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Civil War Veteran
Nathan was born February 1st, 1821 in Decatur County Georgia, the son of William Evans (1800-1870) and Martha Pope (1802-1882). On January 15, 1846 he married Martha Lona Justice, daughter of David & Emeline Justice (of the South Carolina Justice Family). Although Nat and Martha had a growing family at home, on June 15th 1862 41 year old Nathan joined up with Campbell's Independent Company, Georgia Siege Artillery. The unit was stationed at Fort Ward with the mission to harass and keep at bay a Union squadron that blockaded the mouth of the St. Marks River. Fort Ward was located in Wakulla County, Florida at the confluence of the Wakulla River and St. Marks River.
Campbell's Artillery's success was a major factor in keeping Union forces from capturing Tallahassee, the only Confederate capital east of the Mississippi River not to be captured by Union forces during the war. When the Union couldn't get its Naval forces up the St. Marks river, they attempted to march Army forces towards the capital, but were defeated by volunteers, mostly composed of teenagers from the nearby university that would later become Florida State University, and the elderly, protected by breastworks, at the Battle of Natural Bridge on March 6, 1865.
As was the case with so many families during the Civil War, in the summer of 1863 Nathan learned that his younger brother William had died at Gettysburg.
Nathan served until the end of the war, but must have taken at least one furlough home, as son James Henry Evans was conceived and born during the war (1864). Several years after the war Martha and at least three of her sons moved to Liberty County, Florida . It is this family that started the Evans Family Cemetery in Telogia, with Nathan being the oldest known name in the cemetery. Nathan died October 10, 1871 in Decatur County, Georgia, so the marker in Evans Cemetery is probably only in his memory, and not his actual burial site. His son's, William David, James Henry and John Justice, are all buried in Evans Cemetery. Martha lived in Liberty County until at least 1909 (when she applied for a widow's pension), but her grave is not recorded.
Pension Application Nr. A11227 (Click to search and view at the Florida Memory Project)
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