John S. Wright, First West Virginia Infantry, Civil War

JOHN SUMMERFIELD WRIGHT
1829-1862

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BIOGRAPHY

By Barbara Johnson, descendant.

Military Service: Co. K 1st VA (Union) - Age 33 years; 5'8"; dark hair

Military Records show that John Wright enlisted in the fall of 1861 for three years' service. He wrote letters often, mostly with info of the boys from Wheeling and Sand Hill, and concern for Lizzie and "deare Laura and Mary and the little one." He was against heavy drinking; may have been temperance. He expressed shock at the drinking of the officers and how some men from Wheeling had been changed by the army.

After the battle of Second Bull Run he was taken very ill on the march back to DC and was hospitalized. He spent what appears to be over a month in Alexandria, Seminary Road Hospital, and died with typhoid by the end of October. His letters are very touching with the love for his family and homesickness. He said if he ever got out of this he would never do it again. The sad part is, it was being arranged for him to be released for medical reasons. The unit was returning to Wheeling in October but John didn't live to go with them.

John was born in Hagerstown, Maryland and moved with the family to Belmont County, OH, date unknown. He came to Wheeling in 1850 and worked as a chair maker. On May 11, 1854, he married Elizabeth Ann Sutton, the daughter of Philip Sutton and Mary Marsh from England. Elizabeth's mother died during child birth and she was raised by her Aunt Eliz Marsh and George Sutton, owners of a coal mine in Wheeling.

John and 'Lizzie' had four children. Two boys died and Lizzie was expecting their fifth child in February. John, of course, was not home for the birth of the third daughter, named Georgiana (Georgie). She had written for his opinion of the name and he thought it a good idea.

John had operated a furniture store on Market Street in Wheeling.

On December 11, 1862, the body of John Summerfield Wright returned home and was buried in the Wright family plot in Mt. Wood Cemetery, Wheeling.