The Thompsons: Brothers In Blue & Gray

 

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      The Thompson brothers were my great, great grand uncles.  James J.  and John W. were the sons of Samuel and Sarah Thompson who migrated from Buncombe County, North Carolina to Gilmer County, Georgia in the late 1830s and settled in the Cartecay community. 

 

      After the War Between the States began, both brothers served in Co. ‘A’ 65th Regiment, Georgia Volunteer Infantry.  My great, great grandfather David Dotson, brother-in-law to the Thompsons, also served in this command. 

 

       In the spring of 1864, perhaps tempted by Yankee bounty or fearing that the Confederate Cause was lost, the brothers deserted and joined the Union Army.  [This information is supported by family descendants, and in the book The Annals of Upper Georgia Centered in Gilmer County  by George Gordon Ward page 611].   

 

          Thompson, James J.  --  Enlisted in Infantry Battalion, Smith’s Legion, Georgia

                                                     Volunteers May 15, 1862.  Appointed 3rd Sergeant.

                                                      Transferred to Co. ‘A’ 65th Regiment, Georgia Infantry

                                                      March 1863.  Deserted at Dalton, Ga. February 23, 1864.                                   

                                         

          Thompson, John W.  --  Private in Infantry Battalion, Smith’s Legion, Georgia

                                                      Volunteers, May 15, 1862.  Transferred to Co. ‘A’ 65th

                                                      Regiment, Georgia Infantry, March 1863.  “Deserted;

                                                       furloughed for 40 days January 17, 1864.  Supposed to

                                                       be with the enemy.”

                                                                                                                                                                                              

      James was born September 24, 1833 in Buncombe County, NC.  Around 1860 he married Lydia Teague in Gilmer Co., Ga.  They had five children.  Lydia died in March 1875.  Following her death, James married his second wife Cynthia Hamilton.  In the 1900 Gilmer County census he is shown living in the Ball Ground district.  Occupation: farmer.  James died in February 1906 at the age of 72 while living with his daughter Sarah in Hunt Co., Texas.

 

      John was born April 4, 1844 in Gilmer Co., Ga.  He married Mary Elizabeth Teague around 1868.  They had seven children.  The 1900 census shows him living in the Ball Ground district of Gilmer County.  Occupation: farmer.  John died February 27, 1901.  He and his wife Mary are buried in the family plot at Clear Creek Baptist Church Cemetery in Gilmer Co., Ga.

 

 

     John W. Thompson (Gravesite)       

 

      During the War Between the States, the Thompson brothers served in Co. ‘A’ 65th Regiment, Georgia Infantry, and later were soldiers in the Union Army.  James and John Thompson were brothers by blood, brothers in arms, and brothers in blue and gray.

 

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Lawrence H. Wells

Dalton, Ga.

November 2006

 

Wells2000@alltel.net 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(C) 2006