| JOHN LAFAYETTE HILLIARD American Civil War |
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| John Hilliard is my great-great grandfather, grandfather to Mary (Hilliard) Paez, my mother's mother. Copies of the Civil War muster rolls for John L. Hilliard have been provided by a Hilliard family member, and although I have not personally verified their connection to my great-great-grandfather, the information contained in them is consistent with the inscription on his grave: "CO H 63 TENN INF C.S.A." According to the muster rolls for John L. Hilliard, he joined the Confederate Army as a Private in May of 1862 at Charleston, Tennessee for a period of one year under Capt. B.F. Brittain's Company of Tennessee Volunteers, which also became known as Company H of the 63rd Regiment Tennessee Infantry. On September 5, 1863 he was captured by Union soldiers at Jonesboro, Tennessee, and he remains in captured status through April 1864. The roll for that month indicates his age to be 20 years. It is not known under what circumstances he was captured, where he was held, or for what period of time. Thousands of prisoners had been taken by the end of the second year of the war, and in the beginning, most were exchanged and returned to their respective armies after a few months. After 1863, far fewer exchanges occurred, and by April of 1864, almost no exchanges were being made at all. The death rate of prisoners was appalling, due largely to ignorance and overcrowding which resulted in poor sanitary conditions. Disease killed far more men in both armies than did bullets. Roughly two-thirds of the casualties were due to illnesses such as dysentery, diarrhea, measles, malaria, and typhoid. Medical knowledge was so inadequate that the sick or wounded who were sent to a hospital were more likely to die than recover. It is historically noted that more Americans died in the Civil War than in all other American wars combined, from the colonial period through the later phase of the Vietnam War. By whatever means John Hilliard was returned to safety, as his descendants, we can thank God for his survival. Click here to view the muster roll for this soldier. |
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