Colonel John Wayles Jefferson

Colonel John Wayles Jefferson (Hemings)

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• Col. John Wayles Jefferson's Wikipedia Page

John's birth name was Hemings..he later adopted the name Jefferson. He was the grandson of Sarah Hemings, a slave owned by Thomas Jefferson. DNA tests in 1998 confirmed that a male descendant of John's brother, Beverly, was descended from the Jefferson family, which has lent credence to the family's claim of descent from Thomas Jefferson. On that basis, John is believed to have been a grandson of Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson's father-in-law, John Wayles, is also believed to have been John's great-grandfather: most historians credit the rumor that Wayles was the father of both Sally Hemings and Jefferson's wife, Martha.

John entered the United States Army on August 26, 1861, at Madison, Wisconsin. He took command of the Wisconsin 8th Infantry during the American Civil War. On September 28, 1861 he was promoted to Major; to Lieutenant Colonel on April 23, 1863; and to Colonel on June 16, 1864. He fought in significant battles of the war and was wounded at Vicksburg and during the Siege of Corinth. He was mustered out of service on October 11, 1864 at Madison, Wisconsin. His brother, William Beverly Hemings, and his cousin James Madison Hemings and Thomas Eston Hemings also served in the Civil War.

According to his service records, John had red hair and gray eyes. Because of his mostly white ancestry and appearance, there was no reason for his troops to suspect any African heritage. In 1902, a former neighbor recalled:...and I saw and talked with one of the sons, during the Civil War, who was then wearing the silver leaves of a lieutenant colonel, and in command of a fine regiment of white men from a north-western state. He begged me not to tell the fact that he had colored blood in his veins, which he said was not suspected by any of his command; and of course I did not.

John was a newspaper correspondent during and after the war. He later moved to Memphis, Tennessee, where he became a prominent businessman, buying and selling cotton as the owner of the Continental Cotton Company. Prior to entering military service, he and his younger brother Beverly had successfully managed the American House hotel in Madison, Wisconsin.

He died on June 12, 1892 and was interred in Madison, Wisconsin, in a family plot at Forest Hill Cemetery. He never married.

John W. Jefferson
BATTLE UNIT NAME: 8th Regiment, Wisconsin Infantry
SIDE: Union COMPANY: F&S SOLDIER'S
RANK IN: Major SOLDIER'S
RANK OUT: Colonel
ALTERNATE NAME:
FILM NUMBER: M559 ROLL 15
PLAQUE NUMBER: NOTES: none