Lawson Fletcher

**Lawson W. Fletcher** (August 2, 1822 – June 27, 1864) served as a captain in Company A, 13th Tennessee Volunteer Cavalry.

## Personal life

Lawson Fletcher was born August 2, 1822 in Carter County, Tennessee to John and Leah (Brooks) Fletcher. He married Elizabeth Hathaway (1828-1885) with whom he had at least seven children.

## Mexican War service

Fletcher enlisted as a private in Company K, 5th Tennessee Infantry on January 3, 1848 at Jonesborough, Tennessee. He was elected sergeant on May 20, 1848. When the regiment mustered out on July 20, 1848 at Memphis, Tennessee, it was noted that he had last been paid to April 30, 1848, owed $21.00 for clothing in kind or money advanced. He also purchased his musket for $13 and his set of accouterments for $3.50.

## Unionist activity

In 1861, a tall flagpole was erected in the southwest corner of the Elizabethton, Tennessee public square. The U.S. flag remained there until after the Carter County rebellion in November.

Confederate troops arrived in Elizabethton on November 17, 1861, cut down the flagpole, and destroyed the U.S. flag. The pole was re-raised in the center of the square with a Confederate flag flying from it. Two Union men--Charles Gorley and W. G. Meredith—cut down the pole one night and stole the C.S. flag. On the following day, rebel soldiers were not in Elizabethton, and Fletcher took the opportunity to cut up the pole, stating that he intended the pieces to be used as rails to “fence in the Southern Confederacy.”

When Longstreet's army was quartered in nearly every East Tennessee town and village in the winter of 1861-1862, “draining the country of its scanty supplies”, Unionist families were forced to flee their homes for Nashville. Fletcher and his family were among the many families who relocated to Nashville at that time.

## Civil War service

Fletcher assisted with recruiting men for Company A, and enlisted as a private on September 22, 1863 in Carter County, Tennessee. It was intended that he would be appointed captain of the company, but was captured before being mustered into the service and was also assumed to have been killed.

Fletcher is described as 41 years old, 5' 6" tall, dark complexion, black eyes, dark hair, and by occupation a farmer.

After Fletcher was believed to have been killed, he was replaced by Pleasant Williams. Fletcher was captured, escaped, and returned to the regiment when it was at Nashville. He was commissioned as captain of Company A, and Williams submitted his resignation as captain. Before Williams' resignation was accepted, Fletcher became ill and resigned his commission. He died June 27, 1864 at Asylum General Hospital in Knoxville due to chronic diarrhea and is buried at Knoxville National Cemetery in Knoxville, Tennessee.

His wife applied for a widow's pension on October 15, 1864. A minor guardian's pension for John K. Miller, a child by his wife's second husband, was submitted on June 17, 1871.

## Notes

1. ↑ 1860 U.S. Census, 1st Division, Carter County, Tennessee.
2. ↑ Scott & Angel, p. 367.
3. ↑ Scott & Angel, p. 134.
4. ↑ According to family history, Fletcher was captured by a rebel scouting arty in Washington County, Tennessee while on his return to Carter County. He was then taken to Jonesborough, then Bristol, Virginia, and sentenced to be shot for recruiting within Confederate lines. He is reputed to have said, “Gentlemen, you can kill me but once.” The execution was delayed or prevented for unknown reasons and Fletcher was “thrown into the the county dungeon at Abingdon, Virginia, where he spent the next five months without even a bed of straw on a long floor, not even a change of clothing the entire time. Without a blanket or overcoat, he passed the winter of 1863-64.” Fletcher reportedly worked with other prisoners to tunnel out of the jail and subsequently escaped. Family history further states, “After five and a half days in deep snow in the mountains, without a morsel of food, making his way on foot through the mountains, he reported for duty at Knoxville.” See, *Carter County, Tennessee and its People, 1796-1993* (Elizabethton, TN: Carter County History Book Committee), 1993, p. 37. Entry submitted by Arlie M. Cole.
5. ↑ Scott & Angel, p. 282.
6. ↑ It is undetermined if the pension was granted.