John J. Curtis Sabine Parish, Louisiana

John J. Curtis was born in Sabine parish on June 17, 1843, and is one of the oldest native citizens now living in the parish. His father was a pioneer of the Tore country, settling there in 1827.

The subject of this sketch received what little education he was able to obtain in a log school house. In April, 1861, when only 18 years of age, he enlisted in the first company which left Sabine parish to fight in the Civil War, under the command of Capt. Arthur McArthur. This command was assigned to the army in Virginia in Gen, Stonewall Jackson's brigade. Mr. Curtis was in the most memorable battles of the campaigns of that famous commander. When the battle of the Wilderness was begun on the 5th of May, 1864, only fourteen men of Mr. Curtis' company responded for service, and his leg was broken in this bloody conflict, and his friend Bob Runnels was killed by his side. After lying wounded on the field for three days, he was picked up by the Yankees and taken to their hospital, and he saw only two or three of his comrades after that time. He was taken prisoner by Stewart's cavalry.

He recovered from his wound sufficiently to return home the following fall, and the war was ended a few months later, but, after more than half a century the scenes of that mighty conflict are still fresh in his memory.

He was married and reared a family, all of whom have passed to their reward.

Sabine Parish | AHGP Louisiana

Source: History of Sabine Parish, Louisiana, by John G. Belisle, Sabine Banner Press, 1913.