These two manuscript documents signed by Col. John M. Stone are a longhand version of the oath of allegiance dated July 7, 1865, which he would later sign also as a printed document before release from prison on July 25, and a cover letter for it dated July 6, addressed to President Andrew Johnson, essentially testifying he served only in the regular forces of the Confederacy. These are in excellent condition, fully legible, written in clear brown ink, with only minor folds and dockets on the reverse.

Born in Tennessee in 1830, Stone moved to Mississippi in 1855 and was a railroad station agent at Iuka when the war started. He raised volunteer company called the “Iuka Rifles,” was elected Captain, and mustered into state service in April and the Confederate service for one year in May. As Company K of the 2^nd Mississippi the regiment fought at First Bull Run in Bee’s brigade and was credited by some with the taking of Rickett’s battery. In April 1862 they went to the Peninsula and were reorganized for service for the war, with Stone narrowly winning election to Colonel. He made a good military record for himself, however: and 1864 inspection report said he, “Has displayed all the qualities that constitute the officer. For good conduct and skillful handling of his command,” and for a time in 1864 was in command of the brigade.

The regiment fought in most of the major campaigns of the Army of Northern Virginia with serious losses in major battles. On the Peninsula they were heavily engaged at Gaines Mill, Second Bull Run, and Antietam, where they lost 27 dead and 127 wounded. In late 1862 they were sent to North Carolina and Virginia for the Suffolk Campaign, but returned for Gettysburg where, as part of Davis’s brigade in Heth’s division they were involved in heavy fighting on July 1, where Stone was wounded along the Chambersburg Pike, thus avoiding capture later in the day when 7 officers and 225 men of the regiment were trapped in the “bloody Railroad Cut,” by a well-timed federal charge. The remainder of the regiment, about 60 strong, took part in Pickett’s Charge, only one remaining unwounded. Official casualties for the battle, excluding the captured, were 56 killed and 176 wounded. The regiment later took part in the Bristoe and Mine Run Campaigns. When Stone returned is unclear, but he was in command again to face Grant’s Overland Campaign, commanding the brigade while Davis was sick in May 1864. They fought at the Wilderness on May 5 and May 6 being among the troops to hold the line until Longstreet’s reinforcements could reach the front. At Spottsylvania they faced 9^th Corps troops on the east of the Confederate line, and saw further action at North Anna, Cold Harbor, and Petersburg, where they fought in the trenches and Weldon Railroad, Jones Farm, Hatchers Run. Stone returned to Mississippi with a recruiting detail in January 1865 and was apparently heading back to the front in April when he was captured at Salisbury, NC, on April 12 by elements of Stoneman’s cavalry, who overwhelmed the North Carolina Senior Reserves and other hastily assembled defense forces in what was termed by some a “skirmish.”

Stone’s oath, “Subscribed and sworn to before me this 7^th Day of July 1865 at Johnson’s Island, O. / Chas. W. Hill Col. / Comdg Post” reads as follows:

I, John M. Stone, late Colonel of the second Regiment of Mississippi Infantry, in the Confederate States Army, by occupation a Rail Road Agent, and formerly a resident of Tishomingo County, Mississippi, do solemnly swear in the presence of Almighty God, that I will henceforth faithfully support protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, and the union of the States thereunder, and that I will in like manner, abide by, and faithfully support all laws and proclamations which have been made during the existing rebellion, with reference to the emancipation of Slaves, so help me God.

His cover letter to Johnson reads:

Johnson Island Ohio

July 6th 1865.

His Excellency Andrew J. Johnson

President of the United States

Sir

I have the honor herewith, to transmit the oath of Amnesty, duly subscribed, as required by existing orders, relative to special applications for release from prison.

I would respectfully represent to your excellency, that I served as an officer in the rebel army from 1st May 1861 to 12th April 1865, when I was captured by the United States Forces.

I have all the time served with the army known as the army of Northern Virginia, have never been detached on any scout, paid, or anything of that character. There are no charges against me farther than herein stated. I was not Educated as any military or Naval school. I am now a prisoner of war at this place, and beg to be released from prison, and restored to the rights, and necessities of a citizen of the United States.

Very Respectfully,

Your Obt Servt.

John M. Stone

late Col 2^nd Regt. Miss Infy

After the war Stone took up politics, serving as mayor of Iuka, county treasurer, and state senator, serving as president of the senate in 1876, a rather crucial and fatal year for Reconstruction in Mississippi since he was part of the movement that forced out Governor Adelbert Ames, taking on the duties of the Governor himself, and then assuming the office from 1877 to 1882 and again later from 1890 to1896, perhaps keeping the letter of his oath in regard to emancipation, but hardly its spirit. He died in 1900 at age 69.  [sr] [ph:L]

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