What Color is Butternut?: Maj. John Stewart Walker

Birth: 1827
Marriage: Lucy Otey (1831-1911)

Death: July 1, 1862 (Battle of Malvern Hill)

Parents: David Walker (1799-1845) and Amanda Norvell (1802-1838)

Siblings: Mary, Norman Stewart, David, Amadus Norvell

Children: David, Mary, Lucy, Amanda, John Otey, John Stewart Jr.

Descent: John Stewart Walker - David Walker - Lucy Walker - Joseph A. McCullough III - James D. McCullough - Joseph A. McCullough V

Confederate Service: 15^th Virginia Infantry

(originally, “Virginia Life Guard”, 3^rd Virginia Volunteers)

John Stewart Walker was born in Virginia in 1827. His father, David Walker, was a Scottish immigrant who had come to American to join in the family tobacco business. With the death of his father in 1845, John Stewart Walker went to live with his uncle, John Stewart, in his mansion at Brook Hill. Soon thereafter, John enrolled in Washington College and later transferred to Harvard, where he was a member of the exclusive Porcellion Club. On John Stewart Walker's 21st birthday, he held a massive party at the Revere House. The party proved so expensive that when his uncle received the bill, he pulled John out of school and brought him home.

The next year, 1849, John married his second cousin, Lucy Otey, and bought a $10,000 property in Richmond. From then until the war, John joined in the family tobacco business, producing his own award-winning brand, Queen Bee Tobacco. John Stewart Walker and his family were members of the Centenary Methodist Church in Richmond. John is listed as a steward of the church in 1856 and became superintendent of the Sunday school in 1857, a position he held until he volunteered in the Virginia militia. It is thought that several men in his company were members of his Sunday school.

Described by a man under his command.

An Account of His Death.

Letters:

June 10, 1861, Battle of Big Bethel

June 11, 1861

June 14, 1861

June 15, 1861