BIO: Colonel John Dils Jr., Pike County, Pikeville, Kentucky ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net Submitted by Brian E. Hall Oct 1998 ********************************************************************** COLONEL JOHN DILS, JR. Biography Colonel John Dils, Jr. was born September 15, 1818 in Parkersburg, Wood County, West Virginia. He was the son of John Dils, Senior. In November 1842, John Dils, Jr. married Ann Ratliff, daughter of General William Ratliff of Pike County. The following year he went into the merchantile business with R.D. Callihan and John N. Richardson, known as the firm of John Dils, Jr. & Co. In 1846, when the Mexican War broke out, a company of men were raised and he was elected Captain of volunteers. The company was never called into service being too remote for transportation. In October of 1861, while a private citizen in Pikeville, he was arrested by order of Colonel John S. Williams, who commanded the Confederate forces then encamped around Pikeville. He was sent to Richmond, Virginia as a prisoner of war. After his release he undertook to raise a regiment of Federal soldiers for the protection of Eastern Kentucky. The first day of recruitment raised about two hundred men and thus began the regiment known as the 39th Kentucky Mounted Infantry. Colonel Dils ran into trouble as commanding officer of the 39th. Accusations of fraud and abuse led to his dismissal from the service on December 10, 1863. Special Order 548 was issued by then Secretary of War Stanton. It read: Special Order 548 By direction of the President, Colonel John Dils, 39th Mounted Infantry is hereby dishonorably dismissed from the service of the United States for selling captured property and using the proceeds for his own use, using government transportation of private purposes, improper treatment of a Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO) while the NCO was in the discharge of his duty, and incompetetancy. Secretary of War Colonel Dils died on August 11, 1895 and was buried in the Dils-Lower Chloe Cemetery in Pike County. Information and image from "The Big Sandy Valley" by Ely and the Compiled Service Records of Union soldiers.