Written by James Whitesell; Edited by Cheri Todd Molter
An Oral History Told to me by my Great Uncle Louie Martin:
My Great-great-grandfather, John Tyler Martin, signed up with the 21st NC, Company L. J. T. Martin was a 2nd Lieutenant at the time of Gettysburg, and on the 2nd day of that battle, the 21st charged up Cemetery Hill very late in the day. He was shot in the knee and continued to direct his men forward while sitting on a fence. He was captured and, when Union surgeons offered to remove the bullet, he refused and walked with a limp the rest of his days. Hoping that he would give up his comrades’ positions, his captors offered him food, but he refused it. He spent the rest of the war at Johnson’s Island prison.