This index reports that 656 individuals served from McNairy County during World War I. There were 592 soldiers in the Army and 2 were officers. There were 49 sailors in the Navy and 1 was an officer. There were 6 soldiers in the Marine Corps. There were 9 fraudulent enlistments, discharges, dishonorable discharges, or desertions.
James Fletcher Tarwater was born in Dandridge, Tennessee, November 4, 1847, the son of Rev. William Tarwater, a Baptist Minister. In 1863, he enlisted in the Union Army, serving in the Ninth Tennessee Cavalry until the close of the War. Following which he came to Roane County. General Wilder and associates had started at Rockwood a coke furnace for the making of pig iron. Mr. Tarwater mined ore for this new plant, operating through the Brown Mining Company at Cardiff. He was a Director of The Roane Iron Company, one of the organizers of the Rockwood Hosiery Mills and the …