Renegade Women: Eliphar Chain of the Free State of Jones

During the booksigning portion of my recent trip to the Laurel-Jones County Library, where I gave a presentation on Newt Knight and the Free State of Jones, I met Jan Dykes, who told me that the Dykes family had a photograph of Eliphar Chain, remembered for having provided supplies for Newt Knight and his Knight Company guerrilla band during the Civil War. Below is that photograph, as well as the story of Eliphar Chain. My thanks to Jan Dykes.

Vikki Bynum, Moderator

 

 

In Ethel Knight’s imaginative restoration of the legend of the Free State of Jones, The Echo of the Black Horn, she tells the story of Eliphar (Elly Fair/Alafair/ etc.) Chain. “Elly Fair,” Ethel wrote, was likely the only woman from Jones County, Mississippi, to actually fight in the American Civil War. She “fought along beside her husband until he was killed,” Ethel claimed, and “carried ammunition in her checkered apron and kept handy a fresh load of powder for the nearest man that needed it.” (p. 107).

Eliphar Childs Dykes Chain, courtesy of Jan Dykes

Yet, despite fighting for the Confederacy, Ethel tells us that Eliphar returned to relatives in Bear Creek, Jones County, after her husband was killed and became an ally of the infamous anti-Confederate guerrilla band headed by “Captain” Newt Knight. In fact, one of Ethel’s most detailed stories of women’s role in the Free State of Jones is about Eliphar’s brave diversion of Confederate soldiers from the path of discovering Newt’s men, hidden in the swamps of the Leaf River. The story goes that Eliphar ran “smack into a gray uniformed officer” (p. 108) and had to think quickly to cover for the deserters. She ingeniously asked the officer if he’d seen a certain heifer that had strayed from the farm. When the officer replied he had not, Eliphar declared that she might as well change direction and seek the stray elsewhere. She then headed across the swamp as quickly as her mule could carry her and warned the Knight band that a cavalryman was scouting the area for them.

Despite Ethel Knight’s disdain for Newt Knight, she held women like Eliphar who supported him and his band to a different standard. Describing her as one of the “good women who aided the Deserters,” Ethel explained that such women “were only helping themselves.” She believed that Newt Knight was guilty of treason and even murder, but that his women supporters were loving wives and mothers simply trying to keep body and soul together. And in early 1864, Ethel explained, “people were looking upon Newt as a great benefactor of the community.”

Fair enough. But Ethel never addressed the question of why a woman who allegedly fought courageously alongside her husband for the Confederate Army would turn around and fight for an armed band of deserters bent on destroying that very Confederacy. Nor does she offer any evidence that Eliphar actually served alongside her husband on Civil War battlefields. Was this possibly an attempt by Ethel to claim a heroic figure for the Confederate side of Jones County (at least in part), as she had with Ben Knight when she claimed he had furlough papers in his pocket at the very moment that Col. Robert Lowry’s men hanged him as a deserter? In the absence of documentary evidence or published stories that predate Ethel’s 1951 book, we cannot know whether Eliphar Chain actually served on Civil War battlefields, although we know that at least 250 women did manage to do so (usually by disguising themselves as men).

We do know, however, that Eliphar’s husband, Isaac Newton Chain, died around 1863 while serving as a private in Co. B, 27th Mississippi Infantry, CSA. That fact does not preclude Eliphar having pro-Union sentiments, however. Her first marriage was to Louis Dykes, a woodcutter from Livingston, Louisiana, who was likely kin to Benjamin F. Dykes, Newt Knight’s friend and neighbor. During the war, Dykes and Newt deserted the 7th battalion Mississippi Infantry together. Both were reported AWOL on the Nov./Dec., 1862, muster, with the added sentence “lost in retreat from Abbeville.”

Nor were all Chains loyal to the Confederacy. Military records indicate that Isaac Chain’s brother, James Alexander Chain, deserted the 7th battalion in October 1862 after hospitalization for wounds sustained at the battle of Corinth. Although there is no direct evidence that James ever James never formally joined the Knight band, he remained AWOL until December 1863. Another Chain, first name uncertain, was similarly reported AWOL following the battle of Corinth, and again in early 1864. Like so many Piney Woods men, the Chains and the Dykes alternately served and deserted the Confederacy. By late 1863, many of these men (including Newt Knight) refused to go back, and joined the Knight band instead. By April, 1864, many more were joining the Union Army in New Orleans (see Ed Payne, “Crossing the Rubicon of Loyalties”).

Behavior that may appear erratic and politically confused today likely did not appear so during the Civil War. The main goal of these soldiers was to remain alive, but also to avoid being arrested by Confederate officers for desertion or imprisoned by Yankees after a battlefield defeat. For the most part, women shared the goals of their male kin. Some, but certainly not all, Jones County women had Unionist political views; others were simply loyal to family and friends. Although we don’t (yet) know Eliphar Chain’s views on secession and the Confederacy, she does appear to have been one of numerous women of the Mississippi Piney Woods who aided deserters and evaders of Confederate service in resisting capture by Confederate militia and home guard.

I encourage readers who have information on the life of Eliphar Chain (no matter how you spell her name!) and her kinfolk, to please consider sharing it with Renegade South.

Vikki Bynum

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Announcements: a past interview; an upcoming presentation; the Knight-Booth Family Reunion

Interview by Wisconsin Public Radio

The Long Shadow of the Civil War

This has been a busy week, and the upcoming week will be even more so! As part of Wisconsin Public Radio’s observation of the 150 year anniversary of the Civil War, I was interviewed on Friday, July 8, on the Veronica Rueckert Show.  The topic was my latest book, The Long Shadow of the Civil War, and the discussion included Southern Unionists, participation by Southern women in anti-Confederate uprisings, Newt Knight and the Free State of Jones, and Wesleyan Methodist Unionists in North Carolina. After the first half hour the show was opened to callers, whose questions and comments took us beyond a discussion of the book’s contents. If you’d like to hear the interview for yourself, click on the arrow below:

Upcoming presentation in Jones County

In a few days, Gregg and I will head out for Laurel, Mississippi, where I’m scheduled to present “Newt Knight, Southern Renegade: Patriot or Traitor?” at the Laurel-Jones Public Library. The Library is located at 530 Commerce St., Laurel, and my talk will take place on Friday, July 15, from 11:30 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. If you’re in the area, come on by!

My thanks to Dan Walters of Laurel for arranging this. 

Gregg’s and my day at the Laurel library will be followed by our attendance at the biennial Knight-Booth Family Reunion in Soso, where we’re looking forward to reconnecting with good friends like Florence Knight Blaylock and Olga Watts Nelson, pictured below.

Vikki Bynum

Florence Blaylock, Olga Watts Nelson, and Vikki Bynum, January 2011

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O. C. Martin, Confederate Veteran, remembers the Civil War–and that Newt Knight was NOT at Vicksburg

By Vikki Bynum

Ed Payne’s current series on Mississippi Piney Woods Civil War Unionists, “Crossing the Rubicon of Loyalties,” provides a timely context for a closer look at Oquin C. Martin, a former Confederate soldier and Piney Woods neighbor to the infamous Newt Knight. Although Martin joined neither Newt Knight’s band of deserters nor the Union army, his 1895 deposition,* gathered during Newt Knight’s federal claims hearing, indicates that were he forced to live the war all over again, Martin might not have remained loyal to the Confederacy.  When asked whether he had been a “Union man or a secessionist,” he answered, “I was a right smart of a secessionist until I was converted.”

There was no follow-up question to Martin’s intriguing statement that he had been “converted.” Clearly, the government was far more interested in what Martin had to say about Newt Knight’s loyalty than his own, particularly since he and Newt had served together in the 7th Battalion Mississippi Infantry of the Confederate Army. When asked how long Newt served, Martin replied that Newt had deserted at Snyder’s Bluff, Mississippi—before the 7th battalion moved on to Vicksburg–and, to his knowledge, “never returned” to service. More on that later.

We now know that Newt Knight was not unique among Piney Woods soldiers in his decision to bolt the Confederate Army. As Ed Payne’s research demonstrates, the disheartening course of the Civil War contributed to a growing number of Mississippi men who not only deserted the Confederacy but also joined the Union Army. These were in addition to a good many southerners who opposed secession in the first place, and remained devoted to Union.

Like so many soldiers, O.C. Martin left behind a wife and family when he went off to war. While not among the 200-plus Piney Woods soldiers who fled to the Union Army’s 1st and 2nd New Orleans Infantry, he was reported AWOL following his parole from Vicksburg. Most likely, concerns for his family, which included a wife, two children, and three stepchildren, as well as war-weariness after the ordeal of Vicksburg contributed to his decision to take an unauthorized leave.

Assuming Martin returned to his Piney Woods home while AWOL, he would have found plenty of other soldiers there who had done the same thing. A number of these men joined the Knight band, organized in October 1863; many more joined the Union Army. Martin, however, eventually rejoined the 7th Battalion. When asked by the government when he finally returned home for good, he replied that his battalion was “captured at Blakeley, Ala. and taken thence to Vicksburg as prisoners at which place we were released and disbanded and returned to our homes, the war being over.”  His military records bear him out, reporting the date of his capture as April 9, 1865, and that of his transfer to Vicksburg as May 1, 1865.

O.C. Martin was called by the U.S. government to testify against Newt Knight’s claim, probably because of his wartime loyalty to the Confederacy at a time when many of his neighbors turned to guerrilla warfare or Union service. But unlike those defense witnesses who painted Newt Knight as an outlaw with no known Union affiliations, upon cross-examination Martin portrayed Newt and his band as having “fought our cavalry and certainly against the South”—hardly what the government was hoping he’d say! Furthermore, when asked by Newt’s lawyer whether it was not a “notorious fact” that Newt Knight had “raised a company of Infantry in opposition to the Confederacy and in favor of the Union,” Martin replied, “that was my understanding; heard it often and believed it.”

Lending credence to Martin’s statements was the obvious care he took to answer questions accurately. He had known Newt since boyhood, he said, but “never knew his political sentiments.” And, since he and Newt belonged to different companies of the same battalion, he declined to identify Newt’s military rank, or to comment on whether or not he had “evaded all duty and refused to go into any battles against Union troops.”

An important component of Newt’s case was an 1870 affidavit claiming he had been sorely abused by Confederate authorities because of his Unionist beliefs. Martin claimed to have no knowledge of such abuse, or the related claim that Newt’s “dwelling house and its contents” had been burned down by his enemies. Still, Martin said, he did remember a time when “the captain threatened to have him shot.”

The careful, precise, and confident nature of O.C. Martin’s responses to questions administered under oath lends credence to his remark that Newt Knight’s final desertion from the Confederate Army occurred at Snyder’s Bluff, Mississippi, the 7th battalion’s last place of engagement before Vicksburg.  Martin’s recollection is particularly important because Newt’s own military record is blank between February and June 1863, thus omitting the time period when the 7th battalion was pinned down at Vicksburg.

Really, none of this should matter, since Newt himself never claimed to have served at Vicksburg; nor did any of his contemporaries report him there. The reason it does matter is because that gap in his military record allowed Sally Jenkins and John Stauffer, in their 2009 book, State of Jones, to feature fifteen pages detailing Newt’s allegedly grueling experiences at—yes, Vicksburg.

O.C. Martin’s deposition is a reminder that federal and state records, many gathered years after the Civil War, often yield information about the lives of soldiers and their families that might otherwise never come to light. Only because Martin was asked point blank about his political views do we learn that this Confederate veteran, once a “right smart” secessionist, had at some point been “converted.” And only because the U.S. government was intent on learning whether or not Newt Knight was a true Unionist do we learn, inadvertently, that Newt Knight deserted the Confederacy at Snyder’s Bluff, Mississippi–and not at Vicksburg.

*O. C. Martin deposition, March 6, 1895, Newt Knight claim file, Records of the U.S. Court of Claims, 1835-1966, Record Group 123, Committee on War Claims, Claims of Newton Knight and Others, #8013 and 8464, National Archives, Wash. D.C.

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Ed Payne, “Crossing the Rubicon of Loyalties,” Part 2

Part 2: No better than runaway slaves:  Piney Woods enlistees in the Union 1st N.O. Infantry

 

By Ed Payne

Between November of 1863 and November of 1864, over two hundred Mississippi men—nearly all from the state’s southern Piney Woods region—trekked to Louisiana and joined the Union 1st and 2nd New Orleans Infantry regiments (Note 1).  The names of the men thus far identified and the methods used to discover them were discussed in Part 1 of this series Reviewing the list of names, a question naturally emerges:  what caused these men, many of them formerly in Confederate units, to join with the enemy?  

Descendants who acknowledge their ancestors’ service in the Union Army often cite financial motives, saying it was done purely for U.S. greenbacks.  While it is true that Confederate currency had collapsed, subsistence farmers and herders of the Piney Woods did not share our modern dependency on money.  Their lives were rooted in a self-sufficiency which we can scarcely comprehend.  The small amounts of money they obtained—usually from periodic sales of livestock in Mobile, Alabama—bought a few staple goods such as salt, sugar, coffee, flour and whiskey.  Larger amounts of money could buy land but, prior to the timber boom of the 1880s, the Piney Woods included large tracts of open range on which all livestock could be set loose to graze.  Yeoman herders only needed the modest acreage which they and their families could till.  Given the passions engendered by the war, if money played a role in their decision I think it was a minor one.   

It would be wonderful to discover a trove of letters or a diary written by one of these men.  Based upon the ability to sign their names on enlistment papers, it appears that 30% of the Mississippian enlistees had basic literacy skills. This did not imply, however, that they possessed either the capacity or desire to compose lengthy passages justifying their actions.  Elias Allen authored the single letter by a Piney Woods Union soldier that has come to my attention.  In it, he wrote his sister-in-law to report the death of her husband, Alvin Sumrall.  The letter contains a mere 180 words.

Elias A. Allen

Even without further documents from individual Union enlistees, the following factors emerge as motives for their change of allegiance:

UNIONISM (or at least anti-secessionism) – While the state of Mississippi ranked second only to South Carolina in secessionist fever, the fever did not afflict everyone.  Even so, it is difficult to identify those men who steadfastly held Unionist convictions simply because such opinions were rarely documented.  In Mississippi’s heated late antebellum period, voicing anti-secessionist sentiments could be dangerous—unless one lived in an area where such contrarian views were widely shared.  Several contemporary accounts point to Jones County as being one of those areas.  Researcher Jeff Giambrone recently uncovered a newspaper item describing an anti-secessionist meeting in the county. 

It should be noted that similar, if more muted, sentiments were also expressed by a number of wealthy slave-owners—although for very different reasons.  These individuals were dubious about Southern chances of winning a war and worried about the prospects for slavery in the event of a loss.  When the Mississippi Secession Convention was held in January of 1861, 15 delegates from 10 counties voted against leaving the Union.  These nay votes came from counties with both small and large slave populations (Note 2).

Evidence shows some pre-war Unionists among the men who signed up at Fort Pike and in New Orleans.  Riley J. Collins of Jones County was remembered by neighbors and kinfolk as an ardent defender of the Union, while documents found in the military file of Robert Spencer of Jasper County cast him in a similar light.  For many others, however, Union enlistment represented a drastic turnabout in loyalties.   

CONSCRIPTION & ENLISTMENTS – When the Civil War began in the spring of 1861, military service was—save for local social pressures—an entirely voluntary matter.  It seems reasonable to assume that men who enlisted in 1861 were motivated by “the cause” or at least by notions of participating in a brief, glorious military adventure.  One year later, an expanding war and mounting casualties forced the Confederate Congress to enact its first Conscription Act.  This law applied to able bodied men ages 18-35 and eventually extended to ages 17-50.  There were some occupational exemptions and provisions for hiring substitutes, but these applied to few men in the Piney Woods.  In the wake of the Conscription Act, men had three choices:  enlist in a locally raised company; await conscription, which was commonly viewed as dishonorable; or attempt to evade conscription, considered nearly unthinkable. 

Early on, I assumed that Mississippians who joined the 1st New Orleans had entered Confederate service in 1862 or later under pressure of conscription.  I expected an examination of Confederate records to verify this assumption.  Establishing matches can be difficult since the CSA files seldom recorded the soldier’s age or birthplace, and given names were often rendered as initials.  On the other hand, companies were typically raised within specific counties and retained their local identity.  Also, family members usually enlisted in the same company.  Using these clues, 101 strong matches were found between the New Orleans recruits and earlier Confederate enlistees (Note 3).

The Confederate records revealed—in utter disregard for my reasoning—that out of the 101 former Confederate soldiers, 31 enlisted in 1861.  These men joined local companies well before pressured to do so by conscription laws.  Another eight volunteered between January and March of 1862.  Of the 31 earliest volunteers, 14 joined Gulf Coast companies that became part of the 3rd MS Infantry in October of 1861.  Among them were  D.W. Bounds, Charles Cuevas, Enoch E. McFadden (Captain of the “Gainesville Volunteers”), G.T. Mitchell, Robert Page, and James L. Seal.  All would later serve in the 1st New Orleans.  Even in the heart of the Piney Woods, seven future Union recruits enlisted in the 8th MS Infantry regiment on May 4, 1861: Wiley Courtney, Hansford and James Dossett, William Holyfield, Eli Rushing, Martin V.B. Shows, and William Tippet.  To explain the change of heart in these men, we must examine their wartime experiences.

“RICH MAN’S WAR, POOR MAN’S FIGHT” – In October of 1862, six months after instituting conscription, the Confederate Congress passed the “20 Negro Law.”  The legislation granted planters one military service exemption for every 20 slaves owned.   In those sections of the South where slaves comprised a large percent of the population, whites were perpetually apprehensive over possible uprisings.  Lawmakers felt it prudent to retain a certain number of men on plantations to manage their bondsmen.  However, many non-slave owning soldiers took an understandably dim view of the law.  Those given to pondering such matters questioned whether the war had become one of poor men fighting to protect the slave property of rich men.  Some of these men began leaving the ranks in the winter of 1862. 

WAR FATIGUE AND FAMILY NEEDS – By the early spring of 1863 a scattering of yeoman farmers, now realizing the war would be a lengthy one, left their units to return home and plant crops—without which their families’ lives would be precarious.  The first report of a Piney Woods deserter problem came from 2nd Lieutenant H. C. Mathis of the 8th MS Infantry, who wrote Governor John J. Pettus on June 1, 1863 notifying him of “between seventy-five and one-hundred deserters” in Jones County.  Mathis, who had settled in the area prior to the war, said he received word of the situation from “responsible men” in his community. 

At the same time, other men from the region were huddled within the defensive perimeter around Vicksburg.  Confederate forces included the 7th Battalion MS Infantry and the 36th, 37th, 38th, 40th, and 46th MS Infantry regiments, all of which contained companies organized in the Piney Woods.  After enduring 47 days of constant bombardment and dwindling supplies, Confederate General John C. Pemberton finally surrendered on July 4, 1863.  Union commander Ulysses S. Grant, not wishing to assume responsibility for 30,000 prisoners, decided to offer paroles.  The parole documents pledged each man not to take up arms against the United States until properly exchanged for a Union prisoner (Note 4). 

The Piney Woods men saw a Union Army firmly in control of central Mississippi while contemplating the privations endured by their families.  These realizations caused a number of them to conclude that their obligation to the Confederacy had been fulfilled.   They began walking home.  Among them were later Union enlistees Richard D. Bound, John C. Culpepper, Asa Easterling, James Grantham, William McBride, Daniel Sumrall, and Hanson Walters.  Following the surrender, General Pemberton issued furloughs requiring the parolees to report to exchange camp by August 23.  The date appears in several records as the point from which these soldiers were considered absent without leave.

IN-KIND TAXATION – When war-weary soldiers returned home, they found another reason for distress.  In April of 1863 the Confederacy enacted in-kind taxation.  Regional quartermasters and their agents were authorized to seize 10% of agricultural produce and 10% livestock raised for slaughter.  They could confiscate more if they deemed the individual noncompliant.  The state troops enforcing these laws were frequently led by men of the planter class, who viewed the hard scrabble yeomen with disdain.  A Confederate officer who took part in Col. Robert Lowry’s campaign noted that such attitudes “have done more to demoralize Jones County than the whole Yankee army.” Since Federal troops made very few incursions into the Piney Woods, the poorer inhabitants began to view Confederate tax agents and state troops as greater enemies. 

HANGINGS AND DOGS – Desertions were a vexation for Confederate commanders, as they continue to be for Lost Cause devotees seeking unblemished Confederate pedigrees among their ancestors.  Because Southern military records grew more sporadic as the war continued, it is difficult to determine how many Piney Woods men left their units and how many remained in the ranks until the war’s end (Note 5).  By spring of 1864, however, reports describing the number of deserters and their influence goaded officials into ordering troops into the Piney Woods.  Back-to-back campaigns were mounted, the first led by Col. Henry Maury in March and the second by Col. Robert Lowry in April.  Their primary objectives were to restore Confederate authority and to force deserters back into service.

In a society grounded in a sense of personal honor, abandoning a military unit in which one’s relatives and neighbors also served must have been a wrenching decision.  Returning home to find one’s family in destitute conditions increased the strain.  Only a few years earlier these men had existed in a realm largely free of external authority.  Now they found themselves conscripted, taxed, and pursued by those who claimed to be protecting their rights.

Col. Robert Lowry felt stern measures were necessary.  His troops hanged seven men on April 15-16.  He took fathers hostage to coerce their sons into surrendering.  And he deployed dogs to track down the deserters.  Accounts handed down by member of the Newt Knight Band make frequent mention of these dogs—and for good reason.  Our modern sensibilities have been dulled by years of watching movie depictions of wily prison escapees eluding bloodhounds.  We fail to appreciate the way in which these men perceived the use of dogs.  Planters employed tracking dogs to hunt down fugitive slaves; now the same animals had been unleashed on those who took pride in being free white men.  The sounds of the pack hounds must have produced a bitter realization in the minds of the Piney Woods deserters:  Confederate authorities deemed them no better than runaway slaves. 

"Fugitive slave attacked by dogs" (Image reference NW0200; http://hitchcock.itc.virginia.edu/Slavery/index.php, Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and the University of Virginia Library.)

 

The above factors help us to understand the stresses that caused some men to make profound breaks with their past.  The timing of the influx of Mississippians into the New Orleans Union regiments clearly reflects the anger and humiliation evoked by the Maury and Lowry campaigns.  In the end, circumstances forced two hundred Piney Woods men—including some of the earliest volunteers in the Southern cause—to conclude that the costs of Confederate loyalty had finally become too onerous to bear.

__________________________________

Note 1:  As described in Part 1, the 2nd New Orleans Infantry was disbanded in August of 1864.  All but three of the 2nd New Orleans Piney Wood enlistees subsequently appear on the 1st New Orleans rolls.  Therefore, this and future posts will focus exclusively on the 1st New Orleans recruits. 

Note 2:  The vote was 84 in favor of secession and 15 opposed.  Mississippi counties casting votes against secession were:  Adams, Amite, Attala, Franklin, Itawamba (split vote), Perry, Rankin, Tishomingo, Washington, and Warren (split vote).  Jones County elected a representative, by a 166 to 89 margin, pledged to oppose secession.  However, after realizing the declaration of secession would pass handily, he cast his vote in favor.  

Note 3:  More problematic matches with Confederate military records were found for 29 other 1st New Orleans recruits.  In eight cases the commonality of the names produced too many possibilities.  No CSA service matches were identified for the remaining 65 New Orleans recruits.  Of these, 36 (55.4%) were under age 21—suggesting that as the war continued, some Piney Woods youths reaching conscription age failed to report and had local support in doing so.

Note 4:  Five days after the surrender of Vicksburg, the fortress at Port Hudson, Louisiana capitulated on July 9, 1864 following a 48 day siege.  Among the surrendering forces was the 39th MS Infantry, composed mostly of companies mustered in the Piney Woods.  As was the case in Vicksburg, the men were released on parole.

Note 5:  Those who enlisted in the 1st New Orleans were a minority, even among the population of Piney Woods deserters.  If we assume that 90% of men ages 15-39 on the 1860 census ended up serving in Confederate military units, Union enlistees would comprise 2.7% of the number from Jones and its bordering counties (98 of 3,668).  Using the same calculation applied to just Jones, Marion, and Perry counties, the percent of Union enlistees is 7.1% (90 of 1,261).

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Crossing the Rubicon of Loyalties: Piney Woods enlistees in the Union 1st and 2nd New Orleans Infantry

Crossing the Rubicon of Loyalties: Piney Woods enlistees in the Union 1st and 2nd New Orleans Infantry

By Ed Payne

Part I

Two years ago I gave a presentation in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, a portion of which dealt with the Knight Band.  Afterwards, three attendees approached me saying they wished to register a complaint.  These ladies were not upset, as one might suspect, about my broaching the subject of Piney Woods dissent against Confederate authority.  Instead, they expressed good natured consternation that “Jones County gets all the attention.”  They told me there were family stories, more openly discussed in recent years, about men from Marion and Perry counties who also opposed the Confederacy and even enlisted in the Union Army.   I solicited names from them and, later, from others who made similar claims.  In each case, research into military and pension files proved the rumor to be true.

My small but slowly growing list of Piney Woods men who became Union soldiers was augmented by those uncovered by Shelby Harriel .  Even so, several contemporary accounts mentioned not dozens, but hundreds of renegades (see preceding article).  This raised two questions:  How extensive was opposition to Confederate authority within the Mississippi Piney Woods during the final years of the Civil War?  And can this resistance be accurately ascribed to the leadership of a single man?  Seeking a new frame of reference, I undertook a complete review of the two Union regiments most frequently cited as those in which Piney Woods men enlisted:  the 1st and 2nd New Orleans Infantry.  The results may be found in the list of names accompanying this article.

Readers of “Renegade South” will be familiar with the fact that in the spring of 1864 Confederate forces, most famously those of  Col. Robert Lowry, were sent into the Piney Woods to quell resistance and compel deserters back into their units.  Many of those not caught up in the Confederate dragnet fled south to the swamps of the lower Pearl River, a region known as Honey Island.  At this point the refugees were encamped a mere 10 miles from the Union garrison at Fort Pike, Louisiana. Communications were established and groups of men began arriving at Fort Pike.

Aerial view of Fort Pike as it appeared prior to Hurricane Katrina in 2005

Fort Pike was one of a series of fortifications, including Fort Sumter, built by the federal government in the wake of the War of 1812 for coastal defense.  The massive brick and mortar structure was completed in 1827. Situated on a peninsula of land, it guarded the Rigolets—a strait connecting Lake Pontchartrain with the Gulf of Mexico.  Louisiana militia occupied the fort at the outbreak of the Civil War, but it was abandoned by the Confederacy after New Orleans fell into Union hands in April of 1862.

When Piney Woods men made the decision to be ferried across the Rigolets and enter Fort Pike, they were also crossing a personal Rubicon of loyalties.  Henceforth, they were no longer simply resisting Confederate conscription and taxation; they were joining a Union Army whose mission, in the wake of the Emancipation Proclamation, was to banish slavery.  If any were unclear about this fact, the sight of United States Colored Troops training at Fort Pike must have quickly educated them.

In counterintuitive military fashion, the 2nd New Orleans began enrolling troops in October of 1863, six months prior to the 1st New Orleans.  Never reaching full strength, it was disbanded in August of 1864 and its men transferred into the 1st New Orleans.  The 2nd New Orleans Infantry rolls cover 267 men, totaling 1,813 documents.    Those of the 1st New Orleans Infantry account for 1,377 men and comprise 20,829 documents.  The military files have been digitized and are available via the subscription service Footnote.com.  For purposes of this study, the records of every man in the two regiments were reviewed and summarized on spreadsheets.

At the outset my expectations were modest.  Several decades ago researcher Jean Strickland compiled information on 34 Union Army pension applications filed from Jones County.  During preliminary research, I located nine additional applications filed from other counties.  It seemed possible that by reversing the focus and examining all 1st and 2nd New Orleans records, perhaps another 30 or 40 names might be revealed.  But this proved to be a sizable miscalculation.  The records yielded the names of 206 Mississippians who enlisted in these regiments between November of 1863 and November of 1864.  Out of this total, 201 (97.6%) can be identified as inhabitants of the Piney Woods region (see note 1).

The names in the accompanying tables were ascertained by several methods: first, a table was created of all enlistees who reported Mississippi nativity.  It should be emphasized that enlistment documents recorded the birthplace of the recruit, not his pre-war residence.  Therefore, an attempt was made to crosscheck names against the federal censuses of 1850 and 1860.  It was not possible to establish matches in all cases, but the effort revealed the first evidence of kinship ties mirroring those explored by Victoria Bynum in Free State of Jones:  Mississippi’s Longest Civil War.  Of the 178 men whose military records identified them as native Mississippians, 170 reported Piney Woods nativity and census records indicate three others had apparently settled in the region by 1860.  These individuals are listed in Table 1 (see note 2).

To identify enlistees from Mississippi who had been born elsewhere, or whose files lacked nativity information, required delving deeper into census records.  Nearly all the military files recorded the date and location of enlistment.  It became evident early in the study that a large majority of Mississippians (84%) enlisted at Fort Pike, whereas other enlistees more typically joined at the New Orleans recruiting depot.  Therefore, census crosschecks were done on all men who enlisted at Fort Pike between January and August of 1864 using name, age, and state of birth.  This method identified men born in other states, but who later settled in the Piney Woods.  An example is John W. Axton, a 28 year-old farmer who enrolled at Fort Pike on March 25, 1864.  His enlistment papers state he was born in Morgan County, Alabama.  Census research shows that by 1850 his family had moved to Lauderdale County, Mississippi.  In 1860 he is found residing in Perry County with a wife and infant son.

Enlistment doc. of John W. Axton, who resided in Perry Co., MS in 1860, joined the 1st N.O. Infantry on 25 Mar. 1864, and died the following October.

About one-third of the regimental files are missing nativity information.   Still, the names and ages of those who enlisted at Fort Pike from January to August of 1864 provided some basis for crosschecking against 1850-1870 federal censuses of Mississippi.  In practice this method was less capricious than it may sound.   Common names that yielded too many possible candidates were excluded.   Of the names included, 70% can be verified through later pension applications.  Table 2 lists the 25 Mississippi recruits ascertained by these methods, along with census identification.  All lived within the Piney Woods region.

To determine if reliance on enlistment at Fort Pike as an indicator had been too exclusionary, a further check was made.  This focused on 63 men, all with records lacking nativity information, who enrolled between January and August 1864 at locations other than Fort Pike.  Among this group, only one emerged as a possible Piney Woods resident.

Fifty-one of the Mississippians identified on the 1st New Orleans rolls were initially assigned to the 2nd New Orleans.  As mentioned, this unit was disbanded in August 1864 and the men transferred to the 1st New Orleans.  However, the 2nd New Orleans records proved useful in establishing nativity for several men whose birth information was missing in the 1st New Orleans files.  Only three Piney Woods men appear in the 2nd New Orleans files but not subsequently on the 1st New Orleans rolls.  Their names are listed in Table 3, but they were excluded from all analysis pertained to the 1st New Orleans Piney Woods enlistees.

Finally, Table 4 lists other men who reported southern or even Mississippi nativity, but who are currently excluded from the count due to lack of supporting evidence.  While most probably resided in neighboring states, a few may be candidates for inclusion pending further research.  For example, Benjamin B. Patricks joined the 1st New Orleans at Fort Pike on March 25, 1864, stating he was 45 years-old.  Also attempting to enlist that same day was Edward Patricks, who claimed to be 17.  Both reporting being natives of Orangeville, South Carolina.  While Edward was rejected as underage, Benjamin was accepted and served until his desertion after the war.  The 1860 census of Jones County listed Richard Patrick, age 45, and a son named Edward, age 12—both natives of South Carolina.  Did Richard adopt “Benjamin B. Patricks” as a nom de guerre and if so why?  He later successfully applied for a pension and his file may provide an answer.

It should be kept in mind that the 206 men thus far identified formed a distinct minority among all those from their region who served during the Civil War.  Many others remained within the Confederate ranks, however faithfully or begrudgingly.  But the current research suggests that dissenters were more numerous and diffuse than previously thought.  While some might have harbored Unionist sympathies from the outset of the war, most probably developed growing resentment towards Confederate authority as the war dragged on.  The campaigns by Col. Henry Maury and Col. Robert Lowry in the spring of 1864, aimed at forcing them back into southern service, instead provoked a final severing of loyalties.

There is surprisingly little overlap between the men listed on the Newt Knight rosters and those who joined the Union regiments.  Of the 99 names associated with the Knight Band, only ten appear on the rolls of the 1st New Orleans.  In the years following the war, Newt Knight stated that he periodically revised his roster to eliminate men whom he felt had not maintained a proper Unionist stance.  Perhaps so, but given his efforts to obtain federal compensation for himself and his men, Knight may have also culled those he knew to be eligible for pensions based on their service in New Orleans.  This would help explain why over two dozen names on Union pension applications filed from Jones County are absent from Knight Band rosters (see note 3).

If Newt Knight chose to rewrite history according to his own dictates, he was neither the first nor the last to do so.   But the re-discovery of these 206 names provides testimony that opposition to Confederate authority in the Piney Woods extended well beyond the ranks of the Knight Band and far outside the boundaries of Jones County.  Newt Knight can be accurately credited with organizing the largest band of renegades in the region; however, it seems increasingly counterfactual to portray him as the sole prophet of Piney Woods dissent.

I believe that the list of names is substantially complete.  As noted, I am working to clarify the status of several other recruits, but possible additions are likely to number less than a dozen.  It seems worth noting that, even at the present count, the Piney Woods enlistees account for nearly 15% of all 1st New Orleans Infantry recruits.

In future posts in this series I will discuss some of the general characteristics of the enlistees, compare their performance as soldiers with others in the 1st New Orleans, and delve into some of the many individual and family stories that are coming to light.  I hope that by sharing the names of these Union enlistees, more descendants may come forth to share family lore and possibly documents which will help us to better understand this little known but intriguing chapter of Civil War history in the Deep South.

Note 1:  There are differing definitions of the area that comprises the Mississippi Piney Woods.  For purpose of this study, I included all Mississippi counties traversed by or south of a line from Vicksburg to Meridian, with the exception of those directly bordering the Mississippi River (Adams, Claiborne, Jefferson, Warren, and Wilkinson).  This encompasses 23 counties:  Amite, Clarke, Copiah, Covington, Franklin, Greene, Hancock, Harrison, Hinds, Jackson, Jasper, Jones, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Marion, Newton, Perry, Pike, Rankin, Scott, Simpson, Smith, and Wayne.

Note 2:  As a general rule, enlistees reporting Mississippi nativity but found to be residing outside the state on pre-war censuses were excluded from the list.  Exceptions were made in three cases, all owing to kinship ties with other enlistees.  In the first case, the family of Ellis Bounds moved to St Helena Parish, Louisiana shortly before the 1860 census. Ellis was related to several other Bounds men who enlisted.  The other two cases involved brothers Martin Van Buren Parker and Thomas Jefferson Parker.  Their family moved from Jones County, Mississippi to Washington County, Alabama (across the state line from Wayne County, Mississippi) in the late 1840s.  The censuses of 1850 and 1860 show them residing there.  However, they were cousins of several other Parkers who enlisted in New Orleans and Martin Parker resettled in Jones County after the war (his brother Thomas died while serving in the 1st New Orleans).

Note 3:  The figure of 99 names associated with the Knight Band comes from my cross-compilation of three rosters:  1) The 1870 roster Newt Knight submitted as part of his claim for federal compensation, 2) the roster included in Thomas J. Knight’s Life and Activities of Captain Newton Knight (p 16-17), and 3) the roster published in Ethel Knight’s Echo of the Black Horn (p 89-89, 161).

TABLE 1:  1st New Orleans enlistees with Mississippi nativity recorded in their military files (refer to Note 2).

					Died
Name	Enlisted	Co	Age	Birth Co	CW
Elias A. Allen	05/19/1864	E	34	Perry
Willey Allen	05/19/1864	E	30	Lawrence
Elisha Anderson	05/23/1864	G	31	Perry	X
John Anderson	05/23/1864	G	29	Perry
James W. Arnold	06/11/1864	H	20	Jackson
Nora Belland	02/20/1864	F	20	Jackson
Harro Bellman	11/04/1864	I	18	Jackson
James O. Bennett	07/02/1864	H	22	Jasper
Henry Bond	06/24/1864	H	24	Harrison
William Boon	05/29/1864	H	19	Marion	X
Addison Bounds	03/30/1864	D	21	Marion
Daniel W. Bounds	06/24/1864	H	24	Perry
Ellis Bounds	05/23/1864	G	20	Perry	X
James Bounds	03/30/1864	D	23	Marion
John Bounds	04/21/1864	G	20	Hancock	X
Richard D. Bounds	03/25/1864	D	20	Jasper
William Bounds	04/21/1864	I	28	Hancock
William P. Boutwell	06/15/1864	I	18	Pike
James F. Braddy	06/21/1864	E	26	Jones
William Braddy	05/29/1864	H	20	Covington
Daniel Breland	05/19/1864	E	34	Perry
Meridy Broome	05/19/1864	E	27	Covington
John R. Burge	04/28/1864	E	19	Hancock
Prentice Bynum	05/26/1864	E	18	Jones
Joseph Byrd	12/23/1863	F	30	Jasper
Thomas Cameron	05/29/1864	H	19	Marion
James Clark	03/25/1864	C	19	Perry	X
Joel T. Clark	05/15/1864	H	20	Perry
Newton R. Clearman	04/18/1864	D	24	Newton
Riley J. Collins	04/30/1864	E	37	Jones	X
Isaac Cook	03/30/1864	D	19	Newton
Wylie C. Courtney	05/22/1864	G	24	Smith
Jacob Cox	04/18/1864	D	38	Jones
Elisha Crane	07/05/1864	H	19	Rankin	X
Rankin Crane	07/05/1864	H	18	Rankin
Charles J. Cuevas	02/02/1864	F	21	Harrison
John Culpepper	03/25/1864	D	18	Jones
Jessie Cunningham	05/19/1864	E	37	Jasper	X
William Dailey	04/28/1864	E	23	Wayne	X
Able Davis	05/26/1864	E	30	Jones
George W. Davis	05/23/1864	H	20	Perry	X
Henry F. Davis	06/29/1864	H	22	Copiah
James A. Davis	05/23/1864	G	23	Perry	X
Leroy T. Davis	05/03/1864	G	23	Harrison
James Dearman	05/29/1864	#	26	Perry
Allen DeBose	06/24/1864	H	23	Jefferson *	X
Riley DeBose	08/23/1864	H	30	Perry	X
Andrew Dement	04/19/1864	D	26	Jones	X
Hansford Dossett	03/25/1864	D	23	Jones
James A. Dossett	05/22/1864	G	24	Jones
Johnson Ellis	03/14/1864	A	36	Lowndes *	X
Marion H. Ellis	02/23/1864	C	18	Lauderdale
Asa B. Esterling	04/30/1864	E	21	Perry
William J. Finney	12/29/1863	C	32	Pike	X
Jessie T. Ford	06/11/1864	I	18	Perry
John Fortinbery	05/21/1864	E	24	Marion
Eugene Garcia	02/02/1864	F	16	Hancock
James Grantham	06/24/1864	H	24	Perry	X
Jesse R. Grice	04/18/1864	D	31	Rankin
John W. Gummell	06/15/1864	H	20	Harrison
Rutilles Harold	04/21/1864	G	25	Jasper
Jordan Harrington	04/28/1864	E	20	Jones	X
William J. Hatley	04/15/1864	G	25	Lawrence
Jeremiah Henley	05/19/1864	E	38	Hancock
Samuel D. Herron	06/25/1864	H	31	Marion
John Hester	06/14/1864	H	20	Harrison
John Hickman	06/14/1864	G	20	Harrison
William Hickman	05/03/1864	G	21	Harrison
George Hogan	05/03/1864	G	20	Jasper
John Holder	05/26/1864	E	18	Jasper
Brasille Holliman	05/12/1864	E	18	Perry	X
James Holliman	05/12/1864	E	18	Perry	X
Oliver Holliman	05/12/1864	E	26	Smith
Thomas Holliman	03/25/1864	D	33	Perry	X
William Holyfield	05/26/1864	E	24	Jones
Alexander Inman	06/20/1864	K	25	Clarke	X
Stephen Jenkins	03/25/1864	D	23	Wayne
Thomas Johnston	05/15/1864	E	24	Jones	X
William Jones	03/25/1864	D	32	Marion
William Knight	04/28/1864	E	24	Jones
Henry Landrum	03/25/1864	D	18	Jones
John Landrum	03/25/1864	D	19	Jones	X
Thomas Landrum	03/25/1864	D	43	Jones
William P. Landrum	03/25/1864	D	28	Jones
Nathaniel Lathiner	07/10/1864	H	18	Hancock
James W. Lee	04/13/1864	D	29	Wayne	X
Uriah Lee	05/03/1864	G	20	Marion
Ezekial Loftin	05/26/1864	E	23	Lauderdale
Thomas Loftin	05/26/1864	E	18	Jasper
Rutilles Loper	04/23/1864	G	32	Jones
Francis M. Lott	06/14/1864	H	20	Harrison
Bailey Martin	05/21/1864	E	18	Attala *	X
Caleb Martin	05/27/1864	H	34	Perry	X
Loth McArther	03/05/1864	H	18	Hancock
Enoch E. McFadden	11/18/1863	A	30	Hancock
James W. McFadden	11/18/1863	A	17	Hancock	X
Daniel McInnis	03/25/1864	D	19	Greene
George T. Mitchell	06/29/1864	K	21	Hancock
Mark W. Mitchell	03/30/1864	D	27	Clarke
John P. Myrick	04/21/1864	G	20	Jasper
William C. Nelson	07/05/1864	H	41	Lowndes *
John J. Newell	05/12/1864	E	26	Perry
Jacob Nicholson	04/28/1864	E	25	Hancock	X
General D. O Neal	07/08/1864	H	39	Perry
William Oadum	04/30/1864	E	18	Perry	X
Hezekiah Page	05/26/1864	G	22	Jones
Louis Page	05/26/1865	G	20	Jones
Robert Page	05/20/1864	G	24	Jones
John W. Parker	05/26/1864	E	23	Newton
Little B. Parker	07/13/1864	H	19	Jasper
Marion Parker	12/20/1863	F	27	Jasper	X
Obediah Parker	12/20/1863	F	40	Wayne
Pearson Parker	05/19/1864	E	34	Coahoma *
Thomas J. Parker	05/14/1864	B	19	Clarke	X
Elisha Perkins	07/08/1864	H	22	Perry
Daniel Pitts	03/25/1864	D	19	Jones
Elias Polk	03/25/1864	C	23	Marion
Calvin Raburn	05/21/1864	E	29	Covington
Thomas Redman	05/25/1864	G	20	Jasper
John W. Rester	06/14/1864	#	20	Marion
Ashberry Reynolds	05/12/1864	E	19	Perry
Charles Roberts	05/21/1864	H	19	Lawrence
Joseph Rowell	06/25/1864	#	25	Marion
William Rowell	06/25/1864	#	33	Marion
Samuel Sanders	05/26/1864	E	30	Jasper
Randolph Saucier	05/26/1864	G	21	Harrison	X
Anthony Seals	05/19/1864	#	18	Hancock
Thomas Shivers	06/25/1864	K	22	Marion
Martin V. Shows	03/25/1864	D	22	Jones
Jesse Slade	05/29/1864	B	19	Marion	X
Samuel Slade	05/29/1864	H	27	Marion
Andy Smith	04/19/1864	D	19	Clarke
Asbery Smith	03/25/1864	D	18	Clarke
Ira Smith	04/19/1864	D	18	Clarke
James Smith	05/12/1864	E	23	Perry
John L. Smith	06/20/1864	H	22	Harrison	X
Thomas R. Smith	05/26/1864	G	21	Harrison
William Spradley	06/14/1864	#	22	Simpson
Joshua Stafford	05/27/1864	#	26	Perry
William Steavenson	03/25/1864	D	19	Wayne	X
Alvin Sumrall	06/11/1864	F	29	Perry	X
Daniel Sumrall	06/11/1864	H	19	Perry
James Sumrall	03/25/1864	C	23	Perry
James Taylor	06/15/1864	H	29	Monroe *
Jones R. Temple	06/25/1864	K	33	Marion
Henry Thomas	05/29/1864	#	28	Perry
William M. Thompson	11/11/1864	I	18	Marion
Joseph Tillman	07/13/1864	H	20	Jasper
Seaborn Tisdale	04/30/1864	E	23	Perry
James Truss	03/25/1864	C	19	Jones
Dreyden Tucker	03/25/1864	D	19	Jones
James Tucker	05/15/1864	E	18	Jones
John Tucker	05/15/1864	E	36	Jones	X
Martin Tucker	05/15/1864	E	23	Jones
John Underwood	05/18/1864	E	30	Covington	X
Robert Underwood	05/19/1864	E	35	Warren *
Andrew Walker	12/24/1863	B	37	Warren *
Albert Walters	04/28/1864	E	38	Jones
Archy Walters	05/15/1864	E	19	Jones	X
Drury Walters	05/15/1864	E	25	Jones	X
Joel W. Walters	03/25/1864	D	26	Jones
Hanson A. Walters	05/24/1864	G	27	Jones
Marada M. Walters	05/15/1864	E	23	Jones	X
Richard Walters	05/15/1864	E	22	Jones
James P. Watts	07/02/1864	H	21	Covington
Frank Weatherbee	05/29/1864	H	26	Lawrence	X
Richard T. Welch	04/28/1864	E	21	Jones
Elijah Wilborn	04/30/1864	E	20	Smith
Tolbert F. Wilborn	05/26/1864	E	20	Jasper	X
William Wilborn	05/26/1864	E	32	Jasper
James Williams	04/21/1864	G	23	Marion	X
John Williams	07/02/1864	H	21	Jones
Joshua G. Williams	05/04/1864	G	26	Perry	X
Thomas Williams	05/03/1864	G	22	Perry
Frank Wilson	07/20/1864	H	28	Lawrence
John Worden	03/30/1864	D	19	Marion
Benjamin F. Young	05/23/1864	G	21	Jackson
Thomas Young	05/14/1864	G	20	Jones	X

A pound sign (#) in the regimental company (“Co”) column on this and subsequent tables indicates the enlistee failed to report for muster and therefore was never assigned to a company.

An asterick (*) appearing after the nativity county indicates that it is located outside the Piney Woods region.  The 1860 census records suggest that Bailey Martin, James Taylor, and Andrew Walker had relocated to the Piney Woods.

TABLE 2:  1st New Orleans enlistees with Mississippi residency established through cross-checks of the 1850, 1860, and 1870 federal census records.

				Census		Died
Name	Enlisted	Co	Age	Year	County	CW
John Adams	03/25/1864	D	19	1860	Jones
John W. Axton	03/25/1864	D	28	1860	Perry	X
Irvin E. Elzey	04/28/1864	E	43	1860	Jones
William Ford	06/11/1864	K	43	1860	Jasper	X
Hamilton Haden	03/25/1864	D	24	1860	Clarke
John M. Jones	04/30/1864	E	19	1860	Jones
Willis B. Jones	04/30/1864	E	21	1860	Jones
Augustus Lambert	03/25/1864	D	25	1860	Jones	X
Blakely Lambert	03/25/1864	D	32	1860	Jasper	X
James C. Law	05/05/1864	E	26	1860	Jones	X
William Martin	05/26/1864	H	40	1860	Perry	X
William Mauldin	04/30/1864	E	27	1860	Jones	X
David McBride	03/25/1864	D	45	1860	Jones	X
William McBride	03/25/1864	D	18	1860	Jones	X
Robert McIntire	11/06/1863	C	35	1850	Smith
Lorenzo D. Nobles	03/14/1864	C	33	1860	Jackson
Martin Parker	12/20/1863	F	28	1870	Jones
Eli Rushing	05/23/1864	G	23	1850	Jones
James L. Seals	04/28/1864	D	27	1850	Hancock
Robert Spencer	05/03/1864	G	22	1850	Clarke
James Swilley	06/20/1864	K	37	1870	Harrison
Henry F. Taylor	04/30/1864	E	19	1860	Perry
Pleasant P. Terry	04/18/1864	D	34	1860	Newton
William J. Tippet	03/14/1864	C	44	1860	Smith
Aaron T. Wilborn	05/23/1864	G	27	1860	Jones

TABLE 3: 2nd New Orleans enlistees with Mississippi nativity who did not subsequently appear on the 1st New Orleans rolls.

					Died
Name	Enlisted	Co	Age	Birth Co	CW
Elijah G. Brown	05/23/1864	B	31	Perry
James R. Davis	05/22/1864	B	29	Perry	X
Thommas Simons	05/23/1864	B	22	Perry

TABLE 4:  Other 1st New Orleans enlistees who reported southern nativity, but for whom evidence of later Mississippi residency is currently lacking.

Name	Enlisted	Co	Age	Birth Co / State
John A. Allen	01/23/1864	A	20	Franklin, AL
Josiah A. Allen	06/13/1864	H	32	Columbus, MS
Thomas  Bonner	03/30/1864	D	19	Monroe Co, AL
William Cameron	05/29/1864	#	na	(Not listed)
John  Cody	03/30/1864	C	25	Mobile, AL
John  Cotton	07/05/1864	#	18	Mobile, AL
John A. Graham	03/25/1864	D	20	Butler, AL
William  Graham	04/30/1864	H	18	Montgomery, AL
John W. Haley	04/17/1864	D	19	Pike, AL
David D. Hanscum	06/06/1864	#	na	Natchez, MS
William  Hull	02/18/1864	C	26	Augusta, GA
Joseph  Kelly	04/12/1864	D	23	Carroll Co, TN
Thomas  Kelly	02/23/1865	E	19	Natchez, MS
John Martin	05/02/1864	G	20	(Not listed)
John P. Moseley	02/23/1864	A	24	Butler Co, AL
Frank  Nata	10/09/1863	B	20	Biloxi, MS
Edward  Patricks	03/25/1864	#	17	Orangeville, SC
Benjamin B. Patricks	03/25/1864	D	45	Orangeville, SC
Warner B. Pittman	03/25/1864	E	47	Washington, GA
William  Pittman	03/25/1864	E	17	Washington, GA
Stephen H. Tourne	04/17/1864	D	19	Macon Co, AL
William  Wasdon	03/12/1864	C	23	Jefferson Co, GA
John H. Watson	04/27/1864	E	20	Perry Co, AL
Jucalion  Wedgeworth	07/08/1864	H	20	Green Co, AL
Jacob W. White	03/25/1864	D	34	Steward Co, Ga
Pleasant L. Williams	04/14/1864	G	28	Hinds Co, MS
William J. Williams	03/11/1864	G	20	(Not listed)

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New documents verifying Unionism in the Mississippi Piney Woods

During the past six months, I have received several messages from independent researcher Jeff Giambrone, who sent me a number of Civil War letters and newspaper articles that he has uncovered through his research. The following two selections seem particularly appropriate as a way of introducing Ed Payne’s upcoming post on men from the Mississippi piney woods who joined the Union Army at New Orleans during the Civil War. The newspaper articles are followed by a letter uncovered by Ed in the course of his research for that upcoming post.

The first article, published 11 March 1861, comes from the Times Daily National Intelligencer, a Whig newspaper that in 1860 supported pro-Union, Constitutional Union Party presidential candidate, John Bell:

“Anti-Secession in Mississippi”

There was an anti-secession meeting at Smith’s Store, Jones County, Mississippi, on the 16th of February. We learn from the [staunchly pro-Confederate] Brandon Republican, says the [pro-Union] Nashville Patriot, that “there were many speeches made on the occasion protesting against secession and the increased taxation of the people on the part of the State, and calling for a still larger meeting at Tallahoma.” The proceedings of the meeting were furnished the Republican for publication, but were declined on the ground that the will of the majority of the State as expressed for secession ought to be respected. It has come to a pretty pass that the freedom of the press must be denied to any portion of the people because the majority is believed to be against them.

Censorship of pro-Union activities by pro-Confederate newspapers such as that described above helped, of course, to create the image–still popular today–of a “Solid South.” It’s worth noting that the location of the above anti-secession meeting, Smith’s Store, Jones County, was also the location where, in October 1863, members of the Knight Company pledged their loyalty to the U.S. government, according to testimonies provided before the U.S. Claims Commission in regard to Newt Knight’s three petitions for financial compensation (1870-1900).  An earlier pro-Union meeting in Jones County was described in 1936 by Benjamin Sumrall in an interview by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). According to Sumrall, his ancestor, Riley James Collins (who later joined the Union Army in New Orleans), called the meeting at Union Church, where he delivered a passionate anti-secession speech (see Bynum, Free State of Jones, pp. 98-99).

The second article, published 23 March 1864, is from the Springfield Republican (Mass.):

 “Devastation in Mississippi”

Internal reports are given by a Union Scout, lately arrived at New Orleans from a trip through Hancock, Marion, Perry, Jones, and Jasper Counties, Mississippi. He had been absent a month, and as the fruit of his visit to these counties he had recruited 115 men for a Union regiment. He also brought away several women and children. He states that the Union sentiment now predominates and that the Union men have things their own way, completely turning the tables upon their enemies. Instead of being driven to the swamps and other hiding places for shelter, they have driven the secessionists to those places to preserve their lives. They had declared a war of extermination and hunted down the rebels and shot them wherever found. This man is a native of Mississippi, and well acquainted throughout the region through which he passed. He states that most if not all of the old men of his acquaintances are in their graves, shot in their very own homes.

The above article dovetails with events known to have taken place in the Jones County region in early 1864. On 2 March, Col. Henry Maury was sent to Jones County to quell an anti-Confederate uprising. That mission failed, and, just a few days after this article’s publication, on 29 March 1864, Confederate Capt. W. Wirt Thompson reported on the “deplorable” state of affairs in Jones County to Secretary of War James Seddon. Yankees, Wirt lamented, were “frequently among” the Jones County deserters. And, only one week before Col. Robert Lowry’s famous raid on Jones County took place, Jones County deserters were reported to have “gone down Pearl River to and near Honey Island where they exist in some force . . . openly boasting of their being in communication with Yankees.” (see Bynum, Free State of Jones, p. 117)

And there’s this, recently discovered by Ed Payne: a request from Lieut. Col. Eugene Tisdale of the 1st New Orleans Vol. Infantry to Major George B. Drake, Assistant Adjutant-General of the Dept. of the Gulf, for passage by one James L.  Seals into the state of Mississippi for the purpose of guiding recruits back to the 1st New Orleans Infantry.

To Major George B. Drake, A.A. Gen, Hd. 2nd D. of G,

I would most respectfully ask that permission be granted Private James L. Seals, 1st Regiment New Orleans Vol. Infantry to pass into the state of Mississippi via Fort Pike, LA, for the purpose of guiding within Federal lines a party of recruits already engaged for the Regiment. And I would further respectfully ask that the families of the Recruits of this Regiment be allowed to come at the same time from Pearl River and Honey Island, Mississippi, via Fort Pike to the City of New Orleans.

This same private James L. Seals has already aided in bringing into the 1st New Orleans Vols. Nearly one hundred and fifty men of Mississippi; but now, on account of existing orders, he cannot go beyond Fort Pike without a pass from the Commanding General of this Department.

I am Major

Very Respectfully

Your Obedient Servant

Eugene Tisdale

Lieut. Col., 1st New Orleans Infantry

With these documents as a point of reference, we may eagerly anticipate Ed Payne’s upcoming article on Mississippi piney woods men who joined the 1st and 2nd New Orleans Infantry.

My deep thanks to Ed and Jeff Giamborne for providing the above documents for publication on Renegade South!

Vikki Bynum

Moderator

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Nancy Stevens Reflects on Growing up White in Segregated Mississippi

Nancy Stevens wrote the following memoir some months after we began communicating about our mutual descent from the Bynum family of Jones County, Mississippi. Nancy was kind enough to send me excerpts from the Bible of her distant ancestor, Drury Bynum (b. circa 1806), the brother of my own ancestor, William Bynum II (b. circa 1795). A discussion of  our ancestral roots followed, and, soon, Nancy decided to read my book, The Free State of Jones. Like so many descendants of families that participated in Jones County’s inner civil war during the nation’s Civil War, including myself, Nancy had very little knowledge of this incredible time of upheaval, or of the cultural and political history that led our ancestors to take the stands they did.  Her reflections remind us that history not only shines a light on how we got to this place in time as a society, but also illuminates who we are as individuals by stimulating memories that place us in the stream of that very history.

Vikki Bynum, Moderator

 

The history of the Free State of Jones has given me so much insight into the ways that my values were formed and why.  My family never fully bought into the “Lost Cause” mentality as did so many of our neighbors and my peers.  I always thought that my mother’s being from Appalachia was the reason for our family being a bit more “liberal” than our neighbors; however, I now realize that my thoughts on this were much too simplistic. 

I was born in 1945 and grew up on a farm in Clarke County.  We had to build a new house “up on the road” (gravel) so that the school bus could pick me up and take me to school.  Daddy was a farmer and had 2 black tenant families living on our land.  Because our house was so far back in the woods and my playmates all black, I did not realize the significance of my being white and my best friend being black until it was time for us to start first grade.  When mother told me that because my best friend was black she therefore would not be attending my white school, I threw a fit.  I can still remember our school bus passing the black school and my wishing I could be in that school with my best friend. 

 

Florene left Mississippi for Chicago when she graduated from high school and has remained there living in a middle class neighborhood.  We continue to keep in touch and visit each other from time to time for we alone share a common history that we share with no one else.  Recently, Florene reminded me of how much she always enjoyed going into Quitman, the county seat, with my mother because mother would take her into all the white establishments with us – even have her eat at our table in restaurants!  I guess my mom was considered a “foreigner” by Clarke County standards!

 

After reading The Free State of Jones, I now realize that intermingling of whites and blacks in remote areas of MS was not such a radical thing.  Although by the 1950s, intermingling on an “equal” basis was quite controversial and not socially acceptable.

 

I also remember an old judge, last name Fatheree, speaking to our Methodist congregation in the ’50s about the supposed racial and intellectual inferiority of blacks, citing the difference in the white brain vs. the black brain.  Now, my mother forbade my brother and me from attending this lecture, but we walked up to the church anyway and stood under the windows listening.  I left quite puzzled and frightened; but because I had disobeyed them, I could not ask my parents about Judge Fatheree’s comments.

 

Reading about the Free State of Jones has brought all this back so clearly.  I have so many tales to tell; maybe I should jot them down.  I realize how fortunate I was to have been raised by parents with an accepting value system although I did conform to most cultural rules in order to survive.  However, to quote Van Buren Watts:  “As soon as I realized where I was, I got out” (Free State of Jones, page 177).

 

Nancy Stevens

 

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Speaking About Southern Unionists . . . and Mixed-Race People: A Report and an Announcement

Report:

I just returned from a wonderful visit to Leiden University in the Netherlands, where I spoke generally about Civil War Southern Unionists and specifically about The Free State of Jones as part of that university’s yearly American Studies Lecture Series. In commemoration of the sesquicentennial of the Civil War, this year’s theme was “The American Civil War After 150 Years: An Unfinished War?”

I was impressed by the deep interest in the American Civil War displayed by Leiden students and faculty. I’m happy to report there were no arguments between True Believers in either the noble “Lost Cause” of the Confederacy, or the total benevolence of Northern motives and goals in thwarting the South’s secession from the Union. Rather, discussions centered on understanding that many Southerners–white as well as black–opposed secession and the creation of the Confederacy, and that many more turned against the Confederacy as the war dragged on. How common across the South was guerrilla warfare such as that of Jones County, Mississippi?, they wanted to know. Who was Newt Knight? This question led to a discussion about the deep need displayed by Civil War partisans to turn Newt into either a murderous traitor to “The South,” or, conversely, into an abolitionist whose racial views anticipated the modern Civil Rights Movement.

We probably will never know the full story of Newt Knight’s political or racial views, but we do know that no Solid South existed either before, during, or after the Civil War. And, yes, we know that slavery played a crucial role in convincing key Southern leaders to push for secession, even though most Northerners, including Abraham Lincoln, were not abolitionists bent on fighting a war for the liberty of African Americans.

They didn’t have to be abolitionists. It was enough that the newly-elected Republican president was dedicated to limiting slavery’s expansion into the nation’s western territories. Slaveholders’ equal dedication to the expansion of slavery as essential to the institution’s survival eventually led to the Civil War–a war that ironically resulted in what slaveholders most feared–the abolition of slavery. 

Not only did a good many white Southerners oppose secession, but the disastrous course of that war eventually demoralized a good many more who originally believed they were fighting for liberty and honor, but increasingly saw a “rich man’s war and a poor man’s fight.”

There was special interest among the Leiden audience in the mixed-race community that grew out of Newt Knight’s wartime collaboration with Rachel Knight, the former slave of his grandfather, Jackie Knight. Many of the questions centered on issues of racial identity and the historical importance–and limits–of the “one drop rule” in determining such identities. Members of the audience were fascinated by the variety of racial identities assumed by, as well as imposed upon, descendants of Newt Knight, his white wife Serena, and the two mixed-race women–Rachel Knight and her daughter George Ann–by whom he had children.  Historically, they understood, race is a social, political, and legal construction rather than a biologically rational system. 

Announcement:

I recently discussed the above themes (and more) in regard to my latest book, The Long Shadow of the Civil War, in an interview with the Peabody Award-winning show, “To the Best of Our Knowledge,” produced by Wisconsin Public Radio and distributed by Public Radio International (PRI). The interview, part of NPR’s “Remembering the Civil War” series, was arranged by Erin Clune and conducted by Anne Strainchamps. It will air on various NPR affiliates throughout the nation tomorrow, on Sunday, May 8, and will also be podcast:

http://www.wpr.org/book/110508b.cfm

FYI, here’s a list of NPR affiliates that broadcast “To the Best of Our Knowledge”:

http://tunein.com/radio/options/To-the-Best-of-our-Knowledge-p498/

Vikki Bynum, Moderator

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Reflections on the Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War

The following essay is crossposted on the special Civil War Sesquicentennial website hosted by the University of North Carolina Press.

Vikki Bynum, Moderator

 

Reflections on the Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War

Victoria Bynum

As a historian of the Southern Civil War home front, I am continually confronted by the destruction of communities, as well as the deaths on and off the battlefield, that the Civil War visited upon the United States.  As we commemorate such an important event on its 150th anniversary, it is important to remind ourselves that our system of government is capable of stunning failures of leadership as well as inspiring moments of greatness.

A popular sound bite among our politicians today—one repeated ad nauseam—is that Congress should no longer “kick the can down the road” in regard to this problem or that problem. Well, slavery was the “can” that our antebellum politicians kicked down the road. Slavery did not emerge suddenly as a problem during the sectional crisis of the 1850s, it was a problem–a contradiction of our Revolutionary principles–from the nation’s inception. Over time it became ever more thoroughly embedded in our national economy, so fundamental to the wealth of slaveholders and cotton merchants that they employed the most virulent racism to justify its continuance.

Yet despite the thousands of books written about the Civil War, one wonders if the lessons of this war will ever truly be understood or agreed upon. In today’s political discourse, we hear debate over whether or not the flying of the Confederate flag is inherently racist, or whether individual states might nullify an act of Congress. In fact, we even hear talk of secession movements in the name of protecting state sovereignty against the so-called tyranny of a federal government that just happens to be headed by the first African American president. 

This return to Confederate principles is pushed by the new “tea party” wing of the Republican Party—the same party that symbolized Big Government in the 1850s; the same party that urged the federal government to use its power to limit slavery’s expansion into the western territories of the United States. While neither that Republican Party, nor its presidential nominee, Abraham Lincoln, advocated slavery’s abolition in 1860, the party’s belief in the superior power of the federal government, coupled with an aggressive abolitionist movement that urged party leaders to end slavery once and for all, finally convinced southern proslavery Democrats to secede.

Over 150 years ago, Northern warnings of a “slave power conspiracy” were met by Southern warnings about the North’s determination to dominate and transform cherished southern institutions. Southern concerns about the effects that a wage-based, industrial society would have on a rural society of independent farmers effectively masked slavery as the preeminent cause of war. And so, southern white soldiers, the majority of whom owned no slaves, fought for principles of liberty, honor, and a way of life that seemed threatened by a too-powerful federal government.

Still, southerners were never unified in their support for the Confederate cause. In regions throughout the South, Unionists, dissenters, and deserters—not just men, but neighborhoods of men, women, children, and slaves, engaged in inner civil wars against the Confederacy. Newt Knight, the leader of a band of deserters in piney woods Mississippi, is the most famous of these renegades. For well over a century, people have debated whether he was a traitor and an outlaw, or a Unionist and patriot.

I believe such debates miss a larger point: that Newt Knight was only one of a sizable minority of nonslaveholders throughout the South who concluded it was the Confederacy that threatened their way of life—in fact, their very lives. With crucial support from their families, many of these men organized and armed themselves to fight against the Confederacy.  Others joined the Union Army.

Unless we believe that the Confederate cause—and make no mistake, its ultimate cause was the preservation and expansion of slavery—was a just one that served the interests of the Southern people, most of whom either owned no slaves or were slaves, how can we help but be inspired by those who refused any longer to serve?

In commemorating the American Civil War, I hope that we will reflect on what lessons the Civil War teaches us about political motives, people’s economic interests, and the meaning of dissent—and that we apply those lessons to the similarly toxic and dangerous political environment that threatens us today.

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Ed Payne: “Unionism and a Murder in the Family: Robert Spencer”

While conducting his ongoing research on men who joined the Union Army from the Piney Woods region of Mississippi, Ed Payne discovered the following story buried in the military files of one Robert Spencer.

Vikki Bynum, Moderator

 

Unionism and a murder in the family: Robert Spencer

By Ed Payne

 

On a Friday in the middle of July, 1865, Sergeant Robert Spencer, while serving in the Union 1st New Orleans Infantry, abandoned his post. Oddly, he left conspicuously dressed in his uniform. It later emerged that word reached him that his stepfather, who killed his mother three years previously and fled, had returned to Jasper County, Mississippi. Robert headed north with a kinsman, hoping to apprehend him. After an absence of two weeks, they returned to their regiment and turned themselves in.

Fourteen months earlier, on May 3, 1864, Robert Spencer had joined the 2nd New Orleans Infantry Regiment at Fort Pike, Louisiana. His enlistment papers describe him as a 22 years-old native of Clarke County, Alabama. He had brown eyes and black hair, stood five feet eight inches tall, and was able to sign his name. Robert was just one of over two hundred individuals, ranging from teenagers to men in their forties, who had fled the Mississippi Piney Woods in the wake of Confederate Col. Robert Lowry’s campaign during the spring of 1864. After regrouping at Honey Island on the lower Pearl River, many crossed the river and enlisted in the Union Army at nearby Fort Pike. Robert was mustered on May 11 and given a $25 bounty plus $13 advance pay. Apparently viewed as good soldier material, he was enrolled as Corporal in Company B. That August the 2nd New Orleans Infantry was disbanded and its men reassigned to the 1st New Orleans Infantry. Robert joined Company G and in December received a further promotion to 4th Sergeant.

Following more than a year of unblemished service, Robert Spencer left his unit on July 14, 1865. However, unlike those who deserted after the war’s end to return to their farms and families, he reported back to his company commander on July 28. He was reduced to private and placed in confinement. On August 12 a court martial panel convened to hear the case against him. The charges were desertion and being absent without leave. Apparently no defense was offered at the trial. It was only several weeks later, in the interim between the hearing and the anticipated publication of sentences, that a lawyer representing Spenser wrote to describe mitigating circumstances. This letter, transcribed below, provides evidence that the Unionist stance of some Piney Woods men produced deadly consequences within their families (key passages appear in italics):

Brig General Sherman

Commanding Post of New Orleans

Dear Sir.

I would respectfully (on behalf of Private Robert Spencer of the 1st New Orleans) represent that he was tried on the 12 of August 1865 by general court martial convened by your orders, upon a charge of desertion. The sentence of said court martial has not yet been published, and he is ignorant thereof.

But apprehending that the circumstances of his case have been or will be misunderstood to his prejudice, I request your indulgence for a statement of the facts.

At the beginning of the war he was unfortunately in the southern states and when the conscript law was passed he was forced to hide in the woods, or take up arms against his principles; during this time he was harboured by his mother but persecuted by his step father, who finally killed his mother, for her kindness to her son, and fled from justice. Just before leaving his regiment he received information that his step father had returned to home, to settle his business and in hopes of bringing him to justice he left immediately in order to loose no time, in making sure of this desirable object, fearing that if he delayed for the usual formalities of obtaining permission to go that he would loose forever the opportunity of causing his mother’s murderer to be punished. He left in uniform and returned in same. He reported at Jackson, Miss and obtained a pass to return, showing he had no intention of deserting.

I also have the honor to enclose herewith the recommendation of one of his officers, who is well aware of his general character.

And respectfully submit that his previous good character, and the cause of his absence, should go far in mitigating his sentence of punishment. I hope in your decency you will cause his sentence to be as light as possible, and published as soon as practical that his imprisonment, already since the 3 of August may be abbreviated to the shortest time.

I have the honor to be

Very respectfully

 your obd srvt

Anderson Miller

Counsel for Spencer…

The letter, which was placed in Spencer’s military file, was accompanied by a character reference submitted by Lieutenant James E. Bissell, commander of Company G, dated September 21, 1865. On October 2 Robert Spencer was sentenced to three months at hard labor. The plea letter apparently had been effective since those found guilty of desertion during this period commonly received a year’s imprisonment. In January 1866 Robert rejoined his unit, where he served as a cook until the regiment was disbanded on June 1, 1866.

 —————-

Antebellum census records provide only a small amount of information about Robert Spencer. The 1850 census listed a Robert Spencer, age 7, residing in Clarke County, Mississippi—not Alabama. He is found in the household of 24 year-old Nancy Spencer, along with Elizabeth, age 4, and Silas Nelson, age 9. Since there was no adult male in the household, it would seem that young Nancy was already a widow.

Internet genealogies, which must be utilized with caution, reference Abraham E. Spencer as Nancy’s deceased husband. According to these sources her maiden name was Nancy Nelson and she had been born in Georgia in the 1820s. This offers a partial explanation for the presence in her household of the child named Silas Nelson. These genealogies report that in 1851 Nancy married Shadrach Hogan. The 1850 census corroborates that a Shadrach Hogan, age 60, resided in Clarke County not far from the widow Spencer. Furthermore, a decade later “Shadric” Hogan is found in Jasper County with wife Nancy, a native of Georgia who reported her age as 38, and an eight year-old daughter, Sarah. Shadrach is purported to have died shortly after the 1860 census and Nancy to have wed recent widower John Angus McGilvray (sometimes rendered as “McGilvery” or “McGilberry”). No census record has been found for Robert Spencer in 1860, but since his mother and future wife resided in Jasper County, it is likely he was in the vicinity but overlooked.

The question that emerges is whether John Angus McGilvray was the unnamed stepfather who Robert Spencer claimed killed his mother. Genealogists report that Nancy died in Jasper County in 1862. ‘Family lore’ is cited for the information that John Angus McGilvray died in either Texas or Oklahoma in the mid-1860s. Whether dead or relocated, his absence from the Piney Woods is evident on the 1870 census, where his four youngest children are found living with relatives in Covington County.

Among the genealogies, however, one (“Haynes Ferguson Families”) contains an “Alternate Death” entry which matches Robert Spencer’s description of events. The entry states that Nancy Nelson was “Killed by 3rd husband John Angus McGilvray” and references the book Family, School, Church and Pioneer History by Reverend Angus G. Ferguson. A native of Jones County born in 1858, Rev. Ferguson published his book of recollections in 1935. Early on he provides this short summary of the life of Nancy Nelson:

Aunt Nancy married a Spencer. They had two children and he died. A little later she married a Hogan and they had two children, John and Sarah; both died. Then she married John McGilvery and not long after, in a heat of passion, he killed her with a stick cut from a clothes pole. (pg 11, my emphasis)

Rev. Ferguson’s account of his ancestry outlined the family connection: Nancy Nelson was his mother’s half-sister. Nancy’s widowed mother—Elizabeth McScrews Nelson—re-married to Robert P. Boyce and had three additional children by him. One of these was Catharine Boyce, who married John Ferguson, the reverend’s father, in 1857.

The book provides no further information concerning John Angus McGilvray, but other records show him to have been a son of Perry County settler Alexander McGilvray. The McGilvray clan did not differ markedly from their Piney Woods neighbors. Of Alexander’s five sons only one, William, owned slaves. Both the 1850 and 1860 Jones County censuses show him possessing six slaves. None of the five McGilvray men of military age in the spring of 1861 were early volunteers for military service. A year later, as the first Confederate conscription law went into effect, four of them joined the gray ranks: Angus and Joseph, sons of William, enlisted in cavalry units; two of their uncles, Daniel and Murdock, went into infantry regiments. John Angus McGilvray, approximately 46 years-old at the time, was exempted by age.

If Robert Spencer’s account is correct, John Angus McGilvray’s murderous rage stemmed from the knowledge that his new wife’s son sought to evade conscription—and that she had contrived to assist him. Once he had struck and killed Nancy, McGilvray apparently left the area to avoid judicial action or, perhaps more likely, revenge at the hands of Nancy’s relatives.

Robert Spencer, along with other Piney Woods men who were unwilling to join the Confederacy from the outset of the Civil War, lived a fugitive existence for the next two years. By the summer of 1863 he no doubt felt less wary as a result of the increasing number of deserters and Vicksburg parolees returning to the Piney Woods. It was during this time that he wed Mary Emeline Hogan. Emeline was a granddaughter of Shadrach Hogan, his late mother’s second husband.

But any sense of security was demolished when Col. Robert Lowry led his troops into the Piney Woods in the spring of 1864. The campaign was designed to quash the Knight Band and pump desperately needed manpower into the Confederacy. Men like Robert came to the conclusion that their options had dwindled to two: join either the Confederate or the Union Army. He joined the procession of men who headed south. One of those in the group was Emeline’s brother, George Hogan, who enlisted in the 2nd New Orleans the same day as Robert. A little over a year later George accompanied his brother-in-law on his trip back to Jasper County. When they returned, probably due to Robert Spencer’s assumption of responsibility, Private Hogan suffered only temporary confinement and the forfeiture of $20 in pay.

 —————-

In the aftermath of the Civil War, Robert remained in Louisiana. The 1870 census listed him as a farmer in St. Helena Parish with his wife and two sons, ages six and four. In 1895 he applied for and received an invalid pension for his Union service. The pension card and a Louisiana death record show that Robert Spencer died on August 16, 1925 in Zona, Washington Parish, Louisiana.

The plea letter in the military file left unanswered the tantalizing question of whether Robert was successful in his mission—suggesting that he was not. John Angus McGilvray disappeared from the records. If he eluded Robert’s efforts to take him into custody, the only trace remaining was the family story that he ended up in Texas (or Oklahoma) and died soon thereafter. The burial site of Nancy Nelson Spencer Hogan McGilvray seems similarly lost. But, given his presence in the area at the time of her death, her son surely knew the location. Thus, it is not unreasonable to imagine that while engaged in his quest for justice that July, Robert Spencer may have taken the time to visit his mother’s grave dressed in his blue Union uniform.

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