In honor of Memorial Day, I’m posting a brief biographical sketch of my great-great-great-grandfather Jordan BAILEY.
Jordan BAILEY served in Co. D, 40th Georgia Regiment, Georgia Volunteers, Army of Tennessee, during the Civil War. He enlisted at the rank of Private in 1862 in Gordon County, Georgia. He was 34 years old and a married man with four children, ranging in age from 1 to 7 years. (Four-year-old George T. was my great-great-grandfather.)
Jordan, the son of George W. BAILEY and Elizabeth ???, was born on 14 April 1828 or 1829 in DeKalb County, Georgia. Many BAILEY researchers indicate that Elizabeth’s maiden name was DAVIS.
Jordan appears in the 1850 U.S. census for Walker County, Georgia, in the home of Elijah STANSELL. Jordan married Elijah’s daughter, Louisa Jane STANSELL, on 11 Aug. 1851 in Walker County, Georgia. The couple appears in the 1860, 1870, and 1880 U.S. censuses in Gordon County, Georgia, and in the 1900 U.S. census in Whitfield County, Georgia.
Jordan died on 17 Aug. 1900 near Dalton, Georgia. He was 72.
During the Civil War, Jordan’s unit participated in many conflicts, including those at Chickasaw Bayou and Champion’s Hill, both in Mississippi.
Jordan’s unit was part of the garrison that surrendered at Vicksburg on 4 July 1863. The men were exchanged and attached to Gen. Stovall’s Brigade, Army of Tennessee. They saw action in many conflicts from Chattanooga to Nashville.
Jordan saw his last action of the Civil War at the Battle at Resaca, Georgia, in May 1864. He was captured and spent the remainder of the war in Camp Morton. The former state fairgrounds at Indianapolis, Indiana, had been converted to a prison camp.
Jordan’s Civil War service may have taken a toll on his health. In 1895, Jordan applied for a Pension for Indigent Confederate Soldiers. (Jordan’s last name was spelled as “BALEY” on the application.)
Jordan described his health as “very bad.”
“I am afflicted with paralysis and suffer with pains in my side and back and I am almost blind,” Jordan said. “At times I cannot hardly see my way attall (sic).”
Jordan received the pension. After his death in 1900, his wife applied for a Widow’s Indigent Pension.
According to his military records, Jordan was 5 foot 6.25 inches tall. He had a dark complexion, dark hair, and blue eyes.
Jordan BAILEY and Louisa Jane STANSELL were the parents of 10 known children, all of whom were born in Georgia.
a. Rebecca J., born ca. 1853
b. Martha B., born ca. 1854
c. George T., born ca. 1856; married Sarah BROCK in Gordon County, Georgia, on 1 Dec. 1872; died ca. 1900
d. Leroy W., born ca. 1859
e. James E. J., born ca. 1863
f. Elizabeth A., born about 1866
g. Zachariah V., born December 1869
h. Joseph H., born March 1874
i. John E., born May 1875
j. Benjamin Boss, born 11 March 1877
