Evander Lytle, son of William Franklin Pitts Lytle and his wife, Mary Patterson Logan Lytle, was born on September 1, 1843 in Murfreesboro, Rutherford County, Tennessee. His paternal grandparents were Captain William Lytle, who donated the land on which Murfreesboro was built, and his wife, Nancy Taylor Lytle. His maternal grandparents were Wiliam and Violet Henderson Logan of Williamson County.

At the breakout of the Civil war, Lytle enlisted in Company C, Eighteenth Tennessee Infantry Regiment, CSA, at Murfreesboro on May 20, 1861, as a private. He saw his first battle at Fort Donelson on February 16, 1862, where he was captured. After spending seven months at Camp Butlter Prison in Springfield, Illinois, he was exchanged at Vicksburg, Mississippi, in September of that year. He reenlisted in his original company at the reorganization of the Eighteenth Tennessee Infantry Regiment on September 26, 1862, and with it, participated in all of the battles and campaigns that it was engaged in. He was one of seven men in his company to surrender with Captain Joseph E. Johnston's Army of Tennessee in Durham, North Carolina, on April 26, 1865.

At the age of 25, on January 13, 1869, he married Mary Katherine Bibb. She was the daughter of Algernon Bibb, early territorial governor of Alabama, and former captain of Company G, Twelfth Alabama Infantry, CSA, and his wife wife, Mary E. Carroway Bibb, of Montgomery County, Alabama. Evander Lytle was one of the leading farmers of Rutherford County, following the war. He served as city alderman in 1876. Lytle was present at many of the reunions of the local Confederate Veterans that took place in Murfreesboro during the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Evander and Mary Cartherine Bibb Lytle had four children: Mary Lytle, Elizabeth Bessie Lytle, Katherine Bibb Lytle, and William Robert Lytle.

Andrew Lytle Nelson, author, in his book, A Wake for the Living, describes his kinfolk Uncle Van as a little man. He stated that once, Uncle Van and Aunt Kate Van traveled to Nashville by railroad car to attend a theatrical company. Uncle Van sidled down the aisle and took a seat not his own. When the ticket holder arrived to protest, Uncle Van drew his pistol. They simply picked up Uncle Van and moved him to another seat. Evander Lytle lived to the advanced age of seventy-nine and died on November 14, 1922 and is buried in the Evergreen Cemetery.

His obituary states: Evander Lytle, gallant Confederate soldier, died at his home at 121 Spring Street on Tuesday, Nov 14, aged 79 years...a native born and life-long resident of Rutherford Co. Enlisted as a member of Co. C. in the famous 18th Tenn. Regt. He is survived by his wife and 2 daughters: Mrs. Kate Grundy of Louisville, KY and Miss Elizabeth Bessie Lytle and one grandson, James Lytle Price...a member of the Presbyterian Church. The News Journal, Evergreen Cemetery.


Sources: Part of this bio was abstracted from:
1. Lytle, Andrew Nelson (1975). A Wake for the Living. Nashville: J. S. Sanders Company, p. 12.
2. Rutherford County's Civil War by Barry Lamb.
2. Personal visit to the Cemetery
3. Newspaper articles.
4. Obituaries and Death Notices (of people born before 1900), Compiled by Susan G. Daniel, Published in 2010 by the Rutherford County Historical Society.