Hunted down after Gettysburg

[NH Civil War Gal]

In August 1863, Private John Futch and 12 other members of the 3rd North Carolina Infantry left their posts and escaped into nearby woods. They were destined to run into Confederate soldiers designated to hunt down deserters. A firefight ensued. The renegade North Carolinians were arrested and put on trial for desertion.

This is the remarkable story of Private Futch, his battlefield experiences, and how his life came to an end in a hail of gunfire.

Go to History.Net to read this remarkable (and very sad) story of Private Futch as he, and others, were caught and taken to Castle Thunder. I'm sorry but I couldn't copy the exact history.net web site for this, but you can go to the National Museum of Civil War Medicine web site and they have posted this story.

Edited: Found a link that works!

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwic5qSS3NX5AhXipokEHU-oC8IQFnoECAUQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.historynet.com%2Fhunted-down-after-gettysburg%2F&usg=AOvVaw2t9AmJPWm_imBTI8sDiPDx

 

[ErnieMac]

Article from the 15 September edition of the Richmond Examiner provides details of the execution including the names of Futch's co-defendants.

 

[lupaglupa]

Too bad for them they didn't find US troops instead

 

[Tom Elmore]

"Sept. 5 [1863] Witnessed an execution of 10 deserters from the 3d N.C. These men, who were at Gettysburg, were captured after killing an officer." (Diary of Private Spence M. Grayson, Company A, 1st Maryland Battalion, quoted in, Recollections of a Maryland Confederate Soldier and Staff Officer, by McHenry Howard, pp. 223, 225)

John Futch had written home to Martha Futch on August 2, 1863: "I haven't sean no plesher since Charley got kild, he got wounded the 2 [of July] and died the 3. He was shot in the head and sufered mity bad before he died. I toted him off the field and stade with him til he died ... I am allmost crazy but I hope that I will get along with it. ... I was very sory that I codn't get a coffin to beary him but I bearied him the best I cud" (North Carolina Digital Collections, State Library of North Carolina)

From misery to tragedy; such is war.

 

[ErnieMac]

The 31 August 1863 edition of the Fayetteville (NC) Observer reported the death of Lieutenant Richardson Mallett. The article reported Mallett, Adjutant of the 46th North Carolina, was fatally wounded by a deserter at Bowling's Ford in Fluvanna County at 1:00 a.m. on the morning of Tuesday, August 25. He died later that day.

 

[John S. Carter]

"Sept. 5 [1863] Witnessed an execution of 10 deserters from the 3d N.C. These men, who were at Gettysburg, were captured after killing an officer." (Diary of Private Spence M. Grayson, Company A, 1st Maryland Battalion, quoted in, Recollections of a Maryland Confederate Soldier and Staff Officer, by McHenry Howard, pp. 223, 225)

John Futch had written home to Martha Futch on August 2, 1863: "I haven't sean no plesher since Charley got kild, he got wounded the 2 [of July] and died the 3. He was shot in the head and sufered mity bad before he died. I toted him off the field and stade with him til he died ... I am allmost crazy but I hope that I will get along with it. ... I was very sory that I codn't get a coffin to beary him but I bearied him the best I cud" (North Carolina Digital Collections, State Library of North Carolina)

From misery to tragedy; such is war.

Is there any facts on Union soldiers who deserted? I read the story, but I did not read of any letters written from back home on the conditions under which the people were enduring while he was away. I have read that this put more of a mental burden on Confederate soldiers than combat or general military life. Charles Frazier wrote a very interesting novel concerning this called "COLD MOUNTAIN''. It is about a Confederate soldier who near the end of the war is no longer full of the glory of the war and fills the need to return home to his wife. The book is not the movie ! It would be interesting to know what made those who lasted to Appomattox and yet endured the same mental and physical conditions. It had to be more than a Band of Brothers.

 

[Nathan Stuart]

In August 1863, Private John Futch and 12 other members of the 3rd North Carolina Infantry left their posts and escaped into nearby woods. They were destined to run into Confederate soldiers designated to hunt down deserters. A firefight ensued. The renegade North Carolinians were arrested and put on trial for desertion.

This is the remarkable story of Private Futch, his battlefield experiences, and how his life came to an end in a hail of gunfire.

That's a raw account of one suffering soldier's desperate plight to return home to his beloved.

 

[Bruce Vail]

C-SPAN has a good little video of historian Peter Carmichael talking about the tragic story of John Futch:

Confederate Deserter John Futch

Gettysburg College history professor Peter Carmichael talked about Confederate soldier John Futch and why he chose to desert after the battle of Gettysburg. Mr. Carmichael is the author of [The War for the Common Soldier: How Men Thought, Fought, and Survived in Civil War Armies]. The Virginia...

www.c-span.org

 

[Bruce Vail]

Article from the 15 September edition of the Richmond Examiner provides details of the execution including the names of Futch's co-defendants.
View attachment 448954

Thanks for digging this up. Do we know the name of the reporter who wrote it?

 

[ErnieMac]

Thanks for digging this up. Do we know the name of the reporter who wrote it?

I looked at the paper I cited and a few others that carried the same of similar articles, but no reporter was noted.

 

[NH Civil War Gal]

I've thought of this story all day. What a miserable, sad thing and all for nothing at the end of the day. The executions were all for nothing, and they were just trying to get home.

 

[ErnieMac]

In the Richmond Examiner article shown in Post #2 I noticed three of the men executed had the surname of Bunn. I have to imagine they were related.

 

[121st PA Vols]

In August 1863, Private John Futch and 12 other members of the 3rd North Carolina Infantry left their posts and escaped into nearby woods. They were destined to run into Confederate soldiers designated to hunt down deserters. A firefight ensued. The renegade North Carolinians were arrested and put on trial for desertion.

This is the remarkable story of Private Futch, his battlefield experiences, and how his life came to an end in a hail of gunfire.

Go to History.Net to read this remarkable (and very sad) story of Private Futch as he, and others, were caught and taken to Castle Thunder. I'm sorry but I couldn't copy the exact history.net web site for this, but you can go to the National Museum of Civil War Medicine web site and they have posted this story.

Edited: Found a link that works!

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwic5qSS3NX5AhXipokEHU-oC8IQFnoECAUQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.historynet.com%2Fhunted-down-after-gettysburg%2F&usg=AOvVaw2t9AmJPWm_imBTI8sDiPDx

No offense, but you're being awfully soft on these men for what they did. Your characterization of quote "Private John Futch and 12 other members of the 3rd North Carolina Infantry left their posts and escaped into nearby woods" is a misrepresentation of what they did. They didn't just 'leave their posts' without being properly relieved, or "escape". Escape is something you do from the enemy. They deserted.
They left their unit in a weaker state while betraying their friends, fellow soldiers and the cause if you want to go there with it.

My view as a vet doesn't see them "Hunted Down after Gettysburg"as PC does....as tho something was inherently wrong in going after deserters and prosecuting them. Everybody wants to go home. They wanted to go home when I was in but stayed with their unit with their friends.

 

[Tom Elmore]

Like Caesar's assassins, deserters were doubtless motivated by different factors. In the case of Private Futch, it would seem that he was clearly overwhelmed with grief dealing with the death of his brother. But I imagine the severity of the sentence in this instance was directly tied to the killing of an officer while performing his duty, and consequently the high command had to act promptly and severely to reassure their officer corps while dissuading open rebellion within the ranks that could lead to disintegration of the army. It may be that Futch was simply unfortunate in his choice of travel companions, like Brutus, whom Shakespeare attributes the loftiest of principles, but suffered for it regardless.

 

[Bruce Vail]

I've thought of this story all day. What a miserable, sad thing and all for nothing at the end of the day. The executions were all for nothing, and they were just trying to get home.

I go back-and-forth in my mind on whether this story is a terrible tragedy, or a terrible crime.

The crime in this case being committed by Robert E. Lee and a handful of his subordinates. Lee ordered the suicidal assault of Johnson's Division on Culp's Hill merely as an incidental distraction to Pickett's Charge, which was his main interest at the time. Poor Charly Futch suffered a excruciating death as a result, and younger brother John's spirit was finally broken in the process. Fleeing the senseless pain and death, John Futch was later hunted down, captured, then subjected to a kangaroo court before his official murder. All this apparently carried out directly in response to Lee's desire that there be a bloody example made to deter other men from deserting his army.

Laura's recent discovery of an old newspaper report from 1863 revealed a close and unexpected connection between one of my family ancestors and the terrible story of the Futch brothers. In a very indirect way, I feel connected to these events, and my emotions are conflicted

 

[NH Civil War Gal]

I go back-and-forth in my mind on whether this story is a terrible tragedy, or a terrible crime.

The crime in this case being committed by Robert E. Lee and a handful of his subordinates. Lee ordered the suicidal assault of Johnson's Division on Culp's Hill merely as an incidental distraction to Pickett's Charge, which was his main interest at the time. Poor Charly Futch suffered a excruciating death as a result, and younger brother John's spirit was finally broken in the process. Fleeing the senseless pain and death, John Futch was later hunted down, captured, then subjected to a kangaroo court before his official murder. All this apparently carried out directly in response to Lee's desire that there be a bloody example made to deter other men from deserting his army.

Laura's recent discovery of an old newspaper report from 1863 revealed a close and unexpected connection between one of my family ancestors and the terrible story of the Futch brothers. In a very indirect way, I feel connected to these events, and my emotions are conflicted

I think my position on this, is, this was a kangaroo court. There were so many deserters and there was a HUGE amount of discrepancies on how the ANV handled this. These executions went way too far, in my opinion, considering there were plenty of other deserters who took "French Leave" but would come back to their units after they went home to take care of whatever urgent business they took care of. Those were deserters but most of them didn't get shot or put through the court martial process.

 

[Bruce Vail]

I think my position on this, is, this was a kangaroo court. There were so many deserters and there was a HUGE amount of discrepancies on how the ANV handled this. These executions went way too far, in my opinion, considering there were plenty of other deserters who took "French Leave" but would come back to their units after they went home to take care of whatever urgent business they took care of. Those were deserters but most of them didn't get shot or put through the court martial process.

Yes and yes. Spend ten bucks and buy a copy of this strange and frustrating pamphlet:

Tragedy at Montpelier: The Untold Story of Ten Confederate Deserters from North Carolina by Jayne E. Blair: Collectible; Very Good Soft Cover (2003) Signed By Author | BookMarx Bookstore

AbeBooks.com: Tragedy at Montpelier: The Untold Story of Ten Confederate Deserters from North Carolina: Signed by Author. Very Good+. No marks or writing observed in text. Binding tight and square. Gently read if at all. . . . . . . . . . . . Contains the story of ten men from the 3rd North...

www.abebooks.com

Historian Peter Carmichael credited it...

 

[Bruce Vail]

The 31 August 1863 edition of the Fayetteville (NC) Observer reported the death of Lieutenant Richardson Mallett. The article reported Mallett, Adjutant of the 46th North Carolina, was fatally wounded by a deserter at Bowling's Ford in Fluvanna County at 1:00 a.m. on the morning of Tuesday, August 25. He died later that day.
View attachment 448963

The Mallett family was one of the wealthiest and most socially prominent in Fayettevlle, NC, back in those days. The family was also prominent in its support for the Confederacy.

In a perverse twist of fate, Richardson Mallett's cousin,Major Peter Mallett, was in charge of conscription in NC. He survived while sending hundreds of men to their deaths; his younger cousin found only a lonely grave.

See also https://web.lib.unc.edu/civilwar/in...unc.edu/civilwar/index.php/tag/peter-mallett/

 

[JOHNT]

I visited the rock carving from the 3rd NC by Spangler spring at GB

 

[Bruce Vail]

I visited the rock carving from the 3rd NC by Spangler spring at GB

Oh? What rock carvings are those?