J. A. Norton arrives in Lynchburg, Virginia today on military assignment. He is promptly assigned to guard Harper’s Ferry.
Born May 9, 1840 in Tippah County, Mississippi, Norton in April had joined the 2nd Mississippi Regiment, the first regiment in the state. He drilled in Corinth under Capt. J. W. Buchanan. Like many other Confederate soldiers from the Deep South in the opening weeks of the war, Norton is sent to the front lines of Virginia. In the ensuing four years of war, Norton serves in the battles of Seven Pines, Seven Days, Second Manassas, Sharpsburg, Bristow, North Corinth, and the Wilderness campaign. Wounded nine times, Norton is captured at Appomattox Courthouse and surrenders with General Robert E. Lee’s army on April 9, 1865.
A Primitive Baptist, Norton following the war serves churches in Washington and Page County, Virginia. Yet much of his ministry is as Assistant Chaplain of Camp No. 171, United Confederate Veterans of the District of Columbia. While war-time chaplains are more well-known in the annuls of history, a lesser number of ministers served as post-war chaplains with veterans’ organizations.
Sources: Confederate Veteran, Vol. 29, p. 350 (link); more information about the United Confederate Veterans (link); photo of a United Confederate Veterans parade (link)
