Key Facts

Snapshot:	carpenter, baker, Confederate soldier
Parents:	unknown
Born:	probably 11 March 1825, although there's some contradictory information Augusta, Richmond County, Georgia
Last known record:	pension application signed 5 January 1906 Johnson County, Georgia
Buried:	unknown

92John G. Tant was born in Augusta, Georgia1 probably on 11 March 1825,2 although records show a fairly wide range of other dates/estimates: March 1825,3 circa 1825,4 circa 1830,5 circa 1831,6,7 circa 1832,1,8, and 11 March 1835.9 I have no photo of him, but in 1861 he was described as 5'10" tall, light complexion, blue eyes, brown hair.1

In 1850 he was living in Richmond County, Georgia in the same house as Henry S. Tant, who was only a few years older, and next door to Thomas Tant, a much older man.7 These are undoubtably 92John's family members, probably brother and father, respectively, although I've been unable to find adequate evidence to prove so.

1850: 92John's household in Richmond County, Georgia. Full page.7

92John married 93Rebecca Hill on 19 November 1854 in Richmond County.10

92John's and 93Rebecca Hill's marriage certificate. Full page.10

Newspaper articles list 92John as a registered voter in Augusta in 1857 and 1858.11,12

By 1860 he had a 4 year-old son, had taken up carpentry (the same occupation as Henry S. Tant in the 1850 census7), and still lived in Richmond County.8 An 1861 Augusta city directory shows his address as 3 Bay Street,13 although I haven't been able to pinpoint the exact location on a modern map.

92John's family in Richmond County, Georgia. Full page.8

92John in Augusta's 1861 city directory.13

The Civil War began that same year. On 27 April 1861 92John enlisted in Capt. Foster Blodget, Jr.'s, Company (later known as Company I), 3rd Georgia Infantry.6 (Note: This company was later detached and became known as Milledge's Company, Georgia Light Artillery.) An Augusta newspaper described the scene the following day; two excerpts are below, although you may prefer to read the page in full.14 First Baptist Church (mentioned in the excerpt) is at N33.47304 W81.96681, although the original church building itself no longer exists. An image of the original church building (as it would've appeared in 1861) is below.15

A day or so later, the company left Augusta en route to Virginia. The train depot mentioned in the news article below14 is at N33.4746 W81.9587, although nearly all of the existing structure was built after 1861. A Sanborn map shows how the area looked in 1884.

In Virginia, the regiment began training at Camp Gwynn, which lay just outside the walls of Gosport Shipyard16 (now known as the Norfolk Naval Shipyard). Using an 1851 map,17 I determined that Camp Gwynn was more or less at N36.821444 W76.298208.

Despite the fanfare and training, 92John didn't stay with Blodget's Company for long. He was present through June,18 but he got a disability certificate on 31 July1 and was discharged not long thereafter.19 Later records reveal that he had an chronic scrotal hernia.20,21 The disability certificate was issued at Camp Gwynn.

He enlisted again the following May, this time in Company F, 12th Battalion Georgia Light Artillery,22 although illness intermittently hindered his involvement. He was admitted to a Confederate hospital in Dalton, Georgia from 31 July to 6 September 1862.17 He was present from November 1862 through June 186323 and served at least part of that time as a "wagoner." 24 (As such, he would transport supplies and take care of the animals that pulled the wagon.) On 12 August 1863 he became "sick at Charleston S.C" 25 but apparently recovered more quickly than before, since on 17 October 1863 he was detached from his company to serve on James Island.26 He returned to his company for the last two months of the year.27

On 23 November 1863, Surgeon John Geddings requested 92John as a wardmaster at a hospital in Augusta.28 Strangely, the very next day Surgeon William Cummings also requested 92John as a wardmaster at a hospital in Charleston,29 but ultimately he was assigned to Augusta.30

He was arrested in Charleston and kept in a jail there—presumably the Old Charleston Jail—from 28 January 1864 until April or thereabouts,31 although I don't know on what charge(s). Another record states that he went absent without leave on 20 April 1864.32 There is no other record of his service until Lee's surrender.

In 1867 the U.S. Congress passed several Reconstruction Acts. These Acts divided the former Confederacy into several military occupation zones, which were ruled by Union military commanders. The Acts also directed the commanding officers to register Southerners who wanted to vote in upcoming elections. One registration requirement was to swear an oath of loyalty to the United States; the obvious intent was to disfranchise any lingering Confederate resistance. 92John swore his oath on 11 July 1867. He was a resident of militia district 1169 (map), Glascock County, Georgia.33

92John's Reconstruction-era voter registration oath.33

The 1870 census shows 92John still in Glascock County with his son 46Rhoden.5 Absent is his wife 93Rebecca, who presumably had died. 92John doesn't seem to have been doing well financially, since the "value of real estate" and "value of personal estate" columns are both blank.5

92John's family in Glascock County, Georgia. Full page.5

In the years after the war he took up "farming when [he] could," but by 1898 he was "still suffering from the rupture[?] received in war. not able to do work of any kind," had no family, no homestead, and was almost totally dependent on support from friends.34 An attached affidavit suggests that his hernia began in 1862.21

In 1900 he was living as a boarder in the home of John Edge in Johnson County, Georgia.3

1900: 92John is an impoverished boarder in Johnson County. Full page.3

He was almost blind in 190035 and in 1904 he began to sign his name with an X.36 (By comparison, in earlier records he had signed his full name, and the censuses state that he knew how to read and write.)

92John signed a pension application on 5 January 1906, and this is the last record that I've found of him. The application shows his residence as Johnson County, Georgia.37

The last time 92John signed a document (so far as I have found).37

I don't know where he's buried. He's not in the index of the book Searching for Our Ancestors Among the Gravestones: A Cemetery Record of Johnson County, Georgia, 2nd edition (Johnson County Historical Society, 2000).

Sources Cited:

1: Compiled Confederate service record of Private John G. Tant of Company I, 3rd Georgia Infantry, page 7. NARA microfilm publication M266, roll 111. National Archives Catalog, <https://catalog.archives.gov/id/163148092> et seq., accessed 23 February 2020. Hereafter abbreviated as "Service record A."

2: Georgia Confederate pension office, RG 58-1-1. Application for John G. Tant, pages 2, 5, 7, and 11. Georgia Archives Virtual Vault record ID USAMILCONFEDGA_182691-00544, <https://vault.georgiaarchives.org/digital/collection/TestApps/id/454600/rec/1>, accessed 2 February 2020. Hereafter abbreviated as "Pension application."

3: 1900 U.S. Federal Census (Population Schedule). Wrightsville district, Johnson County, Georgia. Enumeration district 53, sheet 24A, dwelling 422, family 443, John Edge household. NARA microfilm publication T623, roll 207. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-D1K9-X74?i=46&wc=9B7P-KX3%3A1030554001%2C1032010701%2C1033798501&cc=1325221>.

4: Johnson County, Georgia. Register of Voters for years 1900-1908. Militia district 1201, year 1902, n.p. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QHV-83C4-8VGM?i=20&cat=260103>, accessed 1 February 2020.

5: 1870 U.S. Federal Census (Population Schedule). Glascock County, Georgia. Page 100, dwelling 246, family 246, John G. Tant household. NARA microfilm publication M593, roll 152. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-XCZQ-622?i=30&cc=1438024&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AMC3Q-54P >.

6: Service record A, op. cit., page 2.

7: 1850 U.S. Federal Census (Population Schedule). Richmond County, Georgia. Page 453, dwelling 193, family [blank], Henry S. Tant household. NARA microfilm publication M432, roll 81. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-XX63-LV7?i=26&cc=1401638&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AMZYZ-7RT>.

8: 1860 U.S. Federal Census (Population Schedule). 1st ward of Augusta, Richmond County, Georgia. Page 2, dwelling 15, family 10, John Tant household. NARA microfilm publication M653, roll 135. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GYBT-497?i=1&cc=1473181&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AMZMR-PHC>.

9: Pension application, op. cit., page 9.

10: Richmond County, Georgia. Marriage book B (1839-1855), page 341, marriage of John G. Tant and Rebecca Hill, dated 19 November 1854. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9PPD-KT3?i=410&cat=126768>.

11: Daily Chronicle & Sentinel (Augusta, Georgia), Friday morning 27 March 1857, page 3. Georgia Historic Newspapers, <https://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/lccn/sn82015215/1857-03-27/ed-1/seq-3/>, accessed 1 February 2020.

12: Augusta Evening Dispatch (Augusta, Georgia), 31 March 1858, page 1. Georgia Historic Newspapers, <https://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/lccn/sn85038505/1858-03-31/ed-1/seq-1/>, accessed 1 February 2020. This record shows 92John as a registered voter in Augusta in 1858.

13: Tuther's Augusta Directory for 1861 to Which is Added a Business Directory (Steam Power Press Chronicle & Sentinel, Augusta, Georgia, 1861), page 106. Copied in 2010 from the University of Georgia's Main Library, microfilm FILM F 294.A9 A2 r. 1.

14: Weekly Chronicle & Sentinel (Augusta, Georgia), Wednesday morning 1 May 1861, page 2, columns 7 and 8. Georgia Historic Newspapers, <https://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/lccn/sn82014777/1861-05-01/ed-1/seq-2/>, accessed 2 February 2020.

15: Anna Olive Jones, History of the First Baptist Church of Augusta, Georgia (R. L. Bryan Co., Columbia, SC), page 16. I can't seem to find an in-text citation for the origin of the image itself.

16: John W. Lindsey and Charles H. Andrews, "Portsmouth and Roanoke Island," Third Georgia Regiment: History of Its Campaigns from April 26th, 1861 to April 9th, 1865 (publication information not available). Quoted by Civilwartalk.com user Legion Para, "First Regimental Flag of the 3rd Georgia Volunteer Infantry," CivilWarTalk.com, posted 18 March 2017, <https://civilwartalk.com/threads/first-regimental-flag-of-the-3rd-georgia-volunteer-infantry.132556/>, accessed 4 February 2020.

17: "Map of the city of Norfolk and the town of Portsmouth." Map. Rolin & Keily, 1851. Library of Congress, <https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3884n.ct003082/?r=-0.437,0.041,1.795,0.733,0> accessed 4 February 2020. I superimposed the 1851 map over a modern map, and I set the image corners to the following coordinates: bottom left, 36.867436, -76.300239; upper left, 36.856425, -76.263211; upper right, 36.813569, -76.280883; and lower right, 36.823417, -76.317911. Per Lindsey's and Andrews' book (See citation #15 above), Camp Gwynn lay in an uncultivated field just outside the walls of Gosport Shipyard, so I could deduce the location of Camp Gwynn from the map.

18: Service record A, op. cit., page 3.

19: ibid., pages 4 and 5. These records contradict each other: Page 4 indicates that he was discharged on 31 July (the same date on the disability certificate on page 7), versus page 5 says 31 September.

20: Compiled Confederate service record of Private John G. Tant of Company F, 12th Battalion, Georgia Light Artillery, page 17. NARA microfilm publication M266, roll 87. National Archives Catalog, <https://catalog.archives.gov/id/163082498>, accessed 23 February 2020. Hereafter abbreviated as "Service record B."

21: Pension application, op. cit., page 3.

22: Service record B, op. cit., page 3.

23: ibid., pages 5-8.

24: ibid., page 6.

25: ibid., page 9.

26: ibid., page 10.

27: ibid., page 11.

28: ibid., page 25.

29: Compiled Confederate service record of Alphonse Gambotis of Capt. LeGardeur, Jr.'s, Company, Orleans Guard Battery, Louisiana Light Artillery, pages 21 and 22. NARA microfilm publication M320, roll 56. Fold3.com, <https://www.fold3.com/image/65575768> (page 22), accessed 2 February 2020. To see the images for yourself, you can download the service record as a ZIP file.

30: Service record B, op. cit., page 24.

31: ibid., page 13.

32: ibid., page 14.

33: Georgia's 1867-1868 Voter Registration Oath Books. Volume 107 (Glascock County Book 5), page 112, entry 7, John G. Tant. Ancestry.com ("Georgia, Returns of Qualified Voters and Reconstruction Oath Books, 1867-1869" / Oath Book / Glascock / 18 / image 101 of 261). Although I copied the image from Ancestry.com, the corresponding microfilm at the Georgia Archives is microfilm 296/40.

34: Pension application, op. cit., page 2.

35: ibid., page 5.

36: ibid., page 8.

37: ibid., page 7.