John Wesley Turner was a career U. S. Army officer.
Background
John Wesley Turner was born on July 19, 1833 near Saratoga, N. Y. His father was a prominent railroad and canal constructor, and in 1843 the family removed to Chicago, where the elder Turner helped build the Galena & Chicago Union Railroad.
Education
Turner was appointed to West Point at age 18. He graduated in 1855.
Career
He was assigned to the 1st U. S. Artillery and fought in the Third Seminole War.
In August 1861 he was commissioned captain in the commissary department and served as chief commissary under Gen. David Hunter in Kansas from December 1861 to March 1862, and in the same capacity under General Hunter when the latter was in command of the Department of the South in April 1862. During this tour of duty he was employed as an artillery officer in the attack on Fort Pulaski, Apr. 10-11, 1862.
In May of the same year he was assigned as chief commissary on the staff of Gen. Benjamin F. Butler at New Orleans and remained with him to the end of the year. In the spring of 1863 he returned to General Hunter in the Department of the South, and when Hunter was relieved by Gen. Quincy A. Gillmore, Turner was made chief of staff and chief of artillery, June 13, 1863, and as such took part in the siege of Fort Wagner and the attack on Fort Sumter. For his services he received the brevet of major, United States Army, and was commissioned brigadier-general of volunteers.
In the operations of 1864 Turner commanded a division in the Army of the James under General Butler on Bermuda Hundred and in front of Petersburg, and received the brevet of lieutenant-colonel, United States Army, for gallant services in action at the Petersburg mine, and the brevet of major-general of volunteers for gallant services in the campaign of 1864.
From November 20, 1864, to Jan. 12, 1865, he was chief of staff of the Army of the James. In the campaign of 1865 he commanded a division of the XXIV Army Corps and took an active part in the operations leading to the surrender of Lee at Appomattox. For his services at the capture of Fort Gregg he received the brevet of colonel, United States Army, and later those of brigadier and major-general.
At the end of active operations he was appointed to the command of the District of Henrico, which included the city of Richmond; this position he held from June 1865 to April 1866. His administration was both efficient and tactful.
On being mustered out of the volunteer service in 1866 he became purchasing and depot commissary at St. Louis.
In September 1871 he resigned from the army. Being accustomed to command and to assume great responsibilities, and having a pleasing personality and great tact, he was as successful in civil life as he had been in his military career.
From 1872 to 1877 he was president of the Bogy Lead Mining Company, and for eleven years (1877 - 88), street commissioner of St. Louis. He served, also, as president of the St. Joseph Gas and Manufacturing Company (1888 - 97), and as a director of the American Exchange Bank and of the St. Louis Savings and Safe Deposit Company (1893 - 99).
His death occurred in St. Louis and his wife and children survived him.
Achievements
Connections
In 1869, Gen. Turner married Blanche Soulard, daughter of Benjamin Soulard (1817-1884) of St. Louis, Missouri and Rose Closey (1819-1896) of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They had two sons and two daughters who survived the general: Voluntine Covel Turner (1870-1933), Marie Soulard Turner Clarkson (1872-1957), John Bige Turner (1879-1914) and Blanche Turner White (1886-1919), although George Soulard Turner died as an infant.