- Joined
- Jan 16, 2015
Father's Day is a good time to reflect on father/son connections in the war.
One category uncovered is the prominent member of a community who formed a company at the outset of the war in which his son also served. An example is Albert Gallatin Brown, a former governor and senator from Mississippi, who became captain of the "Brown Rebels" - Company H, 18th Mississippi. In 1862 he was elected to the Confederate senate from Mississippi. His son, Robert Young Brown, succeeded him as captain of the company and was wounded and captured at Gettysburg.
Another category is the father who becomes a general officer and then assigns his son to his staff. For example, Union General George Gordon Meade and his son Captain George Gordon Meade, Jr. It was the younger Meade, serving as an aide, who was dispatched by his father to order General Dan Sickles to recall his Third Corps from their unauthorized advance to the Emmitsburg Road on the second day at Gettysburg, which Sickles found inexpedient. Likewise, Confederate brigade commander Henry L. Benning employed his son Seaborn Jones Benning as his Assistant Adjutant General. Seaborn was named after Henry's father-in-law, Seaborn Jones Jr., whose own son, John Abraham Jones, was colonel of the 20th Georgia in the same brigade.
Sometimes the son was too young and simply accompanied his father in an unofficial capacity. Major Wells J. Hawks, Commissary of the Army of Northern Virginia's Second Corps, took along his son, A. W. S. Wells. So did George S. Greene, whose Federal brigade held Culp's Hill at Gettysburg, and who brought along his 12 year old son, Francis Vinton Greene, who happened to be a very astute observer as is evident from his very detailed diary.
Then there were simple soldiers, like Charles F. Askew, a private in Company E, 53rd North Carolina, and his son John F. Askew, a private in Company C of the same regiment. Both were captured at Gettysburg.
Some especially tragic scenes unfolded between father and son. A member of this very board can attest to one such instance involving Captain William J. Miller, also of the 53rd North Carolina, who was killed on the afternoon of the first day at Gettysburg. His son, 1st Lieutenant Thomas C. Miller, was wounded in the hip and captured in the same battle.
Not far away, on the same day, Colonel Hugh Reid Miller of the 42nd Mississippi fell mortally wounded, while his son George Miller, the Sergeant Major of the regiment, was less seriously wounded. Another son, Edwin Miller, was Ordnance Sergeant in the regiment and elected to remain behind on the retreat to tend to his brother.
There are many more such stories, but I will end with an account by Lt. James I. Metts of the 3rd North Carolina. As darkness descended on Culp's Hill on the second day at Gettysburg, a young soldier came up to Metts and said, "Lieutenant, my father is killed." Metts could only reply, "Well, we cannot help it." The young man turned around and was soon back on the firing line, where he remained until exhausted. The time to mourn would come only after the battle was over.
[sources: Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Mississippi, pp. 433-434; http://docsouth.unc.edu/fpn/johnstond/johnston.html; http://archives.columbusstate.edu/findingaids/mc6.php; Confederate Veteran, vol. 19, p. 386; Diary of Francis Vinton Greene; The Tennessee Civil War Veterans Questionnaire; http://civilwartalk.com/threads/the-old-confederate-veteran.114630/; Lt. James I. Metts, Confederate Military History, Extended Addition, vol. 5, NC]
One category uncovered is the prominent member of a community who formed a company at the outset of the war in which his son also served. An example is Albert Gallatin Brown, a former governor and senator from Mississippi, who became captain of the "Brown Rebels" - Company H, 18th Mississippi. In 1862 he was elected to the Confederate senate from Mississippi. His son, Robert Young Brown, succeeded him as captain of the company and was wounded and captured at Gettysburg.
Another category is the father who becomes a general officer and then assigns his son to his staff. For example, Union General George Gordon Meade and his son Captain George Gordon Meade, Jr. It was the younger Meade, serving as an aide, who was dispatched by his father to order General Dan Sickles to recall his Third Corps from their unauthorized advance to the Emmitsburg Road on the second day at Gettysburg, which Sickles found inexpedient. Likewise, Confederate brigade commander Henry L. Benning employed his son Seaborn Jones Benning as his Assistant Adjutant General. Seaborn was named after Henry's father-in-law, Seaborn Jones Jr., whose own son, John Abraham Jones, was colonel of the 20th Georgia in the same brigade.
Sometimes the son was too young and simply accompanied his father in an unofficial capacity. Major Wells J. Hawks, Commissary of the Army of Northern Virginia's Second Corps, took along his son, A. W. S. Wells. So did George S. Greene, whose Federal brigade held Culp's Hill at Gettysburg, and who brought along his 12 year old son, Francis Vinton Greene, who happened to be a very astute observer as is evident from his very detailed diary.
Then there were simple soldiers, like Charles F. Askew, a private in Company E, 53rd North Carolina, and his son John F. Askew, a private in Company C of the same regiment. Both were captured at Gettysburg.
Some especially tragic scenes unfolded between father and son. A member of this very board can attest to one such instance involving Captain William J. Miller, also of the 53rd North Carolina, who was killed on the afternoon of the first day at Gettysburg. His son, 1st Lieutenant Thomas C. Miller, was wounded in the hip and captured in the same battle.
Not far away, on the same day, Colonel Hugh Reid Miller of the 42nd Mississippi fell mortally wounded, while his son George Miller, the Sergeant Major of the regiment, was less seriously wounded. Another son, Edwin Miller, was Ordnance Sergeant in the regiment and elected to remain behind on the retreat to tend to his brother.
There are many more such stories, but I will end with an account by Lt. James I. Metts of the 3rd North Carolina. As darkness descended on Culp's Hill on the second day at Gettysburg, a young soldier came up to Metts and said, "Lieutenant, my father is killed." Metts could only reply, "Well, we cannot help it." The young man turned around and was soon back on the firing line, where he remained until exhausted. The time to mourn would come only after the battle was over.
[sources: Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Mississippi, pp. 433-434; http://docsouth.unc.edu/fpn/johnstond/johnston.html; http://archives.columbusstate.edu/findingaids/mc6.php; Confederate Veteran, vol. 19, p. 386; Diary of Francis Vinton Greene; The Tennessee Civil War Veterans Questionnaire; http://civilwartalk.com/threads/the-old-confederate-veteran.114630/; Lt. James I. Metts, Confederate Military History, Extended Addition, vol. 5, NC]
Bringing the