12th Tennessee Cavalry USA

[observator]

Saw the following link

Tintypes of Two Confederate Tennessee Cavalrymen Killed by Lt. Jordan W. Creasey, 12th Tennessee Cavalry (Union) – ID Scratched in the Emulsion of Both Plates – Perry Adams Antiques

perryadamsantiques.com

story?

 

[Nathan Stuart]

During the first week of May, '64, Lt. Jordan Creasey, 12th. TN Cavalry (Union), led a small detachment performing scouting duties in pursuit of army deserters and guerrillas, north of the Duck River in Maury and Hickman Counties, TN. During this period, he captured two men, Nat Suggs and Capt. George H. St. Claire (a former Union soldier who claimed to have acted as a Federal spy among enemy guerrillas operating in the mountains of the region). St. Claire gave an account, that following his own capture, Lt. Creasey (spelt 'Creasy' in the report) upon learning the identities of two guerrillas, tracked down the suspects and cornered them hiding in a secluded and supposed house of ill-repute, whereupon Creasey singularly advanced and rushed them alone (ahead of his own party) and shot and killed both men. The names of the two men that Creasey killed on May 7, 1864, were Col. Pointer and Lt. Buford.

(see report in, 'OR': Series 1, Vol. XXXIX, Part 1, at pages 6-7)

On the bare face of it, it seems like Lt. Creasey's courageous conduct in these circumstances constituted the actions of a brave man.

 

[Stryker65]

Whoa! Was that Colonel Marcellus Pointer of the 12th Alabama Cavalry?

 

[Nathan Stuart]

Whoa! Was that Colonel Marcellus Pointer of the 12th Alabama Cavalry?

It's not the same person.

Believe it's Edward Henry Pointer, of Williamson County, TN, who joined Holman's Battalion, Partisan Rangers, which became Co. B of the 11th. TN Cavalry (CSA).

In the 'Military Annals of Tennessee: Confederate' (1886), it lists (at page 708) Private Edward Henry Pointer of the 11th. TN Cavalry being killed on Lick Creek, Hickman County, TN, after he had surrendered on May 7, 1864.

The more detailed description reads (at page 709):

..."Private Edward H. Pointer, a young man of intelligence and promise, was murdered by the Federal troops after he had surrendered. They took his own pistol and shot him. Pointer was on detached service as a scout, and was captured at or near the house of Mr. Bradford, on Lick Creek, in Hickman county, Tenn., on the 7th of May, 1864. The company who murdered him is said to have been commanded at the time by one Captain or Lieut. Creeey."...

This reference is contrary to the contents of the OR previously cited, which referred to Pointer being of the rank of Colonel and being killed in different circumstances of capture.

One can choose which version of events to accept.

 

[Stryker65]

That was scary for a sec...I had thought Colonel Pointer surrendered with Johnston. Good that it was cleared up!