Union Veteran and Footless Farmer: John Wales January
John Wales January's story as a Union soldier during the Civil War epitomizes the deadliest of soldiers' experiences. Detained at the detestable Andersonville prison, the bottom 5 inches of his feet were rotted by gangrene. Of his survival story, January wrote on the back of a photo of himself: “....no amputation has ever been performed upon them save the one I performed in prison. There is no record of any case in the world similar to mine.”
John Wales January was born November 29th, 1845 in Clinton County, Ohio. In 1852. He was living in Illinois when the Civil War began. January enlisted in the Union Army January 1st, 1864, at the age of 18. He joined the 14th Illinois Cavalry Regiment on June 21st, 1864, in Company B, then commanded by William Tecumseh Sherman. January’s Civil War journey unfolds amidst the Company’s ambitious march to Savannah, Georgia–starting in Peoria, Illinois. July 1864, January and fourteen other Union soldiers were captured by six rebels on Stoneman’s Raid in Macon, Georgia and were imprisoned in the infamous Andersonville prison, remembered for its abhorrent conditions. Besides being malnourished. January developed gangrene in his feet The prison doctor thought January's condition was helpless and unrecoverable, and refused to treat him. Using a small, personal pocket knife, January amputated 5 inches of decaying skin, muscle, tendons, above his ankle. Shortly after his self-administered amputation, Atlanta was captured by Union forces. To prevent January and other prisoners from being handed back to the Union forces, the Confederate army transferred them to Charleston, South Carolina. There, January suffered through additional ailments--swamp fever, scurvy, and still his gangrened feet--through the winter of 1864 and 1865. Following the Johnson-Sherman armistice in April 18655, January was released to Union Troops in Wilmington, North Carolina. Standing at 5’8”, and weighing 165 pounds at the time he was enlisted, January weighed 45 pounds at the time of his release. Due to his extraordinarily poor health, January was taken to a proper hospital in David’s Island, New York, where he spent the next seven months recovering from his wounds. According to Dyer’s Compendium, January ‘s Cavalry unit was one of 300 regiments that experienced significantly higher exposure to traumatic wartime events. He received an invalid pension in 1866, qualifying him for government assistance. He married Elizabeth Ellen Spruce in 1869, and started a family of six children: Fannie, Minnie, Emsley, John, Alice, and William. January and his family migrated to Dakota Territory and settled in Del Rapids in 1889. January's artificial limbs enabled him to become a farmer and proactive member of the Del Rapids community. January delivered Chautauqua lectures, cultivating awareness for disabled veterans. He was Commander of the Lake Madison Veterans Association in 1894 and 1899, and a member of Dahlgren Post No.20, Grand Army of the Republic in Dell Rapids from 1884-1885, serving as an Alternate and Department Inspector (South Dakota State Historical Society).
The inscription on his grave reads: "I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith."
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