The 64th Infantry Regiment, organized during the summer of 1862, was anticipated to be a legion containing thirteen companies, of infantry and three of cavalry. However, the command was reduced to ten companies and designated the 64th Regiment.

Its members were from the counties of Madison, Henderson, and Polk. The unit served in North Carolina and Tennessee, then in July, 1863, was attached to General Gracie's Brigade and stationed at Cumberland Gap. Here most of the regiment was captured in September, but some did escape.

The records show that 288 men of the 64th were prisoners at Camp Douglas. Continuing the fight with about 100 effectives, the unit served under Generals Breckinridge, Vaughn, and Williams in East Tennessee, then became part of Colonel J.B. Palmer's Brigade at Asheville in March, 1865. Later it disbanded near the French Broad River. Its commanders were Colonel Lawrence M. Allen, Lieutenant Colonels William N. Garrett and J.A. Keith, and Major Thomas P. Jones. .... [Summary from account by B. T. MORRIS, CAPTAIN, COMPANY A]

See CAPTAIN MORRIS's full account of 64th N.C. Infantry Regiment

By Frank Laughter:
- Conversation with Aunt Elsie
- Clara Elizabeth Laughter
- Laughters of Tennessee

In the Spring of 2000 I visited with my Aunt Elsie Laughter Johnson Brown, a granddaughter of Buck Laughter, and she seemed alert and lucid. During my visit we talked about Buck Laughter, Mary Ann Jackson, and other family members. Some of the inforamtion below is from that conversation and is posted for whatever value it may have in research but keep this in mind: She said that Mary Jackson is buried at Friendship Baptist Church near Saluda, NC. However, we have not been able to locate a grave for her. Elsie described a certain grave but it turned out to be incorrect.

It's believed that William Milan "Buck" Laughter is buried in Tennessee. It's now known that Buck's father, Wylie Ellis, married (2)Mary A. Denton, in Monroe county, Tennessee, abt 1846, and Buck may have gone there (my speculation) during the Civil War. (Monroe county is South of Knoxville.)

Buck was in the Civil War (North Carolina 64th Infantry Regiment) and is listed as a deserter (see Note above).

In my conversations with Aunt Elsie, she told me that Mary Jackson chain-smoked a corn-cob pipe and went on to say:
Although Clara Elizabeth Reade is sometimes referred to as Buck's daughter, Clara Elizabeth Laughter, she was born abt 1835, and was abt the same age as Mary Jackson but looked years younger. She shared the same household and traveled from Tennessee to North Carolina for family visits. Buck introduced her as his daughter but "the folks around Saluda knew better." (Elsie wasn't born until 1907, so her information has to be hearsay.)

Elsie confirmed that she had always heard that Buck was conscripted for the War (by Confederate troops) and that he "ran away at the first chance." Her story agrees with tales from my father (Elsie's brother), Henry Zedick, who said that his "granddaddy packed up his family" and went to Tennessee. The story is that "there was more than one wagon load." No one has ever been able to explain how my grandfather, Jeremiah Laughter, and his siblings were all born in Polk county, NC -- with birth-dates from 1855 through 1879 -- if Buck and Mary Jackson lived in Tennessee after 1862 or '63. Elsie claimed that she remembered when Mary Jackson died in 1915. Elsie would have been eight years old at the time.

Most close cousins dispute Elsie's account of Clara Elizabeth by pointing out that North Carolina Archive records list Clara Elizabeth as Buck's oldest child, Clara Elizabeth Laughter. However, no one has been able to explain other records that list her as Clara Elizabeth Reade. Elsie said Clara Elizabeth was Reade, never Laughter. It's very possible that Clara Elizabeth Laughter married a Reade.

Graves for many of Buck's children, their spouses, and their descendants are located at: Friendship Baptist Church near Saluda, NC. Less than half of the graves at the Cemetery have been reviewed and there are hundreds of unmarked graves there.