Submitted by Donna W. Collins
John Logan was born in 1827, Marion County, Alabama to Robert "Bob" Logan and Virginia Jane "Jennie" McCaleb. The Logans were staunch Republicans and Church of Christ believers. Robert had been raised as a Presbyterian but was supposedly converted by Andrew Campbell.
The eight brothers, born between 1823 and 1847 all supported the Union cause although the oldest, Daniel Lapsley "Lap" Logan could not enlist for medical reasons. Because of a hernia, he was unable to serve in the Union Army with his brothers but he helped build bridges for the Union forces. It is possible Lap died from tuberculosis although it is rumored he was murdered and his body tied on the back of horse, taken home, and thrown into the yard.
John voluntarily enlisted in the Union Army, January 16, 1863 for one year at Glendale, Mississippi. He was mustered in on January 22, 1863 at Corinth, MS as a private in Captain David B. Waldeman’s Company B, 1st Regiment of Alabama Calvary. He was honorably discharged in Memphis, Tennessee, January 22, 1864. John married Margaret Catherine Pate on March 26, 1869. Margaret had been born March 20, 1842 in Marion County, Alabama. John and Margaret’s birth dates used here are from the 1880 census records and from John’s service records. They do not match their grave markers. Their farming homestead was near Guin in Marion County, Alabama. They were the parents of ten children. John died January 26, 1898 and is buried with his wife in the Logan Family Cemetery located on their homestead.
Service records compiled by Glenda Todd and used with her permission. This and other information about the history of the First and the men who fought with the unit
can be found in her book, First Alabama Cavalry, USA: Homage to Patriotism.