8th Mississippi Inf Help

[Lester Moore]

My great grandfather, Prior Anderson, was in the 8th Mississippi Company "C." He was captured at the battle of Franklin on November 30, 1864. Spent the rest of the war at Camp Douglas, Chicago. After the war, he returned to Smith County and in 1870, founded Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Taylorsville, MS. The Church is still there going strong. Prior is buried across the road in the cemetery. He died in 1930.
Paul McGuffin, Green Valley, AZ

 

[7th Mississippi Infantry]

Could it be that later generations got the units mixed up? The request was made 80 years after his death and the children were young when he died.

Very plausible !

Many "mix-ups" had been passed down over the years based on family tradition.
My G Great Grandfather served in the 2nd Mississippi. Our amateur family "genealogists" ( without any knowledge of Civil War units)
automatically assumed he was in the famous 2nd Mississippi at Gettysburg.

Wrong.

He was in the 2nd Mississppi State Troops. Basically a local militia unit for older men & younger boys.
But while these family members ment well, their error caused confusion for many years.

So he was residing in Smith County, Miss. in 1860?
Im not sure where that is.

Smith County is in the far southern part of Mississippi.
About 300 miles south of Tennessee.

If I had to weave a story, I'd say that he did join the 6th (which became the 46th). He served a short time before becoming sick and came home. He never really recovered from the illness and died. There were other Stephens men from the close family who served in the 8th. The one who survived came home with stories and left a vivid memory in the mind of Dauz Stephen's children/grandchildren. They wanted to honor him with a tombstone. They used the memory they had - which was strongly of the 8th - to fill out the form. No deception involved, just poor record keeping by a grieving family.

I couldn't think of a better scenario !
Such was quite common.

Guys on the main fronts would get wounded, sent home to recover and then join different units when they were well.
( That was much easier than trying to make it back to their original regiment, (wherever that regiment may have moved to) ...

Edited to add: A few guys in my family that joined other units after they had recovered from their wounds were recorded as AWOL
in their old regiments. The new regiments they joined only kept the bare basics of records. At that stage of the War, the Confederates had a lot more to worry about than detailed personnel records.

@Sheltowee, I hope all of the above helps.
Smith County & Simpson Counties Mississippi are side by side, the towns, Magee & Raleigh are also in close proximity, so there will be crossover in many areas ... including military units.

 

[DixieRifles]

Smith County is in the far southern part of Mississippi.
About 300 miles south of Tennessee.

Thanks. So far away that I forgot what I learned in my 4th Grade Social Studies. We had to memorize names all 82 counties and "Smith" seemed too common.

 

[7th Mississippi Infantry]

Thanks. So far away that I forgot what I learned in my 4th Grade Social Studies. We had to memorize names all 82 counties and "Smith" seemed too common.

Smith and Simpson Counties are just north of Hattiesburg ... (down Hwy 49 on the way to the Gulf) .

Both counties have always hated each other.
The two major towns in each county ( Magee & Mendenhall) refuse to speak to each other unless necessary.

They do fight-it-out once per year ... with the High School football game.



Their rivalry makes Ole Miss & Mississippi State Universities look like a Lil' boy's sand box dispute.