John Wilkinson was born in Birr in 1834. He emigrated to the US in the mid 1850’s just like thousands of other Irish people.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, John was living in New Orleans and working as a printer. He was obviously even at this stage a religious person as he had joined the local Methodist Church and become heavily involved in the daily life of the church.

John Wilkinson aligned himself with the Confederate states and enlisted in an artillery company raised in Copiah County, Mississippi. His unit would become involved in the siege of Port Hudson between May and July of 1863. The Confederates would eventually abandon the fort to the Union Army and John Wilkinson would escape.

John would then enlist in the 24th Mississippi Cavalry and be elected Captain in Company C. His unit would spend the rest of the war in conflict with Union General, William Tecumseh Sherman, as he mounted his Meridian and Tennessee campaigns. John Wilkinson and his unit would surrender in April 1865 concluding his war.

On returning to New Orleans he would resume his duties in the local Methodist Church and be appointed Superintendent of the Sabbath School of New Orleans before eventually making the decision to become a fully fledged Minister. He would spend time in Shreveport, Louisiana before transferring to Baton Rouge. 1873 would see an outbreak of Yellow Fever in Louisiana and John would administer to sick and dying and become a very popular and respected figure in the community.

Eventually John would also become sick, gradually becoming weaker and weaker, and finally succumb to pneumonia in April 1875 at almost 40 years of age. It was a short but eventful life for the man from Birr. He went from being Captain John Wilkinson in the Confederate army to the Reverend John Wilkinson in the Methodist Church.