Joseph Dyer was born on February 19th, 1834, in Morgan County, Kentucky. He was the son of Francis Dyer, Jr., and Jemima Robbins, the third of six children. Joseph married Lucretia Gullet in 1854 in the county clerk's office at West Liberty, Morgan County, Kentucky. In the 1860 census, Joseph was a constable and had a 3-year-old daughter at the time.
Joseph was conscripted into the Union army and inducted on Oct. 28th, 1863, at Covington, Kentucky. Apparently, he was given the choice of enlisting for one year or spending the same amount of time in prison. Obviously, he chose the former and served in Co. D of the 45th Kentucky Mounted Infantry.
On Nov. 30th, 1863, during a skirmish near Salyersville, Joseph was captured with several other Union soldiers by Rebel soldiers under the command of Capt. Peter Everett, Co. B, Third Battalion Kentucky Mounted Rifles, C. S. A. From Joseph's pension records state that the Confederates took everything from them, "leaving us only our shirts, breeches and blouse." One of those captured with Joseph, Mahalon R. Steele, stated that, "I remember that a number of the rebels were suffering from exposure... Joseph Dyer was able bodied and never failing in his duty." Joseph himself stated that he was very cold on the trip to Richmond and that he suffered greatly. He was detained at Richmond, Virginia, as a prisoner of war during December of 1863. He was shipped to several different prisons, including Belle Isle, Charleston, and Florence, South Carolina, and then was sent to Andersonville, Georgia, on February 14, 1864.
Mahalon stated in Joseph's pension records that, "we were expected to live on such small rations that we all nearly starved to death. This lasted for over four months." Mahalon further stated that Joseph appeared very poorly, suffering from scurvy and exposure from prison life, and when Joseph was exchanged in the winter of '64, Mahalon feared that he would never see him alive again.
In July of 1864, Joseph was crippled in his right hip due to an injury caused by a stampede of prisoners while some prison thieves were being executed. Joseph stated that he had a disease of the throat because of exposure and the hardships of prison life, causing him to spit up blood. Joseph was paroled in Charleston, South Carolina, on December 10th, 1864. He was discharged from the service March 24th, 1865, at Covington, Kentucky.
Joseph died of heart disease on September 5th, 1926, in Kenova, West Virginia. Joseph was buried in the Captain Powers Cemetery located on Lakeville Road, Route 7, about 1 mile outside Salyersville.