My grandfather was a deserter? Fold 3 cards

Yeah that's defintely a worthy expense. I'd just hate to spend the $25 and get everything I already knew from Fold3. I'll call the archives first and get some more information. Eventually I'd like to get all 8 +1 (last night I discovered another Connell in Company I) for a small publication to go with our family album, but dedicated to our ancestors of the Civil War. It'll be a long project but from dates of muster rolls, etc... I'd like to pinpoint dates and where they were and what battles they were in.

Yeah, it's a bit of an expense, and a project like your publication would take lots of time and effort, but it's a labor of love and well worth the investment.

Like you, I've been learning what I can about my ancestors' service, then tying their dates of service (minus detachments, furloughs, sick periods, etc.) to their unit histories to determine what actions they saw. Now I'm reading books on those actions and noting those portions of the battles in which the ancestors participated. This gives me a clearer idea of what my ancestors might have experienced on the field. Throw in any diaries from company- or regiment-mates and you get an even better idea of what the battles were like, as well as camp life, marches, etc. Campaign/Operational level books provide reasons why things happen the way they did, and the books on strategy and policy help provide overall meaning. Then you start to have an understanding of the whole deal.

I guess the big trick is to, as you're planning to do, capture the information for your descendants so they can benefit from your time and efforts. Good luck, and enjoy the journey.
 
Yeah, it's a bit of an expense, and a project like your publication would take lots of time and effort, but it's a labor of love and well worth the investment.

Like you, I've been learning what I can about my ancestors' service, then tying their dates of service (minus detachments, furloughs, sick periods, etc.) to their unit histories to determine what actions they saw. Now I'm reading books on those actions and noting those portions of the battles in which the ancestors participated. This gives me a clearer idea of what my ancestors might have experienced on the field. Throw in any diaries from company- or regiment-mates and you get an even better idea of what the battles were like, as well as camp life, marches, etc. Campaign/Operational level books provide reasons why things happen the way they did, and the books on strategy and policy help provide overall meaning. Then you start to have an understanding of the whole deal.

I guess the big trick is to, as you're planning to do, capture the information for your descendants so they can benefit from your time and efforts. Good luck, and enjoy the journey.
Yeah, the difficult part is the Confederate muster rolls. Like one is dated from May-October and says "Absent Sick", so I doubt he was sick that entire time without being sent back home or what have you, so it makes it hard to know what battles they were involved in since they went through multiple engagements in that 5 month span. I do know for a fact That Richard P Connell was killed at Antietam. It's kind of saddening to know of your ancestors that grew up together, left for the war together, but one was buried in WV, one in VA, etc... I have one that we can't find the exact place of death. Different sources say he died of pneumonia in Tennessee, Virginia, and Georgia on Christmas Day or New Years Day. Reading his wife's pension application really hits home when you read "the last we heard or seen of him was in VA, they said he died of pneumonia".

On a side note, my g/f is getting irritable because she says I'm "obsessed" with this lol. I just got into it on Sunday woman, leave me be!! :smile:
 
Yeah, the difficult part is the Confederate muster rolls. Like one is dated from May-October and says "Absent Sick", so I doubt he was sick that entire time without being sent back home or what have you, so it makes it hard to know what battles they were involved in since they went through multiple engagements in that 5 month span. I do know for a fact That Richard P Connell was killed at Antietam. It's kind of saddening to know of your ancestors that grew up together, left for the war together, but one was buried in WV, one in VA, etc... I have one that we can't find the exact place of death. Different sources say he died of pneumonia in Tennessee, Virginia, and Georgia on Christmas Day or New Years Day. Reading his wife's pension application really hits home when you read "the last we heard or seen of him was in VA, they said he died of pneumonia".

On a side note, my g/f is getting irritable because she says I'm "obsessed" with this lol. I just got into it on Sunday woman, leave me be!! :smile:

Union muster rolls are similar, so you're bound to use a bit of guess-work. Regarding the ancestor who died of pneumonia, it's kind of depressing to consider his end, and that the family has no idea where he's buried.

One of my ancestors, PVT Simeon Minnick, got sick in late 1862 after surviving the Peninsula Campaign and Seven Days Battles and was sent to a hospital in Washington DC with "chronic diarrhea." He entered the hospital on 13NOV, died on the 14th, and was buried on the 15th. He had no effects on him and on his hospital death record is the remark "As this soldier had no descriptive list at this Hospital, this [i.e. his name, age, rank, unit, and place of birth] is all that is known of him." Sad to think that he died far from family and friends (even his battery mates) and buried with no fanfare.

My wife says I'm obsessed, too, but with us having been married for 25 years, she just rolls her eyes, says "at least it isn't drugs, booze, or p*rn," and lets me be.
 
Thanks for the reply rhp. Good story indeed!


Thanks Nathan, but what's the jackpot that you are referring to?
I wish there was more I could find on them, but they were poor farmboys and I'm not sure that any of them could even write. That being said, I probably won't find any letters or diaries. I would give anything for a picture, but I doubt that will ever happen. I plan to purchase Wiregrass to Appomattox: The Untold Story of the 50th Georgia Infantry Regiment, CSA. It's supposed to be the most in-depth look at 50th Regiment ever published. I'm hoping it will shed some light on the situation.

At this point, after searching for over 30 years for info, any find is a jackpot, in my book. To find something so revealing is truly amazing! Whatever you have, be thankful (that's a message to everyone who searches!)
 
Found out something interesting after reviewing records. The day of his "desertion" was just 2 days before his 3 year mark of service. He enlisted for 3 years lol. Now it could just be a coincidence, or maybe he guesstimated to his best ability that he had completed his 3 years on that day. I'd like to picture him sitting there with his comrades and saying: "I served what I said I'd serve, it's cold, and I'm hungry...to hell with it, see ya'll boys back home!"

It just makes me think....sounds like something a Roe would do without a doubt! Then again I'm just taking guesses, but the dates are so close that it makes me wonder...

The Roster of Confederate Soldiers of Georgia does NOT show him as a deserter, but those that deserted earlier on are clearly marked as such.
 
Found out something interesting after reviewing records. The day of his "desertion" was just 2 days before his 3 year mark of service. He enlisted for 3 years lol. Now it could just be a coincidence, or maybe he guesstimated to his best ability that he had completed his 3 years on that day. I'd like to picture him sitting there with his comrades and saying: "I served what I said I'd serve, it's cold, and I'm hungry...to hell with it, see ya'll boys back home!"

It just makes me think....sounds like something a Roe would do without a doubt! Then again I'm just taking guesses, but the dates are so close that it makes me wonder...

The Roster of Confederate Soldiers of Georgia does NOT show him as a deserter, but those that deserted earlier on are clearly marked as such.

Maybe a clerk error on dates. Card shows desertion (Clerk error) - Roster is corrected version (no desertion) . IMHO - I would go with the Roster (more officially posted).
 
bluefox85-- I lean towards what oldpete63 suggests....go with the roster.

Regarding the "desertion" date being two days before his enlistment was up, my wife has an ancestor who enlisted in March 1865 from New Jersey and deserted in June 1865 from his camp near Wash DC. My sister-in-law was bemoaning the fact that they had a deserter in the family when I pointed out some points she hadn't considered; this 18 yr old probably joined to have some excitement and be a part of the big war before it ended, but by the time he was sent into Virginia the AoNV had surrendered, the war was winding down, and there was nothing but camp life and occupation duty to look forward to, so he probably decided he wasn't really needed and headed home. Not the most professional or upstanding thing to do, but understandable.
 
Thanks for the reply ExNavyPilot. I always enjoy your posts and the help you provide. You're an asset to this community! I guess you're right, it's slightly better to descend from a deserter than a traitor. I also factored in at this point in the war, he had already seen 4 of his brothers and cousins die, so that too could have had a large role in the question of why. If only he would have held on for one more month, it would have been over, but who I am to judge. I guess this explains why I can't find him in any of the pension records.

Just a thought, but maybe, just maybe he thought he was next and he was only thinking of getting home in one piece! A month later he very well could have been dead. Glad he survived and you are here to tell his story.
 
I have something similar with an uncle. He enlisted on June 16, 1861 for one year. His service record says he deserted. He was at the Battle of Shiloh, where he was wounded and left for dead, and from there he went home. He gets detained about a year later, and ends up serving in the infantry for a while, and then finished the war as a sergeant in the cavalry. When he applies for a pension after the war, he is denied because he was called a deserter.
 
Pictured is Tillman Howard Land from Monroe County, Tennessee shortly before his death in 1925. 2nd cousin 4 x removed in my family tree. He enlisted and served in the Confederate 39th & 59th Tn. Mounted Infantry regiments till Dec.20,1862. His last Confederate CMSR card states " deserted and gone to Kentucky. " There he joined the Union 7th Tennessee Mounted Infantry. He served with them till the end and drew a Federal pension till his death in Texas. He had 3 brothers who were Confederates paroled at Vicksburg. Being in East Tennessee they were soon caught behind Federal lines and never rejoined the rebel army. If " deserted " shows up on an ancestor's record, there could be several reasons and different circumstances. Were your ancestors perhaps from an area in Georgia with strong Union sentiment ? Maybe they didn't want to be there to begin with. There are even more examples of " switch-hitters " among my kinfolk.
Tillman Howard land fought on both sides in the Civil War.jpg
 
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I have a hard time understanding all of these cards. There are at least 15 for every relative of mine. The one's for Ezekiel say "deserted from the enemy", yet it says Confederate at the top...so did he desert from Union capture or is this Union documentation?
It is Union documentation.

Later ones say "oath of rebel deserters". It also says he was sent to Jacksonville, Fla?? Why would they send a prisoner/deserter back that far South?

After he took an oath of allegiance to the USA he would be released to go home. Jacksonville would have been the closest spot the US would transport him.
 
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I don't know what to think of that. Should I be ashamed? It's kind of saddening, but I wasn't there. ...

Or perhaps he was smart. By March 1865 it was basically over -- it should have been clear that the Confederacy was going to loose and he had an opportunity to get an early start on the journey home.
 
To answer the 'should I be ashamed' question - simply, no.

I think a lot of us go into genealogical research with some romantic notions (particularly about war service), but what we find is something we should have known all along - that our ancestors were human. I've got one Confederate deserter in the family tree, one 'switch-hitter' as another poster described it. I find their stories MUCH more interesting than the ones who merely served their time and went home.

It might help to study up on the part of Georgia they were from, too. The mountain regions were often heavily Union during the war - the study of Southern Unionists is kind of sparse but definitely interesting. Probably sparse because it doesn't fit the neat 'North vs. South' narrative most of us grew up with. It's pretty messy.

I don't know about you, but I find the human much more interesting than the 'heroic'. No hagiography for my ancestors.
 
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