Interesting ancestor story

White Flint Bill

Sergeant
Joined
Oct 9, 2017
Location
Southern Virginia
I recently figured out the story of an ancestor. Some may find it interesting.

Thomas Claybon Haynes was about 21 years old and was living in Smyth County Virginia when he enlisted in Company B, 48th Virginia Infantry in June 1861. He reenlisted the next year.

Private Haynes got married in Smyth County on June 27, 1863. His regiment was in Pennsylvania at the time, which probably explains why his service record shows him as having been confined as a prisoner in the Confederate military prison in Lynchburg on June 11, 1864.

I have been unable to find any courts martial records for him, but the logical conclusion is that he went AWOL, got married (perhaps he went AWOL in order to go home and get married), then got arrested and was imprisoned in Lynchburg. I don't know what his sentence was.

Haynes wasn't in prison long. The same week that he went in, Hunter's forces attacked Lynchburg. Haynes was one of the CS prisoners who volunteered to assist in the defense of the city. The prisoners were organized into Ward's Battalion of CS Prisoners and Private Haynes was assigned to Company A. The prisoners joined convalescents, hospital orderlies, VMI cadets and home guard in defense of the city, which was ultimately saved after General Early's force arrived.

In July, Haynes and the other prisoners who volunteered were given a presidential pardon. Per Jefferson Davis' Special Order 179 of July 30, 1864: "In consideration of the meritorious conduct of the members of the Battalion of soldiers lately released from the military prison in Lynchburg and their good conduct during the late operations of the enemy in the immediate vicinity of that city, the President directs that as soon as their present organization is broken up, the men to be returned to their respective commands without further investigation of or punishment for the offenses with which they were individually charged."

Private Haynes returned to his company in the 48th Virginia in August. On September 19, 1864 he was wounded at the 3rd Battle of Winchester (shot in the shoulder and side) and captured. He was hospitalized in Baltimore, sent to Point Lookout briefly, then exchanged. The war was over for him.

In 1900, 36 years after being wounded, Haynes died from the effects of inflammation of his old shoulder wound.

His widow died 14 years later, her death certificate revealing that she had been a "habitual" user of morphine. My guess is that her husband took morphine to treat the pain of his unhealed wound, and that she also became addicted. I've learned in my research that there was an epidemic of post-war morphine addiction among wounded veterans and that their wives often also became addicted, as opiates were freely prescribed to treat all manners of "female" problems.

Quite a story, it seems to me.
 
… His widow died 14 years later, her death certificate revealing that she had been a "habitual" user of morphine. My guess is that her husband took morphine to treat the pain of his unhealed wound, and that she also became addicted. I've learned in my research that there was an epidemic of post-war morphine addiction among wounded veterans and that their wives often also became addicted, as opiates were freely prescribed to treat all manners of "female" problems.
Postwar drug addiction was often referred to as the old soldier's disease.
 
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