-Records of the Adjutant General's Office, U.S. War Department, show that John W. Emmerson (whose name was carried with the double "m" spelling at all times) first served as a private in Co. F of the 58th Regiment, then was promoted to Corporal and Sergeant, in which rank he served until Feb. 12, 1865, when he was mustered out to accept a commission as Second Lieutenant for the duration of the war.

Sgt. Emmerson was in all the battles in which his regiment took part, including the Battles of Stone River, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge and the Atlanta campaign, which was so vividly depicted in the memorable movie, "Gone with the Wind." Afterward, his regiment was in the famous "march to the sea," commemorated in the old martial song, "While We Were Marching Through Georgia"; then in the March through the Carolinas. The 58th Regiment witnessed the surrender of General Johnston's Confederate Army, then passed on through Virginia to the Grand Review in Washington D.C., in April, 1865, at the close of the War. Lieut. Emmerson was discharged July 25 of that year at Louisville, KY, and was married the following December to Nancy Jane Knowles.

It was after the terrible battle of Shiloh, when the troops had to sleep on the muddy battlefield, surrounded by dead men and horses. The creek was so high that the supply wagons could not get through with their tents. "All the rations for our colt damp camp had to be carried on our backs from Pittsburg Landing on the Tennessee River, a distance of four miles".

Among those who were severely ill was Private John W. Emmerson of Co. F, and the news somehow got home that he was dead. Yes, the news did reach John's parents, James L. and Nancy (Mounts) Emmerson, that their son was so dangerously ill that he had no chance for recovery. The 1905 newspaper account of the story read as follows:

"James Emmerson the father, started south to get his son, and so sure was he that his son would be found dead, the father purchased a fine metallic coffin at Evansville, Inc., and started with it by boat for Camp Shiloh-only to be ordered to abandon the journey when the steamer reached Paducah, KY. However, the casket was sent on with Mr. Sullivan, who was a sutler of the 8th Indiana Battery and was returning to the front after a short visit with his wife at Evansville.

'When Sutler Sullivan arrived in camp, he proceeded to hunt up the lifeless form of Comrade Emmerson, and to his great astonishment, found him very much alive!"

The coffin which his father had sent to Camp Shiloh for the son's burial was sent right back to Evansville, IN, and it was explained that only a few days afterward "Comrade Emmerson was grated a furlough from the Army and was sent home in a very weak condition."

In the meantime, the casket had arrived at Evansville, where the wife of Mr. Sullivan (the sutler for the Army) was waiting to receive it, since she acquainted with the Emmerson family and knew of the circumstances. Then the published story continued:

'When the coffin was unloaded from the boat, Mrs. Sullivan astonishingly discovered that it was empty. James Logan Emmerson the father, was notified. The old newspaper story concluded: 'When Comrade Emmerson was able to leave the hospital and return to the Emmerson farm in Gibson County, Dr. Summerbell-'was called in to conduct a sort of spiritual…thanksgiving" service over the frail but not lifeless body of John Emmerson. It seemed like a regular funeral sermon \to Emmerson himself, and many who attended declared afterwards: that it was a real old-fashioned funeral"-instead of a joyful celebration of the sick soldier's survival. "

John W Emmerson