May 8, 1835: Colonel John W Jefferson, the grandson of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, was born in Charlottesville, Virginia. Jefferson’s father Eston had been born enslaved at Monticello. Jefferson hid his mixed race ancestry and served in the 8th Wisconsin eventually commanding the regiment.

John Wayles Jefferson was the son of Eston Hemings who was born enslaved on Thomas Jefferson’s plantation Monticello. Eston was the son of Jefferson and Sally Hemings, the enslaved half sister of Jefferson’s wife. Despite the fact that their children were 7/8ths European and thus white by Virginia law, the children were kept in a state of slavery as Virginia law held that the children of slave mothers would remain slaves.

Eston’s two older siblings escaped to Washington DC (it is widely believed that Jefferson encouraged this) while Eston and his brother James Madison Jefferson were freed upon the death of Jefferson in 1826 when Eston was 18. Eston settled in Charlottesville, VA and married Julia Ann Isaacs who was of African and Jewish descent. In 1835, John Wayles Jefferson was born in Charlottesville shortly before the family moved to Ohio. In 1852, when the Fugitive Slave Act was passed the family moved further north to safety in Madison, Wisconsin.

On August 26, 1861, John Jefferson left the successful hotel he ran with his brother Beverly, and enlisted in the 8th Wisconsin Infantry. Beverly served for 90 days with the 1st Wisconsin. In September 1861, John was promoted to major. The 8th was known for their bald Eagle mascot, Old Abe, which was acquired from a Ojibwe leader for $2.50 during their mobilization in the summer of 1861.

Jefferson served gallantly with the 8th taking part in hard fighting during the Iuka-Corinth and Vicksburg campaigns. He was wounded at Corinth and again at Vicksburg. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel on April 23, 1863 and colonel on June 16, 1864, eventually taking command of the regiment for a time. Throughout his time in the army he served as a journalist publishing accounts of the 8th from the battlefield.

Jefferson’s ancestry put him in a perilous position, had it been known he would have been stripped of command. A friend from Ohio had encountered him while he was a lieutenant colonel. Jefferson begged the man saying “not to tell the fact that he had colored blood in his veins, which he said was not suspected by any of his command; and of course, I did not.”

On October 11, 1864, Jefferson mustered out of the army due to his lingering wounds. He settled in Memphis, Tennessee becoming a local business magnate. Making a fortune as a cotton broker, he founded the Continental Cotton Company with holdings in Arkansas and Tennessee. He never married and passed away on June 12, 1892. He is buried in the Jefferson family plot in Madison, Wisconsin.

I always found it fascinating how Jefferson’s descendants through Sally Hemmings each chose to live their lives. About half hid their ancestry and “passed” while the other half entered the free black community.

Also wild going from joining to Major in 90 days lol

Named after his great-grandfather, John Wayles, the father of both Martha Jefferson (Thomas Jefferson's wife) and Sally Hemmings.

Just to put a pin on the obvious: Thomas Jefferson enslaved his own son. His own son! Not a stepson, nephew, or adopted son. His own actual offspring.

And ... this situation wasn't uncommon in the antebellum South. Just blows my mind every time I think about it.

The Jefferson descendants have always liked to brag, to this day. I wonder if John Jefferson told people he was Thomas’s grandson and they assumed he was either legitimate or born through a white mistress.

ON, WISCONSIN!