Joseph Greene was the son of James and Lucy Lanham Greene. He was born in 1844 on a farm near the Luther post office and died in 1910 in Hancock County. He joined the Union Army and served in the Cavalry for nearly four years. He was wounded once, captured once at the Battle of Lookout Mountain, escaped and joined the army of General Sherman on his march-to-the-sea campaign. When the Greene–Jones War broke out and he was asked to take part, "he told his brothers that he had killed all the men he ever wanted to kill during the Civil War, and so he took no part in the Greene-Jones War."