William “Uncle Bill” Morgan demonstrates a muzzleloader to Glade Dyer at left, Claude Keith standing, and Bill Kaylor at right in the 1948 photograph.( Dean Wilson Collection)

Looking Back at Uncle Bill Morgan and Three Generations of Veterans

When I look at this 1948 photograph today, I see much more than four men gathered around an old muzzleloader. I see veterans representing three different American wars and nearly a century of military history brought together in one room.

The elderly gentleman seated in the center is William Nelson “Uncle Bill” Morgan of Dayton, Tennessee. The man seated to his left is Glade Dyer, a World War II veteran. Standing behind Morgan is Claude Keith, a World War I veteran. Seated on the right is Bill Kaylor, a World War II Navy veteran.

In the photograph, Uncle Bill is showing the younger veterans how to handle a muzzleloading firearm. The original news clipping caption identified him as Tennessee’s only living Civil War veteran and said this was the muzzleloader he had carried as a Union soldier.

The newspaper caption connected the firearm with the year 1861, but Morgan’s official military record gives a later date. His government headstone application shows that he enlisted on August 20, 1864. For that reason, I cannot say with certainty that he carried this particular muzzleloader in 1861. It may have been connected to experiences before his formal enlistment, or the 1861 date may have been a mistake in the newspaper caption.

According to the official headstone application, Morgan served as a private in Company B of the 7th Regiment Tennessee Mounted Infantry Volunteers. It was a Union regiment recruited during the latter part of 1864 from Anderson, Knox, Campbell, McMinn, Meigs and Monroe counties.

The regiment was commanded by Colonel James T. Shelley, Lieutenant Colonel James J. Dail and Major Oliver M. Dodson. It was organized at Athens, Tennessee, and remained stationed there during much of its service. The soldiers were used to pursue guerrilla forces and reportedly had frequent engagements with them.

The regiment’s general muster-in date was August 1, 1864, while Morgan’s individual enlistment date was August 20. He was discharged on June 27, 1865, and the regiment was officially mustered out under orders from the War Department on July 27, 1865.

Morgan was about 19 years old when he enlisted and 20 when he was discharged. He returned to civilian life and eventually became a farmer in the Dayton area.

His Tennessee death certificate provides a more personal look at the man in the photograph. It gives his full name as William Nelson Morgan and records that he was born on October 15, 1844, in Knox, Tennessee. His father was John Morgan, and his mother was Susan King Morgan.

The certificate identifies him as a married man, a retired farmer and a Civil War veteran. His wife was Zilpha Morgan, who was 88 years old at the time. She also provided the personal information used to complete his death certificate.

Morgan died in Dayton’s Civil District 3 on October 17, 1948. His usual residence was also in Dayton. He had turned 104 only two days earlier. His recorded causes of death were chronic myocarditis and senility.

Morgan was buried on October 20, 1948, in Buttram Cemetery in Dayton. His grave is located in Section 2, Grave 10. R.J. Coulter of Coulter Funeral Home of Dayton handled the arrangements.

At first, Morgan’s grave apparently did not have a permanent government marker. On December 28, 1948, Charles G. Morgan of Dayton submitted an official application requesting a flat granite marker with a Christian emblem. The application recorded Morgan’s Union service, rank, unit, enlistment and discharge dates, and burial in Buttram Cemetery. The marker was ordered from Columbus, Mississippi, and the application contains a February 1949 processing or shipping notation.

Looking at this photograph today, I am struck by the amount of history represented by these four men. Uncle Bill Morgan carried the memory of the Civil War. Claude Keith represented the generation that served in World War I. Glade Dyer and Bill Kaylor represented the men who had recently returned from World War II.

The photograph connects the Civil War era of the 1860s with the end of World War II in 1945. It was taken during the final year of Uncle Bill Morgan’s life and became one of his last public photographs. Today, the photograph, death certificate and military marker application allow us to put a name, a military record and a personal history with the elderly Union veteran seated at the center.

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