"...bring 2 horses. One might die or get killed"

lelliott19

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Another interesting letter to my gg grandfather, Dr Wm C Cross (Surgeon 16th AL Inf; Surgeon Major, Sr Surgeon Woods' Brigade; Medical Officer, Bragg Hospital, Army of TN CSA)

Camp Chur chew_(?)
Knoxville, Ten
Oct 30 /61
Dr. Cross

Dr Sir

Col Wood* has already informed you by telegraph that [you] are appointed Surgeon to our Regt. Hope you will accept and come out as soon as practicable As we are having some very serious cases of fever. Do not think we will get off from here before Next week. You will be allowed 2 tents furnished you if you wish and forage for 3 horses. Believe I would bring 2 horses were I in your place. One might die or get killed & you might want your boy** to ride some time.

What has become of Billy Hayley he wrote me that he would start up more than a week ago?

The boys are all exultant over your appointment.

Come soon the Assistant Surgeon has gone to the Gap with our first Battalion and I have to attend to my Company duty and visit the Hospital too.

Yours truly

J H McGaughey***

PS I send you transportation for yourself & two horses. If you bring only one horse you can make the change so that they will not charge for two Please see Mr A C Berlin & QTM (?) see if wishes to send a pistol to me.

_____________________________________________________________________________
* William Basil Wood, Colonel of the 16th Alabama Infantry. He was the older brother of Brig General Sterling Alexander Martin (S.A.M.) Wood. In the retreat from Fishing Creek, he, with many members of the regiment, contracted typhoid fever. He was granted sick leave, and rejoined the regiment the succeeding November at Estell's Springs. At the battles of Triune and Murfreesboro he led his regiment gallantly. In May, 1863, having been appointed presiding judge of Longstreet's corps, he was transferred to the Army of Northern Virginia.

**Ref to Sam Cross, who was Dr. Cross’ “body servant” throughout the War.
On January 4 1869, Dr. Cross transferred ownership of land and a house to Sam Cross. According to my grandfather, this was done in recognition and grateful appreciation of Sam’s service 'all during the War Between the States.'

***John H McGaughey was Captain of Company A, 16th AL when the Regiment was organized. He was the son of Eli A. McGaughey. When Major Alexander H Helveston was made Lt Colonel, McGaughey was promoted to Major. He was a genial companion, an honorable man and a good officer, and like Helveston, he was wounded in nearly every engagement in which he participated. He received a fearful wound at Shiloh on the first volley which the enemy fired. When Helveston was made colonel, he was promoted to Lt Colonel. He was mortally wounded at the Battle of Chickamauga.

Info on Wm Basil Wood and John H McGaughey from www.trackingyourroots.com/data/16ala.htm
 

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Sam Cross was Dr. Cross’ “body servant” throughout the Civil War. Could someone( @Allie maybe?) who has access to ancestry see if you can find Sam Cross on the US Census? Would have been Franklin County AL - although the county was divided in 1870 and the part he lived in would have become Colbert County. I'd like to know how old he was when he went off to war with my gg grandfather? I think I found him on the 1860 slave schedule although the one I can access has no names. I think he was possibly 38 yo with a 35 yo wife, 5 yo son, 2 yo daughter, and 3 month old son and possibly a 14 yo daughter in 1860?

In a handwritten deed dated, filed, and witnessed January 4 1869, Dr. Cross transferred ownership of land and a house in the small town of Cherokee, AL to Sam Cross. According to my grandfather, this was done in recognition and grateful appreciation of Sam’s service 'all during the War Between the States.'

"Even with these small pockets of ownership, only a tiny number of former slaves in rural areas of the Lower South had acquired their own land by 1870. In Alabama, the ratio was one family in 51 ...."


Black Property Owners in the South, 1790-1915
Loren Schweninger, page 147.
https://books.google.com/books?id=TWbUJQ2ECmYC

Signatures on Deed.PNG

That's the signature of my gg grandfather AND my grandfather on the same piece of paper. Obviously, the note by my grandfather, Robt K Cross, was made at a much later date. But still cool I think.
 
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It appears that in 1870, Samuel was living in the household of Dr Cross as his gardener. I don't see a wife listed. According to this census he was born about 1820, which matches the dates on the state census.

He also appears on the Alabama state census of Colored Population in 1866 and the enumeration of voters in 1867. He does appear to have a wife with him in 1866.

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Sam's first wife may have died by 1870. In 1880 he has a younger wife, Laura, and a nephew, J H, which indicates that he had at least one sibling who took the Cross name, and the sibling was probably deceased before 1880.

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Thanks @Allie Very cool to see his voting return! I wonder if his wife and children may have been enumerated at their house? Maybe he was at Dr Cross' house working when the census worker came? I knew that Dr Cross was born in NC but interesting that Samuel was born in NC too. I am guessing that he and Dr Cross had quite a long standing relationship. Maybe even played together as children?

Edit: posted this before I saw that his wife likely died before 1870 and he was remarried. Thanks for continuing to dig. You're the best!
 
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You know it occurs to me that the woman with him in the earlier records may be his sister and mother of his nephew, who would probably also have taken the Cross name. It's also possible his wife left him taking the children and he was staying with Dr. Cross while living arrangements were worked out. You can't assume anything! I'll keep looking later and see if I can find more on JH which may tell us something.
 
Maybe I need to make a trip to the courthouse to research the ownership of the house that Dr Cross deeded to him. It would be a real shame if the wife left him, took the children, and the house. Wait all that time and finally own your own property and then have it go to the wife? That would be bad. Maybe if that happened, Dr Cross gave him another one? Maybe some additional information could be gleaned from the property records.
 
Another interesting letter to my gg grandfather, Dr Wm C Cross (Surgeon 16th AL Inf; Surgeon Major, Sr Surgeon Woods' Brigade; Medical Officer, Bragg Hospital, Army of TN CSA)

Camp Chur chew_(?)
Knoxville, Ten
Oct 30 /61
Dr. Cross

Dr Sir

Col Wood* has already informed you by telegraph that [you] are appointed Surgeon to our Regt. Hope you will accept and come out as soon as practicable As we are having some very serious cases of fever. Do not think we will get off from here before Next week. You will be allowed 2 tents furnished you if you wish and forage for 3 horses. Believe I would bring 2 horses were I in your place. One might die or get killed & you might want your boy** to ride some time.

What has become of Billy Hayley he wrote me that he would start up more than a week ago?

The boys are all exultant over your appointment.

Come soon the Assistant Surgeon has gone to the Gap with our first Battalion and I have to attend to my Company duty and visit the Hospital too.

Yours truly

J H McGaughey***

PS I send you transportation for yourself & two horses. If you bring only one horse you can make the change so that they will not charge for two Please see Mr A C Berlin & QTM (?) see if wishes to send a pistol to me.

_____________________________________________________________________________
* William Basil Wood, Colonel of the 16th Alabama Infantry. He was the older brother of Brig General Sterling Alexander Martin (S.A.M.) Wood. In the retreat from Fishing Creek, he, with many members of the regiment, contracted typhoid fever. He was granted sick leave, and rejoined the regiment the succeeding November at Estell's Springs. At the battles of Triune and Murfreesboro he led his regiment gallantly. In May, 1863, having been appointed presiding judge of Longstreet's corps, he was transferred to the Army of Northern Virginia.

**Ref to Sam Cross, who was Dr. Cross’ “body servant” throughout the War.
On January 4 1869, Dr. Cross transferred ownership of land and a house to Sam Cross. According to my grandfather, this was done in recognition and grateful appreciation of Sam’s service 'all during the War Between the States.'

***John H McGaughey was Captain of Company A, 16th AL when the Regiment was organized. He was the son of Eli A. McGaughey. When Major Alexander H Helveston was made Lt Colonel, McGaughey was promoted to Major. He was a genial companion, an honorable man and a good officer, and like Helveston, he was wounded in nearly every engagement in which he participated. He received a fearful wound at Shiloh on the first volley which the enemy fired. When Helveston was made colonel, he was promoted to Lt Colonel. He was mortally wounded at the Battle of Chickamauga.

Info on Wm Basil Wood and John H McGaughey from www.trackingyourroots.com/data/16ala.htm
I think the location from which the letter was written was Camp Churchwell. This is a guess on my part; the family was prominent in Knoxville, but I have been unable to find a specific reference to an encampment by that name. William Montgomery Churchwell was a bank president and politician who organized and was the first colonel of the 34th (4th) Tennessee Infantry. There is currently a Churchwell Street in Knoxville.
 
I did a little more looking for Samuel Cross and found nothing conclusive. I found someone who may be wife Laura in 1900 and 1910, widowed, with an adopted child Thomas. Was not able to find more on nephew JH. If I have the right Laura, Samuel died sometime between 1880 and 1900. If he and a first wife had issue, they were older and did not leave a clear record in the census. I haven't found a death certificate unfortunately, so no clue about who his parents may have been.
 
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