The first Confederate enlistment for John Elsberry Edgemon was with Company A, 3rd Arkansas Infantry. A few months later he appeared on the roll of Company A, 18th Arkansas Infantry...known as Marmadukes Company. And soon thereafter on roll as Pvt., Co. K Arkansas Cavalry. And at some point fell in with the 5th Tennessee Infantry...serving no more than two months with the 5th, he then appears on Muster Roll of I Company 12th Kentucky Cavalry Regiment and by January 25, 1864 he had been promoted to Full Corpl. He was wounded in the shoulder at Okolona, Mississippi.

The following is a Union report of the event that took place on February 22, 1864...the day that John Elsberry Edgemon was wounded.

Okolona, Mississippi February 22, 1864: Cavalry Division, 16th Army Corps and 4th U. S. Cavalry.

As an incident of the Meridian Campaign, Brig. Gen. William Sooy Smith left Collierville, Tennessee, with a cavalry force of 7,000 men; his object being to move by Pontotoc and Okolona and join Sherman at Meridian.

On reaching Okolona the 4th Regulars drove an entire Confederate Brigade out of town three different times. A portion of McCrillis' Brigade sent to support the 4th stampeded when the regulars charged the enemy and galloping to the rear spread confusion in the ranks of the remainder of the division, upsetting into a ditch and rendering useless a battery of 6 small mountain howitzers.

The division was then compelled to fall back to Ivey's farm, where it deployed in a fine position, two regiments supporting a 6 gun battery and the remainder in position for a saber charge. The rear guard being heavily pressed was called in, the battery opened upon the enemy and the dismounted troops supporting the artillery poured a heavy musketry fire into the approaching column, which was finally repulsed.

Just as the enemy was falling back the 4th Mo. and 7th Ind. charged in front and the 3d Tenn. in flank, turning the withdrawal into a rout. The casualties for this single engagement were not reported, but for the whole expedition, of which this was the hardest fight, the loss in the division was 54 killed, 179 wounded and 153 missing.

The loss in the Confederate force for the single engagement was not reported, but for three days (Feb. 20, 21 and 22) amounted to 27 killed, 97 wounded and 20 captured or missing.

Less than four months later, John Elsberry Edgemon was reported as killed while with I Company 12th Kentucky Cavalry Regiment, on June 11, 1864. But he did not die while serving in the Civil War. After the war, he made several attempts to claim a pension...there are even claims made, while he was still alive, by his wife, attempting to claim widow's pension. All claims were denied.

John Elsberry Edgemon was son of Braxton Edgemon and Polly Casey.

Submitted by Judy Tate

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