Chasing History: Exploring My Ancestral Roots - Post #28
by Tonya Graham McQuade
So, it's been far too long since I posted on my blog - but that's because I've really been working hard to finish the first of my books - A State Divided: The Civil War Letters of James Calaway Hale and Benjamin Petree of Andrew County, Missouri. It's getting close to where I'll be ready to start reaching out to publishers. Here's hoping 2023 is the year I see this book in print one way or another!
Have you ever wondered how the writing process works?
Well, Kathy Ridge, the genealogist I met when we visited the Andrew County Historical Society and Museum, has been reading over my book draft and giving me suggestions that have been extremely helpful. I've been busy reviewing her suggestions, adding new information, rearranging and fixing chronological errors, and revising for more clarity. I'm also still reading more books and researching new topics - there's always more to learn, right? After reading, I have to figure how much of that new information I want to put in, what facts needs to be cited, and where it might fit best, without throwing off the chronology or flow.
What has been amazing is that Kathy has been able to identify so many of the people that my GGG Grandfather, James Calaway Hale, mentions in his letters! I had worked hard to build out my family tree so I could understand all the family connections he mentions, but unless the other names were historical figures, I mostly just ignored them. I figured there was no way for me to know who he might be talking about.
For example, in December 1862, James wrote from St. Louis: "I went over on the other side the barracks and I found lots of squares of my old acquaintance, so I had to eat with all of them. I ate five meals Sunday. I see Captain Hobson here, and I seen Ruben Shackleford. He is well. I only got to talk to him – he was going out to town on guard."
My first reaction, upon reading this, was to smile at the picture of James eating "five meals Sunday" and to feel happy for him that he ran into so many old friends. Digging deeper, I was able to learn more about the background of Captain Hobson since he played a leadership role in the war. Kathy, however, added in her comment: "Reuben S. Shackleford was born in 1843 in Missouri and worked as a day laborer for Rev. Daniel Toole in Andrew County. He enlisted in Savannah on 12 Sep 1862 in 35th Reg Co. C and mustered in at Benton Barracks 30 Sep 1862. He survived the war and mustered out at Little Rock, Arkansas on 28 Jun 1865." Wow!
In February 1863, James wrote from Helena, Arkansas: "The Regiments all drawed one month’s pay and all the odd days of the month they enlisted. Mine was one month and 17 days, for which I received $20.39 cents. They will be four months due me the first day of March. We may get the four months pay then and maybe only two months, Col. Pile said he would express all of the money we had to send to our wives. He had a chance to send it up to Memphis where there is an express office, so he told me to direct it to some responsible man in Savannah, so I directed it to William Price, and I sent you ten dollars. So, you can go to Price and get the money when it comes."
Kathy was able to add that William A. Price was a respected Savannah merchant born in New York about 1816 and that Savannah named one of its streets after him. I guess that helps explain why James would trust him with the limited funds he had. A later letter confirmed that his wife received the money he sent.
In March 1863, James wrote again from Helena, Arkansas, this time describing his life in camp since he had been too sick to join his regiment when they were sent to Memphis: "But now I will tell you how I have been living since the Regiment went down the river. They was part of what was left here was sent up to Memphis. Christopher Baker and myself and John Dobbs was left here - only us three of Co. H. We have a whole house to ourselves - a good floor and a door and a brick fireplace - and we are living like kings. None sick but what we have a good stomach to eat, and we have plenty. We drawed a half bushel of Irish potatoes and we have no. 1 flour and we bought soda, so we can have good biscuits all the time. I can beat either of them making biscuit or potato soup. Mollie, I can beat you a making biscuits and can come in on beating your mother. Don’t be uneasy about me, for I hope I am in no danger.”
Kathy wrote: "Christopher C. Baker and John Dobbs survived the war. Dobbs returned to farm in Andrew County, where he married in 1868, and Baker married in 1870 and lived in both Nodaway County and Holt county." I was happy to know they survived and made it home. James worried a lot about who in his regiment died in the Battle of Helena, which happened soon after he was transferred to the hospital in St. Louis due to his illness. His first letter from the hospital is dated June 28, 1863. The battle happened on July 4. He just missed it - and 49 men in his regiment died in the battle.
On October 21, 1863, James wrote from the hospital: "I will tell you almost the first man I seen when I was getting off the street car was James Tegarden. He like to never let me go. He told me all the news. I had to go take something to drink with him. I took some brandy and peppermint, and he took whiskey. He says to me, that is the first time you ever seen me drink like that. I told him it was. We went and set down and talked about one hour before we parted. He pulled out his purse and give me fifty cents and says his wife is gone to New York. He said he seen Bailis a few days before he left and you was all well. He said he just left his mill and everything. I had not went far then till I met Burris Adkins. He told me that someone had shot at Mill Singleton two or three times."
I had written James "Legarden" in my original transcription because sometimes it's hard to make out James's handwriting. Kathy wrote that she thought that the "L" was probably a "T" because there was a "James Tegarden" living in Savannah at the time of the 1860 U.S. Census. As it turns out, all three of the men James mentions in this passage were from Savannah, Andrew County. James M. Tegarden, b. in Pennsylvania about 1815, was a carpenter (1850 U.S. Census) and a miller (1860 U.S. Census). James Burrus Atkins, b. in Kentucky about 1827, was also working as a miller and living with the Tegardens in 1860 (1860 U.S. Census). The wife with whom he was living in the 1850 U.S. Census must have died.
1860 U.S. Census Record showing James B. [Burris] Atkins living with James Tegarden
Kathy had pointed out the backgrounds and connection between Tegarden and Atkins, but she hadn't said anything about Mill Singleton. Following her lead, however, I did some research and found Milton Robards Singleton in the U.S. Census records. I figured out he was born about 1818 in Kentucky, was a Savannah lawyer, and his wife and four children were living in Savannah with him in 1860 - three years before he was shot.
Through Newspapers.com, I also found a letter Milton Singleton wrote to the Weekly Herald and Tribune in St. Joseph, Missouri on October 8, 1863, defending himself against accusations of being a Rebel. I couldn't find a story about the shooting itself or whether he lived or died, but according to Kathy, most of the newspapers from that time period were destroyed in guerrilla attacks. Clearly, he was being attacked at the time - both by words and bullets.
One funny exchange between Kathy and me related to a letter James wrote from the Marine Hospital on October 30, 1863, where we both read the letter different ways - and we still aren't sure who's right! James wrote: "Bailis, you need not fear but what you can make money here if this war goes on, which I expect it will. I want you here, but Bailis you do just which you think best. I do wish you was all here now and could get shut of them infernal copperheads. I am afraid some of them will kill you, and if you was here, I don’t think you would be in any danger."
I automatically assumed that Bailis, my GG Grandfather, must have been bitten by a copperhead snake. Kathy said she laughed when she saw my picture of a copperhead snake, thinking she had completely misread the passage. She assumed he was talking about the Copperheads, a name given to the Peace Democrats, a faction of Democrats in the Union who opposed the American Civil War and wanted an immediate peace settlement with the Confederates. After she wrote that, I thought she was right - but she thinks I'm right. LOL. We've both reread the passage several times and still aren't positive which one he meant, but Kathy does not think there were a lot of political Copperheads in Andrew County at the time, whereas there are a lot of copperhead snakes in the area where James and his family lived.
Hopefully, that gives you some insight into how the writing process is working for me. Let's just say, "Google" has definitely been my friend through this process!
Tune in next time, where I'll share some of the information I gathered from reading Fearless Purpose - The Memoir of Emily Parsons. Parsons, who was partially blind and deaf, served as a Civil War nurse and was the nursing supervisor at Benton Barracks General Hospital, where James spent a significant chunk of time. It was really interesting to see the way their letters at times overlapped!
No comments:
Post a Comment