William C. Shelton, third child, first son of James (8) and Sarah Hooper Shelton, born September 4, 1820, left his imprint on the history of the clan, was without doubt one of its most colorful personalities.  He fought in three wars and boasted that his side came out victorious in all three.  The first of these was the Seminole Indian War.  When this war started, Bill was only 15, but he joined the army the following year and went forth to fight the Indians, his mother reportedly having cut off his long curls to ready him for his role as a soldier.  The war began in 1835 and ended in 1842, was the fiercest of all the wars fought against the Indians.  On the Indian side the war was first conducted by the celebrated Oceola, with whose name the war is largely associated.  And on the part of the U. S. Government, the events were directed by Scott, Taylor and Jesup and other commanders.  After a protracted struggle the Indians were completely subjugated, and in 1843 nearly four thousand of them were removed to Oklahoma, those who arrived in the Indian Territory forming one of the five civilized Indian nations now located in that state.  Although the tribe had ratified a treaty in 1834 to make a concession of its lands in Florida and submit to removal to Indian Territory, they reneged on doing so and had to be forced to go.
 
Another Indian nation, the Cherokee, was located just south of the Hiwassee River.  Although these Indians were staunch allies of the United States in the wars with other Indian tribes, particularly with the Creeks, in the summer and fall of 1838 several thousand of these were herded together for the Great Removal to the land beyond the Mississippi River.  James (8) had enjoyed trading with them and had a friendly relationship.  At Rattlesnake Springs in Bradley County, some 6 miles upriver from James’ place the last tribal council of the old Cherokee Nation was held.  After this gathering in October the Indians began their march into  western exile escorted by soldiers of the United States Army, to this writer one of the most shameful episodes in this country’s history.  John Harrison Robertson, William Shelton’s brother-in-law, being the husband of his sister Naomi, was also with the army in this removal.  General Winfield Scott was the commander of the troops who evicted the Cherokee.  Half of the Cherokee were reported to have died in the march, their property taken and their women ravished.  Many of the Cherokee escaped to the mountains, those remnants forming the present tribe of Cherokee in the reservation of that time in western North Carolina.
 
The next conflict in which Bill participated was the war with Mexico.  This one lasted from April 1, 1836, to May 1848.  The causes of the war with Mexico were many, the principal ones being the dispute over the western boundary of Texas, and the desire on the part of the United States to acquire California.  James K. Polk was president at the time, and generals Scott, Taylor and Freemont were the leading officers in the conflict.  A large number of young officers proved their worth in this war.  Among them were Robert E. Lee, Grant, Sherman, Jeff Davis and Thomas Jonathan (Stonewall) Jackson, all destined to renown in the civil conflict to follow.  Santa Anna was the number one Mexican general.  The Americans were again victorious, giving to the United States California.  Bill reportedly attended a masked ball – whether or not covertly – given by Santa Anna.
 
Next came the War Between the States which lasted from 1861 to 1865.  Bill was a captain in the Union Army in this war.  As a consequence of this affiliation with the Union forces, his father, James (8), was sorely grieved, for grandpa was a staunch rebel.  Doubtless James took a measure of pride in this fine son who had served honorably in two wars; but to have him go against the south in this conflict was very difficult for him.  In a letter James (8) wrote to the pension board in his late years in applying for recompense for his service in the War of 1812, he suggested that perhaps since he had “sympathized with the rebellion” the government may not consider him entitled to a pension.  He was, however, approved for pension from that war, and although he did not himself ever receive any remuneration, his fourth wife drew the pension until her death in 1905.
 
William C. Shelton joined the Union Army for duty and was enrolled at Sale Creek, Hamilton County, Tennessee, on November 11, 1861, for three years.  He received a private’s wages to August 9, 1862, serving in Company I, 5th Regiment of East Tennessee Infantry.  He was mustered in at Huntsville in east Tennessee on August 14, 1862, having been appointed captain 5 days earlier, continued with the 5th Regiment until August 31 that year under Colonel William Clift.  He was transferred to 7th East Tennessee Infantry Volunteers where he was Captain of B Company.  On December 22, 1862, his unit was transferred to the 8th Tennessee Infantry and here William C. Shelton commanded A Company of this Regiment, the regimental commander being Colonel Felix A. Reeve.  William C. was allowed to resign his commission by order of Major General Schofield by order dated July 8, 1884, on the captain’s request due to debilitating chronic rheumatism.  Yet he apparently stayed with his unit in a lesser role until the end of the war and was mustered out with his unit at Company Shopes, North Carolina, on June 30, 1865.  The following pages are records from the archives of the history of Tennessee’s involvement in the war as regards those units.
 
7TH TENNESSEE VOLUNTARY INFANTRY REGIMENT, U. S. ARMY
 
J. F. Brownlow, Adjutant General, State of Tennessee, in a report dated March 1, 1866, stated:  “The 7th Regiment was never organized, and the companies raised for it were transferred to other regiments.”  However, in the official records, references were found to two organizations, both called the 7th Tennessee Infantry Regiment, one from east Tennessee and one from west Tennessee.
 
The east Tennessee organization had its inception in a band of guerillas, or partisans, raised in the fall of 1861, by William Cleft of Hamilton County.  On November 14, 1861, Governor Isham G. Harris issued an order:  “Muster all the armed forces possible without calling on Zollicofter, and capture Clift and his men dead or alive.”  On November 7 General Zollicofter’s office reported:  “Three expeditions (it said) are moving from different directions upon Clift’s men, but it is feared they will disburse and escape to the mountains.”  Colonel S. A. M. Wood, 6th Alabama Infantry, reporting on his part in these expeditions, said his regiment moved from Chattanooga to Sale Creek where Clift’s men were supposed to be encamped and found the insurgents had dispersed the night before after voting upon what their procedure would be.  Colonel Clift, Lieutenant Colonel Shelton and two others voted to stay and fight; 100 voted to try and reach Kentucky; and the rest, some 200, voted to disperse.  They broke up during the night, 10 or 12 going with Colonel Clift who hid in the mountains; 65 with Captain Sullivan marching toward Kentucky; and the others dispersing.  (The Lieutenant Colonel Shelton, second in command of Colonel Clift’s guerillas, was likely William C. Shelton, later shown as Captain, commander of Company A., 8th Tennessee Volunteer Infantry Regiment.  A search of the records disclosed no Colonel Shelton with the Union forces in Tennessee.)
 
On May 24, 1862, Brigadier General George W. Morgan at Cumberland Ford wrote:  “I had taken steps to organize a partisan regiment under Colonel Clift (commissioned by the Secretary of War) in Scott and Morgan counties, Tennessee, in order to annoy the enemy’s rear.”  The regiment so organized was called the 7th Tennessee Volunteer Regiment, and Colonel Clift on October 31, 1862, gave a report of his operations from June 1, 1862, to that date.  Colonel Clift wrote that he started recruiting in Scott County early in June, made expeditions into Morgan and Anderson counties and fortified an eminence near Huntsville, Scott Co., Tennessee.  Here with about 250** men he was attacked on the morning of August 13 by from 1500 to 2000 Confederates.  Most of his men, new recruits, fled in confusion, but … “about 50 men held our breastworks for one hour forty-five minutes against the enemy.  Major James S. Dunan and captains Robins, Wilson and Shelton fought with great coolness and deliberation.  When our numbers in the breastworks were reduced to about 20 men, I ordered a retreat which was conducted in good order, the men carrying with them our guns without a loss.”  He went on to report scouting parties throughout Scott, Morgan and Fentress counties in October and a brush with Ferguson’s guerrillas.  On authority from General James T. Boyle, he had mounted about 50 of his men and requested the War Department to furnish with cavalry saddles and bridles, on the date of his report he gave his headquarters as Somerset, Kentucky.
 
On December 26, 1862, at the time of General James Hunt Morgan’s third raid into Kentucky, Colonel William A. Hoskins at Lebanon, Kentucky, reported the 7th Tennessee Infantry, 258 men, as part of his command and stated he placed it in a temporary brigade along with the 12th and 16th Kentucky regiments to engage in the attempt to cut off Morgan. 
 
On August 21, 1863, Colonel Clift “late of the 7th Tennessee Volunteer Infantry Regiment” was ordered to report at once to Brigadier General J. M. Shackleford commanding 3rd Brigade, Cavalry Division, XXIII Corps.  Evidently the division had been broken up some time before this date.  No muster rolls were found, but a Lieutenant Colonel Hazeland, 7th Tennessee Volunteer Infantry, was mentioned in addition to the other officers named above.  Also the Captain Sullivan mentioned in Clift’s first organization was later spoken of as Major Sullivan, 7th Tennessee Infantry.  The muster-in roll of Captain William C. Shelton’s Company A, 8th Tennessee Infantry, shows it was transferred from the 7th East Tennessee Volunteers in accordance with order dated December 22, 1862.  Also a detachment from Captain James Wilson’s company  was mustered into the 8th Tennessee on May 15, 1863.  (Significantly, perhaps, Captain Thomas Wilson was the commander of William C. Shelton’s father’s company in the War of 1812.)
 
8TH TENNESSEE VOLUNTEER INFANTRY REGIMENT, U. S. A.
 
Mustered in at Camp Dick Robinson, Kentucky, May 1863 and at Camp Nelson, Kentucky, June and August 1863; mustered out at Company Shops, North Carolina June 30, 1865.
 
Field Officers
Colonel – Felix A. Reeve
Lieutenant Colonels – Isham Young, George D. LaVergne
Majors – George D. LaVergne, William S. Barnett
Captains – William C. Shelton, Co. A. mustered in at Camp Dick Robinson May 16, 1863.  Men from Scott and Hamilton Counties.  Transferred from Colonel William Clift’s 7th East Tennessee Volunteer Infantry in accordance with order dated December 22, 1862.
 
William S. Barnett, John A. Bowers, Co. B. mustered in at Camp Dick Robinson May 15, 1863, men mostly from Greene, Hawkins and Cocke counties.
 
William S. Bewley, Thomas Bible, Co. C. mustered in at Camp Dick Robinson, May 13, 1863; men from Greene, Cocke, Union, Jefferson, Hancock, Carter and Claiborne counties.
 
Alfred Couch, Co. D. mustered in at Camp Dick Robinson May 15, 1863, men from Greene, Cocke and Hawkins counties.
 
Lemuel Bible (First Lieutenant), Co. E. mustered in at Camp Nelson June 30, 1863; men from Cocke, Greene, Hawkins, Washington, Anderson, Carter and Sullivan counties.
 
(There is no record of Co. F.  The muster-in roll of a detachment of men commanded by 1st Sergeant James M. Friels for the 8th Tennessee bore a note that the company was transferred from the 7th Tennessee Volunteers with orders dated December 22, 1862.  The detachment was described as Captain James Wilson’s company of the 8th Tennessee Infantry, and this may have been the nucleus of Co. F., of which we have no record.)
 
James W. Berry, Co. G. mustered in at Camp Nelson June 30, 1863, men from Hawkins, Greene and other Tennessee counties.
 
William K. Byrd, Co. H. mustered in at Camp Nelson August 11, 1863, men from Hawkins and Greene counties.
 
George W. Graham, Co. I. Mustered in at Camp Nelson August 11, 1863, men from Hawkins and Greene counties.
 
James H. Kinser, Robert A. Ragan, Co. K. mustered in at Camp Nelson August 11, 186, men from Cocke and Greene counties. 
 
Felix A. Reeve was appointed colonel by the Secretary of War on September 6, 1862, and authorized to raise and command the regiment from refugees from east Tennessee who were gathering at Federal posts in Kentucky, especially at Cumberland Gap.  Soon after his appointment Cumberland Gap was evacuated by the Federal forces; and the regiment was recruited at other points.  The regiment was reported in the Department of the Ohio, District of Central Kentucky, in December in 1862 with Colonel Reeve in command.  On January 10, 1863, at Nicholasville, the regiment was reported with 21 officers, 324 men for duty, aggregate present 381, aggregate present and absent 652.  However, it was not until the middle of May 1863 that the four companies were actually mustered into service.  At that time the regiment reported 357 effectives.  Other companies were mustered in during June, July and August.  On June 30, 1863, the regiment was reported in the Department of the Ohio, XXIII Corps, 4th Division, 2nd Brigade, and on July 28 was reported at Lexington, Kentucky.  Since the beginning of organization the regiment had been employed on fatigue duty building fortifications and so on at various points in Kentucky.
 
On August 6 the XXIII was reorganized and the regiment placed in Colonel Daniel Cameron’s 2nd Brigade, 3rd Division.  The brigade moved into east Tennessee with General A. S. Burnside, and on August 31 the regiment was at Wartburg; and on September 24 at Greeneville; on September 30 at Lick Creek Bridge; on October 15 at Jonesboro on the Blountville Road.  It did not serve with its regular brigade during November, being temporarily attached to Colonel William A. Hoskins’ 2nd Brigade, Forces in east Tennessee.  On December 31, 1863, it was again in Cameron’s brigade at Strawberry Plains.
 
On January 22, 1864, the regiment moved to Knoxville where on January 31 Colonel Reeve was in command of the 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, and the regiment transferred to his brigade.  An inspection report dated February 27, 1864, stated that the 4th and 8th Tennessee Regiments, still in Knoxville, were in bad condition as regards appearance, discipline and drill.
 
On April 10, 1864, the XXIII Corps was again reorganized, and the 8th Regiment was placed in Colonel J. W. Reilly’s 1st Brigade, Brigadier General Jacob D. Cox’ 3rd Division.  Under various commanders it served in the brigade until the end of the war.  On April 20 at Bulls Gap, Tennessee, the regiment reported 27 officers, 369 men, present for duty.  It was here at Bulls Gap on April 14, 1864, that Captain William C. Shelton tendered his resignation as captain of Company A., 8th Tennessee Regiment, account of physical disability (chronic rheumatism).  The regimental physician certified to his inability to continue in his capacity.  Colonel Reeve forwarded the documents to Brigade Headquarters noting:  “This officer served faithfully through the Florida and Mexican wars; and entered the Federal Army at an early stage, in which he has been to my own knowledge an efficient and worthy officer.  But he has grown infirm from exposure and advancing age, and his place can be most efficiently filled by the 1st Lieutenant of the company.  His resignation is therefore respectively approved and forwarded.”  The resignation continued through the channels to the surgeon of the Medical Division of the U. S. Volunteers, Josiah Curtis, to whom the Captain was directed to report at Knoxville, Tennessee, who further certified to his disability to Headquarters, Department of the Ohio, there where his resignation was finally accepted on July 8, 1864, by Major General John M. Schofield, Headquarters Commander.  A number of these documents are found reproduced page 70 and the following pages.  The regiment was sent to Knoxville by train on April 26 from whence it moved down to Red Gap, Georgia, for the beginning of the Atlanta campaign.  It crossed the Georgia line on May 7 and after some preliminary skirmishing was heavily engaged at Resaca on May 14, 1864.  (To this writer it is interesting to note that he wife’s great-grandfather, Henry Benton Thomas, a corporal in Company G, 21is Ohio Regiment, was in this battle and in other campaigns before Atlanta.  His brother, Private Levi M. Thomas, also of this unit, had been wounded and captured in the Battle of Chickamauga, September 20, 1863.)  After Resaca the 8th Tennessee Volunteer Regiment, of which Captain Bill had commanded A Company, was commanded first by Colonel Reeve, then by Captain Robert A. Ragan and finally by Captain James W. Berry.  Colonel Reeve was discharged on July 14, 1864, on surgeon’s certificate.  Although almost constantly engaged for the next 3 months, the heaviest fighting in which the regiment took part was an attempt to cross Utoy Creek west side of Atlanta on August 6.  Of this engagement Brigadier General Reilly wrote:  “Where all behaved so gallantly, it is very difficult to give special mention to any, but I cannot in justice neglect to bear official testimony to the gallant and heroic conduct of the 8th Tennessee Infantry officers and men without any distinction.  The list of casualties, however, is their best eulogy when it is known that the regiment went into the charge with but 160 muskets.”  Berry, who commanded the regiment at the time reported:  “The regiment entered the charge with 223 men and lost 26 killed, 5 mortally wounded, 36 wounded and 16 missing, making a total of 83 casualties.  In this serious charge the officers and men of the regiment exhibited in the highest degree the bravery, discipline, presence of mind characterizing veteran troops.”  (See page 380 anent one of Captain Bill Shelton’s men, Private Rese B. Ingle, who was killed at Utoy Creek.)  The regiment reached Decatur, Georgia, September 8 where it remained stationed for some time.  It reported total casualties during the campaign of 2 officers and 30 men killed, w officers and 55 men wounded, 2 officers and 23 men missing, for a total of 144.  On September 23 the regiment needed 195 recruits for minimum strength. 
 
When General Wood started his invasion of Tennessee, the regiment moved with the brigade up to Chattanooga, then over to Pulaski and took part in the fighting from Pulaski to Columbia to Spring Hill to Franklin and finally to Nashville.  On November 26 the regiment had less than 200 effectives and was stationed in the second line of Reilly’s Brigade in the Battle of Franklin where it suffered 7 casualties.  In the Battle of Nashville, December 15-16, 1864, the regiment was in reserve on the 15th.  On the 16th it was placed on the extreme right of the Federal lines on Hillsboro Pike.  It made a charge about 2:00 PM in which it captured 4 pieces of artillery and about 250 prisoners.  Early in 1865 the brigade moved to North Carolina and took part in the occupation of Wilmington on February 23, 1865.  On the 24th  the regiment reported needing 390 men to fill it up.  From Wilmington the regiment moved to Newbern; from there to Raleigh where on April 14 it was detached from the brigade and assigned to temporary garrison for Raleigh under Brigadier General I. N. Stiles until it could be mustered out.  Orders were issued for the muster on June 22, 1865, and the regiment was mustered out on June 30.  Captain Berry had remained in command of the regiment from the middle of the Atlanta Campaign to the muster out.  Muster out was at a place called Company Shopes, North Carolina, and on the muster roll that date Captain William C. Shelton’s name was included.  The captain likely then returned to east Tennessee to take up residence.
 
Several McMinn countians in units of the 3rd Tennessee Cavalry Regiment were aboard the Steamer Sultana which on April 27, 1865, sank in the Mississippi enroute to Cairo for discharge.  Among Shelton kin aboard were:  3 Wood boys, Landon, John and James, brothers-in-law of James (8) of Company B, of whom Landon perished; O. G. Shelton, Company E; J. H. Hooper, Company D; H. Farmer and J. J. Massey, Company H; and A., E. and J. A. Farmer, all of Company A.
 
As a side note, Captain Bill’s middle name was said to be Chamberlain.  His daughter, Laura Shelton Walker (Mrs. T. A.), stated that was likely true as she had heard him speak of that family and that he had named his younger son, Landon Chamberlain.  (Corrected page 58).  She also stated that her father said he was a cousin of Frances Willard, she who founded the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU).
 
William C. Shelton was married twice.  His 1st wife was Sarah Rymer, born in 1827, whom he wed about 1843.  Prior to the Civil War they made their home in Bradley County, Tennessee.  They had several children.  His 2nd wife, whom he wed in about 1870, was Dorcas Paris, born September 4, 1850.  They too had several children, lived at Cog Hill near Etowah in the eastern part of McMinn County, Bill having sold his property in Bradley.  Bill’s children by each wife will be listed starting page 56 of this book.  He was named in his father’s 1st will.