A life-saving capture

[lupaglupa]

While reading the book Miserable Little Conglomeration: A Social History of the Port Hudson Campaign by Christopher Thrasher recently, I came across an interesting anecdote. A Confederate cavalryman from Louisiana had received what seemed to be a fatal shot during a skirmish. His unit felt they had to leave him behind. A few days later, advancing over the same area, his company found him in a church. While in the custody of the Union Army the man had been tended to by a Union surgeon, who had saved the man's life by amputating his leg. An article in the Port Hudson Courier described this as "one of the few instances on record where an act of humanity has been practiced by the enemy during this war."

I was able to find a reprint of the original article. There were enough clues to lead me to the man who had been saved during his capture. Francis Benjamin Erwin, called Private Irwin in the article, was a farmer from Franklinton, Louisiana. He enlisted May 14, 1862 in Company C of the 9th Battalion of Louisiana Partisan Rangers, which became the 3rd Regiment of Louisiana Cavalry (Wingfield's). The four cards in his records at Fold3 do tell enough of his service to confirm his identity. But a 1906 pension application by his wife Sarah includes the information that "he left his right leg at siege of Port Hudson."

Despite his wounds, Erwin lived thirty years after the close of the war. The 1870 US Census showed he had returned to farming. In 1880, his profession was given as shoemaker and the Census noted he was "crippled, maimed." Erwin died in 1895 at the age of 67.

 

[Reconstructed Rebel]

one of the few instances on record where an act of humanity has been practiced by the enemy during this war."

The need to demonize your enemy is strong, but I will attest that I have read of many acts of humanity on both sides.

 

[delta rifles]

How'd you like Thrasher's study of the Port Hudson Campaign?

 

[lupaglupa]

I thought the picture of what was going on around the area before, and somewhat during, the siege was good. There was less about the experiences of the soldiers inside the fortifications than I expected. Of course, since my ancestor was trapped in there that's my main interest.

 

[delta rifles]

I agree with you as far as Confederate sources go...unfortunately, I think the lack of Confederate perspective is directly related to the paucity of Confederate primary sources from the siege.

The historiography of the actual siege Port Hudson is certainly from the federal perspective. I do feel that the running of the fleet and the Confederate occupation of Port Hudson before the siege from the Confederate perspective is far more comprehensive than during it.

That being said, I feel Thrasher did an outstanding job of illuminating the day to day struggles of the Nineteenth Corps during the siege.

 

[lupaglupa]

I need to get the book of photographs next.

 

[13 IL Cav & 64 GA Inf]

View attachment 555762

While reading the book Miserable Little Conglomeration: A Social History of the Port Hudson Campaign by Christopher Thrasher recently, I came across an interesting anecdote. A Confederate cavalryman from Louisiana had received what seemed to be a fatal shot during a skirmish. His unit felt they had to leave him behind. A few days later, advancing over the same area, his company found him in a church. While in the custody of the Union Army the man had been tended to by a Union surgeon, who had saved the man's life by amputating his leg. An article in the Port Hudson Courier described this as "one of the few instances on record where an act of humanity has been practiced by the enemy during this war."

I was able to find a reprint of the original article. There were enough clues to lead me to the man who had been saved during his capture. Francis Benjamin Erwin, called Private Irwin in the article, was a farmer from Franklinton, Louisiana. He enlisted May 14, 1862 in Company C of the 9th Battalion of Louisiana Partisan Rangers, which became the 3rd Regiment of Louisiana Cavalry (Wingfield's). The four cards in his records at Fold3 do tell enough of his service to confirm his identity. But a 1906 pension application by his wife Sarah includes the information that "he left his right leg at siege of Port Hudson."

Despite his wounds, Erwin lived thirty years after the close of the war. The 1870 US Census showed he had returned to farming. In 1880, his profession was given as shoemaker and the Census noted he was "crippled, maimed." Erwin died in 1895 at the age of 67.

Good research/interesting post.

 

[Enoch L. Cade]

Semi-related. While doing family research I discovered, to my great surprise, a connection to a Northern family. (Very distant - a common ancestor in a village in Somerset in England. My people came to Virginia in the 1640s; the others to Massachussetts in the 1630s.)

One member of this family - let's call him Edwin -- got into West Point, but quit to fight in Mexico. After the war he moved to Selma, Alabama and became a school teacher. when the war started, he enlisted in an Alabama cavalry company. Braxton Bragg chose this company as his escort before Shiloh, and it remained the escort company for Army of Tennessee commanders through the war.)

This caused considerable distress to Edwin's brother, who was still in Massachussets. (The family history I read says he was despondent about Antietam.) So he signed up for nine months; his regiment was attached to Banks' expedition and is sent to the siege of Port Hudson. and a few days before the expiration of his enlistment, boom, and he is hit by a Confederate artillery round. The family did retrieve his body, so he's buried in Massachussets. (If he'd been buried in Mississippi I'd mark it with something.)

 

[TerryB]

The 3rd Tennessee was at Port Hudson. My avatar, Ed Buford, Sr., was in the 3rd.