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JAMES D. SCOTT
Vol. 3, p.1165

There are many facts that make the career of James D. SCOTT, of
Alva, notable and interesting. He was one of the first men to reach
the site of Alva at the opening of the Cherokee Strip in September
1893, set up one of the first stores in the town, has been
continuously in business from that date, was a member of the first
city council, and in many ways has made himself an influential and
useful factor in the progress of that community. Prior to his
participation in the opening of the Cherokee country, Mr. Scott had
lived many years and was already a successful business man. He is one
of the fine old Confederate veterans of Oklahoma, and was a hard
fighting soldier for the South until the crucial conflict at
Gettysburg, where he was severely wounded and spent the rest of the
war time in a Federal prison.

James D. Scott was born June 20, 1839, on a farm in De Soto County,
Mississippi, a son of Felix D. and Sarah (MAYES) Scott. His father
and mother were natives of Kentucky, and the former died January 5,
1853, and the latter in 1848. They had five sons, namely: George
Mayes, Joshua, James D., Daniel Gray and Felix. All are now dead
except James. Every one of these sons fought during the war between
the states and four of them were on the side of the Confederacy,
while Joshua was a member of a Kentucky regiment in the Union army.
Few families were more liberally represented in that war than the
Scotts.

James D. Scott, though he has always passed for a man of substantial
education and keen intelligence, as a boy had little schooling and
gained most of his training by self study and observation and
practice. At the outbreak of the war he was one of the first to
enlist in the Confederate army. He enlisted at Memphis, Tennessee,
March 27, 1861, in Company I of the Ninth Mississippi Volunteer
Infantry. This regiment was under General Bragg in some of the first
campaigns in the western part of the Confederacy. His first
enlistment was for one year, after which he re-enlisted and was
assigned to Company C of the Forty-second Mississippi Infantry. This
regiment was part of the Army of Northern Virginia under the command
of General LEE, and he was present at many notable and historic
battles. The climax of his military experience was at Gettysburg. His
brigade opened the fight on the first day of July, 1863. In the first
rush and conflict between the opposing forces his regiment had 242
men killed, and only forty-eight out of the regiment escaped death.
Mr. Scott was one of the seriously wounded, and from Gettysburg was
transferred to a Federal prison at Fort Delaware, where he remained
nineteen months and seven days. At the close of his services he was a
sergeant. Just fifty years after the battle which closed his military
career the reunion on that battlefield in July, 1913, and Mr. Scott
was one of the two old soldiers from Oklahoma represented in the
ranks of the former Confederates. He defrayed his own
expenses to that reunion, and there were few of the old veterans
more vigorous and alert than he.

After the war Mr. Scott was engaged in farming in Kentucky and
Arkansas up to 1876. In that year he removed to Abilene, Kansas, a
city which had previously been one of the most conspicuous points in
the cattle driving industry, and was there engaged variously in
mercantile, farming and stock raising business for six years. His
next removal was to Reno County, Kansas, where he continued as a
farmer until 1893. Then came the opening of the Cherokee Strip and
his location at Alva, where he opened one of the first stores in the
town. He has been continuously in business since that date, and in
1908 erected the Scott Block, one of the most modern business
structures in Northern Oklahoma.

With the organization of Alva as a city, Mr. Scott was honored by
being chosen to the first city council, representing the first ward.
In 1912 he was one of the presidential electors on the Oklahoma
democratic ticket, and in a public way has also served as justice of
the peace.

On April 20, 1873, at Marion, Kentucky, Mr. Scott married Miss
Martha H. JACKSON, daughter of James and Peggy (MAYES) Jackson, who
were also natives of Kentucky, Mrs. Scott was born March 28, 1850, in
Kentucky. No children have been born to their union. Mr. Scott is a
member of the Presbyterian Church, of the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows, and in Masonry has reached the Knight Templar degree.

Typed for OKGenWeb by Jack Childers, October 27, 1998.