John Postell Williamson Read

He was Captain of the Georgia Hussars of the state militia from 1854-1861, Chief of Police of Savannah, GA in 1858, and a city Alderman 1859-61. In 1860 he had a large plantation with 24 slaves in Chatham County and lived in Savannah with his maternal aunts Eliza and Mary Williamson.

His militia unit mustered for war service as Company K, 10th Regiment Georgia Volunteer Infantry in May 1861 and he was commissioned their Captain on 18 June 1861. They transferred out of the 10th Infantry to serve as an independent light artillery battery - the Pulaski Light Artillery - on 27 March 1862.

He commanded his battery on the Campaign.

He was wounded at Gettysburg, PA in July 1863 and in April 1864 he was promoted to Major, and replaced Major Dearing in command of the 38th Battalion, Virginia Heavy Artillery. He was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel on 5 November 1864 (to date from 27 October) and was assigned to the defenses at Wilmington, NC. He was wounded again, at Fort Fisher near Wilmington in December 1864, then in command of the 1st North Carolina Artillery regiment, and "lost an arm."

He returned to Savannah and ran for Mayor in 1865, but by 1870 he was a substantial farmer at Macon in Noxubee County, MS. In 1880 he was farming in Lynchburg, VA.

His service from his Compiled Service Records,1 online from fold3. Personal details from family genealogists and the US Census of 1860-1880. His gravesite is on Findagrave.

He married Eleanor Susan "Ellen" Steenbergen (1828-1902) in Savannah in December 1865 and they had 4 children.

04/21/1829; Savannah, GA

09/28/1884; Lynchburg, VA; burial in Catholic Cemetery, Savannah, GA