SUBMITTED BY: Alan Ashworth (vetted by Cheri Molter)
My Great-grandfather John Calvin McFadyen served the Confederate Army in Co E, 38th NCT—the Richmond County Boys. A copy of their unit song is in Rankin Museum in Ellerbe, NC. John’s unit was guarding the Southside RR in Petersburg, Virginia, on April 3, 1865 when they were overtaken by a Union Calvary unit, captured, and transported to Point Lookout Prison in Maryland. Records document he was held there until June 1865. He and a fellow prisoner, also from Richmond Co., were taken by train to Greensboro, took the oath, and issued a gun and a gold piece. The family story says that he had been blinded in his right eye by an exploding gun, and he and his friend, who had lost a leg, walked from Greensboro to Ellerbe, NC, both looking after each other until they made it home. The gold piece is still in the family: It is an 1858 one-dollar gold piece. He later married Flora E. McInnis, a lady 20 years younger than he, and they had 6 children. He was active in the Confederate Veterans organization. He attended several Reunions and is pictured at a local one at the Ellerbe Springs Inn. He also had three brothers who served, too.
