ABERNATHY, Charles Clayton, Jr. (a.k.a., Chas C. Abernathy; Charl Aber; Clayton C. Abernathey)
10/09/1827 - Born, near Pulaski, Giles Co., TN [Father: Charles Clayton Abernathy, Sr. (1790-1877); Mother: Susannah Waddy Harris (1800-1840)]
- Attended Wurtemberg Academy, Pulaski, TN
- Attended Cumberland University, Lebanon, TN
04/10/1840 - Mother, Susannah, died in Giles Co., TN (buried: William Abernathy Cemetery; Giles Co., TN; FindAGrave #46927936)
- Attended Cumberland University, Lebanon, TN (three years)
11/08/1850 - Practiced medicine, Murfreesboro, Rutherford Co., TN (lived with the family of "Dr. Jesse J. Abernathey"; indexed in the 1850 U. S. Census as "Clayton C. Abernathey")
1851 - M. D. degree, University of Pennsylvania, Medical Dept., Philadelphia, PA (from: Pulaski, Giles Co., TN; preceptors: Dr. R. G. P. White and Dr. Jesse Jones Abernathy; thesis: "Marsh Miasm")
1851 - Practiced medicine, Decatur Co., TN
08/18/1851 - Married, Martha James Stockard (1832TN-1878), Maury Co., TN
1856 - Moved to Giles Co., TN
06/26/1860 - Practiced medicine, Southern Subdivision, Giles Co., TN (lived with wife, Martha, and two children; indexed in the 1860 U. S. Census as Charles C. Abernathy)
04/17/1862 - Appointed Asst. Surgeon, Provisional Army of the Confederate States, to rank from 01/11/1862
04/17/1862 - Confirmed as Asst. Surgeon from TN by the Confederate States Senate
04/17/1862 - As Asst. Surgeon, ordered to report to Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard
12/03/1862 - Passed Confederate Army Board of Medical Examination for the position of Surgeon
06/12/1863 - Appointed Surgeon, Provisional Army of the Confederate States. to rank from 12/03/1862
09/03/1863 - Surgeon, 18th TN Infantry, Gen. J. C. Brown's Brigade, Gen. A. P. Stewart's Division, Gen. S. B. Buckner's Corps, Army of Tennessee
01/30/1864 - Confirmed as Surgeon from TN by the Confederate States Senate
04/30/1864 - In a letter written from Macon, GA, to Surgeon Samuel Hollingsworth Stout, Medical Director of Hospitals, Army of Tennessee, "Dear Sir, I called to see you, after three weeks stay with our Medical (Brethren?) of the U. S. Army. Sorry to find you absent. Since the death of all the field officers of the old 3rd [TN Infantry], I feel very little inclination to remain with that Regt. I should be happy to secure it before this winter (and for the remainder of my stay with the army). My health is not good and I shall ask for transfer to hospital. If you can aid me in any way I shall be obliged. I would like to see you and talk in [detail with] you of Dr. Cooper [Surg. George E. Cooper], Med Dir., Dept. Cumberland [U. S. Army]. He is a noble man. You would like him very much, I am sure. I hope I shall see you soon as I am resolved in asking to be transferred to your Department. I am satisfied the change is due me and necessary for my health. Do not say that "Abernathy is playing old soldier," for such is not the case. I wish you to write me soon and let me know if you can assign me to duty, if I am successful in my application. You know me well enough to judge whether or not I am apt to ask unreasonable favors. I think I am ready (after a stay in Yankeedom) to work for the South in any useful position. I wrote home several times, but RR evacuation was so much disturbed, that I rec'd not a line in reply. Yours truly but hurried, C. C. Abernathy"
05/31/1864 - Surgeon, 3rd TN Infantry
08/15/1864 - Surgeon, 3rd TN Infantry, Gen. J. C. Brown's Brigade, Gen. C. L. Stevenson's Division, Gen. S. D. Lee's Corps, Army of Tennessee, Atlanta, GA
08/31/1864 - As Surgeon, 3rd TN Infantry, left with the wounded at Jonesboro, GA
10/22/1864 - Surgeon, 3rd TN Infantry
11/30/1864 - As Surgeon, 3rd & 18th TN Infantry, left with the wounded at Pulaski, TN
12/25/1864 - Captured by the U. S. Army in Pulaski, TN
03/23/1865 - Prisoner of War (POW), Camp Chase, OH
03/23/1865 - As a POW, forwarded to Louisville, KY
03/26/1865 - As a POW, transferred to Point Lookout, MD
04/25/1865 - In a letter written from Ward 13, Gen. Hospital, Point Lookout Prison, MD, to Cicero Buchanan, Pvt., 3rd TN Infantry, Prisoner of War, Point Lookout Prison, MD, "Dear Cicero, Please send me through Major Brady's office, the Provost Marshall, my clothing consisting of Pants, shirt, socks, collars. I wrote you some time ago on this subject, but have heard nothing from you. Complements to all the Boys of our Regiment. Your friend, C. C. Abernathy, Surgeon, 3rd TN Vols"
04/28/1865 - As POW, received at Fort Delaware, DE
07/15/1865 - In a letter written from the Office of the [U. S.] Commissary General of Prisoners, Washington, DC, to Brig. Genl. A. Schoepf, Commanding Fort Delaware, DE,
General, Pursuant to instructions from the President through the War Department, you will please release immediately, Surgeon C. C. Abernathy, a prisoner of war now confined at Fort Delaware, Del., on his taking the oath of allegiance. Very respectfully, Your obedt. servt., W. Hoffman, Bvt. Brig. Genl, U. S. A., Com. Gen. Pris."
07/15/1865 - As POW, signed an Oath of Allegiance to the United States
07/15/1865 - Released from Fort Delaware, DE [Description - complexion: dark; hair: dark; eyes: Grey; height: 5 ft., 11 in.]
06/09/1870 - Practiced medicine, Pulaski, Giles Co., TN (lived with wife, Martha, and two children; indexed in the 1870 U. S. Census as "Charl Aber")
01/02/1877 - Father, Charles, died in Pulaski, Giles Co., TN (buried: William Abernathy Cemetery; Giles Co., TN; FindAGrave #46927907)
05/14/1878 - Wife, Martha, died in Giles Co., TN (buried: Maplewood Cemetery, Pulaski, Giles Co., TN; FindAGrave #44551097)
01/01/1880 - Married, Mrs. Josephine C. McNairy (1828TN-1916) [Note: Josephine's first husband was Dr. William James McNairy who served as Sgt., Co. K, 11th TN Cavalry (Holman's), C. S. A. He was killed instantly by an artillery shell during the Battle of Chickamauga, GA, Sept. 18th or 19th, 1863.]
06/04/1900 - Practiced medicine, Pulaski, Giles Co., TN (lived with wife, Josephine; indexed in the 1900 U. S. Census as "Chas C. Abernathy")
- Member, Methodist Episcopal Church, South
- Member, John H. Wooldridge Bivouac of Confederate Soldiers, Giles Co., TN
04/27/1903 - Died; "was found dead in bed", Pulaski, Giles Co., TN (buried: Maplewood Cemetery, Pulaski, TN; FindAGrave #44551089; obituary: 1903 Journal of the American Medical Association, vol. 40, p. 1521.)
01/16/1916 - Widow, Josephine, died in Pulaski, Giles Co., TN (buried: Maplewood Cemetery, Pulaski, TN; FindAGrave #44551089)
Pam Hall and Elizabeth P. Dargan provided input to this biography.

This biographical sketch is from:
Hambrecht, F. T. & Koste, J. L., Biographical
register of physicians who served the
Confederacy in a medical capacity.
08/24/2023. Unpublished database.

The following is from: Goodspeed's History of Giles Co., Tennessee.
A successful practitioner, was born near Pulaski, October 9, 1827. His early youth was passed on the farm and in attending the county schools. Later he attended the Wurtemberg Academy at Pulaski. He subsequently spent three years at Cumberland University at Lebanon. In 1848 he began the study of medicine under Dr. R. G. P. White, and in the spring of 1851 he graduated at the University of Pennsylvania, located in Decatur County, west Tennessee. In the same year, he married Martha J. Stockard, of Maury County, and has two children by this union: Mary G. and Lizzie. After remaining five years in Decatur County, he moved to Pulaski, and here continued the practice until 1862, when he went on duty as a commissioned surgeon in the Army of Tennessee at the hospital at Chattanooga. In December 1862, at his request, he was transferred to the Eighteenth Tennessee Infantry, Col. J. B. Palmer's regiment, General John C. Brown's brigade, and served as the surgeon of this regiment until after the Battle of Chickamauga, when he was transferred to the Third Tennessee Regiment, and continued to occupy that position until the close of the war. At the time of the surrender he was a prisoner of war at Fort Delaware, but was released July 19, 1865. In the fall of the same year he resumed the practice of medicine, and is still actively engaged in his profession. He is one of the leading physicians of this part of Tennessee. Mrs. Abernathy died in 1878, and the doctor was married again, in 1880, to Mrs. Josephine C. McNairy, of Giles County. Mrs. McNairy was a Miss Wilkinson. Our subject is a Democrat, a Mason, and he and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. He is a son of, Charles C. and Susannah (Harris) Abernathy, and of Scotch-Irish descent. His father was born in Virginia in 1790, and his mother in Davidson Co., Tennessee, in 1800. The Abernathy came to Tennessee in 1800, and settled in Davidson County, where the family resided until 1812. The grandfather died in 1835, and the father in 1876. The latter was clerk of the circuit court for twenty-four years. The mother of our subject died in 1845.