Private John Lynn
Pvt. John Lynn
Private/Wagoner John Lynn was born c.1843 in Franklin County, Virginia. He was likely sold as a child to enslavers in Tennessee and had no further contact with his parents. At the time of his death, his widow could only report his parents and their birthplace as unknown. John enlisted on Nov. 30, 1863, in Murfreesboro, TN. He was described as 20 years old, 5’7” tall, with dark complexion, black eyes, and black hair. His occupation was listed as farmer, and he enlisted for three years.
Pvt Lynn served with the 17th United States Colored Troops Infantry Co. H, which was organized at Nashville, TN on Dec. 21, 1863. He served with 236 other men in Company H. His military records indicate that at times he was dispatched elsewhere as a wagoner. Waggoneers, or teamsters, would have transported supplies and equipment for their regiment. Lynn would have been skilled at navigating trails over rough terrain with his horse and wagon.
In his pension records his friends describe his disposition. John Wright and Samuel Gilbert did not serve in the same company but said they knew him better than many in their own unit. They described him as a “jolly” Wagoneer who sang songs. Other testimonials describe him as a “stout” man prior to the war.
Lynn is one of seven Franklin-born USCT troops to fight at the Battle of Nashville on December 15-16, 1864. The Battle of Nashville included the largest number of Black soldiers on any Civil War battlefield. USCT troops were already stationed along the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad on December 15 when eight USCT regiments were united under the command of Brigadier General Thomas Wood and attacked a Confederate battery. When Confederates responded, the 17th USCT took shelter behind man-made embankments and held their position bravely.
Lynn was injured on the first day of the two-day battle. In a sworn statement, Lynn said around 9 am he helped make up a skirmish line in front of his regiment about 200 yards from the enemy. The Confederates were “shooting at us all the time. I got behind a tree for protection and to see how to fire.” Lynn said he placed his hand on the left side of the tree to lean around the right side and look, and that’s when his hand was hit by a minie ball, the lead bullet used in muzzle loaded rifles. The minie ball fractured his metacarpals and severed muscles in his left hand as it passed through and impacted his use of all four fingers, which he could not close on anything small even after his wound healed. He could only grasp objects with his thumb and fore finger.
Lynn was sent to Cumberland Hospital where, while his hand healed, he contracted smallpox. He was then sent to a smallpox hospital near Sulpher Springs. He was hospitalized for 6 months. Four weeks after being discharged from the smallpox hospital he noticed his left eye was inflamed, discharging water, and was painful. His eye grew weaker until he could not see from it.
Another fellow soldier said, after Lynn’s two hospital stays “he was much reduced in flesh and does not look like the same soldier.”
Because Lynn was discharged with smallpox 3 days before mustering out, his initial application for the rest of his bounty and a pension was denied. He applied a second time and was granted a $4/month pension for his disabled hand, which was increased to $12 /month in 1890 when he was deemed unable to earn a living through manual labor.
Pension records also reveal that Lynn suffered from rheumatism, mainly in his left side and shoulder. He experienced his first attack of rheumatism in 1892, which confined him to bed for three weeks. Lynn suffered from it on and off for the rest of his life.
His hand also continued to bother him for the rest of his life. He and his wife resided in Evansville, Indiana. A neighbor, 29 y/o William Watson, testified that Lynn “is so unable to grasp any object with his hand it becomes stiff and painful in cold weather” and that in hot weather it becomes swollen to the point he must wear a sling. Another neighbor, Frank Bryant, said Lynn’s hand disables him “as much as if said hand were amputated.” These statements would have been made as sworn affidavits to a Special Examiner, employed by the Dept of the Interior’s Pension Bureau, whose job was to determine the authenticity of pension claimants.
Lynn died on May 5th, 1907, at age 64 due to enteritis, or inflammation of the small intestines. He was buried on Locust Hill located in Evansville on May 7th, 1907.
Contributors: Rebecca Steele, Sarah Plummer, Cathie Cummins, John Wood, Lauren Bowers, Garreth Rudd, Payton DiNardo, Alex Frost, Parmis Nazliaka and Riley Fullman