President John Tyler - Confederate

There is nice Memorial to President John Tyler on find a grave. It lists his two wives, Letita Christian Tyler (1790-1842) and Julia Tyler (1820-1889). He had eight children with his first wife, Letitia and seven with his second wife, Julia.

The children are listed on the Memorial. They were:
Mary Tyler Jones (1815-1847)
Robert Tyler (1816-1877)
John Tyler (1819-1896)
Letitia Tyler Semple (1821-1907)
Elizabeth Tyler Waller (1823-1850)
Anna Contesse Tyler (1825-1825)
Alice Tyler Denison (1828-1854)
Tazewell Tyler (1830-1874)
David Gardiner Tyler (1846-1927)
John Alexander Tyler (1848-1883)
Julia Gardiner Tyler Spencer (1849-1871)
Lachian Tyler (1851-1902)
Lyon Gardiner Tyler (1853-1935)
Robert Fitzwalter Tyler ( 1856-1927)
Pearl Tyler Ellis (1860-1947)

The two grandsons that are still living are Lyon Gardiner Tyler Jr. and Harrison Ruffin Tyler. They are sons of Lyon Gardiner Tyler. Their mother was Sue Ruffin who was Lyon's second wife.

Something that is interesting is that John Tyler's body lay in state in the Confederate Congress wrapped in a Confederate flag. His funeral was held at St. Paul's Episcopal Church and a large procession of carriages including President Jefferson Davis escorted his remains to Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond where he is buried.

I have learned a few interesting facts about several of President Tyler's sons.

Robert Tyler who was born in 1816 was son of Tyler and his first wife. Letitia. He worked as his father's private secretary during Tyler's administration. He also published a book in 1839 caled "Poems Comprising The Last Man; The Elements of the Beautiful and Death".

When the Civil War broke out he joined the Confederacy. When Montgomery, became the Capitol, it is said his daughter, Letitia, raised the first Confederate Flag on the Capitol Building. He served as Register of the Confederacy Treasury and his signature appeared on many Confederate dollar bills. After the war, he moved to Alabama and worked as editor of the "Montgomery Advertser". He died in 1877 and is buried in Montgomery, Alabama.

Col. John Tyler, Jr. was son of Tyler and Letitia. He served as a private secretary during his father's presidency. During the Mexican War he was a Captain in the Virginia Infantry. When the Civil War broke out he joined the Confederacy and was a Colonel in the Confederate States Army and assisstant secretary of war for the Confederacy.

After the war, he lived most of his life in poverty. He was first interred in a public vault at the Congressional Cemetery in Washington. He was later moved to Arlington Cemetery. His gravestone reads "John Tyler, Jr., Virginia, Captain of the 13th U.S. infantry, Mexican War".

Dr. Tazewell Tyler was the son of Tyler and his first wife, Letitia. He was their last child. Tazewell became a doctor and served as a surgeon in the Confederate Army. After the war, he went West to California. He died in California in 1874. He turned to alcohol and was said to have suffered from what we call today post traumatic stress syndrome due to the carnage he witnessed as a Civil War surgeon.

David Gardiner Tyler was the son of Tyler and his second wife, Julia. He served in the Confederate Army as a Private in the Rockbridge Artillery. He served from 1863 until the surrender at Appomattox. He was elected as a Democrat to represent Virginia's 2nd District in the United States House of Representatives, serving from March 1893 to March, 1897.

He died in 1927 and is buried in Hollywood Cemetery.

Anyone who's seen "Gettysburg" a few times knows this.

Lo Armistead talking with Lt Col Fremantle--"All of Virginia is heah."