Joseph Benjamin Vaughn was born on November 15, 1825 in Baldwin County, Alabama, the son of William Caleb and Ann Vaughn. Eventually, Joseph made his way to Pensacola sometime around 1851 at which time he married Caroline Augusta Cooper on Christmas Day. Her father was the influential Major Thomas Cooper in Molino, Florida. Having arrived in the territory with General Andrew Jackson, Cooper set his eye on entering the timber business on Escambia River. The land he had in mind had belonged to Nathan Shackleford until his death in 1825 leaving a judgment against him in the sum of $7,339.82.73. Shackleford's assets were put up for public auction and obtained by Pensacola's Benjamin D. Wright. Wright would eventually sell the land in 1833 to Major Thomas Cooper. Cooper mortgaged the property in 1834 used the money to build a water powered sawmill and grist mill. He paid off the mortgage and the Cooper Mill was in full business for almost 30 years until the opening of the Civil War hostilities.
In the meantime, Joseph established himself as a merchant in Pensacola by 1860 with a wife and three children. But upon the firing of the Confederate cannon on Ft. Sumter in Charleston Harbor, everything changed! His father in law was now out of business and Joseph and his brother Benjamin enlisted on April 24, 1862 in "B" Co. FL 3rd Battalion Cavalry. This battalion was later consolidated with the 15th Confederate Cavalry on September 24, 1863 into Company "D" with Joseph as its captain. After four years of bloody fighting the war finally came to an end. Joseph surrendered on April 15, 1865 in Demopolis, Alabama and took his oath of allegiance in May in Meridian, Mississippi.
Following the war, the South was treated like an occupied territory for twelve years. Work and money was scarce. Joseph was even working in Molino as a carpenter in 1870, By 1880, he was working as a boom tender on a crane back in Pensacola. By 1889, he was appointed as the Postmaster in Molino at the age of 64-years old. Sadly, he never finished the job as he passed away on August 8, 1889 and was buried in the Vaughn Cemetery in Molino, Florida. Augusta was follow him in 1910.
CSA Captain Joseph B. Vaughn, 15th Confederate
Cavalry and his wife Caroline Augusta Cooper
