Grant Montgomery Pension File

Grant Montgomery Pension

Josiah Grantvil Montgomery received an invalid pension for injuries he received during his service as a private in Company C of the 2nd Tennessee Mounted Infantry during the Civil War.  He was accidentally shot in the foot by another soldier, Baz Morgan while on patrol at Browns Mill on the Buffalo River in Perry Co. TN.  The 2nd TNMI was stationed about 15 miles away at Clifton.

Apparently, Grant and Baz were horsing around over their daily whiskey ration when the shooting occurred.  Baz's gun accidentally discharged and caused a ball to pass all the way through Grant's left foot.  A nearby doctor from Flatwoods was summoned and he cleaned the wound by passing a silk handkerchief all the way through Grant's foot.  Grant was taken to a nearby home to recuperate and completed his one year service and discharged at Nashville.

The pension file contains about 100 documents related to Grant's application for his invalid pension in which he claimed partial disability as a result of his gun shot wound.  His application did not get off to a good start due to a letter that was received in Washington signed by Bert Creasey that claimed that Grant had been shot prior to the war rather than at Brown's Mill as claimed by Grant.  Bert later stated under oath that he did not write the letter and had only heard rumors about Grant being shot before the war.  These rumors were no doubt fueled by the fact that Grant had shot and killed a Mr. Haraway following his return home after the war.  Several witnesses were found that supported Grant's pension claim and it was granted after a thorough investigation including several detailed medical examinations.

Please note that Grant Montgomery is listed as James G. Montgomery in the pension file.  It also gives different names for two of Grant's children.  Grant is listed as Joseph G. Montgomery on his enlistment in the 2nd TMI.  Research is continuing to determine the correct names for Grant and his two children.

Images of the complete file and a short description of each page are presented below.  Click on the page number to browse to the page of interest.  The pages are presented in the order that they were received from the National Archives.  They are in approximately chronological order but being a loose file, there are several exceptions.  The images are presented in Adobe pdf format for ease of viewing and printing.  Contact me if you would like to receive a CD copy of the complete pension file.

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