https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/112718570

https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/tree/15030749/family?cfpid=192...

Born on Feb 3, 1845 in New Orleans, Louisiana. His father was John B. Womack, born in 1804 and died June 30, 1861 in Charleston, South Carolina. His mother was Mary Mayo. Joel's father John was a wealthy slave trader. Joel was a cadet at the South Carolina Military Academy also known as the Citadel. He was a drill master at Camp Butler, near Aiken, S.C. and helped train the 14th SC Infantry. He enlisted in the Confederate service in Captain Moses Humprhey's 16th Battalion SC Partisan Rangers on June 9, 1862 at the Citadel and transferred to Co. D. 5th SC Cavalry. In April 1864, he was sent to Richmond, Va to join the Army of Northern Virginia as part of Butler's Brigade, Hampton's Cavalry Division. On June 20, 1864, Womack was captured at White House near Louisa Court House, Va. He was sent to Point Lookout, MD, but was transferred to Elmira, NY. On October 27, 1864, he escaped through the main gate of the prison using a forged pass made from a blank form found in a book lent to him by a Union officer. He managed to make it back to Richmond, Va. and rejoined his company. He surrendered at Hillsboro, NC on April 27, 1865. After the war, he was one of the organizers of the Louisville Jockey Club and was secretary when Churchill Downs was built in 1875. He was a close friend of Col. Merriwether Lewis Clark, Jr. and assisted Clark in establishing the Kentucky Derby. Joel Womack's daughter, Margaret O'Bannon Womack, was a authoress and wrote "Red Cross Girls" "Ranch Girls" and "Campfire Girls", a series of books for young ladies. She became a New York socialite.