John Hill Lamar

In 1860 he was a farmer on his widowed mother's large and successful place near Macon, GA. He enlisted for 1 year as a Private in Company B, 2d Battalion Georgia Infantry at Macon on 20 April 1861 and transferred 13 September 1861 to "Col. C.A.L. Lamar's* Regt." - the 7th Georgia Infantry Battalion - and he was commissioned Major on 13 February 1862 (date from 30 January). He requested the commission as Lieutenant Colonel after Charles A.L. Lamar resigned in April, and received it on 1 May (to date from 2 April) as companies were added to the Battalion to form a full regiment - designated the 61st Georgia Infantry. He was appointed their Colonel on 1 June 1862.

He was in command of the Regiment in Maryland and led the Brigade at Sharpsburg on 17 September 1862 after Colonel Marcellus Douglass was killed, but was himself at least slightly wounded there and relieved by Major John H. Lowe. He was probably in command of the Brigade again by the action at Boteler's Ford on the Potomac River on 19 September.

He was again "wounded slightly" at Fredericksburg, VA on 13 December 1862 but lost a finger. He was killed at the battle on the Monocacy, MD on 9 July 1864.

His service from Henderson1 and his Compiled Service Records,2 via fold3. The command relationships in Lawton's Brigade from Dr Clemens' notes in Carman.3 Personal details from family genealogists and the US Census of 1860. His gravesite is on Findagrave.

He married the young widow Jane Armistead Taliaferro Carter (1839-1878) in January 1864 and widowed her, again, 6 months later.

*"C.A.L. Lamar" was Charles Augustus Lafayette Lamar (1824-1865); not, apparently, a close relative.

See a lovely piece about Colonel Lamar's unlucky widow from the Rose Hill Cemetery blog.

1839 in GA

07/09/1864; Monocacy, MD; burial in Rose Hill Cemetery, Macon, GA