On this day in history, 6 May 1864, Private Jasper Newton Joiner Sr (1837-1864) was killed in action at the Battle of the Wilderness in Spotsylvania County, Virginia.
Jasper was a private in Company E, 17th Regiment, Georgia Volunteer Infantry, Army of Northern Virginia, C.S.A. Company E was comprised of men from Mitchell County, Georgia. Jasper and his brother, Andrew, enlisted on 12 Aug 1861. Their brother-in-law, Manning “Dow” Shiver Jr, husband of Celia Elizabeth Joiner, served in the same unit.
The Battle of the Wilderness, fought 5-7 May 1864, was the first battle of Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s 1864 Virginia Overland Campaign against Gen. Robert E. Lee and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War. Both armies suffered heavy casualties, a harbinger of a bloody war of attrition by Grant against Lee’s army and, eventually, the Confederate capital, Richmond, Virginia. The battle was tactically inconclusive, as Grant disengaged and continued his offensive.
Wikipedia
U.S. casualties and losses were 17,666 including 2,246 killed, 12,037 wounded, and 3,383 captured/missing. C.S.A casualties and losses were 11,033 including 1,477 killed, 7,866 wounded, and 1,690 captured/missing. [from Wikipedia]
The 17th Regiment fought at the Peninsula Campaign (May 1862), the Battle of Garnett’s & Golding’s Farm, the Seven Days Battles at the Battle of Malvern Hill, the Battle of Fredericksburg, the Battle of Gettysburg, the Battle of Chickamauga, the Knoxville Campaign, the Battle of the Wilderness, the Battle of Cold Harbor, the Siege of Petersburg—some of the most significant battles of the Civil War—and surrendered at Appomattox Court House on 9 Apr 1865.
In the 1860 US Census, Jasper is listed as a laborer, probably on his father’s farm, living in Mitchell County, Georgia, with his wife Sarah D. Shiver Joiner, apparently married less than one year.
Jasper was survived by Sarah, young daughters Laura and Anna, and son Jasper Jr. The children are listed with Sarah in the 1870 US Census.
PVT Jasper Newton Joiner Sr (1837-1864) is 5th great-uncle of MKS in the Knight branch.