The Secret of Colonel John Wayles Jefferson

When John Wayles Jefferson took command of the 8th Wisconsin Infantry in 1863, he had a unique personal connection to the Union he'd sworn to protect and defend.  His grandfather was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence and the third President of the United States.  Yet it was a link he couldn't acknowledge. None of his fellow officers or troops ever knew that he was the grandson of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, the slave with whom Jefferson had as many as six children. 
Colonel Jefferson was born in Virginia to Eston Hemings, the youngest child of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings.  Eston had been freed at the age of 21 and married a free black daughter of a Jewish merchant and a slave.  Eston was partially educated at Monticello where he and the other Hemings children had been house slaves.  A talented violinist, he led a dance band that was quite successful around his home region.  Eventually, Eston and his wife, two sons and daughter moved to Madison.  Little is known about his life in Madison but apparently both he and his wife passed as white people in the city.  His daughter was married there and his two sons became successful hotel operators, managing the Wisconsin House near the Capitol in the 1850s until the Civil War began. 
John Wales Jefferson, took command of Wisconsin's famous "eagle regiment" in 1863. He took part in the great Vicksburg campaign, was wounded and mustered out in Madison in 1864.  After the war, He moved to Memphis and became a successful businessman.  When he died in 1892, his body was interred at Forest Hill Cemetery in Madison in the family plot.  He had never married.  A neighbor who knew of his family history reported that Jefferson had begged him to keep his "colored blood" a secret. 
The Jefferson-Hemings connection has been very controversial for many years. Physical evidence of recent years is playing out in its favor.  Members of the Hemings family clearly carry the Jefferson Y chromosome. In a further twist to the story, Sally's father had also been another white slave owner, John Wayles, who was Thomas Jefferson's father-in-law.  Yes, Jefferson's beloved wife Martha and Sally Hemings were half-sisters. 
Wisconsin graveyards hold many fascinating stories, but few are as deeply rooted in the beginnings of our country and the not-so-secret life of one of our Founding Fathers as the one at Forest Hill Cemetery in Madison.

Pictured above is a portrait of Colonel Jefferson and below is Don Troiani's famous depiction of the 8th Wisconsin (and it's legendary mascot, Old Abe) assaulting the earthworks outside of Vicksburg.