Mcminn County TN Archives Military Records.....Denton, John August 3, 1863 Civilwar Company A, 59th Regiment Tennessee Mounted Infantry CSA ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/tn/tnfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Tom Long tlongjr@cfl.rr.com September 30, 2009, 9:17 pm Death Of Pvt. John Denton Snyder Family history has long held our ancestor John Denton (1816-1863) died during the siege of Vicksburg Mississippi in 1863, and there is no indication his body was ever recovered and returned home to McMinn Co. According to the census taken July 3, 1860, John Denton and wife Sarah Jane Dean Denton and family were living in or near the Fountain Hill community in the 4th Civil District of McMinn County. A search of roster records indicates a John Denton served in Company A of the 59th Regiment Tennessee Mounted Infantry, CSA (Cooke's Regiment, Eakins Battalion)which did in fact participate in the battle of Vicksburg. According to "Tennesseans in the Civil War: A Military History of Confederate and Union Units with Available Rosters of Personnel. Part I, Military History [regiments, battalions, companies]" the 59th Regiment Tennessee Mounted Infantry was organized May 1, 1862, and was comprised of men from Monroe and McMinn Counties. Companies B, E and G were formed in Monroe, while companies A, H and K were formed in McMinn. The battle of Vicksburg began May 18th, culminating in the surrender of the Confederate Army July 4th. John Denton, Co A, 59th Tenn Infantry, was taken prisoner May 18, on the very first day of battle and died in captivity less than 3 months later on August 3, 1863 at the Union's Jefferson Barracks Hospital in St. Louis. The record does not indicate a cause of death, but it is presumed he either died from wounds received in battle or illness contracted during his brief captivity. He was subsequently interred in the nearby Jefferson Barracks National Military Cemetery. It is not definitively known whether this John Denton is in fact the father of Susan Elizabeth Denton, wife of George W. Snider of Niota, TN but the evidence presented is compelling. Tom Long, September 29, 2009 Source of records: Ancestry.com - U. S. Civil War Soldiers 1861-1865 American Civil War Soldiers American Civil War Regiments Civil War Prisoner of War Records 1861-1865 U. S. Veterans Gravesites, ca 1775-2005 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/tn/mcminn/military/civilwar/other/denton24mt.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/tnfiles/ File size: 2.7 Kb