William A.G. Dean
Enlisted
Oct 4th 1862 at Warrensburg Tn and mustered in at Henderson's Depot
on Nov 10 1862. He was captured
at the Big Black May 17 1863 and marched to Indianapolis and
released on condition of enlistment
in the 8th Tenn Cav. USA. When he enlisted his profession was
brickmason. His father died before he was 14. In 1870 he married a rich
widow in Whitesburg Tennessee and at about the same time purchased clay
banks south of Whitesburg and began making brick. (likely purchased
from his father-in-law). He replaced the log structure Bent Creek
Baptist (2nd oldest in Tennessee) with a brick one in 1870. He built several
homes, hotels, schools, and many of the store fronts that still stand in
nearby Morristown, Tennessee, including the Rose Center named for his old
commander in the 61st, James G. Rose. The second floor of Bent Creek
Church served a Masonic Lodge. He was Master of the Lodge during
the 1870's. My grandfather born in 1875 recalled he and his brother having
to get up every morning winter or summer to build a good fire before helping
their father from bed in the 80's and 90's. He had been so severely
frost bitten at Saltville, Virginia, that by this time his feet were drawn
against his shins. He is buried at Cathrine Nenny Church Cemetery
between Russellville and Warrensburg Tennesse. -Randy Frazier(39) A post war image of Dean