Help Reading a Pension Application/Clarification on prisoner activity after surrender

[rgtaylor61]

Below is part of a relatives wife's pension application. I know that William Taylor Company E 31st Tennessee was captured at Nashville and taken to Camp Chase Ohio. James Gilliland, who served with William is the witness for William's wife Miranda and he states the below. It appears he states that William came to North Carolina at eh surrender. Were prisoner's taken to the surrender points? It looks like he says he came by Greensboro NC where we were camped in May. Any help is appreciated

 

[19thGeorgia]

"He was captured at Nashville and carried North and came by Greensboro, NC where we were camped in May after the surrender"

-doesn't make much sense. Confeds captured at Nashville didn't go to NC.

 

[lupaglupa]

So his CSMR cards say he was transferred to Point Lookout, Maryland for exchange February 17, 1865. A lot of those guys were taken by boat towards Richmond and then went home as best they could. They hopped trains where they were available. Many times they just walked. It makes sense that he would have gone through Greensboro, NC to get back to Tennessee.

 

[rgtaylor61]

"He was captured at Nashville and carried North and came by Greensboro, NC where we were camped in May after the surrender"

-doesn't make much sense. Confeds captured at Nashville didn't go to NC.

After being captured at Nashville I know he was sent to Camp Chase Ohio after first going to Louisville Ky. My question is after release there at wars end where were they sent?

 

[rgtaylor61]

So his CSMR cards say he was transferred to Point Lookout, Maryland for exchange February 17, 1865. A lot of those guys were taken by boat towards Richmond and then went home as best they could. They hopped trains where they were available. Many times they just walked. It makes sense that he would have gone through Greensboro, NC to get back to Tennessee.

very interesting

 

[19thGeorgia]

So his CSMR cards say he was transferred to Point Lookout, Maryland for exchange February 17, 1865. A lot of those guys were taken by boat towards Richmond and then went home as best they could. They hopped trains where they were available. Many times they just walked. It makes sense that he would have gone through Greensboro, NC to get back to Tennessee.

After being captured at Nashville I know he was sent to Camp Chase Ohio after first going to Louisville Ky. My question is after release there at wars end where were they sent?

He rejoined his unit in NC after being exchanged.
By that time - Feb-Mar 1865 - the 31st TN was in NC with Joe Johnston.

 

[Stryker65]

In February and March, 1865, the Union begin the wholesale parole of thousands of Confederate officers and men. The sheer number of officers exchanged from North Carolina alone meant that there were quite a number of Parolee officers traveling with both Lee's and Johnston's armies, who could not serve but accompanied their units anyway. It may be that Taylor was a parolee only, and traveled with his regiment as he certainly couldn't return to Union-held Tennessee.

 

[rgtaylor61]

In February and March, 1865, the Union begin the wholesale parole of thousands of Confederate officers and men. The sheer number of officers exchanged from North Carolina alone meant that there were quite a number of Parolee officers traveling with both Lee's and Johnston's armies, who could not serve but accompanied their units anyway. It may be that Taylor was a parolee only, and traveled with his regiment as he certainly couldn't return to Union-held Tennessee.

According to Gilliland's testimony he Joined them in May after the surrender. Im not sure how long troops were in NC after the surrender.

 

[Stryker65]

According to Gilliland's testimony he Joined them in May after the surrender. Im not sure how long troops were in NC after the surrender.

While the surrender happened April 26, the fact that Johnston surrendered not only the Army of Tennessee but also the Department of Virginia and North Carolina, the District of Western North Carolina, and the Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida meant that for some of his troops, they were not paroled until a week into May, even. Do you know what date he was paroled (again) and left NC?

 

[lupaglupa]

According to Gilliland's testimony he Joined them in May after the surrender. Im not sure how long troops were in NC after the surrender.

That probably varies widely. Some started for home before the surrender, some hung around.

 

[rgtaylor61]

While the surrender happened April 26, the fact that Johnston surrendered not only the Army of Tennessee but also the Department of Virginia and North Carolina, the District of Western North Carolina, and the Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida meant that for some of his troops, they were not paroled until a week into May, even. Do you know what date he was paroled (again) and left NC?

I do not know..what i know is from his wife's pension application and his CMSR card (Ill need to review that again)

 

[lupaglupa]

I didn't see anything in his records that showed he rejoined his unit. But that doesn't mean he wasn't there. At that point I doubt the officers cared much about getting the rolls right.

 

[rgtaylor61]

I didn't see anything in his records that showed he rejoined his unit. But that doesn't mean he wasn't there. At that point I doubt the officers cared much about getting the rolls right.

Only place I saw it was in his wife's pension application via his regimental member's testimony. I do remember as a kid my dad saying his older family members spoke of someone in our family walking home to Tennessee from NC so perhaps. I regret not caring as much about those small details then. My father would mention Franklin and since Lee and the ANV weren't there I didn't care about it. Little did I know how tied our family was to the western theatre.

 

[lupaglupa]

My guess is what his friend wrote was accurate. He did not need that to qualify for a pension so adding that wasn't done to help him. It was just a detail he had to contribute.

 

[East Tennessee Roots]

There were two 31st Tennessee Infantry Regiments. Both Regiments had Colonels named Bradford

A.H. Bradford's 31st Tennessee was assembled in October 1861, at Camp Trenton, Gibson Couty, Tennessee. Its members were recruited in Weakley, McNairy, Haywood, Gibson, Madison, and Decatur counties.

W.M. Bradford's 31st Tennessee was later designated the 39th and served as Mounted Infantry after Vicksburg. was organized in March 1862, and Its members were from the counties of Sevier, Blount, Jefferson, Hawkins, McMinn, Greene, and Monroe. (East Tennessee).

 

[Nathan Stuart]

Believe the written responses in the wife's pension application can be accepted prima facie. (The sequence and timing of these events makes sense).

 

[rgtaylor61]

There were two 31st Tennessee Infantry Regiments. Both Regiments had Colonels named Bradford

A.H. Bradford's 31st Tennessee was assembled in October 1861, at Camp Trenton, Gibson Couty, Tennessee. Its members were recruited in Weakley, McNairy, Haywood, Gibson, Madison, and Decatur counties.

W.M. Bradford's 31st Tennessee was later designated the 39th and served as Mounted Infantry after Vicksburg. was organized in March 1862, and Its members were from the counties of Sevier, Blount, Jefferson, Hawkins, McMinn, Greene, and Monroe. (East Tennessee).

The 31st I'm focused on is AH Bradford's , as my father's people were from Gibson County.

 

[lupaglupa]

Really they should have thought of the pain it would be for future historians and genealogists and been more careful about their numbers!

 

[rgtaylor61]

Really they should have thought of the pain it would be for future historians and genealogists and been more careful about their numbers!

Exactly!!!

 

[PKnierman]

I would say that what is on the pension application makes perfect sense. It appears your relative was captured at the battle of Nashville in December 1864, then sent to prison at Camp Chase, Ohio. Per his military records, he was transferred to Point Lookout, MD in February 1865 in preparation for exchange. But it appears events took over and he was not "exchanged" until after the surrenders.

After the Nashville battle, the remnants of the 31st TN accompanied Hood's army back to Mississippi. The unit history (in Tennesseans in the Civil War, Vol 1) stated the survivors were given a brief furlough to visit their homes in West Tennessee, with few men making it back to accompany the regiment when it moved to reinforce Joe Johnson in the Carolinas. Per the history: In the final reorganization of Johnston's Army, 21 men from the 31st remained to form Company "G" of the 3rd Consolidated Tennessee Infantry Regiment, commanded by Colonel James D. Tiliman, and composed of the 4th/ 5th/19th/24th/31st/33rd/35th/38th/41st Tennessee Infantry Regiments. As part of this regiment they were paroled at Greensboro, North Carolina May 1, 1865.

So we know that what remained of the 31st was at Greensboro, NC after Johnson's surrender. Greensboro was on the Piedmont Railroad, so supplies were easier to obtain (remember General Lee was trying to reach this railroad for supplies after retreating from Petersburg). The major Union base in the area was at Goldsboro, NC. It was likely your relative was shipped from Point Lookout via water to New Bern and rail to Goldsboro, then sent to Greensboro to rejoin his regiment. There he would have been mustered for whatever pay he was due (but probably never saw it) and paroled. From there, he would have made his way back home with the rest of his unit, likely on foot.

Quite interesting. My relatives were from the Gibson County area as well- down on the Madison County line near Medina. One served with Forrest in the 21st Tennessee Cavalry, another in the 6th Tennessee Cavalry (Union).