Francis M. Richardson

Born: Abt 1837 in Jackson County, now Putnam County, Tennessee

Died: 31 Jan 1863 in military hospital in Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee

No Photo Available

Company I, 5th Tennessee Cavalry

24 Nov 1862-1 Feb 1863

Francis was the son of Caleb Richardson and Martha "Patsy" Medlin.  He married Ginsey Elviney "Jane" Elmore daughter of George Washington Elmore and Sarah "Sally" Bussell.  They had two children, one in 1859 and one in 1861.

Francis didn't see a lot of action during the war.  After enlisting with a group from Mine Lick Creek in Putnam County, Tennessee on 24 Nov 1862, he was admitted to a military hospital in Nashville on 26 Dec 1862 and died there on 31 Jan 1863 of Rubeola & Pneumonia. 

We do not know for sure where Francis is buried.  He was likely buried in the hospital graveyard and, perhaps, later transfered to the Nashville National Cemetery.  Again perhaps, he is in the "unknown" soldiers grave which was reinterned from hospital graves.

His widow Jane remarried to Hickman Thomas in 1867.  Her widow's pension was rejected on grounds of her remarriage and failure to apply within the specified timeframe.  However, their two children did draw an orphans pension until they were 16 years of age.  Albert Lindsey Ellis was appointed by the court as guardian of the children.

Jane's second husband, Hickman Thomas, died in 1896.  Jane applied a 2nd time for a widow's pension on Francis M. Richardson's service.  The application was rejected a 2nd time for the same reasons.  Sadly, one affidavit by her doctor states: "she is almost what I would call a walking skelton.  When she walks at all she is likely to die at any moment.  She is a pauper in its true sense living on the mercies of her neighbors.  The claimant owns absolutely nothing, not even able to pay the postage on her claim."