Ransom Conner

John Ransom Conner (Nov. 23, 1834 – Feb. 28, 1864) was a Union soldier who died in a Confederate prison camp during the Civil War. He is listed in Paul Roy’s Scott County in the Civil War but does not appear to have lived in or have had ties to Scott County.

See Also: Scott Countians killed in war

Biography

Born Nov. 23, 1835, John “Ransom” Conner was the son of John Menefee Conner (1808-1880) and Mary “Polly” Haskew (1809-1878). His siblings included William Hashew Conner (1829-1915), Nancy Jane Conner (1837-1859), James S. Conner (1839-1916) and Malinda E. Conner (1849-1924).

Conner married Tennessee C. Worthington in Knox County, on Sept. 25, 1857. She was the daughter of James C. Anderson and Charlotte Tipton. They had three children: James Perry Conner (born 1858), Tennessee Victoria Conner Gammon (1860-1887), and John Ransom Conner Jr. (1862-1886).

It does not appear that the Conners ever lived in Scott County. Ransom Conner’s parents lived in Knox County in 1840 and 1850, he was married in Knox County in 1857, and he continued to live in Knox County in 1860.

Civil War

Conner enlisted in the Union army at Somerset, Ky. on Sept. 28, 1861, and was assigned to Co. H, 2nd Tennessee Infantry with a rank of corporal. He was promoted to sergeant on Nov. 15, 1862.

On Nov. 6, 1863, Conner and the rest of his company were taken prisoner by Confederate forces at the Battle of Rogersville in Hawkins County, Tenn. He was imprisoned at Belle Isle in Virginia, where he fell ill with phthisis (tuberculosis). He was hospitalized on Feb. 15, 1864, and died on Feb. 28, 1864, at age 28.