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The Civil War


Over 100 soldiers are now collected here from the North and South. The four direct lines on this tree lead to ancestors who fought for the Confederacy, though many cousins also fought for the Union. They are listed by region and family because that is how they generally served. Their close affiliation is part of the reason why, Shelby Foote has argued, they would advance together into such deadly fire and absorb tremendous losses:

"You must remember that [the men in a regiment] were all from the same state. They had followed the same flag. The names of the battles they had fought in were stitched on that flag. And there was a great deal of unit pride. And I'm sure there was a great deal of sadness over the losses they suffered. But there was a closeness among those men that came from years of being exposed to the most horrendous warfare that I know of" (Geoffrey C. Ward, The Civil War: An Illustrated History [New York: Knopf, 1990] 270).

Brig. Gen. Samuel S. Carroll
Brig. Gen. Samuel Sprigg Carroll
Image from the Library of Congress

A further result of this was the tight bond between soldiers after the war. One measure of this—especially interesting for family history—is the marriages which occurred between the children of veterans.

The sources here are the Civil War Soldiers and Sailors database, sources cited below, and histories already cited under each person's page. Note that soldiers were frequently transferred between units, and units were combined, so the units listed here are not necessarily the only units they served in. There may be outright mistakes here as well; I have not ordered all of their war records. Rank is designated as of the end of their service. War and Pension records can now be ordered on-line at the National Archives; see especially their page on the Civil War.

District of Columbia

John Wesley Lansdale served in Captain Nally's company, formed in 1861 for the defense of the capital; his first cousin's husband William W. Maloney also apparently served in the District, but for what unit is unclear.

General Samuel Sprigg Carroll was from a very well-known Washington D.C. family. He graduated from West Point in 1856. Like his older brother-in-law Gen. Charles Griffin from Ohio (see above), and another brother-in-law Gen. John Marshall Brown of Maine (also see above), he fought in the eastern theatre during the whole war. Carroll started in the Shenandoah Campaign and fought at Cedar Mountain; later he fought at Fredericksburg, after which he was given command of a brigade in the II Corps. Leading them he fought at Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Mine Run and Bristoe Station, the Wilderness (where he was wounded), and Spotsylvania (where he was wounded again a week later).

Indiana

Benjamin Demoss served in the Indiana infantry; he was killed at Murfreesboro in 1862.

Oscar H. Gregg was a private in the 15th Indiana Infantry, which fought in Grant's army along the Mississippi; he was killed in 1863.

Samuel R. Waters served in the the 79th and the 99th Indiana Infantry.

Robert Vinton Williams served in Co. D of the 60th Infantry Regiment. He was first cousin to Thomas Franklin Lansdale who fought for Mosby's Rangers (see below).

Kentucky

Major Vincent H. Gregg, the uncle of Oscar Gregg who fought for Indiana, fought in the 124th Regiment of the Indiana infantry, which was attached to the 23rd Army Corps. This Corps saw action against CSA Gen. Longstreet in Tennessee in 1863, and then on Sherman's campaign through Georgia.

Manford Hamilton served in the Company E of the 10th Kentucky Cavalry and then in Company E of the 16th Kentucky Veteran Infantry. He died in 1866, presumably because of injuries sustained during the war. Several other family members served in the 16th, with last names including Bravard and Mains.

Kentucky

Pvt. Manford Hamilton
The stone for Manford Hamilton lies next to his mother's.
It is engraved "A soldier boy in the 10th and 16th Ky. Reg."

Robert Parker Dimmitt served in the 7th Kentucky Cavalry, and died during the war.

Capt. William Currens Dimmitt served as a Captain in Company K of the 10th Kentucky Partisan Rangers.

Sgt. Leslie Hamilton Mannen started the war in the 7th Kentucky Cavalry (Company F), which was reorganized into Dortch's 2nd Battalion of the Kentucky Cavalry (Company F). He surrendered, however, as a member of the 3rd Regiment in Washington, Georgia.

Frederick E. Savage served in, among other companies, the cavalry in Gen. John Morgan's command, which executed a well-known raid north into Ohio.

Daniel Turney served in companies G and I of the 2nd Kentucky Cavalry, rising through the ranks from his original enlistement as a private to be an officer by the end of the War.

Louisiana

     On November 22, 1861 M. Grivot submitted this report describing the formation of Louisiana infantry units that year (taken from the Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies Series 4, vol. 1). He mentions several units relevant to this site, including J.B. Prados and the 8th Louisiana; the Washington Artillery; the Crescent Rifles (Capt. Charles McLellan's first unit); and the 15th Louisiana in which Charles McLellan served for most of the war. Col. Dreux, noted on the first page, was killed on July 5, 1861; he was the first Louisianian, and in fact the first Confederate officer, to be killed in the war. The report also mentions a large parade and review held on Canal Street on November 23rd 1861. War records and pension applications can be ordered from the Louisiana State Archives.

Several of the people on this site from Lousiana fought along the Mississippi and served either at Vicksburg or Port Hudson. The Battle of Port Hudson is overshadowed by the larger battle at Vicksburg which defined the Union campaign to capture the Mississippi in 1863. Yet its garrison endured the longest seige in American history—48 grueling days—and only surrendered on hearing news of Vicksburg's fall. Once it fell, the Mississippi was owned by the North all the way to New Orleans, which had been captured the previous year. The following contemporary accounts and documents are all found on-line at Cornell's Making of America project.

John C. Abbott wrote two articles on this campaign as part of his "Heroic Deeds by Heroic Men" series published in vol. 30 of Harper's Magazine (Dec. 1864-May 1865). One is entitled The Siege of Vicksburg. (Posted May 25, 2006; 17 pages). A second is entitled The Seige and Capture of Port Hudson. (Posted May 25, 2006; 15 pages). Another article by Abbott from this series, on the Red River campaign, appears below under the section on Texas. You can also take a modern history lesson about the Battle of Port Hudson courtesy of the National Park Service's Teaching with Historical Places project. The photos here add much to the narrative in the Harper's article.

One other fascinating contemporary document is General Nathaniel Banks' Report on Port Hudson. Banks was the Union General at the battle; this is his official report to Secretary of War Stanton on the siege (and later action in Texas) taken from the Official Records (Series 1, vol. 26, part 1). (Posted May 25, 2006; 20 pages). Note that William Luce, a Union naval engineer from New York from an entirely different core tree on the database than the Louisiana families noted below, was killed there by a sniper; his death is noted on page 17 of General Bank's report.

Joseph DeGrange served in the famed Washington Artillery (Company 2) from New Orleans for a year at the beginning of the War (for more on his service, see the essay on the Louisiana Histories page). His daughter Helen married Asahel McLellan, the oldest son of Lt. Alden McLellan. John Bozant apparently served in the First Company of the Washington Artillery, or in the Crescent Regiment, Company E ("Twigg's Guards"), or perhaps both.

Three Pitard brothers served in the war. Arthur Pitard served in the Orleans Guard Battery which saw action throughout the south during the war. Gustave J. Pitard, Sr. and Norbert Pitard, the third brother, served with Cyrus Talbot Bemiss and Alfred Gamard, Sr. in Watson's Battery, which fought in, among other battles, the Battle of Port Hudson. (The battery served at the section called Bennet's Redoubt). Norbert Pitard died during the war on 25 Mar. 1864 at the Battle of Paducah, during a raid north under the command of General Nathan B. Forrest. Gustave Pitard's oldest son, Daniel Maupay Pitard, married Barsilla Bemiss, Cyrus' daughter. His second son, Gustave Pitard Jr., married Alfred's niece Lucie Gamard after the war.

Cousins of theirs through their mother Amelie Hacker Pitard also appear in the records: two of her brother Jean Baptiste Hacker's sons, Numa Paul Hacker and Louis Octave Hacker. Octave Hacker served in 10th (Yellow Jacket) Battalion, and Numa Paul was in the 18th Regiment, which was later consolidated with the 10th; this regiment served in the Red River campaign. Their sister Zulmee's husband Antoine Amy fought in the 8th La regiment in the Army of Northern Virginia; he was wounded at Gettysburg (apparently seriously, since he was in a Lynchburg hospital for a year), and was paroled at Appomattox.

Confederate dead at Antietam
This famous picture of Confederate dead along the Hagerstown
turnpike after Antietam probably shows Louisiana troops
killed in the exact area in which Lt. Charles McLellan fought.
The image (one of four) is from the Library of Congress.

Lt. Alden Miller McLellan served in several units during the war, including Brown's Light Artillery from Lousiana, and the 1st Missouri Infantry. He was captured and exchanged twice. The second time was after Fort Blakely on April 9th, 1865, the last major engagment of the war fought just a few hours after the surrender of General Lee.

Alden McLellan, Sr.: Last Services to the Confederacy. This autobiographical story (also kept on the Louisiana History page) tells of his experiences at the end of the war. It covers the battle of Blakely on April 9, 1865, his imprisonment on Ship Island, and his parole and return home in May. (Posted January, 2007; 13 pages).

Alden's younger brother Capt. Charles McLellan ventured farther afield, spending four years in the 15th Louisiana Infantry which fought in Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. He participated in some 18 engagements. He was promoted from 1st Lt. to Captain for action at Antietam, where he fought in Stafford's brigade under Stonewall Jackson. He was wounded at Mine Run, and was killed on June 1, 1864 by a sniper's bullet at Meadow's Bridge, near Richmond, just before Cold Harbor. He therefore fought against several of his cousins from Maine in a series of battles in Virginia.

Their sister, Sarah Antoinette McLellan, married Callender Irvine Fayssoux, who does not seem to have served in the war, though two of his brothers did (for South Carolina—see below).

Thomas Young Paine Tureman, Alden McLellan's wife Sarah Jane Cooper's brother-in-law, seems to have served in the Louisiana Militia.

Maj. Jean Baptiste Prados served in the 8th Regiment of the Louisiana Infantry; the story of his death was only uncovered many years afterwards, as told here.

There is a "Maupay"—no first name or initial given—who appears as the commander of Company D of the Sumter Regiment under Col. Gustavus A. Breaux (see S299, 188). This was one of a series of militia created in 1861 for the defense of New Orleans; members of this Regiment were folded into the 30th Regiment Louisiana Infantry after the fall of New Orleans in April of 1862, but no Maupay appears on Confederate rosters that I have seen.

Maine

     All of the people here were born in Maine, though they served in units from Maine, Massachusetts, and Michigan. All are McLellan relatives, by birth or marriage, and they fought for the North in many of the same battles in which their cousins from Louisiana fought for the South. None are closely divided families (as the Strains from Tennessee may have been), but they do represent cousin fighting cousin. William H.P. McLellan only moved to New Orleans in 1840, and his family often traveled back during summers to avoid yellow fever; his family must have known of the cousins they were fighting against. Here is a guide to research of Civil War ancestors from Maine. The Maine State Archives have a great page about the War.

Dr. Henry Levensaler
Dr. Henry Levensaler, 8th Maine Infantry

According to Eaton, James Brackett McLellan (a brother of William H.P. McLellan) served in Company E of the Maine 1st Regiment of Heavy Artillery in 1863. I have not, however, been able to find his name on rosters, so this needs to be checked. He later moved to New Orleans himself.

Dr. Henry C. Levensaler served as a surgeon in the 19th and then the 8th Maine Infantry Regiments. His first cousin, also named Henry Levensaler, fought in Virginia for a Massachusetts regiment, and was killed in May of 1864 during the Wilderness campaign. Henry therefore fought in battles against Capt. Charles McLellan, the son of his first cousin Leonora Levensaler, who had moved to Louisiana some twenty years earlier. Dr. Levensaler was her Leonora's nephew. Henry died in Virginia just eight days before Charles, in the same campaign.

Brig. Gen. John Marshall Brown entered the war in 1863 at a captain, fought at Gettysburg, in Georgia and South Carolina, and then at the end of the Overland Campaign at the Anna River and Cold Harbor before being seriously wounded at Petersburg; he was breveted to Brigadier General by the end of the war. His wife, Alida Carroll, was the brother of Gen. Samuel Sprigg Carroll of Washington, D.C. (see below) and the sister-in-law of Gen. Charles Griffin of Ohio (also see below).

The Edwards family connects to the McLellans because two Edwards brothers (Samuel and Enoch) married two McLellan sisters (Martha and Abigail, respectively). Samuel's grandchildren Albert S. Estes and Dana Estes were both privates in the 13th Regiment, Company A of the Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. Albert was killed at 2nd Bull Run on 30 August 1862; his brother Dana was wounded the same day.

Samuel's brother Enoch Edwards had two sons and four grandsons who served in several Maine infantry regiments:

Two of his son Lathrop's children served. David Andrews Edwards entered the 5th Maine Infantry as a corporal and was later wounded at the "Bloody Angle" at the Battle of Spotsylvania, one of the grimmest fights of the War. Albert Marshall Edwards had moved to Michigan. He at first served in the 1st Michigan Infantry Regiment (Company K), and was captured at 1st Bull Run. After being paroled, he returned home and served again as a Captain in the 24th Michigan Infantry (Company F). He fought at Gettysburg, Mine Run (his cousin Capt. Charles McLellan was wounded there), Cold Harbor (where Charles McLellan was killed), Weldon Railroad, and ultimately mustered out as a Colonel.

One of the sons of his daughter Mary served. George Wilder Kimball served in the Maine 12th Infantry (Company A), and died in New Orleans on 13 November 1863. Among other engagments in Louisiana, the 12th fought at Port Hudson, where the Pitards and Gamards fought, in May-July of 1863.

His son Bryce McLellan Edwards served, and so did one of his sons, Sydney Danforth Edwards, both as privates. Bryce served in the 5th Maine Infantry (Company I), and apparently was discharged during the war as wounded. Sydney served in the same Company, and served in the Red River expedition in Louisiana. (You can read about this and other "Military Adventures Beyond the Mississippi" in an essay from Harper's kept on the Texas Histories page).

Enoch's son Clark Swett Edwards also served in the 5th Maine Infantry. He, however, mustered in as a Captain in Company I, and mustered out as Brigadier General. He, and the 5th Maine, fought at First and Second Bull Run, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, The Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor.

Maryland

Metacomet and Selma
The U.S.S. Metacomet captures the C.S.S. Selma in Mobile Bay,
August 5, 1864. Surgeon Philip Lansdale treated the injured
during the battle, and afterwards transported them to Florida
aboard the Metacomet.

     One key source, the History and Roster of Maryland Volunteers, War of 1861-5, is on-line at the Maryland Archives; here is vol. 1, and here is vol. 2.

Lt. Winfield Scott Schley, according to wikipedia.org, "was attached to the frigate Potomac of the Western Gulf squadron in 1861 and 1862, and subsequently took part, on board the sidewheel gunboat Winona and the sloops Monongahela and Richmond in all the engagements that led to the capture of Port Hudson, being promoted Lieutenant on 16 July 1862." He therefore fought at Port Hudson with William Luce from New York (see below), who was also in the Navy, and against Gustave J. Pitard, Sr. and his relations from Louisiana (see above). Schley stayed in the Navy and was later known as the hero of the Battle of Santiago, in the Spanish-American War.

Dr. Philip Lansdale was a naval surgeon during the war. Several documents are affixed to his page. One notable action in which her served was in Mobile Bay under Farragut; was a surgeon aboard the U.S.S. Hartford during the battle, and submitted casualty reports which survive in the Official Records.

Maryland

     Many men from the West River area of Anne Arundel Co., Maryland served in the 1st/2nd Battalion of the Maryland Infantry. The 1st was formed in April of 1861 and disbanded in August of 1862. It was quickly reformed into the 2nd, which served for the rest of the war, ultimately surrendering at Appomatox. For a history of the unit, including muster rolls, see S106. One key source, The Maryland Line in the Confederate Army, 1861-1865 by W. W. Goldsborough, is on-line here at the Maryland Archives.

One family group in the regiment is the Murrays and Franklins.

Capt. William H. Murray was Commander of Company A of the 1st/2nd Maryland Battalion. He was shot in the throat and killed while leading his unit up Culp's Hill early on the third day at Gettysburg. His brother Alexander Murray, also in Company A, was wounded trying to catch his brother as he fell. Their older brother Clapham Murray also served in the same unit. This family lived at "Woodstock" in West River, MD, and is related to the other Murrays who lived in West River, but I have not yet been able to uncover precisely how.

Alexander Murray married Eliza Franklin. She was the half-neice of another member of the regiment, James Shaw Franklin, a 1st Lt. in Company D. He kept a war diary, part of which has been edited here. He was later a successful Annapolis lawyer.

Thomas E. Freeland also apparently served in the 2nd Battalion (Company G—though he is not in Driver's muster rolls): after the early death of his parents, his sister Eleanor was adopted by their uncle, Robert Freeland, and his wife Maria Waters Franklin. Maria was also the first cousin of James Shaw Franklin, and the aunt of Alexander Murray's wife, Eliza Franklin.

Theophilus Norman Deale was also in the 2nd Infantry regiment, and a cousin of James Shaw Franklin. He died in the Union prison at Port Lookout in St. Mary's Co., MD.

Pvt. John Gill and his brother Cpl. Somerville Pinckney Gill were first cousins of Theophilus Deale, and first cousins once-removed of James Shaw Franklin. Somerville Gill was killed Sept. 30, 1864 at the battle at Peeble's Farm (or Pegram's Farm), outside of Richmond.

Two other more distant cousins (but friends) of the Franklins served in the regiment. Charles Alexander Warfield Worthington enlisted in the 1st Maryland, but later re-enlisted in the 1st Maryland Cavalry. He was a a 1/2 fourth cousin of James Shaw Franklin. He was wounded in December 1864 and is listed in hospitals for the next 3 or 4 months—effectively, the rest of the war.

A second distant cousin but close friend of the Franklins, James I. Iglehart, also died on July 3, 1863 at Gettysburg. He was a fourth cousin (once removed) of Alexander Murray's wife Eliza Franklin, and a fourth cousin of James Shaw Franklin. More closely, he was also brother-in-law to James Waddell (see below).

Another family group in the regiment (more distantly related) is the Howards, who were from Baltimore, not West River.

All were children or grandchildren of John Eager Howard (who fought in the Revolutionary War, was a Governor of Maryland, and served in Congress) and his wife Margaret Oswald Chew (who was from the Chew/Galloway family of West River).

John Eager's son Charles (who m. Elizabeth Key, daughter of Francis Scott Key) had four sons who fought in the regiment: John Eager Howard was a Quartermaster and Commissary Officer for the regiment. Maj. Charles Howard served on the staff of Gen. Elzey, who commanded the regiment. Edward Lloyd Howard was a surgeon who mostly served in Virginia. McHenry Howard, a lawyer, worked in many ways for the regiment throughout the war, including as an aide-de-campe on Gen. Steuart's staff at Gettysburg; he was also captured and released twice. He wrote a book on his experiences in the war entitled Recollections of a Maryland Confederate Soldier and Staff Officer under Johnston, Jackson, and Lee.

Second, John Eager Howard's son William (who married Rebecca, a cousin of Francis Scott Key) had a son named William Key Howard who moved from the 1st Maryland to the 4th VA Cavalry and back to the 2nd Maryland before being captured in Front Royal, VA, in August of 1864.

And third, John Eager Howard's son James had two sons in the regiment. James McHenry Howard, another lawyer, also served on Gen. Elzey's staff. David Ridgely Howard was wounded at Gettysburg, spent time in hospitals, and was wounded again at the battle of Weldon R.R. in August of 1864 before being retired as invalid.

A third family group, the Snowdens, also had several members who served in the regiment, though several also served in other units:

Several of the descendants of Nicholas Snowden Sr. and Elizabeth Warfield fought for the Confederacy, though not all of their relations were in this regiment. Two of their sons were surgeons during the war. Dr. De Wilton Snowden was a surgeon in the 1st Maryland Artillery and the 1st/2nd Maryland Infantry. Dr. Arthur Monteith Snowden was also a surgeon, though with another (as yet unknown) unit. Another son, Lt. Nicholas Snowden Jr., served in Company D of the 1st/2nd Infantry, and was killed in battle outside of Harrisonburg, Virginia in June of 1862.

One of this couple's grandsons, Theodore Jenkins Jr., served in the 1st/2nd Maryland; he also was killed, at the Battle of Cedar Mountain in August of 1862. Two other grandsons of theirs, who were brothers, served in Colonel John Mosby's famous Virginia Cavalry (as did other folks on the tree from Maryland and Virginia, noted below). Capt. Walter "Wat" Bowie joined in the fall of 1863, served as an able scout and raider, and rose to be an officer in Company F. He was the commander of several raids into his native Maryland, and was killed in one on October of 1864. His brother Henry Brune Bowie also served the Rangers, and was there when his brother was killed.

A nephew of Nicholas and Elizabeth Snowden's , Maj. Charles Alexander Snowden, served as an aide-de-camp and Quartermaster for Gen. Arnold Elzey, a commader of the regiment, and in several other commands during the war. He was a civil engineer. (His brother-in-law, from Virginia [see below], was Lt. Col. Charles Marshall, an aide to General Lee.)

Other family members (that I know of) outside of these close families also served in the regiment:

The family of Maxcy Galloway Hughes lived at "Tulip Hill" overlooking the West River. He was in the 1st/2nd Maryland, and also served in the 1st Regiment of the Maryland Cavalry. He died in Houston during the War of disease.

Henry Augustus Stewart also seems to have served in this unit (a "Henry Stewart" appears in both the 1st and 2nd Maryland Infantry), though this needs further confirmation.

Family members from Maryland also served in other regiments. Maryland was a border state, but nominally northern, so those who wanted to serve had to escape to the South, where they served in a variety of units:

Thomas Franklin Lansdale from Montgomery County, Maryland served in Company D of . Company D, formed by Mosby early in 1864, contained many men from Maryland. He was a first cousin, once removed of James Shaw Franklin.

Family history says that James McCaleb died during the war of yellow fever. The grief caused by the early deaths of him, his sister, and his father led his mother to endow the building of Christ Episcopal Church in West River, Maryland, which many family members have attended and at which many (including the Murrays, described above) are buried.

Col. Edward Murray, who is buried at Christ Episcopal in West River, is apparently a cousin of the West River Murrays, though I don't yet know how. He served on General Lee's staff.

David Griffith was a private in Company A of the 1st/2nd Maryland Cavalry; his brother Thomas Griffith was an officer in the same company, ending the war as a Captain. Their sister, Mary Ann Griffith, married Richard Hyatt Lansdale, the brother of Thomas Franklin Lansdale (named just above). Another brother, Festus Griffith, seems to have served as a Captain in the Virginia Infantry, and was later a prisoner at Camp Lookout.

Richard Loockerman Harwood was in Company E of the 1st/2nd Maryland Cavalry and died fighting at Winchester in June of 1863. His cousin Thomas Harwood was born in Maryland, but apparently moved to Missouri and fought there.

Maj. Mason Graham Ellzey, a VMI graduate, and Henry Marriott, both from West River, served as surgeons during the war.

Hall family history says that Thomas J. Hall fought in the Army of Northern Virginia; I do not know in what unit.

Thomas Franklin Lansdale
Capt. James Waddell, in a print from
an unknown 19th century magazine.

Captain James I. Waddell was born in North Carolina, but married into the Iglehart family and lived in Annapolis from the 1850s on. His brother-in-law was James Iglehart (see above). He served in the Confederate States Navy. He briefly commanded the ironclad "Mississippi" before it was sunk and fought in engagements off the Atlantic coast, but is best known for outfitting and commanding the "CSS Shenandoah" as an effective Confederate raider during the last year of the war.

"The Last of the Confederate Cruisers" is a chapter of a longer article in the Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine (vol. LVI for 1898) entitled "The Confederate Commerce Destroyers." This describes in detail the travels the of the "Shenandoah" during the last year of the War under Captain Waddell. It was found on-line at Cornell's Making of America project (Posted Feb. 1, 2006; 12 pages).

Massachusetts

Capt. Alpheus Hyatt served as a Capt. in Company A of the 47st Massachusetts Regiment, which served in the New Orleans area during the War.

Henry Levensaler ("Levensalor" in his war record) from Waldoboro, Maine was a private in the 22nd Massachusetts. He was mortally wounded on May 8th, 1864 at Laurel Hill, Virginia.

Mississippi

Lt. James Scudder served in the Mississippi Cavalry and died during the War. His son Edward married Mona Fayssoux, the niece of the three Fayssoux brothers described on this page (under Louisiana and South Carolina).

Missouri

Ferdinand Arthur Rogers was born in Virginia; his mother was Polly Simpson, whose family was from Loudoun County. She and her husband Hugh Rogers moved to Cooper Co., Missouri before the war, and their son Ferdinand is said to have served for the Confederacy, I assume from Missouri.

New York

As Maria Horner Lansdale's family history tells, William Luce, whose sister (Olivia Luce) married into the Lansdales, served as an engineer for a New York naval unit (his family was from Albany; which unit he was in is unclear). He was a Confederate prisoner for at time a Confederate prison in Salisbury. She says that "on June 26, 1863, [he] was killed by a sharpshooter while making a reconaissance near New Orleans (Battle of the Hudson)" (88). This is the Battle of Port Hudson in which Pitards and Gamards fought for the Confederacy (you can read more about this battle, including mention of Luce's death, in documents kept above under Louisiana). William's brother Stephen Bleecker Luce had a long and distinguished career in the Navy. During the War he fought in several naval engagements, commanded the monitor "Nantucket," and served on the blockade.

Ohio

Brigadier General Charles Griffin was born in Granville, Ohio. He graduated from West Point in 1843 and was an infantry commander during the war, fighting in battles in the eastern theatre from First Manassas through Grant's 1864 Overland Campaign at the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, and then at the siege of Richmond. He married Sally Carroll of the well-known Carroll family, which had been politically active and well-connected in Maryland and Washington, D.C. since to the Revolution. Griffin's brother-in-law and fellow West Point graduate was Gen. Samuel Sprigg Carroll from Washington, D.C. (see below), and his wife's sister Alida Carroll was married to Gen. John Marshall Brown of Maine.

South Carolina

Clement Fayssoux and his brother Templar S. Fayssoux were both officers. They both started off in South Carolina units, but Clement seems to have moved to the Louisiana Militia during the war. Lt. Templar Fayssoux was present at the firing on Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor which started the war.

Tennessee

The Strains were from Tennessee, and seem to have been a divided family. James C. Strain is called "Col. James Strain, C.S.A." on his daughter's gravestone. But in the obituary his older brother John Higgins Strain wrote for his mother Jane Higgins, John mentions that

"When the Rebellion broke out in Tennessee, the members of the family living at the old Homestead, being opposed to secession, were despoiled of their property; and, having endured great hardships, she at length saw no other alternative before her than to leave her native state, and, though in extremely delicate health, to undertake what was at that time a difficult and perilous journey to Washington City, the residence of her eldest son, J[ohn] H[iggins] Strain, where she remained up to the day of her death."

The note is ambiguous ("the members" might be part or all of the family), but in light of the "CSA" on the gravestone, it seems like James was for secession in opposition to his mother and older brother. There are various James Strains who served for the CSA, but none are "James C. Strain," as recorded in the Family Bible. A John H. Strain did serve the Union in the "2nd Regiment, Maryland Infantry, Potomac Home Brigade," though this was organized in the upper Potomac (in Cumberland, MD), not in Washington, D.C.

If there was a rift, it seems that it was healed. James Strain's daughter Eliza Wimberly Strain lived with John Higgins Strain after her father's death, and she named her son John Lansdale, Sr. after him.

Texas

     An essay on Military Adventures beyond the Mississippi from vol. 30 of Harper's Magazine (Dec. 1864-May 1865), found on-line at Cornell University's Making of America project, follows on from the two articles on "Heroic Deeds of Heroic Men" (about Vicksburg and Port Hudson) which appear above under Louisiana ancestry. This article tells of the Opelousas, Texas, and Red River expeditions by General Banks' Federal troops during 1863 and 1864. Capts. Hutchison and Tomlinson fought against Banks during this campaign in battles described in this article, including Mansfield and Pleasant Hill. (Posted Apr. 30, 2005; 19 pages)

Charles H. Brossman served as a drummer and a private in Company C of Waul's Texas Legion; he also appears in Timmon's Regiment, Texas Infantry (Co. K), which comprised the infantry portion of Waul's Legion after Vicksburg.

Col. William Oscar Hutchison served in Company A of the 32nd Texas Cavalry (also called the 36th, or Wood's Regiment), which saw action in the Red River Campaign. Several of his brothers fought for Virginia (see below).

John Coleman Roberts lost an arm fighting in John Bell Hood's Texas brigade at the battle of Gaine's Mill, married a Quaker woman from Pennsylvania whom he met in the hospital, and eventually became a large landowner in Robertson Co., Texas.

Friench Simpson's family was from Loudoun Co., Virginia (see below), but his parents moved to Texas, where he served as a private in Company A of the 13th CSA Volunteer Infantry.

Capt. Augustus Austere Tomlinson served in, among other units, the 35th Regiment of the Texas Cavalry (under Gen. Likens), which engaged in action mostly in Louisiana, including the Red River Campaign west of the Mississippi. Before this, he also served at Shiloh in April of 1862 as part of an Alabama cavalry unit (for some reason, some histories say that he died in this unit, which is untrue; he was transferred—unless there are two different Capt. Augustus Tomlinsons!). Here are two sets of documents from the Official Records documenting some of his service:

Capt. Augustus Tomlinson at Shiloh. McDonald's biography (also kept on the Texas Ancestry page) refers to action by Tomlinson in mid-April of 1962, but he apparently mis-read or mis-copied some dates. The action which McDonald describes in General Ruggles' division on 18 April 1862 in fact took place on 6-7 April, at the Battle of Shiloh. These selections from the Official Records (Series 1, vol. 10.1) contain descriptions of Capt. Tomlinson's role in the battle; he was in charge of one of several cavalry companies (Company I, Mathew's Rangers) acting in support of Ruggles' artillery units. The reports gathered here are by Gen. Ruggles, Capt. Ketchum (one of his artillery commanders), three other cavalry captains acting with Tomlinson (Capts. Jenkins, Cox, and Robins), and Capt. Tomlinson himself.
Authorization to raise Partisan Rangers. McDonald also refers in his essay (p. 4) to orders by Governor Thomas Moore of Louisiana to create partisan companies west of the Mississippi in late April of 1862. These are the pages from the Official Records which describe the formation of these companies. "A.A. Tomlinson" is included as the Captain of one. (Posted May 27, 2006; 4 pages).

Five von Rosenbergs, all of whom had been born in Germany, served in Texas during the War:

Carl Wilhelm and Johannes Carl, sons of Peter Carl and his first wife, Johanna Froelich, served as engineers in East Texas.

Three of the sons of Peter Carl and Amanda Fallier enlisted together. Carl Alexander and Carl August Walter enlisted in "Creutzbauer's Company of the Wellhausen Battery under Captain Brickaus," according to Vol. 1 of the von Rosenberg family history (96, 133, 135). Carl Alexander was an artillery sergeant, and died of typhoid fever during the war. Carl August Walter was a corporal, fighting in skirmishes in East Texas and Louisiana. Carl Eugen became a sergeant in Company E of Waul's Texas Legion, and was at the seige of Vicksburg; he was captured there and paroled.

Coincidentally, Waul's Legion, and Liken's cavalry in which Capt. Tomlinson served, were both under the command of Gen. P.N. Luckett. See this note describing the "Organization of the Commands" of the relevant Texas Regiments, taken from the massive compendium the War of the Rebellion (found at Cornell University's Making of America project).

Virginia

     You can view Pension Applications for Virginia on line at the Library of Virginia. Most of the family here are from Loudoun County, near and around the area known as "Mosby's Confederacy"; several fought in his well-known guerrilla unit of Rangers. A young Thomas F. Lansdale from Maryland (see above) also fought in this unit. The 8th Virginia Regiment, in which several others here served, was also largely from Loudoun County.

Lt. Col. Charles Marshall was a trusted military secretary and an aide for General Lee throughout the war; he was the brother-in-law of Maj. Charles Alexander Snowden from Maryland (see above).

Capt. James K. Ball fought in Virginia with the 9th Virginia Cavalry. He married into the Iglehart family from Anne Arundel Co., Maryland.

John Hickey is said to have died at Second Manassas in August of 1862. His brother-in-law William James Hixson fought in the 49th Virginia Infantry. William's brother, George Washington Hixson, fought in the 15th Virginia, and fought in Mosby's Rangers briefly at the end of the War.

Three other Hixson brothers also fought. Levi Hixson (who as with his brothers was first cousin to William J. and George W. Hixson) fought in the 15th Virginia and was a member of Mosby's Rangers. Family history says that Robert Wallace Hixson fought in the war, and his name also appears in the roster of Mosby's Rangers. Their brother Felix Grundy Hixson, who fought in the 17th Virginia, died in 1862.

Lt. Benjamin R. Hutchinson fought in the 57th Virginia Cavalry. He was apparently one of six brothers who fought for the Confederacy, though this remains to be documented. His brother John Hutchinson fought in the 8th Virginia Regiment, moving from Private to Sergeant during the War. Family history say that another brother, Julian Hutchinson, was a courier for Gen. Stonewall Jackson. And another brother, William Oscar Hutchison, fought for Texas (see above).

The Simpson family lived in Loudoun Co., Virginia. Capt. James R. Simpson served as a commander of Company I of the 8th Infantry Regiment of the Army of Northern Virginia. (He died in 1862, but I don't as yet know how.) Many other Simpson relatives from the area served in the same regiment, and even the same company, including his younger brothers Lt. Henson Simpson and Lt. John H. Simpson, and also Pvt. James C. Vansickler and John Holmes. Charles A. Holmes, John's brother, served in the 7th Cavalry.

James Franklin Gulick, another Simpson relative, served in Mosby's Virginia Cavalry. He was captured in May of 1863, so he was apparently an early member of the unit, which was only formed that spring.

Sgt. Bushrod Skillman, also from Company I of the 8th regiment, was apparently killed June 27, 1862, at Gaines' Mill, Virginia, in the Seven Days Battles. There are several Skillmans (or Skilmans) who served in this regiment, and some who were cousins served for the U.S. in New Jersey regiments—this Skillman family had moved from New Jersey to Northern Virginia during the late eighteenth century. See S298 for a complete family history.

Capt. James A. Strain fought in Company H of the 14th Virginia Cavalry, which saw action in western Virginia; his brother Samuel P. Strain served as a private in the same unit.


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