John W Priest, CSA

   John Wesley Priest Sr. was born on March 20, 1839 at Franklin, Williamson County, Tennessee. He was a son of James Madison Priest and Mary Jane Padgett. On November 11, 1859 John eloped with Sarah Catherine Thomas, daughter of Wesley D. Thomas, a wealthy breeder of race horses from Virginia, and Elizabeth Sudberry. Before John and Sarah were married she cared for her younger siblings and took care of her father’s house, John was a saloon keeper which made Sarah’s father very unhappy. After they married John farmed, worked in the timber and as a lumberman. He also worked in a furniture factory for a time in Union City. 

   John joined the Confederate Cavalry at Columbia, Tennessee in May 1862. He served as a private soldier in Company E, Biffle's 19th Tennessee Cavalry (also known as the 9th Tennessee Cavalry) under Colonel Jacob B. Biffle, and was attached to General Nathan Bedford Forrest’s old cavalry brigade. General Forrest was a remarkable man, considered by military historians to be one of the greatest cavalry commanders in history. His battles and tactics are studied in military academies all over the world. John was wounded several times during the war; he was shot through the right arm and leg at Thompson's Station, Tennessee; wounded at Franklin, Tennessee; and wounded in the side and arm near Rome, Georgia. 

John stated in his Confederate Service pension papers in the Missouri Adjutant General's Office, that he enlisted in the Confederate Army at Columbia, Maury County, Tennessee in May 1862, although his service records give the date of his enlistment as October 5, 1862. The earlier enlistment date may have been with an outfit that hadn't yet been accepted into official Confederate service. On November 27, 1862 Biffle and his command were ordered to report for duty to Genl. Joseph Wheeler at La Vergne, Tennessee. However, on December 11 federal reports place Biffle and Cox on Indian Creek, 20 miles east of Savanah, from which place they moved with General Forrest on his raid into west Tennessee the last half of December 1862, and were with General Forrest in his attack on Jackson, December 19. Colonel Dibrell reported Biffle’s regiment engaged at Parker’s Crossroads December 31, 1862, following which they resumed operations in Middle-Tennessee engaging in almost constant skirmishing. On January 25, 1863 Genl. Gideon J. Pillow reported Biffle’s regiment was engaged in making a sweep of Bedford County rounding up stragglers and conscripts. On March 5 Biffle’s regiment was with Forrest in the attack and capture of Thompson’s Station during which John was shot through the right arm and right leg according to his Ex-Confederate Pension Application. Biffle’s regiment was again with Forrest as part of Starnes’ brigade at Brentwood on March 25, 1863, although it did not take part in the actual assault and capture of that position. Biffle’s command was engaged in the fighting at Chapel Hill on April 10, and near Savanah on 29 May. Biffle also accompanied Forrest in the pursuit of federal Colonel A.D. Streight during his cavalry raid through the mountains of Alabama in April and May of 1863. Streight and his men were known as the "Jackass Brigade" by the Confederates as they were mostly mounted on mules. Forrest ran Col. Streight to ground on May 3 at the Lawrence Plantation near Cedar Bluff, Alabama on the road leading to Rome, Georgia.

Some remarkable incidents occurred during this campaign. After a running battle of four days, and a brilliant bluff, Genl. Forrest with only about 500 men, compelled the surrender of Col. Streight and his entire force of 1700 men. After Streight surrendered he became aware that he had been tricked by Forrest who's command was less than a third the strength of his. Streight then demanded their arms back so they could have a “fair fight”, but Forrest refused, of course, and responded, "Ah Colonel, all's fair in love and war, you know". According to John’s obituary in the East Prairie Eagle, of East Prairie, Missouri, he was wounded in the side and arm at Rome, Georgia, undoubtedly during this incident. For the next several months the regiment was in Middle-Tennessee enforcing the conscript act and engaging in frequent skirmishing with the federal forces there. John stated on his Ex-Confederate pension application that he was also engaged in the fighting around Murphreesboro, Tennessee, probably in June of 1863. During this time Biffle’s regiment was reported as part of a brigade commanded at times by Col. Cox, and at other times by Col. Dibrell, in Forrest’s Division, consisting of Starnes’ 4th, Cox’s 10th, Holman’s 11th, Dibrell’s 8th and Biffle’s Regiment. According to John’s obituary, he was wounded during an engagement at Franklin, Tennessee, although the date and nature of the wound was not given. In August, Forrest's Division, including Biffle's regiment, moved into east Tennessee and Georgia. A federal report states that on August 31, 1863 John was captured by elements of the U.S. 3rd Division, 20th Army Corps at Stevenson, Alabama and is listed as deserter on the Union POW rolls, however, there is no record of him deserting in the Confederate records. He took the oath of allegiance, was given his parole and apparently released as he returned home to Maury County a short time later. His family said he was still suffering from his wounds and just got so tired of the fighting and worried about his family that he walked home from the war. John's granddaughter, Bertha Zook Kennedy, said that "when the war broke out, John's wife, Sarah Catherine, went back to live with her folks. One day a group of federal soldiers came by and were trying to steal their last chicken which the Thomas family themselves were getting ready to kill and eat. As one of the yankee soldiers crawled under the front porch after the chicken, one of Sarah's old maid sisters threw boiling water on him." According to the family, "when John returned home from the war he was covered with lice, and was so dirty, and his hair so long that no one recognized him except Sarah. Mr. Thomas' slaves took hot water to the orchard, where he bathed, put on clean clothes, and had his hair cut. This was on the Thomas plantation where Sarah had been staying." Before the war John had owned 800 acres in Maury County, Tennessee near Santa Fe which was stolen from him by federal authorities and carpet baggers during reconstruction. Some of his descendants were later able to buy back part of the land and are still living there today (1994). Around 1871 John and his family fled from federal authorities in Middle-Tennessee to Obion County. They traveled in a group of about twenty wagons, navigating by compass, and cutting roads and bridging streams as they went. They crossed the Tennessee River near the mouth of Cypress Creek and settled in the vicinity of Rives Station near Union City in Obion County. Around 1884 John moved his family across the Mississippi River to Whiting, near East Prairie, Missouri where Sarah died in 1897. Her body was taken back to Tennessee and buried in the Antioch Cemetery near Troy in Obion County. John married his second wife, Mrs. Mary M. Johnson in 1898.

John applied for an Ex-Confederate Soldier Service Pension from the state of Missouri on June 28, 1913. He submitted his parole and and other service papers and asked for them to be returned to him after the commissioner had seen them. A notation at the top of his pension application says John was approved and his service papers were returned to him, dated July 9, 1913. John stated on his application that he took part in the Battle of Thompson’s Station, Tenn. where he was shot through the right arm and right leg. He also stated on the application that he took part in the battles of Parker's Crossroads, Franklin, and the fighting around Murphreesboro Tenn. He suffered more or less from his old wounds until he died at Whiting on March 21, 1919. He is buried in the Woodmen of the World Cemetery at East Prairie, Mississippi County, Missouri and has a white marble Confederate gravestone.

Death Notice: East Prairie Eagle, East Prairie, Mississippi County, Missouri, March 21, 1919. J.W. Priest, an aged citizen of this county died here at 7:00 o'clock this morning. He was a Confederate veteran, having served with Genl. N. B. Forrest. A more extended notice will appear next week.

Obituary: East Prairie Eagle, East Prairie, Missouri. J.W. Priest died at his home in Whiting, Friday morning, March 21, after a long illness. The body was buried at Woodman Cemetery Saturday. Mr. Priest was born in Maury County, Tennessee on March 20, 1839, and moved to Whiting thirty five years ago. He was in the Ninth Tennessee Cavalry with Genl. N.B. Forrest in the Confederate Army and was wounded in the side and arm at Rome, Ga., he was wounded at the battle of Franklin, Tenn. and these wounds gave him more or less trouble until he died. He was twice married, his first wife being Sarah Thomas, who bore him eight children, six of whom survive him. They are James M., of Union City; J.W., of Rector, Ark.; Robert, of Blytheville; W.B., of Marion, Ill.; Mrs. C. Callis, Rives, Tenn.; Mrs. Lizzie Baker, Clarkton, Mo.; and Mrs. Sallie Zook, of East Prairie. He is also survived by his second wife. It was his request that he be buried in Tennessee, but the condition of the body would not permit it.

Obituary says he died in Whiting, MO; Death Certificate says he died in St. James, MO, near East Prairie, Mississippi County, Missouri.

Sources: Family Information: John Wesley Priest Sr.'s Holy Bible; Missouri State Board of Health Death Certificate; U.S. Find A Grave Index, 1600's-Current; National Archives Confederate Service Records; Missouri Confederate Service Pension Applications; Death Notice and Obituary: East Prairie Eagle, East Prairie, Mississippi County, Missouri; U.S. Federal Census: 1840 Williamson Co., TN; 1850 Williamson Co., TN; 1860 Maury Co., TN; 1870; 1880 Union City, TN; 1900; 1910 St. James, MO; Tennessee State Marriages, 1780-2002; Missouri Marriage Records, 1805-2002; Tennessee Early Tax List Records, 1783-1895 (James M. Priest, 1838 Williamson County); The Confederacy's Greatest Cavalryman: Nathan Bedford Forrest, by Brian Steel Wills;

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/29092090/john-wesley-priest