Dave D
Corporal
- Joined
- Feb 21, 2019
I have always been told that my Gr Gr grandfather, Jonathan ("John") Baker, served in a Virginia Cavalry regiment during the Civil War and that he had been captured and imprisoned in a northern POW camp until the end of the war. He was born in Augusta County, Virginia Sept 10, 1841; in the 1860 census he is shown living with his parents, Adam & Delilah, and 6 siblings in the county's census district 1, Staunton Post Office.
I spent years digging through regimental histories, rosters, and service records of Virginia cavalry units but never found a John Baker (and there are a ton of them) that fit his age and location profile.
After the War, John Baker moved to Ohio and raised a family in Paulding county on the west side of the state. A couple of years ago I found the 1892 publication of the "Historical Atlas of Paulding County, Ohio" which contained a person sketch of John. The text about John states, "... in 1861, he enlisted in Company K of the 12th Virginia Volunteer Regiment, Confederate States of America. He was taken prisoner at Winchester and was sent to Camp Chase, and thence to Johnson's Island, where he remained until 1864, when he took the oath of allegiance and was released ...".
It didn't say cavalry, just "Volunteer Regiment" so, I checked the Compiled Military Service Records (CMSR) of Confederate Soldiers for a John baker in the 12 Virginia Infantry and, bingo! There he was : John Baker of Company K, 12th Virginia Infantry; 5 index cards with dates ranging from June 13 thru October 9, 1863.
The information on all these cards originated from Union prisoner lists or POW camp registers - there were no Confederate muster roll records. The chronology of the cards show that John was captured or "delivered himself" to Gen. Milroy (Commander of the Union garrison at Winchester) on June 13, 1863 and was transferred to Wheeling, Va and held at the Athenaeum prison. He stayed there for two days and then was sent to Camp Chase POW camp, Columbus, Ohio. He was only at Camp Chase for a few days when he was again transferred, this time to Johnson Island POW camp outside Sandusky, Ohio, arriving there on June 20, 1863. On October 9, 1863 John swore an Oath of Allegiance ("swallowed the eagle") and was released at the Depot of Prisoners, Sandusky.
So now I had some dates and places to work with in researching John's war history. But there was a problem with his CMSR cards being filed with the 12th Va Infantry. On the date he was captured, June 13, 1863, the 12th Va Infantry (part of Mahone's Brigade, Anderson's Division) was in camp at Fredericksburg, Virginia - about 100 miles from Winchester. Alternatively, on June 13, 1863, the 12th Virginia Cavalry was in the vicinity of Winchester in the brigade of W.E. "Grumble" Jones, scouting and screening for Lee's army as they attacked the Union garrison at Winchester (the 2nd Battle of Winchester).
So, it seems clear that John's regiment was indeed the 12th Virginia Cavalry. Eventually, I did find image scans of two POW registers identified on John's CMSR cards that have him identified with "Jones Brigade" or the "12th Va Cav".
I wonder how often this type of mistake may have occurred. For the most part, I have found that the copyists and transcribers who created the CMSR cards to be very accurate. To be fair, some of John’s POW records merely say “12th Virginia Regiment” and don’t specify cavalry; I think the convention back then was to assume a regiment to be infantry unless designated otherwise.
I spent years digging through regimental histories, rosters, and service records of Virginia cavalry units but never found a John Baker (and there are a ton of them) that fit his age and location profile.
After the War, John Baker moved to Ohio and raised a family in Paulding county on the west side of the state. A couple of years ago I found the 1892 publication of the "Historical Atlas of Paulding County, Ohio" which contained a person sketch of John. The text about John states, "... in 1861, he enlisted in Company K of the 12th Virginia Volunteer Regiment, Confederate States of America. He was taken prisoner at Winchester and was sent to Camp Chase, and thence to Johnson's Island, where he remained until 1864, when he took the oath of allegiance and was released ...".
It didn't say cavalry, just "Volunteer Regiment" so, I checked the Compiled Military Service Records (CMSR) of Confederate Soldiers for a John baker in the 12 Virginia Infantry and, bingo! There he was : John Baker of Company K, 12th Virginia Infantry; 5 index cards with dates ranging from June 13 thru October 9, 1863.
The information on all these cards originated from Union prisoner lists or POW camp registers - there were no Confederate muster roll records. The chronology of the cards show that John was captured or "delivered himself" to Gen. Milroy (Commander of the Union garrison at Winchester) on June 13, 1863 and was transferred to Wheeling, Va and held at the Athenaeum prison. He stayed there for two days and then was sent to Camp Chase POW camp, Columbus, Ohio. He was only at Camp Chase for a few days when he was again transferred, this time to Johnson Island POW camp outside Sandusky, Ohio, arriving there on June 20, 1863. On October 9, 1863 John swore an Oath of Allegiance ("swallowed the eagle") and was released at the Depot of Prisoners, Sandusky.
So now I had some dates and places to work with in researching John's war history. But there was a problem with his CMSR cards being filed with the 12th Va Infantry. On the date he was captured, June 13, 1863, the 12th Va Infantry (part of Mahone's Brigade, Anderson's Division) was in camp at Fredericksburg, Virginia - about 100 miles from Winchester. Alternatively, on June 13, 1863, the 12th Virginia Cavalry was in the vicinity of Winchester in the brigade of W.E. "Grumble" Jones, scouting and screening for Lee's army as they attacked the Union garrison at Winchester (the 2nd Battle of Winchester).
So, it seems clear that John's regiment was indeed the 12th Virginia Cavalry. Eventually, I did find image scans of two POW registers identified on John's CMSR cards that have him identified with "Jones Brigade" or the "12th Va Cav".
I wonder how often this type of mistake may have occurred. For the most part, I have found that the copyists and transcribers who created the CMSR cards to be very accurate. To be fair, some of John’s POW records merely say “12th Virginia Regiment” and don’t specify cavalry; I think the convention back then was to assume a regiment to be infantry unless designated otherwise.
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