Colonel Hume R. Feild
1st (Feild's) Tennessee Infantry

The above picture was made by C C Giers & Co in Nashville, so it is likely to have been taken in early 1861, when Captain of Company K, Martin Guards, from Giles County. Hume R. Feild was twenty-seven year old in 1861 and had been educated at Kentucky Military Institute, graduating in 1856. His mother, Julia Feild, took charge of making the uniforms for the soldiers. The ladies of the town gathered at the courthouse, some bringing their sewing machines, and soon had the company dressed in gray suits.

Sam Watkins in his book Company Aytch, described Field as follows:

"a born soldier .... I never saw him the least excited in my life." On one occasion Feild used his repeating rifle to fend off, by himself, a Yankee patrol: "every time he pulled down he brought a Yankee. I have forgotten the number that he did kill, but if I am not mistaken it was either twenty or twenty-one." The incident received nationwide publicity.

Above picture from Company D, 1st Tennessee web site

Major Joseph Vaulx Jr.
1st (Feild's) Tennessee Infantry

Joseph Vaulx Sr. had come to Nashville in 1809 from North Carolina. In Nashville he met and married Miss Susan Hobson, and in 1835 a son was born and given the name of Joseph Vaulx Jr. Joseph Sr. became a successful businessman in Nashville, eventually becoming president of the Tennessee Marine and Fire Insurance Company. Joseph Jr. attended the finest schools Nashville had to offer and spent a good part of his youth working on farms around Nashville where he said he "obtained some of my most useful training."

As a young man Joseph took advantage of the opportunity to attend the Western Military Institute of Kentucky, where he stayed for two years. Upon his return to Nashville he was employed as a store clerk for four years, until 1861, when he was elected 1st Lieutenant of Company A of the Rock City Guards. He was promoted to Captain when the company was mustered into the First Tennessee Infantry Regiment, and Captain T. F. Sevier was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel of the Regiment.

Joseph Vaulx served as Captain of Company A for about one year, until he was promoted to the office of [Assistant] Inspector General of Cheatham's Division with the rank of Major. He remained in this office until the close of the war. During the entire course of the war he was never taken sick or wounded in battle, and as a result had the distinction of having more days of active service than any man in the Division.

At the close of the war, Major Vaulx went to New York City where he engaged in the dry goods business for a period of some eleven years. Returning to Nashville, he was made vice president and executive officer of the Cumberland Iron Works Company in 1880. A biographer said of his tenure with the Cumberland Iron Works, "As to his business capacity nothing need be said; the fact that the company has intrusted such extensive interests to his care speaks louder for him than mere words can do."

Above photograph provided by Frank Hightower, whose family is descended from Joseph Vaulx Jr's father and step-mother,

The above information from an article by Tom Loftis February 1999 was extracted from the now defunct Web Site:
http://members.aol.com/FirstTnCSA/1st_Tennessee_Infantry.html

Lieutenant Colonel John Patterson
1st (Feild's) Tennessee Infantry

The above image of Colonel Patterson is a pre-war photo of his face superimposed on the painting of a uniform made after the close of the war as a memento and has been handed down the generations of the family.

Before the outbreak of the War of Southern Independence, John Patterson was a merchant of furniture and house wares in Nashville, Tennessee. He was mustered in to State Service on May 9, 1861; elected 1st Lieutenant on May 10, 1861; and entered Confederate service on August 1, 1861. Following the resignation of Captain Craighead, he was elected Captain of Company B on August 18, 1861. Following the promotion of Colonel Maney to Brigadier, and Captain Feild to full Colonel, Patterson was elected to Lieutenant Colonel in April 1862.

Colonel Patterson was killed at the Battle of Perryville, Kentucky, on October 8, 1862, whilst in temporary command of the 1st Tennessee. Most Confederate dead were buried in a mass grave on the battlefield by a local farmer. However, Private Sam Watkins in his book Co.Aytch, 1st Tennessee wrote:-

I helped bring off our wounded that night. We worked the whole night. After the battle was over, John T. Tucker, Scott Stephens, A.S. Horsley and I were detailed to bring off our wounded that night, and we helped to bring off many a poor dying comrade - Joe Thompson, Billy Bond, Byron Richardson, and two Allen boys - brothers killed side by side - and Colonel Patterson who was killed standing right by my side. He was first shot through the hand, and was wrapping his handkerchief around it when another ball struck and killed him.

Above information and photograph provided by William W. Degge, from Arkansas, the great great grandson of Colonel Patterson,

Private. J. Clay March
Co. A, Rock City Guards, 1st (Feild's) Tennessee Infantry

On May 13, 1861, at the age of 26, March enlisted in the 1st Tennessee Infantry Regiment. His service in the Confederate army came to an abrupt halt on December 31, 1862, when he was severely wounded at the Battle of Murfreesboro.  He later served in an engineer unit, but never fully recovered from his wound.  Both of these images were produced by the C. C. Giers gallery of Nashville.  The image on the left is from a hand-tinted ruby ambrotype, and the image on the right is a carte-de-viste (CDV) of the same pose.

Above information from Confederate Tennessee Heroes

Captain John Frank Wheless,
Co. C, Rock City Guards, 1st (Feild's) Tennessee Infantry, 1862

John Frank Wheless was born on February 3, 1839 at Clarksville, Tennessee. After the death of both parents in the 1840s, John Frank was schooled by his elder brother, Wesley.

He enlisted on May 9th, 1861 at Nashville, Tennessee and joined Company C. 1st Tennessee Regiment Infantry as a Lieutenant. He was promoted to Captain of Company C after Shiloh. He was wounded and taken prisoner at the Battle of Perryville, Kentucky. After being exchanged, he served as Assistant Adjutant and Inspector General on Lieutenant General Polk's staff through the Chickamauga campaign. He became disabled for field service and resigned his commission on February 26th, 1864 at Griffin, Georgia. He was then appointed Assistant Paymaster of the Confederate Navy. (His older brother Wesley was a prominent banker in Nashville, and had trained John Frank in the art of finances.) In April, 1865, he was assigned to the naval command escorting the Confederate Treasury from the evacuation of Richmond to the final disbursements in Washington, Georgia.

After the war, he served as Inspector General of the state of Tennessee, governor Albert Mark's administration, and was also a successful businessman. He died on August 10th, 1891 in Nashville, Tennessee, survived by his wife, Frances McAlister Wheless, and was buried at Mount Olivet (near the Confederate Cemetery).

There is a detailed account of his life in the "History of Davidson County, Tennessee" on pages 433-435. written by Prof. W.W. Clayton, 1880.

By the way, Wesley Wheless died of Cholera in 1861 while doing business at Liverpool, England, and his body secretly returned to Nashville in a piano box. (Due to the problem of sailors being superstitious) He, as well, is buried at Mount Olivet in Nashville.

Above picture from Confederate Tennessee Heroes
Above information from Steven Smith of High Point, NC, whose Great Great Grandfather, Wesley Wheless, was John Frank Wheless' older brother.

Private Joseph L. Campbell
Co. C, Rock City Guards, 1st (Feild's) Tennessee Infantry

Joe L. Campbell was born in September, 1939, at Drumaboden, County Donegal, North of Ireland, of Scottish parentage of the "Clan Campbell," across the channel in Argyleshire, Scotland. In 1851, at the time of the troubles between "Landlordism" and Tenant's rights, Mr. John Campbell and wife, Martha Lytle concluded to come to America to find better facilities for their children, two girls and five boys. Joe being the eldest. They bade farewell to the British Isles, took steamer from Londonderry to Liverpool, and there embarked on a sailing ship, the Forest King, bound for New Orleans. After a voyage of nine weeks they landed at New Orleans the latter part of September and made their way to Franklin, Tenn. where three of Mr. Campbell's brothers had located years before and settled on a farm in Williamson County. Joe got his education at the famous Harpeth Male Academy, and Alexander and Patrick Campbell were graduates of the Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh. Joe being a natural genius and a draughtsman of no mean ability, at the age of nineteen he took a position as draughtsman and head of the pattern-making department of the Brennan Foundry, at the foot of Broad Street, and enjoyed the distinction of getting up the drawings and patterns for the first cannon made by Brennan and afterwards made famous by Capt. John W. Morton's Battery..

At the first call to arms, in 1861, Joe joined Company C, Rock City Guards, 1st Tennessee Regiment, and went through all its campaigns at Cheat Mountain and Perryville. He was badly wounded while carrying the colors at Murfreesboro just after the regiment had crossed the Wilkerson Pike, driving the enemy toward the ,Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad. When Bragg fell back from Murfreesboro, Joe Campbell, with other wounded, was left behind, and was captured (together with his brother John, a mere boy, who afterwards made his escape by swimming Stone's River on January 4, 1863). Later on Joe was taken to Johnson's Island, where he had to endure the horrors of a Federal prison for about seven months. He was finally exchanged, and got back to the regiment south of Chattanooga just before the battle of Chickamauga. Still lame from his old wound, there was of course no duty required of him; but his messmate, Sam Seay, tells that when the bustle and rumble of the battle came on nothing would do Joe but to take the colors and go in with his comrades, where he laid down his young life on the altar of his adopted country.

A neat, simple, and substantial granite marker has been placed in Chickamauga National Park by Mr. J. F. Campbell, Manager of the Tennessee Cotton Oil Mills at Nashville, to mark the place where his brother, Joe L. Campbell, color bearer of the 1st Tennessee Infantry, was killed on Saturday afternoon, September 19, 1863, in the general assault made on the enemy's lines posted on a wooded ridge just west of the Reed or Winfrey House and south of the Alexander Bridge road The marker is two feet by twenty inches by three feet above concrete foundation. It bears the following inscription, which has been approved by the War Department Washington:

Joe L. Campbell,
Color bearer 1st Tennessee Infantry,
Maney's Brigade, Cheatham's Division, C. S. A.,
Killed here Saturday afternoon, September 19, 1863

In addition to honoring the memory of the gallant boy it will show to future generations and the members or the famous 1st Tennessee where the old regiment faced the enemy and did their full duty on that sanguinary field. The marker will show probably less than one hundred feet between the lines at this spot.

Above information from Confederate Veteran and Private Family History

Captain James Park Hanner
Co. D, Williamson Grays, 1st (Feild's) Tennessee Infantry

Hanner was forced to resign his infantry commission in December of 1861 due to an illness, but upon recovering his health he returned to service with Confederate artillery in July of 1863.  Hanner was a notable participant in the dedication ceremonies for Franklin's Confederate Monument in 1899, as it was he who pulled the rope to unveil the statue.

Above information from Confederate Tennessee Heroes

Corporal James R. Neely
Co. D, Williamson Grays, 1st (Feild's) Tennessee Infantry

This image was made in Staunton, Virginia in January of 1862, during Genl. T. J. Jackson's "Romney Campaign". Neely survived that campaign only to receive a bullet wound to his leg at Perryville, Kentucky on October 8th of the same year. The wound required amputation of his leg at the hip.  He was listed as being in the "Confederate Invalid Corps" at the time of the surrender in the Spring of 1865.

Above information from Confederate Tennessee Heroes

Henry Howe Cook,
Co. D, Williamson Grays, 1st Tennessee, April, 1861.

Henry Cook was 17 years old when this photograph was taken, just before leaving his home in Franklin. On one side is a six-shooter Colt's revolver, and on the other side a large Damascus blade (made at a blacksmith's shop). In Cook's hand can be seen a small book. This is the pocket edition of the New Testament, which, when through with the picture, he placed in his knapsack. The regiment's chaplain, Dr. Quintard gave each member of the regiment a New Testament, and on the fly leaf was written: "God is our sun and shield." When the regiment went to Virginia Cook was discharged on the account of ill health. After recovering he enlisted again at Fort Donelson in the 44th Tennessee. After the surrender he escaped and participated in the battle of Shiloh. When the war ended he studied law and became a Judge.

From Photographic History of The Civil War, Vol 9, page 311.

George Searight Nichols,
Co. D, Williamson Grays, 1st Tennessee, October, 1862.

He is wearing the frock coat they were issued in late 1861, early 1862. He has on what appears to be a Federal Forage Cap, with a 'D' and crossed cannon insignia. He has on civilian windowpane pattern plaid pants. He got sick right before the invasion into Kentucky and was left at Chattanooga. After he got well again he had this picture taken in Chattanooga in October 1862.

Picture and text provided by Mike Hoover (1st Tn Co.D) from Tennessee State Library and Archives

James M Brandon, Edmond Brandon, Alexander Brandon
Co. H, 1st Tennessee Infantry

The above picture shows three brothers who enlisted together in Company H. From left to right: James Brandon (killed in action at the battle of Kennesaw Mountain GA. and mentioned on p.129 and 133 of Co. Aytch), Edmond Brandon, (also mentioned in Co. Aytch on p. 134). Edmond moved to an area near Waco, TX after the war and was murdered in a robbery by some local farmhands in 1891. On the far right is Alexander Brandon who also served in Co. Aytch and also survived the war and died in 1892. There is also another brother, John Brandon who served in Co. Aytch. Yet another brother, Charles L. Brandon, served in Co. K, 7th TN Infantry (Sumner Co.) being captured during Pickett’s Charge up Cemetery Hill, spending the remainder of the war in Fort Delaware Prison, Delaware. Charles was pardoned by President Lincoln on April 14, 1865. Later that same day, the president was assassinated.

I am grateful to Walt Cross and Tom Horn for the above information on the Brandon Brothers, which can be found on the Web at http://www.geocities.com/pheon.geo/.

Corporal Alfred Osborne Pope Nicholson, Jr. (1840-1915) (right), and unidentified companion,
Co. H, Maury Grays, 1st Regiment Tennessee Volunteers, 1861. (Franklin Fulton).

Nicholson is wearing an eight-button medium grey frock coat with dark blue or black standing collar. The cuffs are plain. His pants are medium grey with what looks like a 2" dark stripe on outer seams. He wears a black brimmed hat with a light coloured plume.

From Co. Aytch, Maury Grays, First Tennessee Regiment by Sam Watkins, Morningside Re-print (1982) pages 49-50.

Corporal William A. Graham (left) and Private Joseph Bynum
Co. H, Maury Grays, 1st Regiment Tennessee Volunteers, 1861.

Both are wearing eight-button medium grey frock coats with dark blue or black standing collar. The cuffs are plain. The pants are medium grey with what looks like a 2" dark stripe on outer seams. Corporal Graham has very light coloured chevrons (possibly white) pointing up instead of down. He was killed by a sharpshooter in July 1864. Private Jo Bynum was killed in West Virginia.

From Co. Aytch, First Tennessee Regiment by Sam Watkins, Revised and Expanded Edition Edited by Ruth Hill Fulton McAllister (2007).