Wayne Cotton
William Wayne Cotton, or Whitecotton (Feb. 4, 1811 – April 21, 1863) was a Union soldier from Scott County who died during the Civil War.
See Also: Scott Countians killed in war
Biography
Born Feb. 4, 1811, William Wayne Cotton was the son of Aaron Whitecotton (1780-1870) and Nancy Ann Hatfield (1786-1870). His siblings included Keziah Thompson (1808-1887), Elizabeth “Betty” Chitwood (1818-1900), Nancy Ann Smith (1821-1886), Dorcas Pennington (1821-1855), Helen Mary O’Dell (1823-1906), Elvira Murrill (1827-1916) and Smith White Cotton (1830-1892).
While Wayne served in the Union army during the Civil War, his sister, Keziah Whitecotton Thompson, was listed in a Union report from Fort Patterson, Mo. in 1865 as a “notorious rebel family.” She and her son, George Washington “Wash” Thompson (1841-1887) took food to Confederate soldiers encamped on their Missouri farm. She married Henry Thompson (1814-1851), who was a grandson of Revolutionary War veteran Randolph Lawson of Scott County.
Additionally, brother Smith White Cotton served in the Confederate army — also in Missouri.
Wayne married Polly J. Owens (1821-1885) in 1842. She was the daughter of William Solomon Owens and Nancy Chambers of Buffalo Creek. They had seven children: Celina (born about 1839), Martha (born about 1842), China Cordell (1844-1917), Tasmon Burke Cotton (1847-1900), French Whitecotton (1849-1927) and Walker Whitecotton (born 1856).
He may have also had a daughter, Elizabeth Cotton Chambers (1839-1903) with Sarah Lee West, who later married Johnathin A. “Egg” Phillips (1819-1911) in 1842.
Survey of Huntsville
When Scott County was formed from parts of Anderson, Campbell, Fentress and Morgan counties by the Tennessee General Assembly in 1849, a committee was assigned to select a county seat. The committee ultimately chose the site that would become Huntsville. In 1850, Whitecotton was hired to survey and lay the town out in lots. His original plats consisted of 49 lots, beginning with the site of Scott County’s original courthouse (the location where the Huntsville Supply Company store would later be built).
The town was laid out on 25 acres that were purchased from George McDonald and Emanuel Phillips.
Civil War
Cotton enlisted in the Union army in Huntsville on June 14, 1862 and was assigned to Co. G, 7th Tennessee Infantry. This was the short-lived Scott County regiment that disbanded soon after the Battle of Huntsville. He was eventually promoted to captain.
Cotton was taken captive by Confederate soldiers in Huntsville in September 1862, and was released during a prisoner exchange at Richmond, Va. on Nov. 8, 1862.
During the disarray that followed the 7th Tennessee’s defeat at Huntsville, Col. William T. Clift assigned Cotton to round up deserters in Scott County. On the second of such excursions back home, he fell ill with smallpox and died at his home on April 21, 1863.
Aftermath
Following the war, as Cotton’s widow, Polly, attempted to receive a pension from the federal government, Col. Clift traveled to Scott County to testify on her behalf.
It is not known where Cotton was buried. Polly died on April 13, 1885. It’s also unclear where she was buried.
China Whitecotton (Cotton) married John Marion Cordell (1842-1885), who served as Scott County Judge and was also elected to the state legislature. Their children included Wayne Wellington Cordell (1864-1921), Aquilla John Cordell (1866-1943), Coffee Childs “George” Cordell (1867-1940), Young Cordell (1871-1879), Della Byrd (1877-1911) and Young Wallis Cordell (1879-1930).