Kennon, Charles Erasmus. | Tulane University Special Collections

Name: Kennon, Charles Erasmus.

Historical Note: Dr. Charles Erasmus Kennon was born in Mecklenburg County, Virginia on April 6, 1839, the son of Dr. Clement Read Kennon and his wife and cousin, Nancy Nelson Kennon (both were Kennons before their marriage). The family moved to Tangipahoa, Louisiana, in St. Helena Parish. Charles Erasmus Kennon enrolled in the medical program at the University of Louisiana (an earlier name of Tulane University) in 1860, but the Civil War interrupted his studies. On April 30, 1861, he enlisted as a private in Company I, 4th Louisiana Infantry, Confederate States of America. He was promoted to Captain and Commanding Officer. On December 17, 1864, he was captured near Franklin, Tennessee, and transferred to Johnson's Island Military Prison in Ohio. He was released upon an oath of allegiance to the United States on June 16, 1865. After the war, he returned to Louisiana, became a physician and a businessman. He and his wife, Susan Kent Kennon, had seven children, four of whom survived to adulthood. Kennon and two of his sons succumbed to the yellow fever epidemic of 1878.

Sources: Manuscripts Collection 948

Note Author: sp

Records or Manuscript Collections Created by Kennon, Charles Erasmus.