Golding / Golden / Goulding et al Family History on Facebook
John Golden is not listed with Fold3, the National Park Service (which tracks all known Civil War Veterans) roster of 126 known members of Morehead’s Partisan Rangers, nor with a comprehensive resource for CSA units in the war: “Units of the Confederate States Army” by Joseph H. Crute, Jr., which contains no information for either John Golden or the unit itself.
Not much is known about John Golden, not even what part of Kentucky he came from, other than the entry in a History of the First Kentucky Brigade, written very shortly after the war ended.
John Golden, Kentucky, was one of Morehead’s Partisan Rangers, and was attached to this company in November, 1862.
History of the First Kentucky Brigade by Edwin Porter Thompson, 1868
Could John have come from a family that spelled their name differently? Yes … but there is no known record for a John Gold/Gould -en, -in, -ing having served in a Kentucky CSA unit.
Since Thompson’s First Kentucky Brigade was written so soon after the war, it may be a safe assumption that John Golden did not live long after the war nor had any family member that ever applied for a pension.
As noted in Thompson’s history, John Golden “…was generally incapacitated by disease for duty in the ranks … and was employed in various detail service“. That disease was probably measles.
A history of the First Kentucky brigade describes the situation as: “During the winter of 1861-1862, the 1st Kentucky Brigade numbered roughly 3,800 men. Days of drill, camp life, and homesickness were made more difficult by a measles epidemic that kept many men sick. Hundreds lay feverish, and many died.“
— The South’s Famous Orphan Brigade
BTW – I look forward to sharing your stories, photos and in-search-of quests. Contact me at the email address below.
You are welcome to add to or to correct this story by contacting: Bill Golden, Norfolk1956@gmail.com