The family of Giles Dunn was divided by the Civil War. One son enlisted in the Confederate Army and another enlisted in the Union Army.

Giles Dunn was born about 1820 in Tennessee. The 1850 Census showed the family living in Blount, Tennessee. That Census listed the head of household as Jiles Dunn, age 30; Syney (Sidney) Dunn, age 25; Joseph, Age 9; Will, age 7; Dannel (Daniel), age 5; Mary, age 3; and Sui Dunn, age 1.

When the next Census was taken, in 1860, the family was living in Cohutta Springs, Murray County, Georgia. This one listed the head of household as Giles Dunn, age 39; Sidney Dunn, age 36; Joseph P. Dunn, age 18; William H. Dunn, age 16; Daniel Dunn, age 14, Mary Dunn, age 11; Levi Dunn, age 10; Elisabeth Dunn, age 9; Susan S. Dunn, age 7; Martha E. Dunn, age 5; Susannah Dunn, age 3: Hetty H. Dunn, age 2; and Mary M. Dunn, age 1.

Hetty had been born in Georgia, meaning that the family probably moved to Murray in 1857 or 1858.

When the Civil War started, Joseph P, enlisted in the Confederate Army, Company H, 36th Georgia Volunteer Infantry Regiment, a unit formed in Whitfield County.. Daniel, four years younger than Joseph, enlisted in the Union Army as a Private in Company L, 4th Tennessee Cavalry Regiment. He enlisted January 3, 1864, mustered in February 1864. The last entry in his military records "sick in hospital" was posted March 23, 1865.

Even though family tradition says that Daniel died while serving in the Union Army and was buried at Vicksburg, Mississippi, careful scrutiny of the list of men buried in the military cemetery there, as well as the major non-military ones of that time, failed to find his name listed.

It was not uncommon for soldiers to be sent to hospital and the military unit never hearing whether the man died so the details could be posted in the unit's records. The war would end in just over a month after the sick in hospital was posted. If Daniel stayed in the hospital for more than a few days, this is probably what happened in this case.

Family tradition also says that Joseph P. Dunn fought at Chickamauga. This probably is not correct because his military unit history does not list that as one of their military engagements.

Murray County Families