City: Nashville
MORTON, John Watson, public official, retired; born Hillsboro, Tenn., September, 1842; Scotch-Irish descent; son of Dr. John Watson and Sarah Buchanan (Goodwin) MORTON; maternal grandparents John and Sarah (Ridley) BUCHANAN; his paternal grandmother was called “The Heroine of the West;” his maternal grandfather commanded Fort Buchanan on Mill Creek; his maternal grandmother was the daughter of Capt. George RIDLEY, who built Fort Ridley, near Nashville; received elementary education Nashville public schools; graduated Nashville Medical College, February 28, 1867; he was valedictorian of his class of fifty graduates; when at the age of 17 he volunteered Maney’s First Tennessee Regiment of Infantry, C. S. A.; on account of his youth he was not permitted to remain with the regiment, but he later sought and obtained an enlistment in the battery of Capt. Thomas K. Porter; he was successively promoted to Corporal, Sergeant and then to a Lieutenancy; when Capt. Porter was severely wounded at Fort Donelson he commanded the battery and received commendation from Gens. S. B. Buckner and John C. Brown; he was captured at the fall of Ft. Donelson and spent several months in a Northern prison; he was exchanged; joined Gen. Forrest’s command and was made Captain in the autumn of 1862; he was later placed in command of five batteries as Forrest’s Chief of Artillery, and was the youngest officer filling that position in either the Confederate or Union armies; he participated in all of the stirring campaigns of Gen. Forrest; long after almost every other Confederate force had gone to pieces, when Forrest surrendered at Gainesville, Ala., May, 1865, Morton’s batteries were intact and ready to fight; he was the first President Confederate Bivouacs in camps in Tennessee; he was the organizer, promoter and first president of the Tennessee Fruit and Vegetable Growers’ Association; was Assistant Commissioner of Agriculture Tennessee Centennial; exhibits of farm and garden products are now at the State capitol, agricultural department; author of “History of the Tennessee Centennial;” first Coal Oil Inspector city of Nashville, Tenn.; Secretary State of Tennessee for eight years; he has been successively soldier, physician, editor, public official and farmer, and has contributed to the progress of farming and horticulture in Tennessee; married twice, first Annie HUMPHREYS, September 15, 1868; second, Mrs. Ellen Bourne TYNES, August 6, 1901; member Masons, Elks and Nashville Board of Trade.
Source: Who’s Who in Tennessee: A Biographical Reference Book of Notable Tennesseans of To-Day. Memphis: Paul & Douglas Co, 1911.
