Bartlett Van Buren Ownby

OWNBY, BARTLETT VAN BUREN (1841 ~ 1918) Bartlett Van Buren Ownby, Confederate veteran, was born in Tennessee to James Jeremiah and Margaret Henderson Ownby on March 3, 1841. He was the last of 13 children.

Ownby enlisted in the Confederacy in Paris, Tennessee on May 2, 1861. He was mustered into Company A of the 154th Senior Tennessee Infantry Regiment, which was also called the 1st Tennessee Volunteer Regiment.

The 154th Infantry was organized in 1842, as a part of the Tennessee Militia. Once war was declared, the 154th was reorganized for Confederate service on May 14, 1861, and was allowed to keep its regimental number. To further show that the regiment pre-dated all of the other Tennessee units, special permission was given to add "Senior" to its name. Currently, no information has been found to show if Ownby served in the Tennessee Militia.

Ownby and the 154th Infantry were called into Confederate service on August 13, 1861, at New Madrid, Missouri and participated in the battles of Belmont and Shiloh. Only enlisting for 12 months of service, Ownby was honorably discharged and mustered out of service on May 2, 1862.

After returning home and re-enlisting in the Confederate Army, Ownby was mustered into Company I of Colonel Thomas Alonzo Napier's Battalion of the Tennessee Cavalry. Napier's Battalion was organized in December of 1862, at Waverly, Humphreys County, Tennessee. The unit was consolidated with Cox's Battalion on February 25, 1863, to form the 10th Regiment of the Tennessee Cavalry, which was also called DeMoss' Cavalry. Ownby served as a private in Company I.

Throughout the War, the 10th Cavalry participated in the battles of Brentwood, Denmark, Chickamauga, the Atlanta Campaign, and with General John Bell Hood in Tennessee. In February, 1865, the 10th Cavalry was consolidated with the 11th Cavalry and finished out the War in Alabama.

After the War, Ownby migrated to Texas and lived in Lamar, Hunt, and Dallas Counties in 1866, where he appears to have worked as a carpenter. Following his wife's death, he moved to Austin on July 27, 1914, to live in the Confederate Men's Home. He died at the Home on January 22, 1918 and was buried in the Texas State Cemetery four days later.

Ownby's wife's name is not currently known, but he did list a W. A. Ownby of Merit, Hunt County, Texas, as a correspondent while he was living in the Home. It is believed that this may have been his son.

Information taken from: GenCircles website, at http://www.gencircles.com/users/drholcomb/2/data/8337; 154th (Senior) Tennessee Infantry Regiment website, http://www.tngenweb.org/civilwar/csainf//csa154.html; National Park Service website, at http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss; Napier's Tennessee Cavalry Regiment website, at http://www.mindspring.com/~wehman/pages/cav10tn.htm; Confederate Pension Application # 25698; Confederate Home Roster; and City of Austin Cemetery System Interment Report.