Captain Goldman Bryson and the First Tennessee National Guard

As Lee White and I were sitting at the Chickamauga Battlefield Visitor Center Information Desk on Saturday, January 23, I was approached by an individual wishing to relate a story to me about how one of his ancestors caught a minié ball in the shoulder during the battle and wanted more information on the unit his ancestor fought with during Chickamauga. Well, like so many visitors, he only had a name, a name Lee and I could not specifically pinpoint for the gentleman. I believe the surname was Brannon, but that is beside the point in this case.

According to Lieutenant C.H. Taylor, a skirmish took place deep in the hills of Cherokee County, North Carolina, on November 1, 1863. Taylor was the commanding officer of a group of nineteen men who were ordered by Confederate General John C. Vaughn to pursue Captain Goldman Bryson's company of "mounted robbers." Supposedly, Taylor's band tracked the "robbers" for two days, without stopping to eat. They finally came upon Bryson and his men, which scattered. Taylor ordered Bryson to stop, and when he refused, Taylor shot him. The wound did not deter Bryson from trying to get away from the Confederates, and he was shot several more times. Taylor's men did find orders from General Ambrose Burnside on Bryson's body and turned them over to his superiors. For further information concerning this skirmish, correspondence can be found in

The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies.

Old Hickory's Ties to Chickamauga

I take pen in hand (well, keyboard) in order to peer into the lives of “Old Hickory’s” adopted family and trace their loyalties to the Union. General Andrew Jackson was an ardent Unionist but had several relations give their lives for the “Southern Cause.” It was Jackson who, during Thomas Jefferson’s birthday celebration on April 20, 1830, starred John C. Calhoun squarely in the eyes, and gave the resounding toast, “OUR UNION: IT MUST BE PRESERVED!” Although born in South Carolina, and a Tennessee emigrant, Jackson was willing to lay down his life and the lives of United States soldiers in order to keep the Union together. His adopted grandson (grandnephew in reality) and grandnephew gave their lives for the South at the Battle of Chickamauga.

Jackson and Rachel had no children of their own, but one cannot say they were childless. Children seemed to be scrambling all about the Hermitage and the White House during his presidential years. The couple adopted two children during their lives and acted as guardians for eight others. One of the adopted children was the son of Rachel’s brother, Severn Donelson, renamed Andrew Jackson, Jr, to honor his adopted father. The other adopted son was an orphaned Creek Indian named Lyncoya. Jackson adopted him during the Creek Indian war of 1813-14 and sent him to the Hermitage to be reared, but unfortunately, Lyncoya died in 1828, at the age of eighteen, as a result of tuberculosis. Andrew Jackson, Jr. married Sarah Yorke of Philadelphia in 1831, and they had a son, Samuel Jackson, in 1837.

The Jackson’s also added three nephews to their family in 1804. After another brother of Rachel’s died, John Samuel Donelson (1798-1817), Daniel Smith Donelson (1802-1863), and Andrew Jackson Donelson (1799-1871) came to call Andrew guardian. The best known of the three nephews was Andrew Jackson Donelson, who married Emily Tennessee Donelson and was his Uncle Andrew’s private secretary during his two terms as president. Emily Donelson acted as White House hostess for most of Jackson’s presidency, but she died of tuberculosis in 1836. One of the Children produced from this marriage was John S. Donelson.

John S. Donelson was born in the White House on May 18, 1832, and was standing at the bedside of his granduncle when the ex-president died in 1845. According to John's stepmother, Elizabeth, the dying Jackson called John to his side, "kissed him and gave him his blessing and parting admonitions [.] He told him not to weep for him[,] that he hoped to meet him in Heaven & that he must be a good boy, obey his parents, keep the Sabath[sic] holy, and not neglect his salvation." John cast his lot with the Confederacy on May 14, 1861, when he was mustered into Company E of the 154th (Senior)Tennessee Regiment as a 2nd lieutenant. His promotion to 1st lieutenant came in August 1861, and his appointment to captain occurred on June 27, 1862. Captain Donelson received a severe wound during the Battle of Stones River (Murfreesboro) on December 31, 1862, and was subsequently killed on September 19, 1863, at the Battle of Chickamauga while serving on Brigadier Preston Smith’s staff as Acting Assistant Adjutant-General (A.A.A.G.). His effects were placed in his brother’s care but no record of his burial was documented. According to the Compiled Service Records (CSRs), Donelson’s captaincy had not been filled by December 1863, due to “the captain-elected” having “failed to pass ex board and appointment not made.”

General Jackson’s “grandson,” Samuel, was born at the Hermitage on June 9, 1837, to Andrew Jackson, Jr. and Sarah Yorke. He enlisted and was elected as the 1st lieutenant of Company G, 44th Tennessee Infantry on December 30, 1861, and received an appointment as captain on April 24, 1862. He too was wounded at the Battle of Stones River (Murfreesboro). Unlike his cousin, John Donelson, Jackson’s wound was recorded. He took a shot in the hand and was sent to Marietta, Georgia, to recover. His company’s muster roll recorded him as being “present” in May and June 1863. Like his cousin, Samuel Jackson took part in his final battle on September 19, 1863, at Chickamauga. Brigadier General Bushrod Johnson described the scene in his official report on October 24, by saying, “ The Forty-fourth Tennessee Regiment had Lieut. Col. John L. McEwen, jr., commanding, a gallant and able officer, who has rendered faithful and efficient service in our army, and 5 company officers wounded, 1 (Capt. Samuel Jackson) mortally.” Johnson goes on to say that “Captain Jackson, of the Forty-fourth Tennessee Regiment, has since died of his wounds. Known to me long and familiarly in youth and manhood as Capt. Samuel Jackson has been, I feel unable to do justice to his many virtues, his pure and admirable character, or his merits as an officer and a soldier.” Jackson’s CSR records he died on October 2, 1863, from wounds received at Chickamauga, but his gravestone at the Hermitage records his death as September 29. Samuel Jackson’s name was placed on the Confederate Roll of Honor on August 10, 1864, posthumously.

A New Important Reference

A few days ago I received a copy of Bruce Allardice's CONFEDERATE COLONELS: A BIOGRAPHICAL REGISTER. This is going to be right up there with GENERALS IN BLUE and GENERALS IN GRAY. It gives short bios on every full colonel that served in the Confederate armies, excepting, of course, those that were promoted to General. Anyway, here is a small sample:

Field, Hume R. Born Sept. 11, 1834, Pulaski, Giles Co.,TN. Attd. KMI. Druggist in Giles Co. prewar. Md. Henrietta Cockrill, Capt. Co. K, 1st TN, May 2, 1861. Major, date not specified. Col., May 1, 1862. Regiment consolidated with 27th TN, Jan. 1863, with Field heading the combined 1st/27th. WIA Kennesaw Mountain. Led Gist's Brigade at Bentonville. Paroled May 1, 1865, Greensboro. Farmer in Union City, TN, postwar. Died June 17, 1921, Union City, of a cerebral hemorrhage. Buried East View Cemetery, Union City. Sam Watkins claimed Field, a crack shot, killed 21 Yankees by himself during the war and called Field "the bravest man, I think, I ever knew."

Rudler, Anthony Francis. Born Antoine-Francois Rudler June 14, 1820, Bitteschwiller, Alsace, France. Came to the US in 1845. Bookkeeper in Augusta, GA. Officer in Mexican War. Filibuster with William Walker. Rudler was Walker's second in command, and his imprisonment in Honduras became a local cause celebre. Unmd. Capt. Co. G, 3rd GA Inf. Bn., Sept. 29, 1861. Major, Oct. 31, 1861. Detached in 1862 to be IG on Kirby Smith's staff. Col., 37th GA (formed from the 3d Bn.), May 6, 1863. WIA Chickamauga and Chattanooga, the latter would disable him from further field duty. Arrested Oct. 1864 and sent home to await trial. Ordered to take charge of convalescents in Augusta, Jan. 31, 1865. Commanded posts of Washington, GA, and Columbia, SC, Feb-April 1865. Active in promoting postwar emigration to Venezuela. Died Aug. 7, 1871, Augusta. Buried Magnolia Cemetery. Rudler was never a popular officer (he was appointed, not elected, major, displacing an officer the troops had elected) but was respected for his "undeniable bravery."

There are similar entires for EVERY Colonel, so this is a very important resource. I highly recommend it.

A Few D--D Fools Came Through

Recently, some of the blog staff were taking a tour of Elm Springs in Columbia, home of -- among others -- A.M. Looney, the original Captain of Co. H (Aytch), 1st Tennessee. Now, it is the SCV's headquarters and open for social events and touring. Well, we weren't expecting much out of the tour and were not disappointed, but in talking about the Maury Grays, our tour guide mentioned that "over 200 of them left and only a handful returned." And I called B.S. I had done some work with them in the CSRs and knew perfectly well that that was untrue. Untrue still -- or at least half true -- is how Sam Watkins wrote about the end of the regiment.

The day that we surrendered our regiment it was a pitiful sight to behold. If I remember correctly, there were just sixty-five men in all, including officers, that were paroled on that day. ... It was indeed a sad sight to look at, the old First Tennessee Regiment. A mere squad of noble and brave men, gathered around the tattered flag that they had followed in every battle through that long war.

Of course, Sam himself didn't see the end of the regiment, he stayed in Middle Tennessee after the disastrous winter campaign and took the oath in Memphis. But even the way the above is phrased is disingenuous. It implies that the rest of the unit were all killed or disabled, which , we find, is actually far from the truth. Running through the CSRs we find the real "what happened" to the men of Co. H. Of the 111 1861 Maury Grays we can see that by far the greatest source of attrition is being detached to other assignments and transferring to other units (and usually getting promoted in the process). This is followed in number by men being discharged usually for disability. Interesting among the discharges are those done in accordance with the Conscript Act of 1862, the famous "20 Negro Law" that exempted the family members of large slaveowners from military service, ostensibly to serve as pattyrollers guarding against the feared servile insurrection.

Note that those things that SRW rails against: men getting put in "bombproof" positions and going home on the "20 Negro" bill are prevalent among his 1861 comrades.

Then nearly half of the army was detailed for "corps" of some kind: "signal corps, engineer corps, ordinance corps, infirmary corps, sapper and miner corps, etc., etc., and when the private soldier saw all these corps put on detail and left him to do the fighting, he felt that our cause was lost. It made him sick of war, boys that had volunteered with him all get some kind of positions and left him to bear the brunt of battle. The first year there were eight in my mess. At Corinth...seven were promoted...

No wonder that Sam felt "the common soldier" was left to fight the war alone, because he himself saw a disproportionate number of his fellows leave the firing line during the war. Compared to the men who leave the line through transfers, relatively few of the men of Aytch actually get killed, wounded and disabled, or die of disease. For all the fights they were in, the losses of the company were slight. In the revised edition of Aytch, we see that Sam was starting to recognize this. I think these sentiments come out as a result of some alienation from his old comrades and a big falling out in the late 1880s, but they speak more to the truth.

Now, what became of the original 3,200? I can tell you. They were all promoted to Captains, Colonels, Generals, Commissaries, and staff officers, scouts, spies, special details, and a few d--d fools came through.

Yep.

We look at the men who join the unit later and find a changed picture indeed from the original MGs. Few of them can use elite family connections to get transferred away from the main line. We can see, though, that they don't stick with the fight to the end. A huge chunk of the conscripts desert the army, most of them in the Spring of 1863 after being conscripted in Febuary of that year. Though the later men were only 1/3 of the company's total strength, they make up nearly 3/4 of the company's desertions. One of the Maury Gray deserters, it must be remembered, is our own Sam Watkins. Look also at how many more of the later additions per captia were captured in battle, leading to questions about how willing they were to go over to the enemy.

There are some fascinating trends here that I want to explore further. Use the comments section to point out any you see.

I've Been Workin' on the Railroad Boys

As some of you all are aware, the 1st Tennessee (of Sam Watkins fame) is one of my research interests. Yesterday I was running the CSRs of some of the more popular characters from Co. Aytch that weren't actually in the Maury Grays. We all remember Tom Tuck and his game cock Fed, Confed, or Confederacy but I found more of interest to old Tom too. Tuck was a member of the original Co. F, the "Railroad Boys" from Nashville, a company that (not surprisingly) had large numbers of Irishmen serving with it. In Tuck's CSR there is a note to see some correspondence in H.J. Sutton's file of the 24th Tenn. Spurred on by this lead, I found a jewel.

Lt. Gen. Polk
Comd'g Corps

Hd Qrs Army of Tenn
Tullahoma March 23d 1863

General
The General Commanding desires to know whether the hereafter named men are accustomed to Rail Road work and if they were in the employ of the Nashville and Chattanooga Rail Road and its branches previous to enlistment.

H.J. Sutton Capt. Burnett's Co 24th Tenn

M. Ross Co. F 1st "
John McAffee " " 1st "
W.H. Cumming " " 1st "
Isaac Shewin " " 1st "
Morgan Dickison " " 1st "
James Wade " " 1st "
Joseph Taylor " " 1st "
Thos Tuck " " 1st "
W.H. Myres " " 1st "
L. Taylor " " 1st "
A.J. Hull " " 1st "
Moses Vannoy " A 1st "
Patrick Blunkall Capt Falcher's Co 1st "
F. Quinn Capt Daniel's " 26th Ala
J.H. Forrst Co E 5th Geo
G.W. Angel Co K 24th Tenn
Thos Welch Co I 10th Texas

I am General
Very Respectfully
your obt servt
George Wm Brent
A A Gen

The Railroad Boys were railroad boys indeed. Now, I had always presumed that Co. F men were the unskilled railroad labor that was essentially expendable when the war came along, and could afford to enlist but I may have been proved wrong. These men were detailed for work on the Nashville & Chattanooga throughout the summer of '63 and it would follow that Bragg would not detail raw, unskilled labor but instead tap men with specific knowledge and specific skills. Unfortunately, because of the transient nature of railroad work, Tuck doesn't show up in the 1860 census in Nashville. I wonder what we'd find if he did. Incidentally, Tuck was captured while on his railroad detail, eventually exchanged, and served out the war with the 1st, being one of the handful to surrender in North Carolina.

Also of note, the fighting cock Confed does not have his own CSR file. Though a game personality and a favorite among the troops of the 1st, he (like other living property taken into the army by Confederates) was not a soldier. Neither was Weary Clyburne. Also, thanks to Kevin for posting this Pete Carmichael paper.

General Thomas C. Hindman and Rep. Henry S. Foote

In July 1863, Major General Thomas Carmichael Hindman made his way across the Mississippi in order to take command of a Confederate division in Braxton Bragg's Army of Tennessee. Hindman had some serious allegations aimed at him prior to taking on his newly assigned duties as a division commander in Tennessee. One of his more famous critics was a member of the Confederate House of Representatives.

Hon. Henry S. Foote (MS) had a fairly interesting career in the United States Senate before entering the Confederate House in 1861. For example, he had once pulled a pistol on Senator Thomas Hart Benton during an altercation on the Senate floor over the compromise resolutions in 1850. Foote adamantly spoke out against President Jefferson Davis, General Braxton Bragg, and Confederate Secretary of State Judah P. Benjamin. In 1865, Foote noticing the end of the Confederacy was eminent, crossed into Union lines, made it to Canada, and sailed to London. After the Confederacy's collapse, Foote sailed back to the United States and moved to Washington, D.C., where he practiced law. President Rutherford B. Hayes appointed him as Superintendent of the New Orleans Mint in 1878. Foote died in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1880.

Thomas C. Hindman survived the war, only to be killed by an assassin's bullet on September 28, 1868. The motivation of the assassination was never determined, and he was buried in Helena, Arkansas.

Here is what the Hon. Henry S. Foote had to say about General Hindman in his book, Casket of Reminiscences (1874):

Perhaps the most cruel and atrocious conduct perpetrated by any of President Davis’ military servitors during the war was that practice by his especial favorite, General Hindman, in the State of Arkansas. I have formerly asserted, and my assertion has never yet been denied, nor can it be, that this person as his own formal report to the War Department evidenced, finding, as he said, that the very comprehensive provision of the conscription law were not quite comprehensive enough to suit his purposes, deliberately amplified them by proclamation; declared martial law throughout Arkansas and the northern portion of Texas, and demanded the services of all whom he had thus lawlessly embraced in his wide-sweeping conscription list. All who refused to obey his mandate, as he in terms confesses, were apprehended, subjected to trial by military court, appointed by Hindman himself; and when convicted, as a good many of them were, of an offense which he himself unblushingly acknowledges in this same official report was wholly unknown to the law of the land, he had them all executed; and going even beyond the example of the infernal Jeffreys himself in barbarity, he (as he also most ostentatiously declares, in the same report) took care to be personally present, that he might witness the dying agonies of his unfortunate victims. This man seized upon all the cotton and other property for which he had use, (as he boldly avows,) burned some, retained some, and appropriated a third portion to such purposes as he pleased. His cruelties were so enormous in Arkansas that it became unsafe that he should remain there longer, when he was brought across the Mississippi river under order of the Confederate War Department, made president of a court of inquiry for the trial of General Lovell, and, after having made such a report as was deemed to be necessary to the shielding of certain officials in Richmond from blame in connection with the capture of New Orleans, was immediately thereafter put in command of one of the largest divisions in the army of Tennessee, where he remained snug and comfortable until, running into collision with a more potential presidential favorite, the well-beloved Bragg, he was quietly relieved from command. I exposed all the enormity of this fiend in human form in open session of the Confederate Congress on more than one occasion, and took pains to have my exposition put in print, and yet I could not persuade Mr. Davis or Mr. Seddon to make the slightest notice of these outrageous enormities (395-396).

General Appearance Part 2

The following are descriptions from the letters of Liet. Col. Walter A. Roher of the 20th Mississippi Infantry, these were puplished in Civil War Times Illustrated in their July, 1979 issue;

Letter of Jan. 28th, 1864, describing General Leonidas Polk, "He wore a rather rusty looking uniform, made no attempt at display in dress...In person I think the Bishop is at least six feet in height, large portly, and as straight as an arrow, has the appearance of a man who enjoyed good living before the war and would have no objection to it now if he could get it, he has a good head, rather too round, covered with grey hair, a good face with a full beard, closely trimmed, a big mouth with a few dirty teeth in front, weighs about two hundred pounds..."
He describes Forrest as, "well mounted and wore a shiny black hat such as the Blockade runners bring through from Memphis and sell at $80-he had on a pretty good uniform except the hat, he must be at least six feet in height, his hair is long and almost white, he wears his whiskers only around his mouth and under his chin, shaving the sides of his face, his heard is black, I suppose he manages to get dye enough from Memphis to keep it so, he has a keen, gray eye, his forehead is high and expansive, his face is long, smooth and sallow, and tapers to the chin, his lips are thing and tightly compressed, he seldom smiles and is said never to laugh..."

General Appearance Part 1.

We have a standard image in our mind's eye of what Civil War Generals looked like, we see Lee in his fine dress uniform surrendering to the sloppily dressed US Grant, we see the hundreds of images of them with their double dressed frock coats and golden trimmings, but is that the reality? Just as today, there were dress uniforms and there were fatigue uniforms, and generals on either side were not exempt from not wishing to dispoil their finery. This is the first of several posts that will give descriptions of what a Army of Tennessee General looked like in the field.

From Sherman's March Through The South by Captain David Conyngham regarding the truce after the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, June 27, 1864;

"I saw Pat Cleburne, with that tall, meagre frame, and that ugly scar across his lank, gloomy face, stand with a thoughtful air, looking on the work his division had done; for it was his troops that defended the line of works in the centre, and committed such fearful havoc on Newton's and Davis's divisions. He looked a fit type of lean Cassius...Cheatham looked rugged and healthy, though seemingly sad and despondent. He wore his fatigue dress-a blue flannel shirt, black neck-tie, gray homespun pantaloons, and slouched, black hat..."

John C. Breckinridge's cane

Isaac Bassett, a Senate employee for over 64 years during the 19th Century, left a rich collection of written reminiscences upon his death in 1895. It was his hope that these notes would be used to publish a memoir of his life as a Senate employee (from http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/art/special/Bassett/default.cfm)

I contacted the NARA in January 2008, and one of the archivists burned a copy of Bassett's written notes and collected papers to a DVD and sent it to me free of charge. Since this blog deals with the Army of Tennessee, I thought it might be of interest to delve into General Breckinridge's senatorial past. I have included an excerpt concerning a cane left behind by Breckinridge after his departure from Washington City.

"I have in my posetion [sic] a cain [sic] that that he left at the Capitol when he left during the rebelling it is made of a peese [sic] of the Charter Oak. I consider it quite a relic and would like to keep it but if any of the children comes for it they shall have it on the head of the cain [sic] is the words
The Equality of the States
Connecticut, Kentucky
Presented to Hon. J.C. Breckridge[sic]
By his friends-Hartford Conn’t
Since riting[sic] the above I have delivered the cain[sic] to his son Clifton Breckridge[sic] he was veary[sic] thankful in receiving it" (Bassett, Box 14A, page 13)

More to follow...

The Saga of Little Newt continues.

From Newton Davis' letter of Jan. 18th, 1863; "Little Newt is well. I heard him singing very joyiously a little while ago in camp. He takes every thing very easy & heroically. He wrote home for some more clothes by Hoodenpyle. He lost his knapsack and most of his clothes during the last fight. He very thoughtfully put on two full suits of everything that morning and consequently is not so bad off as a great many others. He has enough still to change, but one pair of his pants are nearly worn out."

Little Newt Writes Or "I am tired of cooking and washing on myself."

Dear Reader, Here is another instalment of the Little Newt Chronicles, this one is the best though, one of his own letters that somehow made it into Col. Davis' collection. Woe be to Isaac or Mose.

Camp Near Shelbyville, Tenn.
Jan. 13th, 1863.

Dear Father and Mother;

I seat myself this evening to write you a few lines to let you that I am well. I am not so very well at the present, but I hope I will be well in a day or two. I was in the Battle of Murfreesboro, the grape and cannister shot and Bombs and musket balls fell around us thicker than hail I thought, but as my maker would have it. I never got touched any where with a ball. We was in line of battle 6 or 7 days in the rain and guns was continually firing and shells bursting over us. There was 8 of our company wounded, 1 killed, 1 missing, and our Regt was cut up rite badly. I was not over all of the battle field but the part I was on I think I saw about 5 dead yankees to 1 Southerner. Well Mother and Papa I have such a bad place to write and I am not so well I can't write much. I lost my knapsack again. I put on my grays pants you sent me and another gray coat and dress and 2 pair of draws and 2 shirts and I put the first pants you sent me and the last two shirts all in the wagon, put their knapsacks in the wagon and mine was last and a good many of the boys lost theirs. Bird Hoodenpyle has gone home on furlough and mother send me a coat and 1 shirt and papa sent me a negro by Hoodenpyle. Send Isaac or Mose I want one of them. I am tired of cooking and washing on myself.
Send me a little box of butter and a pound cake or two and unions. Hoodenpyle will not have much to bring and he will bring that for me, I will write again soon. You must write soon. I do want to hear from home so bad and have not received a letter from home since we came through Chattanooga, Tenn. Write soon. So Good-Bye.

N.N. Halbert.

Clothing makes the man...even for Little Newt or Little Newt Wants Everything.

To continue on Little Newt, he would make it through the campaign into Kentucky well, Davis writing on October 22nd, 1862, "We have had a great many ups and downs and suffered deprivations beyond all conception. Your brother Newt is well and has stood the march finely. He looks much better now than he did when we left Chattanooga." However a few days later on October 29th, "Little Newt wants everything. He had his knapsack stolen from up in Kentucky with everything he had except what was on his back. He has not even a Blanket to sleep on. Ira sent him a pair of shoes the other day." But it still manages to get worse, on November 2nd, Davis would report, "I have not seen your brother Newt since Friday evening...He is enjoying good health and looks well. He is nearly naked. He lost all his clothes some time ago, except what he had on his back. I managed to get a double blanket which I gave him. The blanket belongs to Hoodenpyle...Little Newt wants everything. You and Mother can have the clothes made and send them by Lieut. Henry. He has gone home after clothing for the Company."

Little Newt Halbert

As Patrick can relate, one of my favorite soldiers is Newton Halbert of the 24th Alabama Infantry. Newt, as he was called, was not well suited to be a soldier. He comes across as being too fragile for the rough life of a soldier, at least to begin with. I learned of "Little Newt" through the letters of his brother-in-law, Newton N. Davis, later Colonel of the 24th. Davis kept his wife informed about her little brother through the war. Little Newt almost becomes comic relief as you read of his many misfortunes.
Newton Halbert was only 15 and a student in 1860 according to the Census. He was of course still living with his father, Xenophan, who is listed as a farmer in Lowndes County, Mississippi, with $10,000 in Real Estate and $55,000 in Personal Estate, including 38 slaves, with 21 of them being under the age of 18. So Newt would have had a fairly easy life growing up.
The first noticable reference to Newt comes in comes in Newton Davis's letter of July 29th, 1862, "Your Brother Newt is complaining a little. He has been out on picket duty for two days and has taken cold. He complains of his head aching but has no fever. I hope that it is nothing serious and that he will be well in a day or two. He wants you to be certain to tell his mother to send him some shirts the first opportunity..."
I will post more of the misadventures of "Little Newt" over the next few weeks.

Lee

Clothing makes the man

Among my many interests pertaining to the American Civil War is material culture. Captain John Quincy Stanford, Company G, 39th Alabama was a man who loved material culture as well, his letters reflect in detail his clothing and his wants for material items. Unfortunately Stanford would be killed at the battle of Murfreesboro. Here are a few excerpts from his letters written in the late summer and fall of 1862;

"Camp Gladden near Chattanooga Tenn...August 17th 1862...My Dear Wife...last evening our Regt recd orders to Cook Two days rations and be ready at a moments notice to march So everything else was disspenced with and each one preparing for the trop or to remain at a time when we get Such orders all the Sick are exspected to Stay and then the lazy and cowardly next try to Stay and Some effect the trip. So all has been bustle and Confusion Since getting ready and there is no little to do to get a Company ready for Such after they have been Stationed a while Change guns accoutrements &c but we have completed all that and are now ready and anxcious to leave or do anything for we are not in a good humor by any means for I am as mad as ever the devel was when he was disappointed in Some great undertaking we had two orders reducing bagage &c we have now 6 flies for every one hundred men I have 5 for my Co. the others in porportion we are not allowed any boxes of any kind So it is a bad chance about carrying our provision, but I have mine packed in a barrell So I have them this time according to order. I Shall try to carry my matress two blankets and a Quilt but I dont know wheather I Suceed or not. I have packed my Camp Chest box with various articles of Clothing for myself & Co. I have a carpet bag in it and one blanket and Some large Knives and a pr of Scales I have a good Casemere Coat the Same Kind of pants & a pr of Shoes for myself & Will and in a black Carpet bag of Espys there is a pr of boots of your Brother the others are all labilled with owners names pined on each. I am going to try to Sent it home by express to the Care of A. Stow Eufaula So you may enquire for it there you will have to pay the freight before you get it Send for the box if it gets there Send each bundle home or let the owners Know as Soon as you can or Send down To Lawrenceville to Some one for distribution if you get the box let me Know What the freight was and I divide it with the Co...My Clothing now consist of my over coat one oil coat and a Short Coat. like the men have and my brown pants and those blue Casemere pants I bought 3 years ago at Lawrencevill 3 shirts 3 draws So I have plenty Clothing..."

"Harrison Landing Tenn...August 24th 1862...My Dear Eliza...I went to the river this morning took a wash put on a change of clothes and one of my green Shirts and clim the bank to my flie when I had many enquiries as to where I got them If I would Sell any of them &c now I might Sell them but it would take a good purse to get them...I want a pair of heavy jeans pants for winter with the legs Small I dont Care what Collar you can put a Stripe down the Seams Send them if you have an opportunity...I hope Monroe will bring my uniform from Columbus tho I dont Care much about it I need it Sometimes...So you will please get your ambrotype taken and Sent it to me and I will wear it with me and prize it for the Sake of the original whom I prise higher than all else on earth...I was a long time getting mine and it was the change I had in Montgomery that I got it at all it was not a good picture the best could be done in a hurry the Sash I had on would indicate me on duty as officer of the day which was my duty from there to our camp...I ahve worn a cap during this month and the Sun has burned me dark but that is So much the better for the winter is comeing when I shall need a thick Skin to Stand the Cold winter winds..."

"Tullahoma Tenn. 19th Nov 1862...My Dear Brother...I hope you will get me a good pr Boots or Shoes I had mine Spoiled by the 1/2 Sole that was put on in cleyton which is raw hide. I drew a Splendid pr of Pants made of Blue cloth for $9.50 which cost me at Clothing house $35 the Clothing was made at Opelika Singular incident for it to come to their beloved 39th Ala most all the officers present took a pair & lef plenty I will send you& Monroe a pr each I can get express Transportation their was Some good over Shirts but I did not get any of them...So now on dress parade the 39th is Spotted or Stripped Set or a variety of uniforms out Some in new Suits from fine english stock up to a fine Cloth Cap down to Slick raggs and tied up Shoes & hats &c..."

More Weston

In looking for more information on Plowden Weston I have found a few nuggets that I thought I would go ahead and share. First of all, Weston was related by marriage to Percy Shelly, his wife's, Emily Frances Esdaile, brother Sir. Edward Jeffries Esdale married Ianthe Shelly in 1837. So a nice connection there to the Romantic ideals that influenced so many Southerners in the Antebellum period. Also, Weston had one of the most extensive and expensive personal libraries in South Carolina, it being appraised at $30,000. Finally for a bit of fun, he is the subject of a low land ghost story, the Gray Man, I won't go into it, but if you google his name you will get far more hits for his shade than the real man. More to come.

Lee

Persistence or Plowden Charles Jennet Weston

Several years ago when I began editing the letters of C.Irvine Walker, I came across the name, Plowden Charles Jennett Weston. Weston was one of the first Captains of the 10th South Carolina Infantry and caught my interest. As I researched the 10th and Walker, I discovered more about Weston and what a truely facinating individual he was. He was one of the most wealthy men in South Carolina, one of the largest slave owners in the South, a Scholar, and a man that opposed secession, although he would then support the Confederacy with everything he had, donating money, slaves, and cannon to aide South Carolina. Weston would never fight in a major battle though, never rise above the rank of captain, and die a very unsoldierly death. Weston went with his command when it was transfered from the its hometown, around Georgetown, SC, to Corinth, MS. There he would be engaged in a skirmish as Halleck probed the town's defences in May of 1862, after that his health steadily declined, he would be offered the position of Lieutenant Governor that fall in an attempt to get him to leave the field, he accepted and moved to Columbia. He would die there a little over a year later, in January of 1864. I have been searching for years for a picture of this man, I knew with his wealth that he had to have had one or a painting. Well this week my persistence paid off, I was contacted by one of his decendents, Judy Dias, who had a copy of what looks to be a very fine painting. I will write a more thorough posting about Weston in the near future.

V. K. Stevenson

Those who venture into the records of the C. S. Quartermaster bureau in the west quickly encounter the name V. K. Stevenson. I've just run across him in 1846. Seems he was active in promoting the creation of the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad and spent much of the middle and late 1840s promoting the connection of Middle Tennessee to the Atlantic south. I'll post some quotations from selected letters and addreses Stevenson made to railroad investors over the next few weeks.

Co. Aytch, Confederate Everymen?

Well, since Lee led off with something from some of his ongoing research, I thought I might do the same with mine. I am currently looking into the "real" Co. Aytch from Sam Watkins' famous old standby. Seems to me that as great a reputation as Sam has gotten for being the likable "Confederate everyman" (thanks to Mssrs. Wiley and Foote) the facts don't quite line up with the reality. To whit:

The following are the occupations of members of Co. H, 1st Tennessee Infantry. They are broken down into two groups, the original enlistees, the Maury Grays of which Sam himself was a member, and the latter additions who enlisted or were conscripted at various times. Numbers are low, you notice that neither column adds up to 100 men, but these are the ones who appear in the 1860 (and in some cases the 1850) census.

Maury Grays' Occupations:
Mechanic, various occupations- 11
Farmer (nonslaveholding)- 10
Farmer (small slaveholder)- 8
Lawyer- 6
Clerk in store- 6
Student- 4
Apprentice, various- 4
Professional, various- 3
Farmer (planter)- 3
Court Clerk- 2
Laborer- 1
Printer- 1

Father's occupation for those with no occupation listed:
Farmer (planter)- 6
Professional, various- 2

Take a look at how socially and economically top-heavy the Maury Grays are. While there are poor laborers, and slightly better-off mechanics, the percentage of professionals, lawyers, druggists, clerks, is decidedly greater in this group than in Columbia as a whole. Clue number 1 that this ain't your average bear.

The later additions tell a different story than. Here we see a more representative sample of all strata of Middle TN society. The nonslaveholding farmer dominates, and the number of professionals has dropped dramatically. There are some younger sons of planters who made their way into the company after the initial wave, but by and large we see a markedly less affluent set in this group.

Later Additions to Co. H, Occupations:
Farmer (nonslaveholding)- 7
Farmer (Small slaveholder)- 4
Clerk- 2
Student- 2
Mechanic- 2
Father is a slavholding farmer- 2
Laborer- 1
Watch Maker- 1

So, some questions to ponder. Who were the Confederate everymen in Co. H, 1st Tennessee. Was it Sam and his bunch, or the more "common" men like one of the small farmers, Mr. Fain King? How did these later enlistees interact with the original men? We are familiar with the tightly knit small group cohesion that can form in military units, veterans shunning replacements and similar phenomena. What happens to that effect when those replacements are from a different social and economic background as yourself? Did these two groups interact much within the company?

A clue to that relationship between the two groups lies in observing how often our standard source, Sam Watkins, mentions men who came into the company later. Unsurprisingly, those names don't often show up, and when they do they are often only in passing. Fred Bailey's work with the TN Veterans' Questionnaires sheds some light on the of inter-class relations in Tennessee regiments, but even his thorough reading of the evidence leaves these sorts of questions unanswered or maybe unanswerable. Unfortunately, much of the dynamics of the unit's daily interaction is inference. There simply isn't much to base assumptions on one way or the other.

But give some thought to what it meant to be a Maury Gray in Co. H. What did your above-average social and economic status mean for your life before the war? How did that status affect your opinions on secession, slavery, and your decision to enlist? Were you one of Mark Weitz's deserters or Jason Phillips' diehards? How did you react to defeat, surrender, and the postwar world?

Some fun to ponder over the next little while...