John Murdock Daniel
John Murdock Daniel was born on December 22, 1842, in Spartanburg County, South Carolina, to Andrew Jackson Daniel and Nancy Snoddy. His father was a farmer who owned $23,000 of real estate and $37,000 of personal property by 1860. He grew up and attended school in Spartanburg, South Carolina. He enlisted in the Union army on November 21, 1861, and mustered in as a private in Holcombe’s South Carolina Legion. According to his service records, he was 5 feet, 8 inches tall, with dark hair and blue eyes.
The regiment took part in the Second Battle of Bull Run, the Battle of Antietam, the siege of Petersburg, and the Appomattox campaign. His comrades later recalled that he was “faithful and fearless in the face of danger.” He was promoted to corporal in early 1862, to sergeant sometime before September 1862, and to 2nd lieutenant on October 22, 1864. Union forces captured him on April 1, 1865, near Dinwiddie Court House, Virginia, and they sent him to Johnson’s Island in Ohio one week later. He swore an oath of allegiance on June 18, 1865.
After the war, Daniel settled in Fairforest, South Carolina, and worked as a farmer. He married Amanda Smith, and they had at least four children: Frances, born around 1868; Nancy, born around 1869; John, born around 1872; and Mary, born around 1875. By 1870, Daniel owned $1,600 of real estate and $150 of personal property. They moved to White Plains, South Carolina, in the late 1800s. His wife died in the early 1900s, and by 1910, he was living in his daughter Mary’s household in Limestone, South Carolina. He died in Gaffney, South Carolina, of “carcinoma of [the] stomach” on December 11, 1919.
DATABASE CONTENT
| (1829) | Daniel, John Murdock | 1842-12-22 | 1919-12-11 |
- Conflict Side: Confederacy
- Role: Soldier
- Rank in: Private
- Rank out: 2nd Lieutenant
- Rank highest: 2nd Lieutenant
- Gender: Male
- Race: White
Documents - Records: 4
- (6021) [writer] ~ John M. Daniel to Andrew J. Daniel and Nancy V. Daniel, 17 October 1864
- (6022) [writer] ~ John M. Daniel to Doc Daniel, 29 July 1864
- (6023) [writer] ~ John M. Daniel to Andrew J. Daniel and Nancy V. Daniel, 3 September 1863
- (6057) [writer] ~ John M. Daniel to Andrew J. Daniel and Nancy V. Daniel, 6 August 1862
People - Records: 3
Places - Records: 2
Regiments - Records: 1
- (378) [enlisted] ~ Holcombe Legion, South Carolina Cavalry
SOURCES
1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, and 1910 United States Federal Censuses, available from Ancestry.com; Military Service Records of John M. Daniel, available from Fold3.com; The Gaffney Ledger, 13 December 1919; South Carolina Death Records, 1821-1970, available from Ancestry.com.
