James Henry Sutton
SUTTON
Posted By: Anne Hermann (email)
Date: 4/7/2009 at 07:27:23
Bellevue Herald-Leader
Feb. 12, 2009‘Alabama Jim’ Sutton fought for Confederacy and Union
You couldn’t make this up and have it sound more unusual. James Henry Sutton, known for years in the Fulton area as “Alabama Jim” fought on both sides during the Civil War. He survived to father a large family, live as a farmer north of Maquoketa and die in a bed, instead in a filthy prison camp or on the battlefield.
His story is just one of numerous examples of county residents in wartime now on display at the Jackson County Historic Society’s exhibit at the Pearson Center collection at the Fairgrounds, Maquoketa.
Sutton was born in Huntsville, Alabama, March 1843. He was drafted into the Confederate Army in 1862 and fought in the first Battle of Bull Run and at Fredericksburg, Virginia. Posted to guard duty with 10 other men, they deserted. They made their last camp together between Lookout Mountain and Mt. Raccoon in Tennessee and never met again as they fled, escaping bushwhackers and Confederate military. On one occasion Sutton donned a woman’s clothing to ploy in the fields to escape capture. He surrendered to Union troops of the 4th Ohio in the fall of 1863, and was paroled on the promise to enlist. On Dec. 12, 1863, Sutton joined the 12 Tennessee Cavalry at Nashville where he served as a bugler until the end of the war.
After the surrender he went north with friends, the Flynn boys, to Fulton, where he married Sydney Ann Flynn. James and Sydney were given a 50-acre farm by her father, Marlin and they raised eight children together. James drove mules on a stagecoach between Maquoketa and Fulton and was a long time member of the local Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) organization of Civil War veterans.
He was a leader in the local community and left a family name that has continued to the present with descendants linked to the county.
Sutton was an avid fox hunter, noted for tracking fox over long stretches, following sign and tracks through snow and telltale sign. He was a member of a group known as the Whittling Club.
Sutton’s military career is one of a number accessions director Vera Randall has assembled for display from the society’s large collection of historical memorabilia, artifacts and records kept by the Jackson County Historical Society. Stop by to learn more about “Alabama Jim” and others featured in this new museum display.
James “Alabama Jim” Sutton, Jackson County resident, had the distinction of fighting first for the Confederacy, captured and paroled, and then fighting for the Union with Tennessee units. He came to Fulton with friends, married their sister, and became a farmer and the father of a large family.
James Sutton Gravestone
Jackson Biographies maintained by Nettie Mae Lucas.
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