Lieut. John Allan (CSA)

Lt. Allan was the son of John Allan, foster father of Edgar Allan Poe.

From the website, "Students of the University of Virginia, 1825-1874":

"[Lt. Allan's] early education took place in schools in Richmond and Caroline County, VA. He attended the University of Virginia in sessions 27-29 (1850-1853) and studied ancient and modern languages, mathematics, chemistry, and geology. He is listed in the 1860 U.S. Census for Virginia as a farmer. On 18 Jan. 1860, John Allan married Henrietta Hoffman of Baltimore, MD, and the couple had two children, Hoffman Allan and Louise G. Allan." (See: http://uvastudents.wordpress.com/2011/09/10/allan-family-richmond-va/ )

Allan was appointed an Adjutant, Confederate States Army, as of 29 October 1861 and ordered to report to the 6th Virginia Cavalry.

He was killed in action at Fairfield, Pennsylvania, near Gettysburg on 3 July 1863. He was buried at Shockoe Hill Cemetery on 15 April 1866.

"The adjutant of the 6th Virginia, Lieutenant John Allan, was shot from the saddle during the charge, dying in the midst of the whirling fight. Private John N. Opie later recalled that Allan, apparently anticipating that the next fight would be his last, wrote a note the night before asking that his body be delivered to his father in Baltimore and promising that anyone who did so would be paid a reward of $500. 'We delivered his body, together with the note, to a citizen, and afterwards learned that he carried out the request and received the money', said Opie. 'This is one of the many instances I know of where men had a premonition of death.'" (Eric J. Wittenburg, "Battle of Fairfield: Grumble Jones' Gettysburg Campaign Victory", in _America's Civil War_ (May 1997).)

His brother Capt. William Galt Allen, who had been assigned as a quartermaster to the 1st Virginia Infantry, died in 1868 and is buried near him in the Allan family plot, as is Henrietta Hoffman Allan, who had re-married to William after John's death.

Allan's grave was unmarked until, through the efforts of the "Friends of Shockoe Hill Cemetery" and with a generous grant from the "Society of the Order of the Southern Cross", a government marker was placed on February 23, 2012.

• Updated from Find A Grave Memorial via father John Allan by SmartCopy: Sep 5 2015, 19:13:31 UTC