John A. Parker was a resident of Mansfield on August 11, 1862 when he enlisted as a Private in Co. D of the 21st Regiment Connecticut Volunteer Infantry; he died December 17, 1864. In a December 21, 1864 letter written at the U.S. General Hospital in Hampton, Virginia, Samuel L. Morey informs Jerome B. Baldwin that John A. Parker entered the hospital, sick last month and died the previous Saturday. He further stated that Julian came to the hospital and sent his body home by express. Julian was Julian Parker, brother of John A. Parker. All four soldiers had served in Co. D of the 21^st Regiment C.V.I. and were from Mansfield. The Mansfield death record stated that he died from chronic diarrhea at Fort Monroe in Virginia.

The descriptive muster roll of the 21st Regiment Connecticut Volunteer Infantry lists his age as 21 and his occupation as farmer.  He is described as 5’ 7” tall with a fair complexion and brown eyes and brown hair.  His marital status is single. 

He was born in 1841 to Charles and Ann/Anna (Utley) Parker. In the 1860 U.S. census in Mansfield, he is a 19 year old farm laborer in the household of Charles Parker. One brother in the household, Julian N. Parker, enlisted in Co. D of the 21st Regiment Connecticut Volunteer Infantry on the same day as John A. Parker.

Anna Parker applied for a dependent mother’s pension on March 18, 1870, No. 185,218 that was granted under certificate No. 152,804.

John A. Parker died on December 17, 1864 at Hampton, Virginia and is buried at the Gurleyville Cemetery in Mansfield.