John S. Holmes was born and raised in the Southwest Revenue District, Fauquier, Virginia. The exact date is unknown, but it is estimated that he was born in 1839. He lived in a pretty full house with his father John Holmes, mother Cath Holmes, two younger brothers, and three younger sisters. He was the oldest of his siblings at the age of 21. Before the military, Holmes worked as a carpenter for the Company Muster Roll.

After much consideration, John decided to serve his country and enrolled into the military on April 24, 1861. John made the trip to the region of Salem, Virginia, and there he met with Captain John A. Adams to be enrolled. His enrollment was originally planned to last for 12 months, but would eventually be cut short.

John S. Holmes began his military training shortly after his enrollment. The majority of the training took place in Dumfries, Prince W. Co. The training was hard and rigorous as the trainees pushed their bodies to the limit. They were also given horses to use in battle, John’s being worth $8,500. His training was conducted by the John H. Ker Brigade. On April 29th, 1861, John and his fellow recruits finished their training, and finally were ready for battle. Unfortunately, the rest of John’s adventure would not include any battles. As John’s fellow soldiers prepared for battles like the Battle of Fort Sumter, Battle of Sewell’s Point, and Battle of Boonville, he felt subtle pains in his abdomen. He thought nothing of it and continued his daily life. Eventually, around one fateful late June afternoon, it was confirmed that John had acquired dysentery. The cause of John’s acquisition of this terrible disease is not known, but it can be assumed it was from ingestion of contaminated food or water, as conditions in the training camps were not always pristine. Dysentery would have been an extremely hard illness to deal with in those times, with medicines and sciences not up to par. Dysentery can cause abdominal pain, dehydration, fever, blood in stool, nausea, and much more. Obviously, a soldier with these symptoms would not be effective in a fast paced, tension - filled conditions of war, so John was sent home to the Southwest Revenue District of Fauquier, Virginia on the afternoon of June 30th, 1861. This day would also be the last day he received payment from the military, as he would no longer be serving.

John spent his remaining months at his Virginia home, around his loved ones, attempting to recover from the illness. He fought a strong battle against the symptoms, lasting for about five months from late June to early October. One doomful afternoon on October 2nd 1861, John passed away from the symptoms of dysentery. He never fully went into battle, but he most likely would have made great contributions to the battles fought. Overall, John S. Holmes’s life was take far too short, and he might have been able to survive if medical advances were as superior as they were today.