I was born on August 7, 1839 in Weakley County Tennessee. My parents gave me the name William Henry HarrisonCarlton after the 9th president of the United States. My parents were Wade and Sarah Putnam Carlton. Most people called me Bill.

They came to Weakley County before I was born. My mother bore him 15 children between 1831 and 1855. My father was also Trustee or tax collector, for two terms in Weakley Co. He worked on the farm part of the time, and was also deputy sheriff which fact took him away from home some. My mother looked after the house work did
spinning and weaving to make clothing for the family.

 My grandfather Thomas Carlton was born in North Carolina in 1788 and served during the War of 1812 with theNorth Carolina troops. After the war he made his way to Rutherford County, Tennessee with his wife Nancy Wade where they lived out their remaining years. He died in 1863 and my grandmother died in 1868.

 As a young boy I attended a subscription school about 3 months out of the year. The school was located 2 1/2 miles from our home. My schooling was a total of about an eighteen month period. We lived in a double log house that was weather boarded and sealed inside.

 My father did not own any slaves. The few families I knew in the county that did own slaves worked harder than the Negroes did.

 I lived and worked on the farm with my father until the age of 22 when the outbreak of the War Between the States came about. Weakley County voted against secession but a large majority of the young men enlisted in the Confederate Army. Because I felt that the Yankees were invading our homeland and our Southern way of life I enlisted in Confederate Sates of America Army in Co. D. 12th Tn Infantry, CSA in August of 1861 at Union City,Tennessee.

In September we moved to Columbus, Kentucky, where Colonel Russell commanded a brigade composed of the12th, 13th, and 21st Tennessee Infantry Regiments On the morning of November 7, 1861 Union forces attacked our troops on the Missouri side of the river. We were ordered across the river to re-enforce our troops on that side of the river. We were ordered to charge with the bayonet while the messengers were down on the riverbank retrieving the ammunition and were stopped short some 50 to 75 yards of the line. I have never understood why we were ordered by General Pillow to charge with the bayonet. After our counterattack, the Union force withdrew, re-embarked, and returned to Cairo. 

After the fall of Fort Donelson, in February 1862, Columbus was evacuated and our brigade moved to Corinth, Mississippi. In the Battle of Shiloh, April 6-7, 1862, Russell's Brigade consisted of the 11th Louisiana,12th,13th,and 22nd Tennessee Infantry Regiments and Bankhead's Battery. We were in Brigadier General Charles Clark's Division and fought both days.

  On the second day of battle at Shiloh I was on picket duty and the firing was fierce. Suddenly a musket ball hit me in the forehead rendering me unconscious. When I came to, "half of us were dead, and the part alive was half dead too." Late in the evening as the sun was going down, and I thought that all of us would be killed or captured I looked out to the West in the sunset and saw shadows growing larger and larger, and soon heard the cry of the rebel yell as Forrest's Cavalry came thundering in and saved us. "Even the dead revived and cheered."

I was taken to the hospital and they placed a silver dollar in my skull where the musket ball hit. I spent about eight weeks there before returning to my unit. 

On July 8,1862, the brigade moved to Tueplo, from there to Chatanooga, where it was detached from the division to join Major General Kirby Smith at Knoxville. We went with him on his Kentucky campaign, and participated in the Battle of Richmond August 30, 1862. In this engagement, we the12th, suffered 32 casualties. We rejoined General Bragg and Cheatham's Division at Harrodsburg, Kentucky and were present but not engaged at the Battle of Perryville.

The brigade retreated with the army to Knoxville, arriving about October 30,1862. Here the 12th and 47th were consolidated into a field organization. We were detailed as guard of the baggage train of the 1st Division on the move from Knoxville to Tullahoma.

 In the Battle of Murfreesboro, December 31,1862, the 12th, commanded by Major J.N. Wyatt, suffered 164 casualties out of 322 engaged. The brigade in this battle was composed of the 12th,13th,29th,47th,154th Tennessee Infantry Regiments, 9th Texas Infantry Regiment and Allin's Sharpshooters.

 Because of the wound to my head at Shiloh I was having seizures and was discharged at Shelbyville, TN. after the battle of Murfreesboro, Feb, 1863. I came home horseback and had no trouble.

These are some of the names that I remember serving with; Jack Hill Capt., S. Wolefent Ft. Lt., Newt Pierce Sargent, V.O. Carlton, Tom Carlton, John Carlton, Wm. Carlton, Mat Davis, Henry Blakemore, Jim Fielder, Bob Crawley, Robt. Walls, Jim Walls, Dick Gardner, Sug Gardner, Jackson Allen, Marcus Dickerson, Canady Dickerson, John
Dance, Bill Bullard, Jim Cawthorn, Rom McCaleb, Steward McCaleb, Bill McCaleb.

On December 26, 1862, the love of my life, Virginia Grissom and I were married. She bore me 4 sons and 6 daughters. Since the close of the war I have farmed all the time as long as I was able in Weakley county Tenn. I have been constable of my district one term and tax assessor one term.

 In 1921 I returned a questionnaire to the State of Tennessee regarding the war. At that time the following veterans were still living; J.T. Haley Gleason Tenn., D.A. Browning Gleason, Tenn, J.F. Summers Gleason, Tenn, John Brawner Gleason, Tenn., J.H Malone Gleason, Tenn., Bob Dunlap McKenzie, Tenn., S. Dunlap McKenzie, Tenn., Albert Montgomery McKenzie, Tenn, Frank Black Gleason, Tenn, Silas Todd Gleason, Tenn.

In the spring of 1935, when I was 95 years old, my daughter Ella and her husband Al Stout brought my 5 year old great grandson Joe William Stout to visit with me. Joe had flaming red hair like a fire truck and I allowed him to put his finger in the hole in my forehead. I told Joe that when I was in the hospital in 1861 they put a silver dollar in my forehead. I also said to him as I had many times over the years that �I�ll never die broke.�

Respectfully submitted,
Joe W. Stout
Member - The Shelby Grays Camp 1852
Sons of Confederate Veterans