John A. Gage was born around 1840. By the early 1860s, he was living in Texas. He enlisted in the Confederate army on September 7, 1861, and he mustered in as a private in Company D of the 8th Texas Cavalry. The regiment took part in the Battle of Shiloh, the Battle of Perryville, the Battle of Fort Pillow, the Battle of Chickamauga, and the Carolinas campaign. He described Shiloh as “one of the hardest fought battles on record.” He died in the Battle of Aiken in February 1865.