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Note: NOTES FOR JOHN REDEN PARKER: Confederate soldiers living in Jefferson Co., Ala. in 1907, Page 44 of "Pioneer Trails" April 1972 Confederate Army Sept. 1861 to Dec. 1864 when captured. Entered in Sept. 1861 at McMinnville, TN in B.J. Hill's 35 Prov. Army Co. G.
From danielgregory1@@bellsouth.net Confederate Pension Application, June 27, 1911, Company D, 35th Tennessee Volunteer Infantry Regiment, Grundy Co., Tennessee J. R. Parker attested that he now resides in Monteagle, Grundy Co., TN. He was a member of Capt. John B. Blair's Company of the 35th Reg. Vol. Infantry commanded by Col. B.J. Hill. J. R. Parker was born on March 6, 1844 in Warren County, Tennessee. On September 6, 1861 he enlisted under Capt. Thornton Christian, Ben. J. Hill Colonel Commanding Regiment. He stated he participated in these battles: Shiloh, Richmond and Perryville Kentucky, Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, Atlanta, Franklin, Nashville, and Bentonville, North Carolina. He did not receive and wounds and he was paroled at the surrender of General Joseph E. Johnston's Army at Greensboro, North Carolina on April 26, 1865. He stated that he was indigent by reason of age and he could not perform physical or manual labor. He further stated that his wife was deceased and that his grown married children provided for him, two sons and two daughters. He had no real estate and no personal property and could not work for two years now. Witnesses to the application were D. H. Bryan, physician, and John Scruggs, comrade in arms. According to Dr. Bryan, “I find the applicant prematurely old at the age of sixty-seven and I am of the opinion that his pre-senilty is due to the privations he underwent during the late Civil War. He is homeless and without visible means of support and an honorable upright Christian gentleman. John Scruggs testified that they served in the same outfit from Sept. 1861 until April 1865 when they were surrendered to General Sherman by General Joseph E. Johnston. The application was sent to the state and was received on December 5, 1911.
DECEMBER 8, 1911 WAR DEPARTMENT, TO THE TENNESSEE BOARD OF PENSION EXAMINERS WASHINGTON TO NASHVILLE The records show that J.R. Parker private and ordnance sergeant, Captain W.T. Christian's company, 5th Tennessee Provisional Army, subsequently Company G, 35th Tennessee Infantry, C.S.A., enlisted September 6, 1861. The prisoner-of-war records show that J.R. Parker deserted December 20, 1864 and took the oath of allegiance at Nashville, Tennessee, January 10, 1865 and that his residence was in Warren County, Tennessee. No later record of him has been found.
DECEMBER 15, 1911 NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE; SPECIAL EXAMINER Mr. Scruggs, In your affidavit you say the applicant was paroled at Greensboro and you and he came home together. The records show that J.R. Parker took the oath of allegiance at Nashville, Tenn. on January 10, 1865. Is this the applicant's record or that of some other man of the same name?
DECEMBER 19, 1911 ALTAMONT, TENNESSEE JOHN SCRUGGS TO SPECIAL EXAMINER; FRANK MOSES My dear old comrade . . . I was greatly surprised at the information, that he was a deserter, and had taken the oath of allegiance at Nashville in 1865. There is some mistake about this matter that would be liable to do an injustice to an honorable and upright Confederate soldier, and respectfully request that the matter be held in abeyance, until I can confer with Comrade Parker, who I think makes his home at Monteagle, and sometimes at Tracy City . . .I am sure that I came home with John and Tom Parker but hold up until I can hear from the applicant.
DECEMBER 21, 1911 ALTAMONT, TENNESSEE JOHN SCRUGGS TO SPECIAL EXAMINER; FRANK MOSES I have had a conference with the applicant and find that an unintentional mistake was committed, both by myself and the applicant in the making of the same, and respectfully request that you return the application to me for correction. While being scrupulously sincere and honest in my affidavit, find that I was innocently mistaken in one feature of same, and therefore wish to correct same; the applicant also has made one, or two mistakes.
DECEMBER 1911 MORRISON, TENNESSEE W.T. PARKER, BROTHER OF J.R. PARKER, TO SPECIAL EXAMINER ;FRANK MOSES My brother belonged to Hill's Regiment and I belonged to Holman's Regiment and Dibbrell's Brigade Cavalry. We came to Tennessee with Hood's Army and when we started back South we got a permit to go by home in Warren Co. to get some clothes and while at home the federals run in on us and captured us. We had an uncle that belonged to the company that captured us and he said that he would make arrangement to have us paroled if we would stay at home. We thought that was better than going to prison as we thought the end of the war was at hand. That is the way we got out of the war. I want to say just hear that I put in my application for a pension some time back. I got Col. Whitson of McMinnville to attend to it but have not heard from it. I was wounded during the siege of Knoxville. Dibbrell's Brigade was on duty there for Longstreet's Army. I was shot through the leg and 4 years ago I got down with that leg and haven't been able to do anything since. I need the pension and I know that I am entitled to it.
Confederate pensions were awarded by individual southern states and not the federal government. A Confederate Veteran must have been honorably discharged or they must have served until the surrender of the army. J.R. Parker did not have either one of these criteria and his application for a Confederate Pension was stamped REJECTED.
FACTS ABOUT JOHN REDDING PARKER John Redding Parker was born on March 6, 1844 in Vervilla, Warren County, Tennessee. He was the son of William McCelland Parker and Sarah Sallie Bonner. He had six siblings. At 17 years of age he enlisted as a Private at Camp Smartt in McMinnville,Tennessee on September 6,1861 under Col. B.J. Hill in Company D of the 35th Regt. Tennessee Infantry (sometimes called the 5th). By May of 1862 he was a 2nd Sgt. in Company G and he was labeled an Ordnance Sgt. On the Jan.-Feb. 1864 muster roll his listing as an ordnance Sgt. was canceled out. The 35th Regiment served in General Patrick Cleburne's Brigade. J.R. would have been at these battles: Shiloh, Richmond and Perryville, Kentucky, Stones River, Chickamauga, Franklin, and Nashville. Evidently after the rout of General Hood's Army at Nashville the Parker boys went back home to McMinnville where they were captured as they were attempting to obtain shoes and clothes. He took the oath of allegiance to the United States on January 10, 1865 and was described as having a fair complexion, brown hair, blue eyes, and he was 5ft. 7in. tall. J.R. Parker attempted to obtain a Confederate pension in 1911 and was rejected. While J.R. Parker was not awarded a pension no one can doubt but that he sacrificed and suffered much. He served over three years and participated in countless marches and battles across the South.
In 1866 J.R. Parker married Sarah Francis Swann in Warren County, Tennessee. The couple had ten children and J.R. Parker was a school teacher by profession. Around 1907 John was living in Jefferson County, Alabama but he returned to Tennessee. He died on July 24, 1916 and is buried at the Bascom Cemetery in Vervilla, Warren County, Tennessee.
http://www.tngenweb.org/warren/gdsp-dex.htm Goodspeed, History of Tennessee, Warren County Chairmen - Since 1860 the chairmen of the county court have been in the order given, Philip Hoodenpyle, Thomas Mabry, John Smith, Philip Hoodenpyle, Thomas S. Meyers, S. D. Walling, John Smith, John S. Meyers, W. B. Smartt, S. C. Norwood, John Smith, John W. Ford, J. L. Miller, J. W. Gales, I. B. Neal, S. J. Walling, John R. Parker and J. C. Meyers, the present incumbent.
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