Private John Thomas Newton mustered with the 1st SC Rifles at Sandy Springs, SC in 1861.  He participated in all unit engagements until the retreat from Gettysburg (Battle of Williamsport – Falling Waters) when he was captured.  He spent the remainder of the war at Elmira and Point Lookout prisons in the North.  He survived the war and lived out his days as a farmer in the area of Crowe Creek in Pickens County, SC, and died in 1914.