Biography - John M. Arnold

JOHN M. ARNOLD is a prosperous and intelligent planter of Bossier Parish, La., but the State of his birth was Georgia, where he first saw the light of day in the year 1842. His parents, G. W. and Salina (Sims) Arnold, were born in South Carolina and Georgia, about 1816 and 1818, respectively, their marriage taking place in Oglethorpe County, of the latter State, in 1838, where they made their home until 1860, then moved to Bossier Parish, La. Here the father purchased a good plantation, and devoted his attention to its management, becoming one of the substantial men of that calling in this section of the country. He ever showed himself to be a man of honor in all his business transactions, and at the time of his death did not woe a dollar. He was a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity in Georgia, and passed from life in the State of Louisiana, in 1868, his widow dying in 1872. The mother's father, John Sims, was a well-known farmer of Georgia, and at the breaking out of the Rebellion was the owner of 5,000 acres of land and eighty slaves. John M. Arnold received the advantages of an academic education at Newman Academy, Newman, Ga., and was attending this institution when the war came up, at which time he responded to the call of the Confederacy for troops, enlisting in Company H, First Georgia Regiment, under command of Col. Ramsey, of Augusta, Ga. During his experience as a soldier he operated in all the States lying between the Potomac and Rio Grande Rivers, and was a participant in the battles of Manasses, Laurel Hill, Corinth, Farmington, Iuka, besides all the principal engagements of Northern Mississippi and south of Nashville, Tenn. He was honorable discharged from his first commands March 16, 1862, but shortly afterward joined an independent cavalry company, and in 1864 was transferred to the Trans-Mississippi Department, and was made first lieutenant of Company C, Sixth Louisiana Cavalry, taking part in the engagements with the Federal fleet from Alexandria to "Loggy Bayou," where he assisted in sinking the "New Fall City." He was in command of a company at Mansfield when orders were received to surrender, after which he returned to his old home in Louisiana, and in the month of May, 1866, began farming where he now resides. His plantation comprises 440 acres of fertile land in the Red River Valley, and on this he raises the principal products of the South. He was married in this parish in 1874, to Miss Lou J., daughter of John and Mary (Cowan) Brownlee, both of whom were born in South Carolina, but have been residents of Louisiana since 1848. Mr. Arnold's family consists of four children-three sons and one daughter. He is one of the honorable citizens of this community, and has served as assessor and register for six years, of Ward No. 2. He is a Mason, being a member of Cypress Lodge No. 189.

Contributed 29 Aug 2020 by Norma Hass, extracted from Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northwest Louisiana, published in 1890, page 124.