Wilburn Hightower
John C. Hightower was a deputy sheriff in Marshall County, Alabama in the pre-war years. He had married Martha Jordan in their native North Carolina but they had moved to northern Alabama soon after 1830. They had ten children, the youngest being a son named Marshall, born in 1850, the same year Martha died. On Christmas Day of that year John married Margaret Lang Patrick, the widow of James Patrick. Over the next eight years more children were added to the family until John was tragically killed while trying to arrest a criminal. When the war started Margaret Patrick hightower was a widow living in Winston County with thirteen children including two daughters and a son from her marriage to James Patrick. Marion Hightower and his brother, Monroe, were quick to answer the call to arms and join the 1st Alabama Cavalry. Brothers Wilburn and John joined the following year. All four Hightower brothers were assigned to Company I where they served with Thomas Wiley. Of the four brothers, two died during the war years. In addition to the four Hightower Brothers that were her step-sons, Margaret Patrick Hightower had two sons from her first marriage that served in the 1st Alabama, Francis Marion Patrick and William Patrick. Another one of her sons, Henry Greenberry Patrick, served in the Confederate Army.
Database created and maintained by Ryan Dupree.
Service records compiled by Glenda Todd and used with her permission. This and other information about the history of the First and the men who fought with the unit
can be found in her book, First Alabama Cavalry, USA: Homage to Patriotism.
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