Cemetery Project June 17, 2006

A very special thanks to Bart Boaz, Hal Boaz, Ted Mobley, George Boling (for taking the pictures as well), and Rick Hoover

For helping me place the stones in the three different cemeteries

Also to Rick Warwick for helping me gather information on the three individuals

 

Lieutenant Colonel John L. House

1828-1875

            Not much is currently known about John House up until 1860.  Whether he was born here or not is unknown.  He first appears in census records for Franklin in 1850.  In the late 50’s John married a girl named Matilda.  Their marriage was short lived and she passed away in 1860.  His life grew more excitement a year later, in 1861, when he was approached by Doctor James P. Hanner about becoming a Lieutenant in a company he was forming in Williamson County.  He accepted the offer and when the “Williamson Grays” reached Camp Cheatham in May 1861 he was officially elected 1st Lieutenant of the company.

On July 13, 1861 when the order came for the 1st Tennessee to move immediately to Virginia by rail, Captain Hanner was still suffering from an illness he contracted while at Camp Cheatham, and John House was put in charge of the company until Hanner’s return.  September 1861 found the 1st Tennessee under Robert E. Lee moving towards Cheat Mountain.  The famed Chaplin, Charles Quintard, recalls House feeling under the weather but refused to go to a hospital.  He allowed House to ride his horse till he was stronger.  Company D saw its first combat there under his leadership.  December 1861 found the 1st Tennessee camped at Winchester, VA.  Here they were informed of Captain Hanner's resignation because of his illness.  House was elected Captain on the last day of 1861.

House lead the company admirably through Stonewall Jackson’s Romney Campaign.  In February 1862 the 1st Tennessee was sent back west to Tennessee.  The right wing of the regiment did not participate in the Battle of Shiloh in April.  They arrived just in time to join the rear guard.  By the end of April 1862 the 1st Tennessee had lost in discharges and deaths from disease (not so much in the way of combat injuries) over half its number.  When the regiment was reorganized on April 30 the regiment elected House to be Major of the regiment.  At their next engagement at the Battle of Perryville, the 1st Tennessee lost its Lieutenant Colonel Patterson, and John House was again promoted to fill the vacancy.

House would go on to fight in the Battles of Stones River, Tullahoma, Chickamauga, Chattanooga, the entire Atlanta Campaign (commanding the regiment from June 1864 till August), and the 1864 Tennessee Campaign.  At the Battle of Nashville he was noted by another officer as trying everything he could to rally the men after Shy’s Hill fell.  After the battle Colonel Field, in command of the regiment, took over Brigade command and House became commander of the regiment.  When the regiment surrendered at Greensboro in 1865, House was their leader.  His most noticeable trait was he was hotheaded.  Though hard to get along with, there were few people you would rather have at your side when the shooting started.  As far as can be told, House was never wounded during the war. 

House’s temper got him in trouble after the war.  He owned a store where the Mellow Mushroom stands today on the square.  He initiated the only racial clash in Franklin during reconstruction.  When the United Colored League was gathering to meet on the square in 1867, they were doing so after being told they couldn't.  House went up to one of the leaders of the group with a police officer and told them they couldn’t meet.  When the man said they would meet anyway, House slapped him.  Two of House’s former slaves found him two hours later and informed him that some of the men were going to come after him with guns and to be ready.  House sat behind his store smoking cigar with a friend when the first bullets whizzed passed him.  Within a few moments House’s friend was dead and House was taking cover behind his store returning fire with a pistol.  One of House’s former soldiers owned a tavern on 3rd Avenue and he organized a group that came to House’s relief.  The crowd disbursed with around twenty people altogether killed or wounded.  The army was brought in from Nashville two days later but by that time it was long over and everyone seemed embarrassed it had happened. 

His last tempered mistake occurred on October 21, 1975, when while intoxicated picked a fight with a police officer who shot and killed him on the square.  House’s son was also wounded.  Col. John L. House was laid to rest in Rest Haven Cemetery.

From the Left: Rick Hoover, Hal Boaz, Ted Mobley, George Boling start digging at Rest Haven

    There is no written record of where Colonel House was laid to rest after his death in 1875.  His wife was buried in Rest Haven Cemetery after her death in 1860.  Next to his wife seemed like a logical place for him to buried and upon further investigation I found there was an open area next to her grave.  His wife's tombstone had been knocked over so we fixed both markers to stand upright.

L to R:  Ted Mobley, Hal Boaz, Rick Hoover, Mike Hoover, Bart Boaz

2nd Sergeant Meredith Poindexter Gentry Winstead

1844-1891

Meredith was born and raised to a wealthy family near Brentwood, TN on December 1, 1844.  In 1861 he and two of his older brothers, Robert and Thomas, went to Franklin to enlist in Captain Hanner’s company.  He was 16 years old.  By the end of the year both of Meredith’s brothers had been discharged because of disease.  Meredith apparently made an impression on his comrades because during the 1st Tennessee’s reorganization he was elected to 2nd Sergeant from the rank of Private. 

The Battle of Perryville in 1862 would alter the rest of his life.  Here Company D took more causalities then any other battle.  After the initial break through of Starkweather’s Hill, Winstead was standing next to his friend Private James R. Neely.  Both Winstead and Neely were struck in the leg at the same time side by side.  Winstead was evacuated to Hospital north of Perryville at Harrodsburg.  When the Confederates abandoned the town two days later, October 10, Winstead fell into Federal custody.  An examination of his wound by a Union surgeon three days after the battle found the wound had become infected and most likely would not heal correctly either.  That night Meredith’s left leg was amputated at the thigh. The same night, Neely who fell beside him lost his right leg from below the knee. He was paroled on December 30, 1862.

After the war he married and had one daughter.  He worked in different city official positions for Franklin after the war.  He built a house on 4th Avenue in the 1880s. Shortly afterwards his wife passed away.  James Neely who fell next to Winstead at Perryville, and also lost a leg, died in 1891 a few months later Meredith followed on October 22, 1891.  Meredith P. G. Winstead was buried next to his wife at Mount Hope Cemetery with only a footstone. 

Gathered around Winstead's Marker

    Winstead's grave location was easy to find.  His wife's maker (to the right in the picture above) is the tallest at this part of the cemetery.  A footstone marked: "M.P.G." lays at the front where his body is located.  His wife's maker only mentions she was his wife. 

 

Private Nathan Owen

1844-1915 

            Nathan Owen was the third of six children born to Nathan and Jane Owen on October 15, 1844.  He spent most of his life on a farm.  He enlisted in the Williamson Grays in 1861 at the age of 16.  He participated in the Cheat Mountain and Romney Campaigns.  He reenlisted in the company in May 1862 but after doing so was called to be examined by a medical board that found him in very frail condition after the cold Romney Campaign earlier that year.   He received a medical discharge on July 4, 1862 at Jackson, MS. 

            Nathan immediately set out trying to find another unit he could join.  Kain’s Battery accepted him and he finished out the war with that unit.  After the war he married and had a farm off of Blazer Road in Williamson County.  He was a member of the United Confederate Veterans, in the Franklin Chapter.  He died on April 10, 1915 and was buried in a family cemetery off of Blazer Road. 

Original Tombstone

    I found the location of Nathan Owen's grave in the Williamson County Cemetery books.  In the books they have all information on the person's marker.  Nathan's listed he had fought in the 1st Tennessee.  When we first went to visit the site there was no marker and assumed the marker had been damaged or removed over time.  The location was easy to find since the only open spot was right next to Owen's wife.  When we began to dig to lay the foundation for the new tombstone we ended up digging up his old one.  Looking at the lay of the land around the tombstone it appears someone had dumped a pile of dirt in the cemetery at sometime judging by an unusual hump in the ground just in front of his marker.  So, we setup his new marker as his footstone.

Gathered around the new marker, old one in the foreground.

Home

Written by Mike Hoover