Captain Joe Desha
Captain Joe Desha was born in Harrison County, Kentucky, May 22,
1833, and died May 8, 1902.
He raised the first company in Kentucky for the Confederacy that was
raised in the "neutral" state. They went by the L. and N. railroad to
Nashville, from there to Virginia and became part of the First
Kentucky Regiment.
In an engagement at Drainesville, Virginia, he was severely wounded
in the shoulder, his left arm crushed below the elbow, rendering it
almost useless the rest of his life; but the most remarkable of his
many wounds was one in the head at Murfreesboro by a cannon ball,
which left him apparently dead.
While being carried from the field as dead he sat upright on the
litter and said: "What does this mean, boys? What's the matter?"
Some of his men about him cried with joy, and said: "Captain, we
thought you were dead!"
He stood up and felt himself, and said: "I am all right I believe,"
and went back to the line.
Afterwards, while in Richmond and passing the residence of President
Davis, the President and his private secretary, Col. William Preston
Johnson, saw the officer, and the latter mentioned that it was
Captain Desha, of Kentucky, when the President said: "Call him back;
I want to see him." He was introduced to President Davis, who said:
"Captain, I wanted to see the only man ever struck in the head with
a cannon ball and not killed!"
The President asked him about the effects of it and Desha replied:
"I believe about the only bad effects I sustained by it was the loss
of a fine pistol dropped from my belt when the boys were carrying me
off the field."
Mr. Davis excused himself for a few minutes, and returned with a new
pistol in his hand, making it a gift to replace the lost weapon.
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