John Lord Boatwright was born on May 24, 1843, in Columbia, SC, to John and Mary Boatwright. His father was a physician who served of mayor of Columbia from 1860 until 1863. In 1860, the family owned $10,000 of real estate and $10,500 of personal property. Boatwright was a cadet at West Point, but he resigned and returned home to South Carolina during the secession crisis.

 

He enlisted in the Confederate army on May 30, 1861, and mustered in as a private in Company C of the 2^nd South Carolina Infantry. He mustered out on October 10, 1861, but he became a 2^nd lieutenant in the Confederate army the following year. The army assigned him to the Ordnance Office in 1863 and then to the 1^st Foreign Battalion in November 1864. He was promoted to captain in February 1865.

 

Boatwright married Anna Pendleton Taliaferro on August 25, 1863, and they had at least five children: Edmund Pendleton, born around 1864; John Henry, born around 1866; Mary Lord, born around 1869; V. T., born around 1878; and Octavia, born around 1880. They settled in Wilmington, North Carolina, after the war, and he served as a clerk at a wholesale firm. He eventually opened his own business. His wife died in 1908, and by 1910, he was living in his daughter Octavia’s household in Wilmington. A local writer described him as a “public spirited citizen” who “took an active part in every movement for the city’s betterment.” He died in Wilmington on January 14, 1917.

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