Throwback Thursday: Butler County Civil War vet's name added to memorial wall in 1999

Reprinted from the Daily American Republic Sunday, January 10, 1999 edition. James Wooten's eagerness to serve his country when he was a teenager allowed him to live a life of luxury in his retirement years. Wooten, of Poplar Bluff, was one of the last Civil War veterans living in the county when he died in March 1942 at the age of 94. Three of his granddaughters, Geraldine Carpenter, Alma Gulledge and Mary Temple, all of Poplar Bluff, have made sure Wooten will be remembered for eons. They have added his name to the then newly erected Veterans Memorial Wall in front of the Black River Coliseum. According to his discharge papers on record in the courthouse. Wooten served as a private in Company C of the 51st Regiment of the Missouri Infantry Volunteers "to serve one year or during the war" and was discharged Aug. 18, 1865, with "no objection to his being re-enlsted is known to exist. Said James A. Wooten was born in Perry Co. in the State of Illinois, is 18 years of age, 5 feet 4 inches high dark complexion, hazel eyes, black hair and by occupation, when enrolled, a farmer." According to a newspaper story about him on his 93rd birthday, Wooten served under Gen. John Logan.