Rank: Private
Unit: F Co, 2d Dragoons
Enlisted: December 8, 1836 in Petersburg, Virginia. He was 19.
Date of birth: 1817
Hometown: Chesterfield, Virginia
Occupation prior to enlistment: Farmer
Campaign: Second Seminole War
Died: 23 July 1839
Age at death: 21 yrs
Cause of death: Killed in action
Location of fatality: Caloosahatchie, Florida,
Place of interment: Saint Augustine National Cemetery in Saint Augustine, Florida
Notes: WHITE, John, 1839/07/23, younger brother. On July 23, 1839 the Seminoles under Chakaika and Hospetarke attacked and burned the trading post on the Caloosahatchee River where it meets the bay, at the modern city of Cape Coral, killing most of the soldiers and settlers there. Of the lives lost that day, under command of Colonel William S. Harney, only the Dade Massacre and the Battle of Okeechobee had more casualties during the Seminole War. Caloosahatchee River, Florida, trading house on, 7 miles above Charlotte Harbor. Det. Co’s A, C, D, E, F, 2d Dragoons. Of the 19 Dragoons in the detachment, 11 were killed and two wounded.
Brother to Richard White also killed in service in the 2d Dragoons.