutant & Inspector General (AA&IG) of Evans' Brigade when he was surrendered and paroled at Appomattox Court House, VA on 9 April 1865.

He was a school teacher in Pike County, GA and served a term in the State legislature in 1877. In 1895 he was elected Clerk of the Superior Court in Zebulon, GA, and was in that post to his death in 1906, at age 66.

His service from Henderson1 and his Compiled Service Records,2 online from fold3. His last name also seen as Matthews. Personal details from family genealogists, the US Census of 1860, 1880, and 1900, and a bio sketch in the Southern Historical Association's Memoirs of Georgia (Vol. 2, 1895). His gravesite is on Findagrave.

Although he attended medical school, was a member of the St. John's Medical Society in 1865, and was generally addressed as "Doctor", he does not appear to have ever practiced medicine.

He married Mary Elizabeth Brooks (1846-1897) in August 1865 in Pike County, GA and they had 8 children.

10/09/1839; Oglethorpe County, GA

05/04/1906; Atlanta, GA; burial in Eastview Cemetery, Zebulon, GA