Madison County AlArchives Biographies.....Brandon, John D. 1837 - 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 September 19, 2011, 4:45 am

Source: See below
Author: Smith & De Land, publishers

  JOHN D. BRANDON, Attorney-at-law, was born at Huntsville, December 18, 1837.
The senior Brandon came to Alabama from Tennessee, when nineteen years of age;
began the study of law in the office of Gov. C. C. Clay, at Huntsville, and was
admitted to the bar in 1822. He practiced law here up to the year of his death,
which occurred June 2, l838. He died in the thirty-eighth year of his age. Mr.
Brandon was a successful lawyer and regarded as one of the ablest jurists of his
day. He died the possessor of a handsome estate. He was United States Attorney
under Jackson seven years, and the Government Commissioner's legal adviser in
their treaty with the Creek Indians. In 1825, he held the rank of
Lieutenant-Colonel on the staff of Governor Pickens, and in 1838, was appointed,
by President Van Buren, Consul to Campeachy and Tabasco, but died before
assuming the duties of office. He left surviving him two sons, and three
daughters, of whom John D. was the youngest child.

  At the ages of fifteen years John D. Brandon accompanied his mother's family
to St. Louis; there studied Latin and Greek under the Rev. Reed, and the
following year entered Rochester, N. Y., Academy to prepare for college. In the
fall of 1856 he became a student at Cumberland University, and graduated from
the law department of that institution in 1859.

  Returning to St. Louis, he engaged at once in the practice of law, but his
health failing him, he came the year following to Huntsville, where he has since
given his time to the profession. April, 1861, he enlisted as a private in
Company I, Fourth Alabama Infantry, one of Bee's regiments, and served to the
close of the war. After the first battle of Manassas he was promoted from the
ranks to second lieutenant, and in April, 1862, was advanced to the rank of
captain. He served on the staff of the Fourth Alabama with this rank, as
regimental commissary; and as captain he was assigned to duty under General Law,
as assistant brigade commissary.

  At Richmond, Va., Captain Brandon was entrusted with a letter from President
Davis to General Lee. As he delivered the letter in person, he had his first
opportunity of meeting the most distinguished hero of the war face to face. The
General inquired of him about the people of Richmond, and of what they had to
say regarding the campaign; and upon being told that the talk was, that the
Federal Government was preparing to confront the Army of Virginia with General
Grant, "and," the Captain added, "in which case General you will crush him as
you have his predecessors"? General Lee replied "It must be; it shall be; it is
our only hope!" But the Grand Army of Virginia, under even the incomparable Lee,
could not contend against fate.

  In the latter part of 1863, Captain Brandon was assigned to duty at Camden,
Ala., was there until the close of hostilities and surrendered finally at
Mobile. For the next succeeding three years he practiced law in Wilcox County,
whence he returned to Huntsville, where he is known as an able lawyer, a
public-spirited and energetic citizen.

  The Captain was married in November, 1863, to Mrs. Rosalie C. Christian, a
daughter of Dr. John D. Caldwell. Mrs. Brandon died October 19, 1869. The
Captain is a member of the Masonic Order, Knights of Pythias, and Knights of Honor.

  The mother of Captain Brandon was Miss Mary J. Caldwell, of Kentucky, whose
paternal ancestors came from Scotland to Ireland, and from Ireland to Virginia;
and her immediate family moved into Kentucky in the latter part of the last
century. She and John C. Calhoun are descendants of the same Caldwell family,
she being a third cousin of this great man and distinguished statesman.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

Northern Alabama: Historical and Biographical
Birmingham, Ala.: Smith and De Land
1888

PART IV.
MONOGRAPHS OF THE PRINCIPAL CITIES AND TOWNS IN NORTHERN AND CENTRAL ALABAMA,
TOGETHER WITH BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF MANY OF THEIR REPRESENTATIVE PEOPLE.


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