Lt. (Although Shoulder/Cuff Braids Indicate Captain) Greenwall

[TerryB]

An article from 1863.

 

[TerryB]

And another;

Greenwall's service records have a voucher showing he was paid $30 each for these two men, both named in the voucher.

 

[TerryB]

A clerk in New Orleans pre-war, and maybe an actor post-war.

CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA, BUREAU OF CONSCRIPTION,

Richmond, Va., June 9, 1863.

Hon. JAMES A. SEDDON,

Secretary of War:

SIR; I have respectfully to acknowledge the letter of Secret Detective Greenwall, communicated by you with favorable indorsement.

The services of such a detective, to track out the professional substitute agents in their habitual frauds and the self-styled officers signing papers without commission or authority, and also to expose
the criminal disregard of law and orders by company and regimental officers, whether moved by corruption, complaisance, or recklessness, might be eminently useful.

To that end, however, the limited scope of the jurisdiction of this Bureau makes it desirable that, while consulting with and recommended to the authorities of conscription, he should be the direct representative of higher authority, and clothed by such authority with special powers and duties to procure arrests and prosecutions in concert with Confederate marshals and district attorneys.

There have not been wanting abundant evidences of irregularity and disobedience of orders, grossly criminal and mischievous, in the conduct of officers of the Army respecting substitutes. In practice, the remedies attempted to be applied by this Bureau have, by reason of its want of jurisdiction, generally proved unavailing. In all the cases forwarded with evidence the guilt, officers seem to have escaped with impunity by, or without, the rendering of some sort of defense or explanation.

 

[AUG]

He has one glove on the left hand....

 

[TerryB]

BTW, his signature matches up on all the docs I've looked at.

 

[TerryB]

He has one glove on the left hand....

Maybe he challenged somebody to a duel with the other one?

I think you're right.

 

[TerryB]

There are three separate poses of this image at LOC. From looking at the tiff files, he looks like he has gloves on both hands, but they are indeed extremely thin.

 

[Nathanb1]

I think we should retitle the thread...."Greenwall.....Man of Mystery"!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[TerryB]

I think we should retitle the thread...."Greenwall.....Man of Mystery"!!!!!!!!!!!!

Where is Chambers Co, Texas? That's where Lt. Jack Davis, enrolling officer, was writing from in April 1864, trying to find out if Greenwall was in the 4th Congressional District. Took some work to get that, since Lt. Jack's handwriting is terrible.

Sorry, it's confusing as to who was writing this. Lt. J.W. Lacour was the enrolling officer in Rusk, Chambers Co. Not sure where Lt. Jack Davis or Major (later Colonel) D. B. Martin were located.

 

[Nathanb1]

It's down on the coast...next county east after you leave Houston (Harris County). Pretty rural....very swampy. Anahuac is the largest town (I think). The only reason I remember that is because William B. Travis caused a ruckus there in a dispute with the Mexican official in charge of collecting taxes. Of course.

 

[Nathanb1]

Where is Chambers Co, Texas? That's where Lt. Jack Davis, enrolling officer, was writing from in April 1864, trying to find out if Greenwall was in the 4th Congressional District. Took some work to get that, since Lt. Jack's handwriting is terrible.

Sorry, it's confusing as to who was writing this. Lt. J.W. Lacour was the enrolling officer in Rusk, Chambers Co. Not sure where Lt. Jack Davis or Major (later Colonel) D. B. Martin were located.

Rusk is in Cherokee County, so I'm sorta confused......(that's northeast Texas)

 

[TerryB]

Rusk is in Cherokee County, so I'm sorta confused......(that's northeast Texas)

It looks like Lt. Jack Davis was the enrolling officer in Rusk, and Lt. J.W. Lacour had the same office in Chambers County. Greenwall went into the theatrical business after the war. He lived in Galveston, then moved to Melbourne, Australia. He contracted with Lily Langtry to travel there and perform, but she reneged. He came to America in 1885 to sue her, but died in San Francisco. A ship passenger list from around this time showed his occupation as "actor."

I'm amazed at his ability to travel. He was from New Orleans, but when stationed in Richmond in 1863, he tracked down two deserters who had robbed a woman in Camden, SC. He caught up with them in Montgomery, Ala and brought them back to Camden. Then there's this little matter of him being in the Galveston area in 1864, then in New York in Oct of that year, applying for a passport. He sure got around. That New York visit sounds awfully like he might have been one of the fire-bomb plotters. What a story he'd have to tell.

 

[TerryB]

He even got into it with Belle Boyd in 1868 in Houston, Texas, and she took after him with a gun.

 

[TerryB]

The photo was taken by Brady, presumably in 1865 at the end of the war. He don't look none too happy, so I'm assuming he was a POW. Makes me wonder if he ran the blockade after leaving New York, or even if he made it out.


Well, I just checked, and there's no record of him as a POW.

 

[TerryB]

Theatrical articles in Texas papers mention he had two brothers, Henry and Philip. That checks out with the 1860 Census. Henry is buried in Metarie, La, and Philip in Fort Worth, Texas. Both brothers were also Confederates, and the family was Jewish.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/f...yrel=all&GSob=n&GSsr=41&GRid=12385948&df=all&

 

[TerryB]

Theatrical articles in Texas papers mention he had two brothers, Henry and Philip. That checks out with the 1860 Census. Henry is buried in Metarie, La, and Philip in Texas. Both brothers were also Confederates, and the family was Jewish.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/f...yrel=all&GSob=n&GSsr=41&GRid=12385948&df=all&

Can't find a grave for Morris. He may have been buried in Australia.

 

[TerryB]

Holy Cow. Wonder if this is him. The description sort of fits.

http://www.mdgorman.com/Written_Accounts/Other_Papers/southern_opinion,_11_23_1867.htm

I can place him in South Carolina in 1863, which is consistent with this article. He was a mystery man even in Castle Thunder, making me think he was in there as a "plant" to spy on the inmates.

 

[TerryB]

Belle Boyd wrote a letter to the newspapers in 1869, describing the incident of 1868, but mentions no pistol play. She says she was fired, and that Morris made improper advances to her in her dressing room. It's pretty funny, so I may transcribe it. Miss Boyd also alleged that Morris laid low in Mexico during the war and claimed to be on whichever side seemed to be winning at the time.

 

[Zuzah]

I think we should retitle the thread...."Greenwall.....Man of Mystery"!!!!!!!!!!!!

That will be done when I re-do the image.

 

[Nathanb1]

And a pair of brothers who owned a theatre....in Texas--and ticked off Belle Boyd! What did I say? You can't make this stuff up. History is so cool!