Jonathan Waverly Bachman fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War. He then came to the First Presbyterian Church in Chattanooga and ministered to all creeds, classes and colors during the Yellow Fever epidemic of 1878, becoming recognized as the city’s chaplain.
Born in 1837 into a family of 10 to Jonathan and Frances Rhea Bachman at their Roseland Farm in what became Sullivan County, Tenn., Jonathan Bachman studied in a log schoolhouse before entering Fall Branch Academy, Blountville Academy, Emory and Henry College, and in 1860 Union Theological Seminary in New York City. He and brother Nathan “did much charitable and religious work among the rabble of Five Points (near today’s Chinatown), a place of evil eminence in those bygone days.” When the Civil War broke out, the brothers returned to their native state.
Jonathan Bachman enlisted as a private in the 19th Tennessee. He was receiving orders from Gen. Robert E. Lee in the West Virginia campaign and later served under Gen. Stonewall Jackson during the mid-winter Romney campaign. He raised and commanded the 60th Tennessee Volunteers in the summer of 1862.
During the siege of Vicksburg, he was captured and exchanged, then resumed command. At one point his horse was shot under him. While on parole in 1863, Bachman married Evalina Dulaney, daughter of pioneer physician, Dr. William R. Dulaney, of Blountville. He served as a Confederate chaplain from October 1864 until the end of the war.
After caring for congregations in East Tennessee, Bachman came to Chattanooga in 1873 as pastor of First Presbyterian Church, then at Seventh and Market streets. He served his congregation for more than a half century, presiding over a move in 1910 to a new sanctuary at 554 McCallie Ave.