John Josey was elected major of the 15th Arkansas Infantry (Cleburne’s-Polk’s-Josey’s) in April 1862, promoted to lieutenant colonel in November 1862, and to colonel the following April; the majority of the regiment’s service was in the Western Theater, including the battles of Stones River and Chickamauga. In the fall of 1863, Josey was detached on recruiting duty and ordered by the Confederate Secretary of War to report to General Edmund Kirby Smith. He was wounded and captured at the St. Francis River, Arkansas, on February 14, 1864, and spent most of the remainder of the war as a prisoner of war at Camp Chase, Ohio.

He died prematurely, possibly of yellow fever, in Osceola, Florida, in October 1866 and was buried in Elmwood Cemetery, Memphis, Tennessee.

Note the apparent bandage on Josey’s hand.

Carte-de-Visite by C. Barnes, Mobile, Ala.

Image Courtesy Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield; WICR 31566