James Carroll Cooner, a son of James P. Cooner, was born December 25, 1835, near Pleasant Grove on Lost Creek..
He was 5'10", 155 lbs., and had sandy hair, a fair complexion, blue eyes and no permanent marks or scars.
He could write; he signed all documents in his pension file.
Civil War service:
A card in an anonymous "Civil War soldiers" card file at the Jasper Public Library reads:
"Cooner, James Carroll
B-Dec 25, 1835
D-
Enlisted at Jasper on Sept. 6, 1862 in Co. G., 13th Ala. Cav. under Capt. Shepard.
a son of James P. Cooner"
On September 6, 1862, he enlisted at Jasper as a private in Co. G, 13th AL Cavalry, under Captain Shepherd.
Bruce Myers' annotated1850 Census shows "Corporal James Carroll Cooner born 25 Dec. 1835, died____, Company G, 1st Alabama Cavalry U.S.A."
His gravestone indicates Union service with Co. G, 1st AL Cavalry.
By his own attestation, his Civil War service was as follows:
"I was forsed out in the confederate Armey by the Conscript ofiser but i left and went to the Federal Armey as soon as i cold git acros The lines." He enrolled 8 or 28 Mar 1864 at Decatur, AL as private in Co. G of the 1st AL Cavalry under Captain John H. Hogan and was honorably discharged at Huntsville on 20 or 25 Oct 1865. In Aug 1865 during a battle at Rome, GA, he was overcome by sun-stroke, which left him highly susceptible to overheating the rest of his life; he claimed this as a "nervous disability." He said that he had been treated for this problem by Dr. J.F. Martan, Assistant Surgeon of the 1st AL Cavalry, at Rome in Sept 1864, and during the summer and fall of 1865 at Decatur; that he was treated later by L.C. Miller; and that he "used pattent medisans mostly all the time." In a later claim, he also said that he suffered from "Piles, Heart Truble, Rhumitism and Kidney Deases."
He was designated as a corporal only on his gravestone and in one of two claims by his widow.
George Allison Myers was a soldier in the Confederate Army, but when the Federal Army got to Huntsville, he, his brother Howell, his brother-in-law Jim Tindall, Carol Cooner and Dave Wolf (with Dave acting as a guide) went through the woods from Walker Co. to Huntsville and joined the Union Army. Some of them at least, were imprisoned. (Howell Myers, Jim Tindall and Carol Cooner appear in the roster of the 1st AL Cavalry; the others don't.) Carol Cooner's wife, Mahaley Lawson, was the aunt of George Allison Myers' wife, Sarah Ann Lawson. Also, a number of the Lawsons served in the same company in the 1st AL Cavalry.
Carol and Mahala lived at Wolf Creek. They always lived in Walker Co., with their residence/post office listed variously as Holly Grove (1864, 1915), Beech Grove (1889), Chickasaw (1896, 1902), and Townley (1911, 1914-1916).
He is buried in Files Cemetery, Walker Co., AL. Gravestone inscription:
Cooner, James C.
CORPL CO G
1st ALA CAV USA
Source:
http://www.people.virginia.edu/~bd2m/davis/D0001/I3962.html
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.