The private is the back bone of any army, for with out them the army could not function. That’s not to say that any other rank is any less important. The private or ( Grunt ) as they are some times called: “ somebody doing menial tasks: somebody who does routine unexciting work,” are the ones who got the job done.
There were thousands of privates in the services, but even so records are hard to find on them. Oh they can found on the company rosters and whatnot but to find a report on what they did in a battle and so on that’s harder, “At lest it is for me.” I find that most family’s that ask for my help are looking a family member who was a private.
Note. This page is for the private only. There will be some who will read this page and see that this was a very important event, and will say I know I had family there but how can I find out. Well that’s a good question and the answer is write to me and I will take a look, this goes for any pages on this site as will.
dsegelquist1@cox.net
There will be two list of privates the first one is those privates, that left camp on the night of May 7, 1865, on the expedition which resulted in the capture of Jefferson Davis and party.
The second list is those privates the were actuality present at the capture of Jefferson Davis and party on the morning of May 10, 1865.
Note. This information comes from the official records of the Rebellion which is house ot the Ohio State University.
The capture of Jefferson Davis, President Confederate States of America.
Numbers 7. Report of Captain John C. Hathaway, Fourth Michigan Cavalry.
HEADQUARTERS FOURTH MICHIGAN CAVALRY,
Near Macon, Ga., May 15, 1865.
MAJOR: I have the honor to report that on the 7th day of May, at 4 p. m., Lieutenant-Colonel Pritchard, with the effective force of the regiment, 435 men and 21 officers, moved from camp on the Fort Valley road in a coutheast direction, following it for four miles, and from thence on the Hawkinsville road. At might halted and hour for rest, then pushed forward as rapidly as possible till 10 a. m. on the 8th, when the command halted to feed and rest, which occupied until 2 p. m., when the march was resumed. Arrived at Hawkinsville, Ga., at 5 o'clock, where it was expected supplies would be found sufficient for the command, but there were none. A detachment of the Seventy-second Indiana (mounted) Infantry occupied the place, and were also picketing the Ocmulgee River. Taking the road southward toward Abbeville, Ga., the command marched rapidly about four miles and encamped. The roads were good up to that point and the country much better than that subsequently seen. During the night it stormed very hard, and during the morning the roads were found in good condition for marching, except here and there wherewith swollen streams ran across the road. The command moved out at 5 a. m., marched as rapidly as possible, arriving at Abbeville at 2 p. m. Here Colonel Harnden, commanding a detachment of the First Wisconsin Cavalry, was met, who informed Colonel Pritchard that he had been in pursuit of a train of several wagons and ambulances belonging to Mr. Jefferson Davis and family for several days. It had crossed the Ocmulgee River at Brown's Ferry, near Abbeville, the previous night, and going into camp remained till 4 a. m., then took the road to Irwinville, Ga., in the direction of which place Colonel Harnden moved with his detachment. Colonel Pritchard did not them intend taking up the pursuit, but obtaining information of a road about twelve miles below which led direct to Irwinville, he determined to follow up, and if possible intercept the train and party, and if they should attempt to take the other road, to arrive at Irwinville in advance of them. Taking the best mounted portion of the regiment, 145 men and eight officers (leaving the balance under command of Captain Hathaway, with instructions to picket all the ferries on the river that could be found as far as the strength of his command would permit), moved rapidly, and about dark reached Wilcox's Mills, from whence after feeding he took the direct road to irwinville, and over rapidly over a road which had been little traveled, and in some places could hardly be discovered.
For fifteen miles not a house was seen nor a cultivated field; it was a vast pine forest. Arrived at Irwinville about 2 a. m. on the 10th instant. Not a sound was heard, and nothing indicated that a train or any troops had passed that way. By inquiring at once or two places it was learned that there was a camp about a mile from town on the Abbeville road. Men who had belonged to it had called at different places and represented themselves to be Texas and Mississippi troops. Nothing further could be learned as to whether there were wagons or not at the camp. Finding a negro who knew where the camp was, Colonel Pritchard moved forward toward it very cautiously, not knowing but what the camp might be that of the First Wisconsin Cavalry, under Colonel Harnden. Arriving in the vicinity of the camp, a detachment of twenty-five men, dismounted, under command of Lieutenant Purinton, was sent around by the left flank to a position in its rear, when the command would advance and surround the camp. At daylight everything was complete and the command advanced rapidly and found the camp to be that of those whom it was in pursuit of. They were completely surprised and captured. The detachment under Lieutenant Purinton in the meantime had taken a position on the road leading into camp from Abbeville, and immediately after the capture of it a force was espied approaching, which, when it arrived in proper distance, he halted and challenged. One of the advance party answered "friends," but instead of halting turned back, and, in consequence, a sharp engagement took place with what was afterward ascertained to be the First Wisconsin Cavalry. We had 2 men killed and 1 officer wounded; 3 of the First Wisconsin were wounded.
Those that were captured: Jefferson Davis, President Confederate States of America; John H. Reagan, Postmaster-General Confederate States of America; Colonel Johnston, aide-de-camp, President's staff; Colonel Lubbock, aide-de-camp, President's staff; Colonel B. N. Harrison, private secretary, President's staff; Major Victor Maurin, Richardson's battalion light artillery; Captain George V. Moody, Madison Light Artillery; Lieutenant Hathaway, Fourteenth Kentucky Cavalry; Midshipman Howell, C. S. Navy; The family of Mr. Davis, captured with him, consisted of Mrs. Davis with four little children, Miss Howell, sister of Mrs. Davis, and two waiting maids.
Note. Killed of this regiment: Private John Rupert, Company C.
Privates of the Confederate States of America that were captured along with President Jefferson Davis.
Private W. W. Monroe, Fourteenth Kentucky Cavalry; Private J. Messick, Fourteenth Kentucky Cavalry; Private Sanders, Second Kentucky Cavalry; Private Walbert, Second Kentucky Cavalry; Private Baker, Second Kentucky Cavalry; Private Smith, Second Kentucky Cavalry; Private Heath, Second Kentucky Cavalry; Private Elston, Second Kentucky Cavalry; Private J. W. Farley, Second Kentucky Cavalry; Private J. G. Tyler, Fifteenth Mississippi Infantry, Company E; Private J. W. Brady, Fifteenth Mississippi Infantry, Company E.
Note. The age is at the time of enlistment. All company’s are at the time of enlistment, some names will be missed because of having no full name.
List of Privates of the Fourth Regiment Michigan Cavalry that left camp on the night of May 7, 1865, on the expedition which resulted in the capture of Jeff. Davis and party.
1. Austin, Hiram of Maple Grove age 30, Company A.
2. Balow, William of Ypsilanti age 18, Company A.
3. Boyle, James B.----------------------- Company A.
4. Baty, John of Hartford age 18, Company A.
5. Cotay, Gilbert of Detroit age 30, Company A.
6. Knobel, Casper of Kalamazoo age 20, Company A.
7. Morse, Philo of Corunna age 18, Company A.
8. Moe, Joshua of Dryden age 18, Company A.
9. Finley, W. Charles of Waterford age18, Company A.
10. Provost, Henry of China age 19, Company A.
11. Rose, John of Rollin age 24, or Rose, John of Detroit age 28, Company A.
12. Haight, Gilbert H. of Cheshire age 28, Company A.
13. Rinke, George of Detroit age 23, Company A.
14. Lennon, Thomas of Detroit age 26, Company A.
15. Sprague, Wells of Milan age 27, Company.
16. Fleming, John of Port Huron age 21, Company A.
17. Busha, Francis X of Flat Rock age 33, Company B.
18. Crim, Franklin A. of Flint age 17, Company B.
19. Clarey, Andrew of Washington age 30, Company B.
20. Gardner, Stephen of Jackson age 23, Company B.
21. Huffman, Willard of Richmond age 18, Company B.
22. Jacobs, George of Caledonia age 33, Company B.
23. Nicholas, John of Jackson age 21, company B.
24. Wiswell, Orrin of Fremont age 30, Company D.
25. Winsor, Henry M. of Plymouth age 18, Company.
26. Powell, Jacob J. of Venice age 32, Company B.
27. Wilcox, Zebedee of Leslie age 35, Company D.
28. Ryan, Patrick of Detroit age 27, company B.
29. Shepard, Alpheus or Alphens F. of Ovid age 18, Company B.
30. Skinner, David B. of Detroit age 27, Company B.
31. Stedman, William P. of Perry age 26, Company B.
32. Trumbull, John of Richmond age 18, Company B.
33. Wright, Frank of East Saginaw age 18, Company B.
34. Williams, Peter of Corunna age 23, Company B.
35. Woodbridge, Enoch A. of Niles age 29, Company B.
36. Welch, Joseph of Corunna age 24, Company B.
37. Raymond, Albert J. of Richmond age 18, Company B.
38. Wilcox, Lewis H. of Ovid age 23, Company B.
39. Bradley, Albert B. of Middlebury age 21, Company B.
40. Dart, John F. of Macon age 28, Company E.
41. Brown John E. of Portsmouth age 17, Company E.
42. Brindle, John G. of Bath age 44, Company E.
43. Cochrane, Selah or Sela of Newton age 24, Company E.
44. Carroll, Cornelius of Lapeer age 33, Company E.
45. Decker, Oscar of Manchester age 20, Company E.
46. Driesman, William F. or Drichman, William T. of Kalamazoo age 18, Company E.
47. Bullard, James F. of Lafayette age 18, Company C.
48. Keyes, Lucius M. of Woodstock age 35, Compamy E.
49. Keyes, Barmenas B. or Parmenas B. Keyes of Woodstock age 44, Company E.
50. Darling, Gilbert H. of Antwerp age 30, Company C.
51. Dickenson, Egbert O. of Antwerp age 19, Company C.
52. Laguary, Peter or Legary, Peter of Lodi age 18, Company E.
53. Dillon, David of Lafayette age 18, Company C.
54. Lindsey, James of Saline age 27, Company E.
55. Martin, Charles of Macon age 37, company E.
56. Lynch, James H. of Murfreesboro, TN. age 22, Company C.
57. McCarthy, George of Clayton age 29, Company C.
58. Beshea, Edwin or Bisbly, Edwin or Besha Edwin of Corunna age 22, Company E.
59. McElroy, Benjamin of Flushing age 17, Company C.
60. Bullard, Silas of Owosso age 18, Company E.
61. Munson, Stephen B. of Columbia age 18, Company C.
62. Paddock, Charles of Chelsea age 20, Company E.
63. Murry, Henry D. of Gaines age 34, Company C.
64. Riley, Joseph of East Saginaw age 18, Company E.
65. Rediker, George B. of Porter age 38, Company C.
66. Seaman, Russell S. of Eggleston age 24, Company E.
67. Stevens, John G. of Owosso age 21, Company E.
68. Rupert, John or Rufert, John of Richmond age 21, Company C.
69. Tefft, Oscar or Tifft, Oscar of Spring Arbor age 22, Company E.
70. Riggs, Ranselaer of Porter age 18, Company C.
71. Tripp, Robert G. of Saline age 22, Company E.
72. Sherman, Benjamin F. of Bridgeton age 27, Company C.
73. Webb, Albert J. of Lima age 21, Company C.
74. Ellis, George of Tecumseh age 23, Company E.
75. Smith, William J. of Newaygo age 32 or could have been Smith, William J. of Antwerp age 27, Company C.
76. Nichols, Stanley L. of Adrian age 25, Company F.
77. Stockwell, Ira of Ovid age 32, Company C.
78. Shweigert, Gabriel of Pontiac age 35, Company C.
79. Wauvle, Emory or Waurle Emory of Detroit age 21, Company C.
80. Withey, Benson B. of Kalamazoo age 28, Company C.
81. Worthy, George of Arlington age 32, Company C.
82. Rapp, John C. of Fairfield age 19, Company F.
83. Becht, Christian of Hager age 23, Company F.
84. Williams, Watson S. of Thornapple age 27, Company D.
85. Brodock, Haney of Moscow age 24, Company F.
86. Youngs, Hiram S. of Tuscola age 24, Company D.
87. Baurs, Jacob of Plymouth age 21, Company D.
88. Driskell,Dennis or Drisco, Dennis or Dresco Denis of East Saginaw age 18, Company F.
89. Brown, John of Farmington age 18, Company D.
90. Evans, William J. of Pontiac age 20, Company F.
91. Cole, Columbus C. of Plymouth age 20, Company D.
91. Glaser, George or Glasser George of Adrian age 23, Company F.
92. Horrigan, John A . of Detroit age 18, Company D.
93. Harrington, Ira, Jr. of Adams age 23, company F.
94. Hunter, Thomas M. of Plymouth age 20, Company D.
95. Hazelton, Homer G. of Flint age 19, Company F.
96. Jenney, Horace C. or Jenne, Horace C. of Dayton age 33, Company D.
97. Nichols, B. Franklin of Adrian age 18, Company F.
98. Kelly, Elisa or Kelly Elisha H. of Plymouth age 21, Company D.
99. Patterson, James of Raisin age 22, Company F.
100. Pierson, Barret of Flint age 20, Company F.
101. Mott, George H. of Detroit age31, Company D.
102. Raab, George W. of Flint age 18, Company F.
103. Martin, William H. J. of Flushing age 17, Company D.
104. Perkins, John P. of Adrian age 25, Company F.
105. Leech, Homer or Leach Homer of Flissfield age 23 Company F.
106. Nunn, Jacob E. or Nunn, Jacob F of Flushing age 22, Company D.
107. Smith, Lucien B. of Franklin age 19, Company, F.
108. Mero, Theodore of Detroit age 25, Company D.
109. Smith, James F. of Franklin age 18, Company F.
110. Parker, William of Plymouth age 29, Company D.
111. St. Johns, James of Corunna age 44, Company F.
112. Putman, James of Plymouth age 24, Company D.
113. Trickey, Henry of Genesee Co. age 19, Company F.
114. Sawyer, Franklin of Detroit age 31, Company D.
115. Temple, George W. of Raisin age 19, Company F.
116. Stanford, Henry of Farmington age 24, Company D.
117. Wright, William of Palmyra age 19, Company F.
118. Sickner, David of Detroit age 18, Company D.
119. Mead, Walter S. of Adrian age 40, Company F.
120. Thayer, Luke M. of Homes age 28, Company I.
121. Brown, Martin L. of Venice age 21, Company I.
122. Bodwell, George W. of Vandalia age 40, Company I.
123. Dill, William of Jackson age 26, Company I.
124. Dutcher, George W. of Corunna age 21, Company I.
125. Flugger, Charles of Concord age 22, Company I.
126. Kruman, Daniel E. or Kramer, Daniel E. or Krumm D. E. of Fabius age 29, Company I.
127. Middaugh, Charles M. of Coe age 24, Company I.
128. McKennedy, Peter of Casco age 31, Company I.
129. McCullough, Hiram or McCollough Hiram H. of Almont age 25, Company I.
130. Brigham, William of Corunna age 24, Company G.
131. Pettit, Marvin R. of Ithaca age 19, Company I.
132. Carr, Lawrence C. or Carr, Lawrence E. of Scipio age 18, Company G.
133. Cameron, Alexander of Kimball age 24, Company G.
134. Black, Abraham of Alaiedon age 24, Company I.
135. Cunningham, Stephen of Newark age 37, Company G.
136. Craig, Charles of Marshall age 19, Company I.
137. Cunningham, David of Newark age 18, Company G.
138. Esser, Mathias or Easer, Mathias or Esser M. of Manistee age 43, Company I.
139. Day, Nelson of Ogden age 26, Company G.
140. Kenyon, Henry C. of Lenox age 25, Company I.
141. Dewey, David of Seneca age 28, Company G.
142. Abbey, Joseph H. of Eaton, Rapids age 22, Company I
143. Devantier, Frederick or Deventier Frederick of Macomb age 24, Company G.
144. Lamphere, John of Harrison age 20, Company I.
145. Ferguson, Robert or Furguson Robert of Spaulding age 38, Company G.
146. Laterno, Joseph or Laturne Joseph of Kimball age 34, Company I.
147. Green, Timothy C. of Martin age 30, Company G.
148.Godfrey, Japhet of Lake age 32, Company G.
149. Lee, Thomas of Macomb age 22, Company I.
150. McVean, Dougal F. of St. Clair Co. age 37, Company I.
151. Gray, Henry of Chesterfield age 45, Company G.
152. Hughes, Charles D. of Saginaw City age 18,Company G.
153. Pettit, Perry D. of Ithaca age 17, Company I.
154. Leary, Micahel of Corunna age 19, Company G.
155. Wilbur, Ladurna C. of Fair Grove age 22, Company I.
156. Fetterly, Charles or Feterly Charles of Lagrange age 26, Company I.
157. Odren, Joseph of California age 29, Company G.
158. Parks, Joshua of Corunna age 18, Company G.
159. Byers, John T. of McMinnville, Tn.---Company I.
160. Reed, Carey of Ovid age 35, Company G.
161. Skinner, John A. of Quincey age 18, Company G.
162. Underwood, Samuel of Saginaw City age 25, Company G.
163. Booth, John S. of Metamora age 22, Company K.
164. Cunningham, John H. of Lapeer age 20, Company K.
165. Foster, George W. of Leslie age 24, Company K.
166. Foley, Thomas of East Saginaw age 22, Company K.
167. Filkins, William of Bronson age 24, Company K.
168. Fox, Abram H. of Barton age 23, Company K.
169. Higgins, John of n/a age 25, Company K.
170. Jacox, Decatur of Flushing age 19, Company K.
171. Bates, Lucius O. of Rutland age 24, Company H.
172. Brown, Henry M. of Forest age 18, Company H.
173. Kelch, John H. of Elba age 18, Company K.
174. Mabie, Edwin of Solon age 21, Company K.
175. Berry, Able H. of Flushing age 26, Company H.
176. Bump, Benjamin F. of Flushing age 20, Company H.
177. Malone, Henry of Portsmouth age 25, Company K.
178. Mills, Smith B. of Hadley age 35, Company K.
179. Corey, Francis J. of Alaiedon age 26, Company H.
180. Norton, James R. of Aurelius age 21, Company K.
181. Cady, Jerome P. of Onondaga age 27, Company H.
182. Nelson, John of Clinton age 27, Company K.
183. Newth, Jacob D. of Eaton age 21, Company K.
184. Davenport, William H. of Chester age 23, Company H.
185. Delany, Charles H. or Delaney, Charles H. of Dearborn age 20, Company H.
186. Potter, Edwin of Meridian age 28, Company K.
187. Ransom, Renselaer of Flushing age 17, Company K.
188. Dougherty, Noble of Metamora age 20, Company H.
189. Dunning, Orrin H. or Deming, Orrin H. of Atlas age 24, Company H.
190. Somers, George of Flint age 16, Company K.
191. Fletcher, Laurens of Clayton age 18, Company H.
192. Grawn, Augustus of Sparta age 19, Company H.
193. Root, Nathaniel of Lapeer age 38, Company K.
194. Tripp, Winfield Scott of Lapeer age 22, Company K.
195. Greer, David of Osceola age 28, Company H.
196. Gates, Leonard L. of Roxand age 22, Company H.
197. Torrance, John S. of Brandon age 19, Company K.
198. Wade, Lucius N. of Lapeer age 25, Company K.
199. Holmes, John W. of Woodland age 24, Company H.
200. Hoose, Madison A. of Alpine age 19, Company H.
201. Stevens, Charles H. of Brandon age 21, Company K.
202. Hagerty, Patrick or Haggarty Patrick of Dearborn age 22, Company H.
203. Sheppard, Timothy of Attica age 33, Company K.
204. Hunt, Charles of Hampton age 31, Company H.
205. Herrick, William S. of Corunna age 19, Company.
206. Powell, Charles of Bridgeport age 18, Company H.
207. Reynolds, James P. or Reynolds, John of Carlton age 29, Company H.
208. Sullivan, John of Dearborn age 24, Company H.
209. Spinks, Albert of Shiawassee age 17, Company H.
210. Saur, John of Sparta age 25, Company H.
211. Wilson, William O. or Wilson, William P. of Dearborn age 20, Company H.
212. Warner, Francis of Grand Rapids age 25, Company H.
213. Thomas, Oscar of Sparta age 22, Company H.
214. Brook, Ira D. or Brooks, Ira D. of Orangeville age 21, Company L.
215. Bee, Andrew or Andreas Bee of Pine Plains age 31, Company L.
216. Carpenter, Benjamin F. of Grand Rapids age 17, Company .
217. Edwards, Daniel H. of Spaulding age 18, Company L.
218. Cliff, Horatio H. Of Hampton age 44, Company L.
219. Bailey, Judson J. of Allegan age 18, Company L.
220. Carpenter, Albert D. of Grand Rapids age 26, Company L.
221. King, George G. of East Saginaw age 28, Company L.
222. Cummings, Elijah of Allegan age 23, Company L.
223. Chase, Harry of Spaulding age 36, Company L.
224. Davison, Rufus N. of Gaines age 21, Company L.
225. Burns, James H. of East Saginaw age 19, Company L.
226. Eddy, Francis M. of Flint age 29, Company L.
227. Flower, James M. of Pine Plains age 30, Company L.
228. Flower, Rodney G. of Grand Rapids age 22, Company L.
229. Green, Stillman W. of Corunna age 22, Company L.
230. Holton, Otis L. of Kalamazoo age 38, Company L.
231. Kizer, John C. of Cheshire age 20, Company L.
232. Linsley, John W. of Hopkins age 18, Company L.
233. Munn, William of Gun Plains age 21, Company L.
234. Miller, Alonzo of Monterey age 39, Company L.
235. Noggle, George of Monterey age 19, Company L.
236. Arnold, Robert of Volinia age 29, Company M.
237. Anderson, Andrew of Port Huron age 20, Company M.
238. Newkirk, William of Grand Rapids age 27, Company L.
239. Penfield, Jessie J. of Allegan Co. age 45, Company L.
240. Bair, Ezra of Batavia age 33, company M.
241. Bassford, Cornelius of Polkton age 34, Company M.
242. Passenger, Peter of Lake Town age 29, Company L.
243. Payne, Albert B. of Fulton age 21, Company L.
244. Brazan, Emanuel or Brazer, Emanuel or Beazan Emanuel of Bruce age 19, Company M.
245. Brownell, Simeon of Wayne age 30, Company M.
246. Robinson, James W. of Taymouth age 18, Company L.
247. Harris, Samuel of Watervliet age 33, Company M.
248. Harrison, Nathan E. of Pavilion age 25, Company M.
249. Smith, Henry of Watson age 24, Company L.
250. Stewart, Joseph E. of Martin age 20, Company L.
251. Hubbard, Samuel W. of Yankee Springs age 26, Company M.
252. Perkins, Edisha B. of Jackson age 27, Company M.
253. Tucker, Oren of Richfield age 21, Company L.
254. West, William of Kalamazoo age 39, Company L.
255. Fisk, Alvah C. of Allegan age 21, Company L.
256. Vantyle, John of Ontwa age 23, Company M.
257. Smith, Walter of Sodus age 28, Company M.
258. Sebright, Ferdinan of Monterey age 20, Company L.
259. McGrady, Patrick of Ray age 18, Company L.
260. Martin, Samuel of Allegan age 17, Company L.
List of privates of the Fourth Michigan Cavalry that were present at the capture of Jefferson Davis and party on the morning of May 10, 1865.
1. Nichols, Charles W. of Detroit age 31, Company A.
2. Provost, Henry of China age 19, Company A.
3. Rinke, George of Detroit age 23, Company A.
4. Shepard, Alpheus F. of Ovid age 18, Company B.
5. Stedman, William P. of Perry age 26, Company B.
6. Crim, Franklin A. of Flint age 17, Company B.
7. Armstrong, Augustus of Detroit age 18, Company B.
8. Wood, William H. or Wood, William V. of Ovid age 20, Company B.
9. Balow, William of Ypsilanti Age 18, Company A.
10. Nicholas, John of Jackson age 21, Company B.
11. Powell, Jacob J. of Venice age 32, Company B.
12. Blinn Daniel C. --------------------------------------
13. Cotay, Gilbert of Detroit age 30, Company A.
14. Wilcox, Lewis H. of Ovid age 23, Company B.
15. Fullerton, James of Augusta age 21, Company A.
16. Knobel, Casper of Kalamazoo age 20, Company A.
17. Morse, Philo of Corunna age 18, Company A.
18. Bullard, James F. of Lafayette age 18, Company C.
19. Dillon, David of Lafayette age 18, Company C.
20. Leach Franklin C.---------------------------------------
21. Lynch, James H. of Murfreesboro, TN. age 22, Company C.
22. Munson, Stephen B. of Columbia age 18, Company C.
23. Rupert, John or Rufert, John of Richmond age 21, Company C.
24. Cunningham, David of Newark age 18, Company G.
25. Riggs, Ranselaer of Porter age 18, Company C.
26. Kelch, John H. of Elba age 18, Company K.
27. Smith, William J. of Newaygo age 32, Company C.
28. Stephen, Herman of Reed City age 22, Company C.
29. Jundson Brut-------------------------------Company D.
30. Jenney, Horace C. or Jenne, Horace C. of Dayton age 33, Company D.
31. Lowe Edward-------------------------------Company L.
32. Linsley, John W. of Hopkins age 18, Company L.
33. Martin, William H. J. of Flushing age 17, Company D.
34. Parker, William of Plymouth age 29, Company D.
35. Phelps, Perry-------------------------------company L.
36. Carpenter, Benjamin F. of Grand Rapids age 17, Company L.
37. Thompson, Francis E. of Brooklyn age 21, Company L.
38. Stewart, Joseph E. of Martin age 20, Company L.
39. Wilcox, Zebedee H. of Leslie age 35, Company D.
40. Brown, John of Farmington age 18, Company D.
41. Newkirk, William of Grand Rapids age 27, Company L.
42. Noggle, George of Monterey age 19, Company L.
43. Nunn, Jacob E. of Flushing age 22, Company D.
44. Penfield, Jessie J. of Allegan Co. age 45, Company L.
45. Munn, William of Gun Plains age 21, Company L.
46. Bee, Andrew or Bee Andreas of Pine Plains age 31, Company L.
47. Edwards, Daniel H. of Spaulding age 18, Company L.
48. Tripp, Robert G. of Saline age 22, company E.
49. Brazan, Emanuel or Beazan Emanuel or Brazer, Emanuel of Bruce age 19, Company M.
50. Tefft, Oscar or Tifft, Oscar of Spring Arbor age 22, Company E.
51. Anderson, Andrew of Port Huron age 20, Company M.
52. Arnold, Robert of Volinia age 29, Company M.
52. Johnson, Henry of Portsmouth age 21, Compamy E.
53. Driesman, William F. or Drichman, William T. of Kalamazoo age 18, Company E.
54. Vantyle, John of Ontwa age 23, Company M.
55. Laguary, Peter or Legary, Peter or Legarry Peter of Lodi age 18, Company E.
56. Daniel Graham------------------------------Company G.
57. Dalmage, George F. or Dulmage, George F. of Portsmouth age 17, Company E.
58. Stevens, John G. of Owosso age 21, Company E.
59. Thayer, Luke M. of Homes age 28, Company I.
60. Brown, Martin L. of Venice age 21, Company I.
61. Nichols, B. Franklin of Adrian age 18, Company F.
62. Patterson, James of Raisin age 22, Company F.
63. Bodwell, George W. of Vandalia age 40, Company I.
64. Harrington, Ira, Jr. of Adams age 23, Company F.
65. Dill, William of Jackson age 26, Company I.
66. Grossman, John F. of Adrian age 27, Company F.
67. Dutcher, George W. of Corunna age 21, Company I.
68. Flugger, Charles of Concord age 22, Company I.
69. Hazelton, Homer G. of Flint age 19, Company F.
70. Trickey, Henry of Genesee Co. age 19, Company F.
71. Kruman, Daniel E. or Kramer, Daniel E. of Fabius age 29, Company I.
72. Middaugh, John L. of Corunna age 22, Company I.
73. Raab, George or Rabb, George W. of Flint age 18, Company F.
74. Bellinger, Joseph--------------------------company F.
75. McKennedy, Peter of Casco age 31, Company I.
76. McCullough, Hiram or McCollough, Hiram of Almont age 25, Company I.
77. Brodock, Haney of Moscow age 24 Company F.
78. Driskell,Dennis or Drisco, Dennis East Saginaw age 18, Company F.
79. Pettit, Marvin R. of Ithaca age 19, Company I.
80. Wright, William of Palmyra age 19, Company F.
81. Norton, James R. of Aurelius 21, Company K.
82. Nelson, John of Clinton age 27, Company K.
83. Newth, Jacob D. of Eaton age 21, Company K.
84. Mabie, Edwin of Solon age 21, Company K.
85. Mills, Smith B. of Hadley age 35 Company K.
86. Jacox, Decatur of Flushing age 19, Company K.
87. Rhoades, Enoch S. of Croton age 21, company K.
88. Foley, Thomas of East Saginaw age 22, Company K.
89. Root, Nathaniel or Rott, Nathaniel of Lapeer 38, Company K.
90. Parks, Joshua of Corunna age 18, Company G.
91. Reed, Carey of Ovid age 35, Company G.
92. Skinner, John A. of Quincey age 18 Company G.
93. Odren, Joseph of California age 29, Company G.
This site deals with surnames of the wars of the United States, up to the Civil War, and the civilians of the same era. It will also cover the surnames of the Colonial era. This site is to help all searchers find a lead to their family lines (including Native American ancestors). This site will cover the years from 1700’s to the early 1900’s.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
They Mutiny From Their Regiment-Civil War.
As a surname researcher it is my job to find as many name as possible to help you in your search for that family member. Names are easy to find, but to find good historical information that surrounds the name that’s something deferent altogether. Most family’s had a GGG-grandfather or GG-grandfather in one of the three early wars, but what event happened to put that Grandfather in the light of history? There are a number of reason he my have been a prisoner of war or did some brave deed in battle and then again he may have been in some battle at sea That’s what I look for when I look for a name. that’s why I chose this subject the ( Mutiny ) I thought I would find a lot of names, and I did but not in the way you would thank.
When I started to research this subject I found the word ( Mutiny ) was used way to freely and was used more as an expression, then it’s true meaning. I was looking for a true mutiny were one person or a group men mutiny for one reason or another and ran off. But that wasn’t the case at all, hole regiments would refuse to fight ( Mutiny) because they had not been paid and would not march to orders. There were many reason for ( Mutiny ) Lack of food, little or no ammunition as they put it “ We will not stand to be shot at with nothing in are hands.” Unless the wants and the needs of the soldiers were met they would refuse to fight or move. That’s not to say these men were not brave because they were, there was this one case of mutiny were the men fought like Hell to keep their fort from being over ran by the enemy and they all fought bravely that day, but the next day they refused to fight ( Mutiny, ) “ I guess they felt they were in no danger, for what ever reason it sure had the Commander confused.” Now this was not just happening in the Union army but it was going on in the Confederate army as will, and for the same reasons.
I did find some true ( Mutiny’s ) and have put some here. However some of the information was to long to put here, so if you see a name and would like to know more about him you can write to me at the following.
dsegelquist1@cox.net
Note. This information comes from the official records of the Rebellion which is house ot the Ohio State University.
58th. Regiment Illinois Co. K. Volunteers Infantry.
The following men mutiny from their regiment, this writer could not find out the reason for the mutiny. These men were Court martial on April 19, 1865, and dishonorably discharged. Then in the year of 1873, they had a Bill in congress asking to be reinstated, this writer could not find if the Bill passed through Congress.
1. Joseph Biggs, Sergeant, he was from Rock Island Ill., and nativity of Belgium, enlisted November 12, 1861, as a private at Rock Island Ill., for 3 years . He was 18 years and 5’6 tall Dark hair and blue eyes. He was single and worked as a farmer. He was muster in on December 31, 1861, at Camp Douglas Ill.
2. Silas B. Harrington, Corporal, he was from Rock Island, Rock Island, and a nativity of New York., enlisted December 19, 1961, as a private at Rock Island. He was 32 year and 5’8 tall Dark hair and black eyes. He was married and was a Lawyer. He was muster in on December 31, 1861, at Camp Douglas Ill.
3. Peter Hanley, Private. He was listed as being of the 58th., he did mutiny with the rest of the men and was court martial a long with the men, but no service information could be found on him.
4. Alexander Valley, Private. He was listed as being of the 58th., he did mutiny with the rest of the men and was court martial a long with the men, but no service information could be found on him.
5. Michael Murphy, Private. He was from Rock Island, Rock Island, Co. Ill., was a nativity of Ireland, enlisted October 3, 1861, as a private at Rock Island Il., for 3 years. He was 30 years and 5’7 tall Dark hair and blue eyes. He was single and worked as a laborer. He was muster in on December 31, 1861, at Camp Douglas Ill.
6. Own Cahill, Private. He was from Rock Island, Rock Island, Co. Ill., was a nativity of Ireland, enlisted October 14, 1861, as a private at Rock Island, Ill., for 3 years. He was 34 years and 5’8 tall Light hair and blue eyes he was married and worked as a laborer. He was muster in on December 31, 1861, at Camp Douglas Ill.
Note. This record states that he was muster out on December 30, 1864, by Captain Montgomery, at Springfield Ill. However the Congress records state he was court martial with the rest of the men, this name needs more research.
7. William McNech, Private. He was listed as being of the 58th., he did mutiny with the rest of the men and was court martial a long with the men, but no service information could be found on him.
8. George Wilson, Private. He was listed as being of the 58th., he did mutiny with the rest of the men and was court martial a long with the men, but no service information could be found on him.
9. Samuel O’Neal, Private. He was listed as being of the 58th., he did mutiny with the rest of the men and was court martial a long with the men, but no service information could be found on him.
10. Henry F. Errett, Private. He was from Rock Island, Rock Island Co. Ill., was a nativity of Pittsburg, Alleghany Co., Pa. He enlisted on October 10, 1861, as a Sergeant at Rock Island for 3 years. He was 21 years was 5’9 tall had Black hair and blue eyes. He was single and worked as a carpenter. He was muster in on December 31, 1861, at Camp Douglas Ill.
11. John Dunne, Private. He was listed as being of the 58th., he did mutiny with the rest of the men and was court martial a long with the men, but no service information could be found on him.
Mutiny at Bloomfield Missouri, October 22, 1863.
The cause of the mutiny.
That, under the command of Major Samuel Montgomery, the holding and continued possession of the place for any time longer was a matter fraught with serious doubts. That, judging from the recent conduct of the major commanding, he has wholly lent himself and completely gone over to those who are well known by himself to be and have been the leading traitors in and around this place ever since the commencement of the rebellion. His son, Captain R. H. Montgomery, and Dr. T. W. Johnson are all in this connection acting with him and he had married one of the two most notorious rebel women in the country, who had carried dispatches and written ballads for the rebel army, and of whom it was so currently reported that Major Montgomery must have known it, that she boasted, at a time when the enemy was supposed to be marching on the post, that she ruled it, and that although the Sixth Missouri Cavalry were holding the place now, her Southern friends soon would hold it. That knowing, as he must, of these rumors, he neither said nor did anything to remove the impression made by them on the minds soldiers and citizens.
That to save ourselves, as officers true and faithful in our allegiance to the Government, from the apparently impending disgrace and disaster, we proceed early by to-morrow's dawn to arrest Major Samuel Montgomery, commanding this post, and so hold him until our action can be reported, and further directions had thereon. The real causes leading and conducing to the proceedings had, as stated, are embodied in the accompanying charges and specifications against the said Major Samuel Montgomery, Sixth Missouri Cavalry Volunteers.
Those in involved were :
1. WILLIAM H. CROCKETT, Captain Company D, Commanding Second Battalion Sixth Missouri Cav.
2. JOHN H. PAYNTER, Captain Company A, Second Battalion Sixth Missouri Cavalry.
3. V. B. S. REBER, Lieutenant, Commanding Section Company K, Second Missouri Artillery.
4. LUTHER D. POTTER, Second Lieutenant, Commanding Company L. Sixth Missouri Cavalry.
5. E. J. BURROSS, Second Lieutenant, Commanding Company E, Sixth Missouri Cavalry.
These men know of Major Samuel Montgomery feelings towards the South before the war, and there were rumors that there was a traitor, among them and he was ready to hand over the command to the enemy. They felt it was their duty and right to take over the command even if it cost them to hold rank in the service again. They were later arrested and court martial and found guilty of all charges, and were dismissed dishonorably from the service of the United States.
Note. The information on the following mutiny is way to long to put it all down here. If you see a name and would like to know more about him you can write to me at the above address.
HEADQUARTERS FEDERAL PRISON,
Cahaba, Ala., January 23, 1865.
General J. D. IMBODEN, August, Ga.:
GENERAL: On the morning of Friday, January 20, there was a mutiny in the Federal prison under my command. The prisoners simultaneously rushed upon the interior guards, disarmed and captured them. They then placed them under guard in the water - closets. Two sentinels posted at the entrance of the main prison from the stockade succeeded in making their escape and in giving the alarm to the sentries on the ramparts and the reserve guard. A courier was dispatches to the commanding officer of the troops at the post, who promptly ordered out the battalion under arms. A piece of artillery was brought to bear upon the prisoners, and all was very soon quieted down and inquest made for the ringleaders. I issued an order stopping the rations of the prisoners until the ringleaders were announced. This had the effect of securing five witnesses, whose testimony in the main is concurrent, and led to the detection and arrest of those most prominent in the affair. The man with whom the scheme originated was one George Schellar, alias Captain Hanchett and Robert Cox. This Schellar was captured by General Forrest near Nashville, Tenn., December 3, 1864. He was disguised as a citizen and was so registered and imprisoned by the provost - marshal - general of the Army of Tennessee, and at every post where it became necessary in his transit to this place. You will see by his confession that he declares his object to have been to be speedily sent through the lines. The most probable conjecture is that he dressed himself as a citizen and put himself in position to be captured, for the purpose of obtaining information of the strength and movements of the Confederate forces.
After the defeat of the mutiny I made a demand upon his company in the prison for him, but could get no satisfaction. I then stationed his messmates along a line and passed all the prisoners, requiring them to identify and point him out as he passed. I did not succeed. I then took the prisoners that I had arrested and placed them on my right. Among these was one of the informers who knew him. I instructed him to put his foot upon mine as he approached. I then again passed the prisoners through a guard at open ranks, and by the strategy indicated above I succeeded in arresting him. He was very much excited, and when I addressed him by his alias he confessed that he was not George Schellar, but Captain Hanchett, of Company M, Sixteenth Illinois Cavalry, and at the time of his capture acting assistant adjutant - general on Colonel Capron's staff, commanding a brigade. The prisoners has shaved off his moustache and whiskers, changed his clothes, and otherwise tried to disguise himself. This he did to avoid detection. The investigation was conducted by several officers and myself before the commandant of the post, and from the testimony and his own confession, &c., in undoubtedly the ringleader of the mutiny and a most unmitigated scoundrel. All of uss who were present at this investigation are thoroughly convicted, not only of his guilty leadership in this mutiny, but that he is an exceedingly dangerous and bad man. The colonel commanding post is thoroughly of the opinion that hiss mission among us was that of a spy. Hence he was securely ironed and with seven of hiss confederates confined in a dungeon in the county jail. By reading the inclosed transcript of the testimony elicited in the investigation you will be able to form a pretty correct opinion of the history of this transaction and the degree of guilt which attaches to each particular individual under arrest. During the excitement not a single prisoner effected his escape. The question which I desire answered is: What course is it proper to pursue with the chiefs of this mutiny and those who were leagued with them? Having no statute, regulation, or precedent to govern us, we are at a loss to know what courses to adopt, and I most respectfully ask the instructions of the general commanding.
I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
H. A. M. HENDERSON,
Those involved in the Mutiny & Witness.
1. George Schellar, alias Captain Hanchett-Arrested.
2. Private Robert Cox, Company G, One hundred and fifteenth Ohio-Arrested.
3. Francis M. Prim, M, Nineteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry-Witness.
4. Private John W. Lightbody, Company D, Eighteenth Ohio infantry-Arrested.
5. Private George [W.] Salter, D, Third Iowa Cavalry-Witness.
6. Citizen Jacob E. Lachler-Witness.
7. Citizen E. McCullough-Witness.
8. Citizen E. Baker, New York, -Witness.
9. George W. Riley, corporal, Twenty-seventh Illinois Infantry-Arrested.
10. Private G. Hammarberg, H, Ninth Minnesota Infantry-Arrested.
11. Private George Sherman, Fourth Michigan Cavalry-Arrested.
12. Private Thompson Hanson, E, Ninth Ohio Cavalry-Arrested.
13. Martin A. Becker, Company D, Thirteenth Wisconsin Infantry-Arrested.
14. James Morrison, Company G, Nineteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry-Arrested.
15. Osmond F. Foster, I, Seventh Pennsylvania Cavalry-Arrested.
16. George H. Hoff, F, One hundred and fourteenth Illinois Infantry-Arrested.
17. Doctor Whitfield-Witness.
18. Patrick Ponsonby, G, Thirteenth Illinois Infantry-Arrested.
19. George Stoneman-Witness.
Note. Here is the findings.
HDQRS. C. S. MIL., PRISONS WEST OF SAVANNAH RIVER,
Respectfully forwarded for information of and instructions from Honorable Secretary of War. I have approved the course of Captain Henderson in ironing and confining these mutineers, but under order of the Adjutant and Inspector General of date January 24, 1865, they have been ordered to be released, except Captain Hanchett, in whose case I have ordered a trial on the charge of being a spy, the result of which will be communicated to the War Department as soon as ascertained.
J. D. IMBODEN,
Brigadier - General, Commanding.
Note. In consequence of a recent mutiny and attempted escape of prisoners from the military prison at Cahaba, Ala., it is ordered that if any prisoners of war confined in any of the military prisons in the State of Georgia, Alabama, or Mississippi shall engage in any mutiny or attempt by force to escape, the guard shall instantly be fire upon the mutineers and, if necessary, upon the whole body of prisoners his bands at the time of any mutiny or forcible attempt to escape shall be instantly shot to death; and this penalty will in no case be remitted where such armed prisoners if overpowered by or surrendered to the guard on the suppression of a mutiny.
Second Regiment of Maine Volunteers.
HEADQUARTERS DIVISION OF THE POTOMAC,
Washington, August 14, 1861.
Lieutenant General WINFIELD SCOTT, Commanding U. S. Army:
GENERAL: I am informed by Brigadier-General McDowell that 62 non-commissioned officers and privates of the Second Regiment of Maine Volunteers have formally and positively, and in the presence of their regiment, refused to do any further duty whatever, falsely alleging that they are no longer in the service of the United States. I concur in the suggestion of General McDowell that this combined subordination, if not open mutiny, should be immediately repressed; and I approve of his recommendation that the insubordinate soldiers should be immediately transferred in arrest and without arms to the Dry Tortugas, there to perform such fatigue service as the commanding officer there may assign to them, until they shall by their future conduct who themselves worthy to bear arms.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
GEO. B. MCCLELLAN,
Major-General, Commanding.
HEADQUARTERS DIVISION OF THE POTOMAC,
Washington, D. C., August 14, 1861.
Brigadier General ANDREW PORTER,
Provost-Marshal, &c., Washington, D. C.:
GENERAL: The brigade commander of the Seventy-ninth Regiment New York Volunteers having reported that the regiment is in a state of open mutiny, Major-General McClellan directs that you proceed with a battery, the two companies of the Second Cavalry, at the Park Hotel, and as many companies of regular infantry as you may deem proper, to the encampment of that regiment. On your arrival there you will order such as are willing to move to march out of the camp, leaving the disaffected portion of the regiment by themselves. You will then order the latter portion to lay down their arms, and will put them under a strong guard. The ringleaders you will put in double irons.
You are authorized, if necessary, to use force to accomplish the object. Report the result as soon as possible.
I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
A. V. COLBURN,
When I started to research this subject I found the word ( Mutiny ) was used way to freely and was used more as an expression, then it’s true meaning. I was looking for a true mutiny were one person or a group men mutiny for one reason or another and ran off. But that wasn’t the case at all, hole regiments would refuse to fight ( Mutiny) because they had not been paid and would not march to orders. There were many reason for ( Mutiny ) Lack of food, little or no ammunition as they put it “ We will not stand to be shot at with nothing in are hands.” Unless the wants and the needs of the soldiers were met they would refuse to fight or move. That’s not to say these men were not brave because they were, there was this one case of mutiny were the men fought like Hell to keep their fort from being over ran by the enemy and they all fought bravely that day, but the next day they refused to fight ( Mutiny, ) “ I guess they felt they were in no danger, for what ever reason it sure had the Commander confused.” Now this was not just happening in the Union army but it was going on in the Confederate army as will, and for the same reasons.
I did find some true ( Mutiny’s ) and have put some here. However some of the information was to long to put here, so if you see a name and would like to know more about him you can write to me at the following.
dsegelquist1@cox.net
Note. This information comes from the official records of the Rebellion which is house ot the Ohio State University.
58th. Regiment Illinois Co. K. Volunteers Infantry.
The following men mutiny from their regiment, this writer could not find out the reason for the mutiny. These men were Court martial on April 19, 1865, and dishonorably discharged. Then in the year of 1873, they had a Bill in congress asking to be reinstated, this writer could not find if the Bill passed through Congress.
1. Joseph Biggs, Sergeant, he was from Rock Island Ill., and nativity of Belgium, enlisted November 12, 1861, as a private at Rock Island Ill., for 3 years . He was 18 years and 5’6 tall Dark hair and blue eyes. He was single and worked as a farmer. He was muster in on December 31, 1861, at Camp Douglas Ill.
2. Silas B. Harrington, Corporal, he was from Rock Island, Rock Island, and a nativity of New York., enlisted December 19, 1961, as a private at Rock Island. He was 32 year and 5’8 tall Dark hair and black eyes. He was married and was a Lawyer. He was muster in on December 31, 1861, at Camp Douglas Ill.
3. Peter Hanley, Private. He was listed as being of the 58th., he did mutiny with the rest of the men and was court martial a long with the men, but no service information could be found on him.
4. Alexander Valley, Private. He was listed as being of the 58th., he did mutiny with the rest of the men and was court martial a long with the men, but no service information could be found on him.
5. Michael Murphy, Private. He was from Rock Island, Rock Island, Co. Ill., was a nativity of Ireland, enlisted October 3, 1861, as a private at Rock Island Il., for 3 years. He was 30 years and 5’7 tall Dark hair and blue eyes. He was single and worked as a laborer. He was muster in on December 31, 1861, at Camp Douglas Ill.
6. Own Cahill, Private. He was from Rock Island, Rock Island, Co. Ill., was a nativity of Ireland, enlisted October 14, 1861, as a private at Rock Island, Ill., for 3 years. He was 34 years and 5’8 tall Light hair and blue eyes he was married and worked as a laborer. He was muster in on December 31, 1861, at Camp Douglas Ill.
Note. This record states that he was muster out on December 30, 1864, by Captain Montgomery, at Springfield Ill. However the Congress records state he was court martial with the rest of the men, this name needs more research.
7. William McNech, Private. He was listed as being of the 58th., he did mutiny with the rest of the men and was court martial a long with the men, but no service information could be found on him.
8. George Wilson, Private. He was listed as being of the 58th., he did mutiny with the rest of the men and was court martial a long with the men, but no service information could be found on him.
9. Samuel O’Neal, Private. He was listed as being of the 58th., he did mutiny with the rest of the men and was court martial a long with the men, but no service information could be found on him.
10. Henry F. Errett, Private. He was from Rock Island, Rock Island Co. Ill., was a nativity of Pittsburg, Alleghany Co., Pa. He enlisted on October 10, 1861, as a Sergeant at Rock Island for 3 years. He was 21 years was 5’9 tall had Black hair and blue eyes. He was single and worked as a carpenter. He was muster in on December 31, 1861, at Camp Douglas Ill.
11. John Dunne, Private. He was listed as being of the 58th., he did mutiny with the rest of the men and was court martial a long with the men, but no service information could be found on him.
Mutiny at Bloomfield Missouri, October 22, 1863.
The cause of the mutiny.
That, under the command of Major Samuel Montgomery, the holding and continued possession of the place for any time longer was a matter fraught with serious doubts. That, judging from the recent conduct of the major commanding, he has wholly lent himself and completely gone over to those who are well known by himself to be and have been the leading traitors in and around this place ever since the commencement of the rebellion. His son, Captain R. H. Montgomery, and Dr. T. W. Johnson are all in this connection acting with him and he had married one of the two most notorious rebel women in the country, who had carried dispatches and written ballads for the rebel army, and of whom it was so currently reported that Major Montgomery must have known it, that she boasted, at a time when the enemy was supposed to be marching on the post, that she ruled it, and that although the Sixth Missouri Cavalry were holding the place now, her Southern friends soon would hold it. That knowing, as he must, of these rumors, he neither said nor did anything to remove the impression made by them on the minds soldiers and citizens.
That to save ourselves, as officers true and faithful in our allegiance to the Government, from the apparently impending disgrace and disaster, we proceed early by to-morrow's dawn to arrest Major Samuel Montgomery, commanding this post, and so hold him until our action can be reported, and further directions had thereon. The real causes leading and conducing to the proceedings had, as stated, are embodied in the accompanying charges and specifications against the said Major Samuel Montgomery, Sixth Missouri Cavalry Volunteers.
Those in involved were :
1. WILLIAM H. CROCKETT, Captain Company D, Commanding Second Battalion Sixth Missouri Cav.
2. JOHN H. PAYNTER, Captain Company A, Second Battalion Sixth Missouri Cavalry.
3. V. B. S. REBER, Lieutenant, Commanding Section Company K, Second Missouri Artillery.
4. LUTHER D. POTTER, Second Lieutenant, Commanding Company L. Sixth Missouri Cavalry.
5. E. J. BURROSS, Second Lieutenant, Commanding Company E, Sixth Missouri Cavalry.
These men know of Major Samuel Montgomery feelings towards the South before the war, and there were rumors that there was a traitor, among them and he was ready to hand over the command to the enemy. They felt it was their duty and right to take over the command even if it cost them to hold rank in the service again. They were later arrested and court martial and found guilty of all charges, and were dismissed dishonorably from the service of the United States.
Note. The information on the following mutiny is way to long to put it all down here. If you see a name and would like to know more about him you can write to me at the above address.
HEADQUARTERS FEDERAL PRISON,
Cahaba, Ala., January 23, 1865.
General J. D. IMBODEN, August, Ga.:
GENERAL: On the morning of Friday, January 20, there was a mutiny in the Federal prison under my command. The prisoners simultaneously rushed upon the interior guards, disarmed and captured them. They then placed them under guard in the water - closets. Two sentinels posted at the entrance of the main prison from the stockade succeeded in making their escape and in giving the alarm to the sentries on the ramparts and the reserve guard. A courier was dispatches to the commanding officer of the troops at the post, who promptly ordered out the battalion under arms. A piece of artillery was brought to bear upon the prisoners, and all was very soon quieted down and inquest made for the ringleaders. I issued an order stopping the rations of the prisoners until the ringleaders were announced. This had the effect of securing five witnesses, whose testimony in the main is concurrent, and led to the detection and arrest of those most prominent in the affair. The man with whom the scheme originated was one George Schellar, alias Captain Hanchett and Robert Cox. This Schellar was captured by General Forrest near Nashville, Tenn., December 3, 1864. He was disguised as a citizen and was so registered and imprisoned by the provost - marshal - general of the Army of Tennessee, and at every post where it became necessary in his transit to this place. You will see by his confession that he declares his object to have been to be speedily sent through the lines. The most probable conjecture is that he dressed himself as a citizen and put himself in position to be captured, for the purpose of obtaining information of the strength and movements of the Confederate forces.
After the defeat of the mutiny I made a demand upon his company in the prison for him, but could get no satisfaction. I then stationed his messmates along a line and passed all the prisoners, requiring them to identify and point him out as he passed. I did not succeed. I then took the prisoners that I had arrested and placed them on my right. Among these was one of the informers who knew him. I instructed him to put his foot upon mine as he approached. I then again passed the prisoners through a guard at open ranks, and by the strategy indicated above I succeeded in arresting him. He was very much excited, and when I addressed him by his alias he confessed that he was not George Schellar, but Captain Hanchett, of Company M, Sixteenth Illinois Cavalry, and at the time of his capture acting assistant adjutant - general on Colonel Capron's staff, commanding a brigade. The prisoners has shaved off his moustache and whiskers, changed his clothes, and otherwise tried to disguise himself. This he did to avoid detection. The investigation was conducted by several officers and myself before the commandant of the post, and from the testimony and his own confession, &c., in undoubtedly the ringleader of the mutiny and a most unmitigated scoundrel. All of uss who were present at this investigation are thoroughly convicted, not only of his guilty leadership in this mutiny, but that he is an exceedingly dangerous and bad man. The colonel commanding post is thoroughly of the opinion that hiss mission among us was that of a spy. Hence he was securely ironed and with seven of hiss confederates confined in a dungeon in the county jail. By reading the inclosed transcript of the testimony elicited in the investigation you will be able to form a pretty correct opinion of the history of this transaction and the degree of guilt which attaches to each particular individual under arrest. During the excitement not a single prisoner effected his escape. The question which I desire answered is: What course is it proper to pursue with the chiefs of this mutiny and those who were leagued with them? Having no statute, regulation, or precedent to govern us, we are at a loss to know what courses to adopt, and I most respectfully ask the instructions of the general commanding.
I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
H. A. M. HENDERSON,
Those involved in the Mutiny & Witness.
1. George Schellar, alias Captain Hanchett-Arrested.
2. Private Robert Cox, Company G, One hundred and fifteenth Ohio-Arrested.
3. Francis M. Prim, M, Nineteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry-Witness.
4. Private John W. Lightbody, Company D, Eighteenth Ohio infantry-Arrested.
5. Private George [W.] Salter, D, Third Iowa Cavalry-Witness.
6. Citizen Jacob E. Lachler-Witness.
7. Citizen E. McCullough-Witness.
8. Citizen E. Baker, New York, -Witness.
9. George W. Riley, corporal, Twenty-seventh Illinois Infantry-Arrested.
10. Private G. Hammarberg, H, Ninth Minnesota Infantry-Arrested.
11. Private George Sherman, Fourth Michigan Cavalry-Arrested.
12. Private Thompson Hanson, E, Ninth Ohio Cavalry-Arrested.
13. Martin A. Becker, Company D, Thirteenth Wisconsin Infantry-Arrested.
14. James Morrison, Company G, Nineteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry-Arrested.
15. Osmond F. Foster, I, Seventh Pennsylvania Cavalry-Arrested.
16. George H. Hoff, F, One hundred and fourteenth Illinois Infantry-Arrested.
17. Doctor Whitfield-Witness.
18. Patrick Ponsonby, G, Thirteenth Illinois Infantry-Arrested.
19. George Stoneman-Witness.
Note. Here is the findings.
HDQRS. C. S. MIL., PRISONS WEST OF SAVANNAH RIVER,
Respectfully forwarded for information of and instructions from Honorable Secretary of War. I have approved the course of Captain Henderson in ironing and confining these mutineers, but under order of the Adjutant and Inspector General of date January 24, 1865, they have been ordered to be released, except Captain Hanchett, in whose case I have ordered a trial on the charge of being a spy, the result of which will be communicated to the War Department as soon as ascertained.
J. D. IMBODEN,
Brigadier - General, Commanding.
Note. In consequence of a recent mutiny and attempted escape of prisoners from the military prison at Cahaba, Ala., it is ordered that if any prisoners of war confined in any of the military prisons in the State of Georgia, Alabama, or Mississippi shall engage in any mutiny or attempt by force to escape, the guard shall instantly be fire upon the mutineers and, if necessary, upon the whole body of prisoners his bands at the time of any mutiny or forcible attempt to escape shall be instantly shot to death; and this penalty will in no case be remitted where such armed prisoners if overpowered by or surrendered to the guard on the suppression of a mutiny.
Second Regiment of Maine Volunteers.
HEADQUARTERS DIVISION OF THE POTOMAC,
Washington, August 14, 1861.
Lieutenant General WINFIELD SCOTT, Commanding U. S. Army:
GENERAL: I am informed by Brigadier-General McDowell that 62 non-commissioned officers and privates of the Second Regiment of Maine Volunteers have formally and positively, and in the presence of their regiment, refused to do any further duty whatever, falsely alleging that they are no longer in the service of the United States. I concur in the suggestion of General McDowell that this combined subordination, if not open mutiny, should be immediately repressed; and I approve of his recommendation that the insubordinate soldiers should be immediately transferred in arrest and without arms to the Dry Tortugas, there to perform such fatigue service as the commanding officer there may assign to them, until they shall by their future conduct who themselves worthy to bear arms.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
GEO. B. MCCLELLAN,
Major-General, Commanding.
HEADQUARTERS DIVISION OF THE POTOMAC,
Washington, D. C., August 14, 1861.
Brigadier General ANDREW PORTER,
Provost-Marshal, &c., Washington, D. C.:
GENERAL: The brigade commander of the Seventy-ninth Regiment New York Volunteers having reported that the regiment is in a state of open mutiny, Major-General McClellan directs that you proceed with a battery, the two companies of the Second Cavalry, at the Park Hotel, and as many companies of regular infantry as you may deem proper, to the encampment of that regiment. On your arrival there you will order such as are willing to move to march out of the camp, leaving the disaffected portion of the regiment by themselves. You will then order the latter portion to lay down their arms, and will put them under a strong guard. The ringleaders you will put in double irons.
You are authorized, if necessary, to use force to accomplish the object. Report the result as soon as possible.
I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
A. V. COLBURN,
Monday, May 19, 2008
Those Who Need Help Now.
Welcome to the new page of ( Those Who Need Help Now. ) This page will be of great family stories told to me but I could not help them. These stories will be put up as they come in, in the hope that someone out there will know their story or the family and will be able to help them in some way.
This story was sent to me by Judy Crump.
May 19, 08.
Hi! I'm working on some family history, and I sure could use your help. I'll tell you what I know about my great-great grandfather Isaac Huff and his brother Ben (probably Benjamin)Huff. Told by my Grandfather Lattie K. Huff, here's what he said about his Grandpa Isaac. Ben & Isaac and his wife Samantha (spelled Semantha on the 1880 Census) they came to Missouri in 2 covered wagons from Tennessee....thru the Cumberland gap after the Civil War. Not sure of the year.
Isaac & his brother Ben, were in the war together, and after a huge battle on Cumberland Mountain their commanding officer wanted to take these two men's horses.....they got these horses when they were young horses and they were strong and good trained horses. This officer wanted to give them 2 other horses that were older, had been pulling wagons, had chaffed necks and were in poor shape. He said this officer was mean, and wanted some of the other men’s horses also. So.....this group of men, 12 in all, got together late one night, saddle their horses and rode quietly to the edge of the camp where this officer's tent stood. They called him out and when he stepped out in front of his tent all 12 of the men shot him. They did this so that no one would know exactly which one of them killed him. Then they rode off and were chased by other soldiers on horses. They rode I don't know how long, and could sometimes see in the distance the other soldiers riding after them. They hid out for a while and then returned to their homes in Tennessee. When the war was over they both came to Missouri and homesteaded land here in Washington County. Ben Huff returned to Tennessee and we don't know what happened to him. I don't know where in Tennessee Isaac & Ben came from. Any information about this shooting would maybe help me find out where in Tennessee they were born. I do know that Isaac was born 12/12/1832 in Tennessee. Thanks, Judy Crump niteowl77@starband.net
Judy: has just sent me an update.
May 21, 08.
Note. Up to this date this information has not been looked into.
In Searching out genealogy message boards for information I have ran across a few things. One posted his name as, Joseph Isaac Huff. Another one posted his children as; William Huff-1852 (TN) George Huff-1854 (TN) Mary Huff-1857 (TN) John Wesley Huff-1860 (TN) Leander Huff-1865 (IL) Laura Huff-1870 (MO Armentia Huff-1872 (MO) Charles Huff-1876 (MO.)
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In the recording my grandpa made in the winter of 1882, he tells that Ben, Isaac, Samantha & some of their children left Missouri, in 2 covered wagons too return to Tennessee. Down south of here around Poplar Bluff Missouri one of their sons got Phnemonia (grandpa said Nemony fever) :) he lived 7 days & died. They brought him back here by train, and the 2 oldest boys came back with the wagons. His name is Dock Huff and I went last Sunday to see his grave. Dock, Samantha, Isaac & Mary Huff are all buried at White's Cemetery. The rest of the Huff family is buried at the Huff Cemetery just up the road here. After that Isaac & Samantha decided not to go back to Tennessee, they stayed here in Stoney Point. They had sold G-Grandpa William their place, (the old home place) so they moved into the log cabin that William had built on the land that he had homesteaded. After that is when Ben went back to Tennessee. Lattie, my grandpa bought his land from the heir of Francis Bone who homestead it. He raised 11 children--one of them my mom Berniece. And now my husband & I own the land. We built a house here and everyday I can look out my kitchen window & see the place where the old house use to sit...where my mother and all of her brothers and sister were born. :) I have a garden up there now. I walk up there with my little granddaughter and tell her how her great-grandma was born right here and played right here on this very spot. Thank you all for listening to my story. If you can help me or point me in the right direction to find Ben Huff or Isaac's parents or where they came from that would be great.
Note. Judy has a great story but needs help. So if you have any information that my help her please write to her at the above address, and thank you for your help.
This story was sent to me by Judy Crump.
May 19, 08.
Hi! I'm working on some family history, and I sure could use your help. I'll tell you what I know about my great-great grandfather Isaac Huff and his brother Ben (probably Benjamin)Huff. Told by my Grandfather Lattie K. Huff, here's what he said about his Grandpa Isaac. Ben & Isaac and his wife Samantha (spelled Semantha on the 1880 Census) they came to Missouri in 2 covered wagons from Tennessee....thru the Cumberland gap after the Civil War. Not sure of the year.
Isaac & his brother Ben, were in the war together, and after a huge battle on Cumberland Mountain their commanding officer wanted to take these two men's horses.....they got these horses when they were young horses and they were strong and good trained horses. This officer wanted to give them 2 other horses that were older, had been pulling wagons, had chaffed necks and were in poor shape. He said this officer was mean, and wanted some of the other men’s horses also. So.....this group of men, 12 in all, got together late one night, saddle their horses and rode quietly to the edge of the camp where this officer's tent stood. They called him out and when he stepped out in front of his tent all 12 of the men shot him. They did this so that no one would know exactly which one of them killed him. Then they rode off and were chased by other soldiers on horses. They rode I don't know how long, and could sometimes see in the distance the other soldiers riding after them. They hid out for a while and then returned to their homes in Tennessee. When the war was over they both came to Missouri and homesteaded land here in Washington County. Ben Huff returned to Tennessee and we don't know what happened to him. I don't know where in Tennessee Isaac & Ben came from. Any information about this shooting would maybe help me find out where in Tennessee they were born. I do know that Isaac was born 12/12/1832 in Tennessee. Thanks, Judy Crump niteowl77@starband.net
Judy: has just sent me an update.
May 21, 08.
Note. Up to this date this information has not been looked into.
In Searching out genealogy message boards for information I have ran across a few things. One posted his name as, Joseph Isaac Huff. Another one posted his children as; William Huff-1852 (TN) George Huff-1854 (TN) Mary Huff-1857 (TN) John Wesley Huff-1860 (TN) Leander Huff-1865 (IL) Laura Huff-1870 (MO Armentia Huff-1872 (MO) Charles Huff-1876 (MO.)
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In the recording my grandpa made in the winter of 1882, he tells that Ben, Isaac, Samantha & some of their children left Missouri, in 2 covered wagons too return to Tennessee. Down south of here around Poplar Bluff Missouri one of their sons got Phnemonia (grandpa said Nemony fever) :) he lived 7 days & died. They brought him back here by train, and the 2 oldest boys came back with the wagons. His name is Dock Huff and I went last Sunday to see his grave. Dock, Samantha, Isaac & Mary Huff are all buried at White's Cemetery. The rest of the Huff family is buried at the Huff Cemetery just up the road here. After that Isaac & Samantha decided not to go back to Tennessee, they stayed here in Stoney Point. They had sold G-Grandpa William their place, (the old home place) so they moved into the log cabin that William had built on the land that he had homesteaded. After that is when Ben went back to Tennessee. Lattie, my grandpa bought his land from the heir of Francis Bone who homestead it. He raised 11 children--one of them my mom Berniece. And now my husband & I own the land. We built a house here and everyday I can look out my kitchen window & see the place where the old house use to sit...where my mother and all of her brothers and sister were born. :) I have a garden up there now. I walk up there with my little granddaughter and tell her how her great-grandma was born right here and played right here on this very spot. Thank you all for listening to my story. If you can help me or point me in the right direction to find Ben Huff or Isaac's parents or where they came from that would be great.
Note. Judy has a great story but needs help. So if you have any information that my help her please write to her at the above address, and thank you for your help.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Blood-Hounds of the Civil War.
The hunting dog ( Blood Hounds. ) was primary used in the hunting of wild animals to put food on the table. But soon after the war started they were retrained in a different kind of hunting that of the hunt of the human prey. Long before the war the Blood Hound was used in the hunt of run away slaves and escaped prisoners from jail or prisons. By the time of the Civil War the blood hound became a very efficient hunting and killing machine. Andersonville was one place the blood hound was used not only in hunting down the escaped prisoners but were ordered to attack a prisoner just for the sport of it.
Note. This information comes from a report to the House of the 40th.Congress 1867-1869, The House report was No. 45. And called: “Treatment of prisoners of war by the rebel authorities.” and the official records of the great Rebellion, which is housed at the Ohio State University.
The hounds of Andersonville.
The first time the hounds were used at Andersonville the handlers name was Harris who lived five or six miles from the prison. He had a pack of eight hounds, besides a dog which they called a “catch-dog.” That dog always went with the pack. Harris did the hunting there for a long while before they got the regular prison hounds. He used to be there every day, and always in the morning he would make a circuit around the stockade to see if any had escaped, and if any had he would of course follow them; and then he would always scour the country all around. Then later they had some more dogs which a man by the name of Wesley W. Turner tended. Turner tended about fifteen dogs, which were kept exclusively for hunting down prisoners, these dogs were kept at the post. Turner’s dogs were fed by rations drawn from the bakery, the same as the prisoners were fed on. He had a young man about eighteen or twenty years old who assisted him. A Captain Wirz’s give the orders to the bakery which would read, “Give this man all the bread and meat he wants for the dogs.”
One young man who had made his escape, had made no great distance, before Harris dogs caught up to him. The young man was very badly torn up, His legs were all bitten up and he was bitten a great deal around the neck and shoulders. The young man belonged to what is believed to a Ohio regiment. The young man may have gotten farther had he had not been so weak from hunger. As the dogs of Harris got closer the young man took to a tree the dogs held the boy at bay till Captain Wirz and Harris reached him, upon reaching the tree. Up on reaching the tree they took to shaking it till the young man fell out to the ground where on the dog torn into him. The young man was brought back and as the passed the bakery, James P. Stone, of the second Vermont Volunteers and who tells his story and other men from the bakery came out to talk to him. Which the young could do little of, for being so weak form the loss of blood. James and the others never saw the young man again as they were told he had died that night.
It was said that Mr. Turner was making more money then any man in the county, and had no need to work his land for a living as long as he had his hounds. He was asked once if his pay came from Richmond, his answer was that he had no need to bother Richmond, as Captain Wriz was his paymaster.
Dr. A. V. Barrows of the twenty-seventh Massachusetts, had this to say about Turner hounds “ They were a species of hound—not the hill-blooded hound—-a mixture. They were of different colors; white, and yellow, and spotted. They had also one large dog, which, I think, they called “catch-dog;” I think he was a bull-dog, or a bull terrier of some kind.”
Joseph D. Keyser, of the one hundred and twentieth New York, had this to say about the Hounds, “ I saw the dogs there were from six to eight dogs, they were spotted hounds, and one of them was a bull terrier. I know what is generally called a fox dog. I do not think they were fox dogs. They had yellow and brown spots, long ears, middling broad and flapping, and a pointed head, rather of the hound style. I never saw a blood-hound. I do not know what a blood-hound is. I cannot say that these were blood-hounds they were not the common hound. I have seen what is called a fox hound. I do not think they were fox hounds. They might possibly have been, but I do not think they were.”
Dr. F. G. Castlen, surgeon of the third Georgia Reserves, C. S. A., stated that he saw the dogs only once and they were your ever day breed of fox hounds.
Note. It was well known by all the prisoners that if the Hounds were put on you all was lost. If you were lucky you would be just bitten and torn up a might, but if you tried to fight the dogs off Turner would let the dogs tear into you till you were dead. At times the dogs were permitted to attack and lacerate the prisoner, for the purpose, as the hound man expressed it, “of keeping the Dogs in proper training."
Thomas N. Way, of the first Ohio Volunteers, stated that he know of the dogs. “ They caught me three times. I remember about a soldier being torn to pieces by hounds. He was a young man whose name I don’t know. I knew him by the name of Fred. He was about seventeen years old. When we heard the dogs coming, I and another prisoner who was with me, being old hands, climbed a tree. He tried to so but had not got up when the hounds, caught him by the foot and pulled him down, and in less then three minutes he was torn all to atoms. Turner was close behind. He got up just as the man was torn to pieces and secured the hounds, and we came down. Fred died; he was all torn to pieces. No other of our member was torn at the same time.”
Note. The polemical post-war writers faced something of a problem with figures in trying to prove that the South had killed off prisoners as part of a deliberate extermination policy. The number of Union prisoners who died was not large enough to substantiate the claim. So the myth-makers either ignored the numbers completely, or came up with new figures of their own. One writer claimed, for example, that no record remains of the many prisoners who "were pursued through fen and forest by bloodhounds and demons and their mangled corpses left to the carrion birds."
Blood-Hounds.
As the war wore on the need for more hounds was on the rise, as the number of run away slave was increasing and the longer a war went on there would more prisoners and some of them would escape and had to be hunted down. The dogs were now on the fighting line, some would be killed and would need to be replaced. Dogs ( Hounds ) were not only used for hunting slaves or escapees but in the sniffing out Indians as will. As in the case of June of 1865, when the Honorable S. Finch, sent a letter by Major Evins of the State Militia to Major General C. R. Curits, stating the need for blood hounds to hunt down the Indians in he neighborhood. The letter read in part:
SAINT PAUL, MINN, June 6, 1865.
Honorable S. FINCH,
Mankato, Minn.:
MY DEAR SIR: Yours of the 27th ultimo, concerning an effort which is being made to procure blood- hounds to hunt down the skilking Indians in your neighborhood, m and requesting my assistance in procuring transportation, was handed me by Major Evins, I believe, an officer of the State militia. I told the major it was not my province to interfere with any State matters designed to regulate the police or safety of citizens, but my inclinations, previous conduct, and best judgment were all opposed to the movement. I have publicly denounced the use of blood- hounds as dishonorable and despicable, and I could not allow my troops to directly or indirectly participate in such an effort to procure or use them.
The cry of needless alarm and inordinate cruelty is constantly raised against us, and the belief that frontier men are themselves savages seems to prevail in some quarters, much to my vexation and often to our injury. I have met this feeling as a military obstacle int he way of procuring or retaining adequate force. This move is very likely to return upon us in the same way. Besides, Indians are not afraid of dogs; they like and eat them. The trail in Florida was a failure, a folly, and a disgrace which hoped to break down Van Buren's administration. I have talked in this wise to Major Evins, who, being the near relation to the Jewtt family (brother, I believe, of the unfortunate victim, Mrs. Jewtt), is of course most anxious to secure some means of avenging the barbarous outrages of his kindred and protecting the rest of his people against their repetition. But I do not think the major will doubt my desire to do the very best I can in the efforts to guard the settlements, although I do not favor this blood- hound movement, and I am sure you will not doubt the sincerity of my purpose.
I have been through the region of Arkansas where the rebels have freely used blood- hounds, and understand what I am talking about. Our Indian scouts are far better followers and hunters of vagrant Indians, and our troops, even if you have hounds, will be the only dependence. Troops are moving and more are coming. There is a vast difference between your danger in 1862 and to- day. Then you had some 6,000 foes in your own immediate neighborhood. Now those Minnesota Indians are most of them dead and the remnants are far away near Devil's lake and Turtle Mountain, on the very border of the British Province, and there we will strike their settlement or frighten them still farther from you. In this starving condition occasional efforts of a few may be made to your annoyance, and you may be sometimes approached by straggling Indians from other bands; all our frontier States are so annoyed. But the great rebellion being closed, our Federal Government will be better able to afford assistance, and your frontier will therefore hereafter have as good or better protection than usually occurs in the settlements of frontier States.
S. R. CURTIS,
Major-General.
C. S. Bell, was a scout for the Union and had been on a mission when he was betrayed by an old foe who was trying to save is own life, as he was charged with killing a major. Bell was caught and put on trial as a Federal spy. He was later found innocent, then pressed into the Confederate Army. He was later able to desert, this is part of his report on his run from the hounds.
On the 24th, of January 1865, while on dress parade, a general order dated the 23rd and signed "E. Kirby Smith," was read to the troops. He recounted the disasters to Lee's army and bade his army to be hopeful; to not abandon their colors; that the eyes of the world were upon them; that their resources were inexhaustible, and that on them depended the fate of the Confederacy. The effect of this order upon the troops was marked in the extreme. The men instantly became dejected. Mutiny and wholesale desertion was openly talked of. This soon gave way to a general apathy and indifference, but through all could be seen by a close observer that the Army of the Trans-Mississippi was in spirit crushed. The night of the 26th of April was rainy. In company with a Union-loving lad who had been forced from his home by the press gangs of the Confederacy in March, I set out for liberty and our lines. We traveled southwest all night. At daylight the baying of hounds told us but too truly that we were followed. To be taken was death. We were in the vicinity of Red River, and plunging into the deep swamps, we fled onward through the day among snakes and mosquitoes, with the blood hounds close behind. By almost superhuman exertions we kept beyond the reach of the hounds, although they were several times within 200 yards. My only weapon was a large knife. Our only safety was in keeping in the water. The horns of the drivers were continually heard. At last the welcome shades of night covered the earth, and our baffled pursuers called off their dogs until the light of another day should enable them to regain our trail. Celerity and ten miles travel would save us. I knew where a canoe lay on a bayou eighteen miles above Shreveport. We struck out for a road, reached it, and after avoiding several pickets, reached the canoe. It is to be noted , that after some further difficulties and dangers they arrived safe on the bank of the Mississippi twenty-five miles above the mouth of Red River on the 7th of May. Here their eyes were gladdened by a sight of their glorious star spangled banner. they had made a journey of 400 miles in a canoe in the short space of eight days.
On a night of 1863, A Captain Heasley, of the First South Carolina Volunteers Co. E., came under a attack while guarding a road that lead to a landing. The enemy attacked with 100 hundred in numbers, and were preceded by a pack of five bloodhounds. They attack in great fury, urging their dogs on in advance. Captain Heasley allowed them to approach within a few feet of his men and then ordered a charge, which they did most gallantly, killing three of the blood-hounds with the bayonet. At the same time a well-directed volley threw the enemy into disorder and he retreated amid the groans of his wounded
He, however, soon rallied. The situation now seemed to be very precarious, as the enemy were in front in large force with artillery. At this time, Captain Whitney, who, with 10 men in ambush, had been directed to guard a piece of woods through which our force must retreat, was attacked by another company of the enemy's cavalry. He opened fire upon them, killing, among others, the commander of the company and the remaining bloodhounds.
Note. If you were unlucky enough to be taken prisoners by the Confederates and sent to one of their prisons and you tried to make your escape, and the hounds were sent on you, and they caught up to you, you had no choices, but to give up, for if some how you were lucky enough to kill the Blood-hound it would be your death sentence as the Confederate Law states: To kill a blood hound on your track was death by the military law as resistance to capture.
The Blood-Hound Law of Georgia, 1855.
It will be seen from the following judicial opinion rendered in the supreme court of Georgia in 1855, that the use of hounds or dogs was dogs not deemed unnatural or even illegal in the pursuit of human beings. It would seem that the prison authorities at Audersonville had become so largely imbued with the spirit of slavery, mingled as it was with an unsoldier like hatred of their enemies, that they easily fell into the practice with their prisoners which they had pursued under sanction of law, toward their fugitive negroes. We can hardly wonder that in a State whose jurisprudence authorized the pursuit, tearing, and even death of fugitive slaves by hounds, the controlling power could hesitate long in dealing out to the helpless prisoners in their hands the same measure of iniquity.
The ease to which we allude was the suit of Moran Vs. Davis to recover the value of a slave boy who had been drowned in an attempt to recapture him by the use of hounds. The boy was the slave of the plaintiff, let on hire to the defendant, and escaping from the latter was pursued by him with the result which we have stated, whereupon the plaintiff brought a suit to recover the value of the boy. It was held that the defendant was not liable, having the right to pursue the slave with hounds or dogs “with due degree of caution and circumspection.” Lumpkin, justice, in delivering the opinion, says:
There is but a single question in this case, and that is, is it lawful to track runaway negroes with dogs and follow them up until they are caught, provided it be done with due degree of caution and circumspection. Judge Starke instructed the jury, in substance, that it was, amid we concur with him in that opinion.
Military-Telegraph Service.
Telegraphic duties at military headquarters yielded little in brilliancy and interest compared to those of desperate daring associated with tapping the opponent's wires. At times, offices were seized so quickly as to prevent telegraphic warnings. General Mitchel captured two large Confederate railway trains by sending false messages from the Huntsville, Alabama, office, and General Seymour similarly seized a train near Jacksonville, Florida. While scouting, Operator William Forster obtained valuable dispatches by tapping the line along the Charleston-Savannah railway for two days. Discovered, he was pursued by bloodhounds into a swamp, where he was captured up to his armpits in mire. Later, the telegrapher died in prison.
Note. There is a drawing held at the New York Historical Society, that shows some of General Sherman’s troops killing blood hounds, an inscription on the back of the drawing reads: "Gen. Sherman's men invariably killed all the bloodhounds and dogs of most every description by the order of the commanding general."
A last note. It was not the intent of this author to give a full history of the Blood-hound in the Civil War, that would be impossible. It was this authors hope to give the reader a better understanding on how the Hound was used in the time of the CivilWar.
Note. This information comes from a report to the House of the 40th.Congress 1867-1869, The House report was No. 45. And called: “Treatment of prisoners of war by the rebel authorities.” and the official records of the great Rebellion, which is housed at the Ohio State University.
The hounds of Andersonville.
The first time the hounds were used at Andersonville the handlers name was Harris who lived five or six miles from the prison. He had a pack of eight hounds, besides a dog which they called a “catch-dog.” That dog always went with the pack. Harris did the hunting there for a long while before they got the regular prison hounds. He used to be there every day, and always in the morning he would make a circuit around the stockade to see if any had escaped, and if any had he would of course follow them; and then he would always scour the country all around. Then later they had some more dogs which a man by the name of Wesley W. Turner tended. Turner tended about fifteen dogs, which were kept exclusively for hunting down prisoners, these dogs were kept at the post. Turner’s dogs were fed by rations drawn from the bakery, the same as the prisoners were fed on. He had a young man about eighteen or twenty years old who assisted him. A Captain Wirz’s give the orders to the bakery which would read, “Give this man all the bread and meat he wants for the dogs.”
One young man who had made his escape, had made no great distance, before Harris dogs caught up to him. The young man was very badly torn up, His legs were all bitten up and he was bitten a great deal around the neck and shoulders. The young man belonged to what is believed to a Ohio regiment. The young man may have gotten farther had he had not been so weak from hunger. As the dogs of Harris got closer the young man took to a tree the dogs held the boy at bay till Captain Wirz and Harris reached him, upon reaching the tree. Up on reaching the tree they took to shaking it till the young man fell out to the ground where on the dog torn into him. The young man was brought back and as the passed the bakery, James P. Stone, of the second Vermont Volunteers and who tells his story and other men from the bakery came out to talk to him. Which the young could do little of, for being so weak form the loss of blood. James and the others never saw the young man again as they were told he had died that night.
It was said that Mr. Turner was making more money then any man in the county, and had no need to work his land for a living as long as he had his hounds. He was asked once if his pay came from Richmond, his answer was that he had no need to bother Richmond, as Captain Wriz was his paymaster.
Dr. A. V. Barrows of the twenty-seventh Massachusetts, had this to say about Turner hounds “ They were a species of hound—not the hill-blooded hound—-a mixture. They were of different colors; white, and yellow, and spotted. They had also one large dog, which, I think, they called “catch-dog;” I think he was a bull-dog, or a bull terrier of some kind.”
Joseph D. Keyser, of the one hundred and twentieth New York, had this to say about the Hounds, “ I saw the dogs there were from six to eight dogs, they were spotted hounds, and one of them was a bull terrier. I know what is generally called a fox dog. I do not think they were fox dogs. They had yellow and brown spots, long ears, middling broad and flapping, and a pointed head, rather of the hound style. I never saw a blood-hound. I do not know what a blood-hound is. I cannot say that these were blood-hounds they were not the common hound. I have seen what is called a fox hound. I do not think they were fox hounds. They might possibly have been, but I do not think they were.”
Dr. F. G. Castlen, surgeon of the third Georgia Reserves, C. S. A., stated that he saw the dogs only once and they were your ever day breed of fox hounds.
Note. It was well known by all the prisoners that if the Hounds were put on you all was lost. If you were lucky you would be just bitten and torn up a might, but if you tried to fight the dogs off Turner would let the dogs tear into you till you were dead. At times the dogs were permitted to attack and lacerate the prisoner, for the purpose, as the hound man expressed it, “of keeping the Dogs in proper training."
Thomas N. Way, of the first Ohio Volunteers, stated that he know of the dogs. “ They caught me three times. I remember about a soldier being torn to pieces by hounds. He was a young man whose name I don’t know. I knew him by the name of Fred. He was about seventeen years old. When we heard the dogs coming, I and another prisoner who was with me, being old hands, climbed a tree. He tried to so but had not got up when the hounds, caught him by the foot and pulled him down, and in less then three minutes he was torn all to atoms. Turner was close behind. He got up just as the man was torn to pieces and secured the hounds, and we came down. Fred died; he was all torn to pieces. No other of our member was torn at the same time.”
Note. The polemical post-war writers faced something of a problem with figures in trying to prove that the South had killed off prisoners as part of a deliberate extermination policy. The number of Union prisoners who died was not large enough to substantiate the claim. So the myth-makers either ignored the numbers completely, or came up with new figures of their own. One writer claimed, for example, that no record remains of the many prisoners who "were pursued through fen and forest by bloodhounds and demons and their mangled corpses left to the carrion birds."
Blood-Hounds.
As the war wore on the need for more hounds was on the rise, as the number of run away slave was increasing and the longer a war went on there would more prisoners and some of them would escape and had to be hunted down. The dogs were now on the fighting line, some would be killed and would need to be replaced. Dogs ( Hounds ) were not only used for hunting slaves or escapees but in the sniffing out Indians as will. As in the case of June of 1865, when the Honorable S. Finch, sent a letter by Major Evins of the State Militia to Major General C. R. Curits, stating the need for blood hounds to hunt down the Indians in he neighborhood. The letter read in part:
SAINT PAUL, MINN, June 6, 1865.
Honorable S. FINCH,
Mankato, Minn.:
MY DEAR SIR: Yours of the 27th ultimo, concerning an effort which is being made to procure blood- hounds to hunt down the skilking Indians in your neighborhood, m and requesting my assistance in procuring transportation, was handed me by Major Evins, I believe, an officer of the State militia. I told the major it was not my province to interfere with any State matters designed to regulate the police or safety of citizens, but my inclinations, previous conduct, and best judgment were all opposed to the movement. I have publicly denounced the use of blood- hounds as dishonorable and despicable, and I could not allow my troops to directly or indirectly participate in such an effort to procure or use them.
The cry of needless alarm and inordinate cruelty is constantly raised against us, and the belief that frontier men are themselves savages seems to prevail in some quarters, much to my vexation and often to our injury. I have met this feeling as a military obstacle int he way of procuring or retaining adequate force. This move is very likely to return upon us in the same way. Besides, Indians are not afraid of dogs; they like and eat them. The trail in Florida was a failure, a folly, and a disgrace which hoped to break down Van Buren's administration. I have talked in this wise to Major Evins, who, being the near relation to the Jewtt family (brother, I believe, of the unfortunate victim, Mrs. Jewtt), is of course most anxious to secure some means of avenging the barbarous outrages of his kindred and protecting the rest of his people against their repetition. But I do not think the major will doubt my desire to do the very best I can in the efforts to guard the settlements, although I do not favor this blood- hound movement, and I am sure you will not doubt the sincerity of my purpose.
I have been through the region of Arkansas where the rebels have freely used blood- hounds, and understand what I am talking about. Our Indian scouts are far better followers and hunters of vagrant Indians, and our troops, even if you have hounds, will be the only dependence. Troops are moving and more are coming. There is a vast difference between your danger in 1862 and to- day. Then you had some 6,000 foes in your own immediate neighborhood. Now those Minnesota Indians are most of them dead and the remnants are far away near Devil's lake and Turtle Mountain, on the very border of the British Province, and there we will strike their settlement or frighten them still farther from you. In this starving condition occasional efforts of a few may be made to your annoyance, and you may be sometimes approached by straggling Indians from other bands; all our frontier States are so annoyed. But the great rebellion being closed, our Federal Government will be better able to afford assistance, and your frontier will therefore hereafter have as good or better protection than usually occurs in the settlements of frontier States.
S. R. CURTIS,
Major-General.
C. S. Bell, was a scout for the Union and had been on a mission when he was betrayed by an old foe who was trying to save is own life, as he was charged with killing a major. Bell was caught and put on trial as a Federal spy. He was later found innocent, then pressed into the Confederate Army. He was later able to desert, this is part of his report on his run from the hounds.
On the 24th, of January 1865, while on dress parade, a general order dated the 23rd and signed "E. Kirby Smith," was read to the troops. He recounted the disasters to Lee's army and bade his army to be hopeful; to not abandon their colors; that the eyes of the world were upon them; that their resources were inexhaustible, and that on them depended the fate of the Confederacy. The effect of this order upon the troops was marked in the extreme. The men instantly became dejected. Mutiny and wholesale desertion was openly talked of. This soon gave way to a general apathy and indifference, but through all could be seen by a close observer that the Army of the Trans-Mississippi was in spirit crushed. The night of the 26th of April was rainy. In company with a Union-loving lad who had been forced from his home by the press gangs of the Confederacy in March, I set out for liberty and our lines. We traveled southwest all night. At daylight the baying of hounds told us but too truly that we were followed. To be taken was death. We were in the vicinity of Red River, and plunging into the deep swamps, we fled onward through the day among snakes and mosquitoes, with the blood hounds close behind. By almost superhuman exertions we kept beyond the reach of the hounds, although they were several times within 200 yards. My only weapon was a large knife. Our only safety was in keeping in the water. The horns of the drivers were continually heard. At last the welcome shades of night covered the earth, and our baffled pursuers called off their dogs until the light of another day should enable them to regain our trail. Celerity and ten miles travel would save us. I knew where a canoe lay on a bayou eighteen miles above Shreveport. We struck out for a road, reached it, and after avoiding several pickets, reached the canoe. It is to be noted , that after some further difficulties and dangers they arrived safe on the bank of the Mississippi twenty-five miles above the mouth of Red River on the 7th of May. Here their eyes were gladdened by a sight of their glorious star spangled banner. they had made a journey of 400 miles in a canoe in the short space of eight days.
On a night of 1863, A Captain Heasley, of the First South Carolina Volunteers Co. E., came under a attack while guarding a road that lead to a landing. The enemy attacked with 100 hundred in numbers, and were preceded by a pack of five bloodhounds. They attack in great fury, urging their dogs on in advance. Captain Heasley allowed them to approach within a few feet of his men and then ordered a charge, which they did most gallantly, killing three of the blood-hounds with the bayonet. At the same time a well-directed volley threw the enemy into disorder and he retreated amid the groans of his wounded
He, however, soon rallied. The situation now seemed to be very precarious, as the enemy were in front in large force with artillery. At this time, Captain Whitney, who, with 10 men in ambush, had been directed to guard a piece of woods through which our force must retreat, was attacked by another company of the enemy's cavalry. He opened fire upon them, killing, among others, the commander of the company and the remaining bloodhounds.
Note. If you were unlucky enough to be taken prisoners by the Confederates and sent to one of their prisons and you tried to make your escape, and the hounds were sent on you, and they caught up to you, you had no choices, but to give up, for if some how you were lucky enough to kill the Blood-hound it would be your death sentence as the Confederate Law states: To kill a blood hound on your track was death by the military law as resistance to capture.
The Blood-Hound Law of Georgia, 1855.
It will be seen from the following judicial opinion rendered in the supreme court of Georgia in 1855, that the use of hounds or dogs was dogs not deemed unnatural or even illegal in the pursuit of human beings. It would seem that the prison authorities at Audersonville had become so largely imbued with the spirit of slavery, mingled as it was with an unsoldier like hatred of their enemies, that they easily fell into the practice with their prisoners which they had pursued under sanction of law, toward their fugitive negroes. We can hardly wonder that in a State whose jurisprudence authorized the pursuit, tearing, and even death of fugitive slaves by hounds, the controlling power could hesitate long in dealing out to the helpless prisoners in their hands the same measure of iniquity.
The ease to which we allude was the suit of Moran Vs. Davis to recover the value of a slave boy who had been drowned in an attempt to recapture him by the use of hounds. The boy was the slave of the plaintiff, let on hire to the defendant, and escaping from the latter was pursued by him with the result which we have stated, whereupon the plaintiff brought a suit to recover the value of the boy. It was held that the defendant was not liable, having the right to pursue the slave with hounds or dogs “with due degree of caution and circumspection.” Lumpkin, justice, in delivering the opinion, says:
There is but a single question in this case, and that is, is it lawful to track runaway negroes with dogs and follow them up until they are caught, provided it be done with due degree of caution and circumspection. Judge Starke instructed the jury, in substance, that it was, amid we concur with him in that opinion.
Military-Telegraph Service.
Telegraphic duties at military headquarters yielded little in brilliancy and interest compared to those of desperate daring associated with tapping the opponent's wires. At times, offices were seized so quickly as to prevent telegraphic warnings. General Mitchel captured two large Confederate railway trains by sending false messages from the Huntsville, Alabama, office, and General Seymour similarly seized a train near Jacksonville, Florida. While scouting, Operator William Forster obtained valuable dispatches by tapping the line along the Charleston-Savannah railway for two days. Discovered, he was pursued by bloodhounds into a swamp, where he was captured up to his armpits in mire. Later, the telegrapher died in prison.
Note. There is a drawing held at the New York Historical Society, that shows some of General Sherman’s troops killing blood hounds, an inscription on the back of the drawing reads: "Gen. Sherman's men invariably killed all the bloodhounds and dogs of most every description by the order of the commanding general."
A last note. It was not the intent of this author to give a full history of the Blood-hound in the Civil War, that would be impossible. It was this authors hope to give the reader a better understanding on how the Hound was used in the time of the CivilWar.