Dickson-Marshall County TN Archives Biographies.....Talley, James M. 1838 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@gmail.com October 30, 2005, 4:31 am

Author: Will T. Hale

   JAMES M. TALLEY is one of the native and royal Tennesseans who went to the

front in the struggle of 1861-65 and who for the most of the period since has

been a resident of Dickson county, which numbers him among its most honored and

esteemed men. His nativity occurred in Lewisburgh, Marshall county, Tennessee,

November 25, 1838, when he was born to William Talley and Lucy Birmingham

Talley, the former a Virginian by birth, while the latter was a native of

Marshall county, Tennessee. They were married in Marshall county and in 1848

removed to Dickson county, where the father continued his trade as a cabinet

maker many years. He passed away in Humphreys county in 1875 and was joined in

death by his wife in 1878. Politically his tenets were those of the Democratic

party, and from youth he had been a devoted member of the Church of Christ. Of

the seven children of these parents, James M. was second in order of birth. He

was reared in Dickson county and was a student in the Darnall school at New

Hope, Tennessee, when the lowering cloud of civil war finally burst upon the

country. Enlisting at once in Marshall county, he became a member of the company

from that county that was first assigned to the Seventeenth Tennessee Regiment,

but as more men had enlisted than were needed in that company Mr. Talley was one

of a number that were transferred to Company D of the Forty-ninth Tennessee

Regiment. He was elected second lieutenant of his company at Mobile, Alabama,

and later was promoted to the position of first lieutenant, which rank he held

until the close of the war. While at Mobile the Forty-ninth was ordered to the

front, but Lieutenant Talley was left in charge of the army camp at that city.

"With his regiment he participated at Fort Donelson in February, 1862, and there

was captured, being subsequently taken to the Union prison at Chicago, Illinois,

where he was held seven months. He was exchanged at Vicksburg in the fall of

1862, when he rejoined his regiment, which was reorganized at Clinton,

Mississippi, about that time. After a short campaign in northern Mississippi,

his regiment was sent to Port Hudson, Louisiana, for garrison duty. Here on

March 13-14, 1863, it underwent the terrific bombardment during Admiral

Farragut's unsuccessful attempt to pass up the Mississippi with his fleet to

Vicksburg. In May following, the Forty-ninth was sent into central Mississippi

and after the fall of Vicksburg it retired to Jackson, Mississippi, where they

were in the command of Gen. J. E. Johnston and where during Sherman's siege of

the city the Confederate forces underwent terrific fire. On Johnston's

evacuation of Jackson the Forty-ninth Tennessee was detailed for garrison duty

at Mobile, Alabama, where it remained until November 22, when it was ordered to

Missionary Ridge to join General Bragg's forces. It got no farther than

Chickamauga station, Tennessee, however, and then fell back to Dalton, Georgia,

where it remained until January, 1864, at which time it returned to Mobile for

garrison duty. In May, 1864, it was ordered to reinforce Johnston at New Hope

Church, Georgia, and following that it joined Hood's command at Newman, Georgia.

In the battle of Franklin shortly afterward Lieutenant Talley's company was

practically wiped from the face of the earth, and he himself was severely

wounded. When able to do so he rejoined Johnston's command at Danville,

Virginia, where he was ordered to take the right wing of his brigade to cut and

destroy a foot bridge that crossed the Dan river. He then entered Johnston's

command and was with his forces at their surrender at Greensboro, North

Carolina, in 1865. Lieutenant Talley was one of two men remaining out of the

one-hundred fifty that had enlisted in the original company in 1861.



   On his return to Dickson county he engaged in farming for a time, but

subsequently went into the employ of J. P. Drouillard & Company at Cumberland

Furnace, Dickson county, remaining with his firm until January 1, 1876. He then

engaged in the mercantile business at Kingston Springs, Tennessee, but later

took up carpentry for the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway Company,

continuing in. this line of employment fifteen years. He is now retired. A

staunch Democrat in political sentiment, he has served in an official way as

magistrate nine years, and four years as recorder for the town of Dickson.



   In 1868 Mr. Talley was united in marriage to Miss Katie McCauley. They are

the parents of six children: William M. Talley; Alice, the wife of Clayton

Smith; Bertha, the widow of Thomas Turner; Gertrude, who is now Mrs. W. H.

Murrey; C. M. Talley and J. M. Talley, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Talley are members of

the Church of Christ, and fraternally Mr. Talley is affiliated with Dickson

chapter No. 123 of Royal Arch Masons. He is also a member of the J. E. Bains

Bivouac and of Bill Green Camp, No. 933, of United Confederate Veterans.





Additional Comments:
From:



A history of Tennessee and Tennesseans : the leaders and representative men in

commerce, industry and modern activities

by Will T. Hale

Chicago:  Lewis Pub. Co.,  1913



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