privateflemming
Corporal
- Joined
- Jul 2, 2019
- Location
- California, USA
I thought I'd just post a short biography of my 2nd great-grandfather who I've done the most research about. One reason I find him especially interesting is because he died in 1925 and my own grandfather who was born in 1919 knew him as a small child and passed on some vivid anecdotes about certain things he said and did in old age. I even have a 1795 silver dollar with his initial and the date 1867 carved on it that was passed down to me. I've also found it interesting to compare the information in my research to the "oral history" passed down from my grandfather who in old age wrote his recollections of his grandfathers (my 2nd-great grandfathers who were both in the Confederate cavalry). One thing I found out is that although my grandfather always thought he was a captain, he was in fact only a private until late February 1865 when he was promoted to 2nd lieutenant, less than two months before he was captured and the war ended.
My grandfather wrote that he “loved to tell about the War and until his death had strong feelings about the battles, politics, and the future of the country,” but my grandfather’s mother never wanted him around listening when his grandfather would sit on the porch with his old army buddies. At one point my grandfather infamously heard him say that he would have died a happier man if he had "killed more Yankees" before being shooed away by his mother. I’ve always been disappointed he didn’t get to hear more and I think my grandfather was too. However, thanks to my research and the fact that the 3rd Virginia Cavalry is a pretty well documented unit with many published accounts from members I think I've developed a very complete picture of what he did and where he was during the war.
I'm not interested in this because I like romanticizing my ancestors or anything and in fact one of the most interesting things to me is learning how my ancestor wasn't just a gallant soldier who had an "exciting time on several battlefields" as my grandfather put it. The physical deprivation and fighting with the enemy was brutal, and there was also a lot of nasty infighting and politicking within the regiment itself that reared its head in April 1862 when the first elections for new officers were held and over 90% of the original officers were voted out, in response to which several of them angrily accused their opponents of fraud and resigned from the army, about which former Lt. Robert T. Hubard wrote:
"[the election] was a disgraceful piece of demagogism that did more than all other things combined to bring about our final defeat. Not only did the men as a general rule select in preference the most amiable men who would indulge them most or the most unprincipled who resorted to all kinds of intrigue to secure success, but ever after during the war officers feared another "re-organization" and never dared to enforce discipline."
One of the ways this lax discipline was abused by men of the 3rd Virginia was by deliberately mistreating their horses so they could be sent on back home on furlough to acquire new ones, which Hubard bitterly writes was frequently done:
"This method of keeping up the cavalry was subject to *very great* [original emphasis] abuse. Men would purposely neglect their horses to break them down and get these details so that the indifferent soldiers and worthless men, (for they were synonymous), were nearly always home or on the road and the good men had all the fighting to do and all the hard drudgery of military life. Yet this would be the case anyway where the *discipline* could not be enforced as was the case with the Confederate soldiers."
Although the moral of the 3rd Virginia was initially pretty high during the first part of the war, it increasingly deteriorated after the Gettysburg Campaign (during which the 3rd Virginia was with Jeb Stuart's column when he rode up through Maryland and Pennsylvania for which he has been blamed for the Confederate defeat) and reached an all-time low after the death of Jeb Stuart at the Battle of Yellow Tavern in May 1864. In late 1864 during the Valley Campaigns, there were bitter recriminations in the 3rd Virginia against Confederate generals Jubal Early and Thomas L. Rosser who they blamed for a series of defeats, and by January 1865 the 3rd Virginia was reportedly on the verge of mutiny. Colonel Thomas T. Munford then in command of the 3rd Virginia was even arrested and court-martialed in January 1865 by General Rosser after allegedly refusing to obey orders to join a raid into West Virginia rather than return home because their horses were all starving (even then the 3rd Virginia never went along). In addition to a lot of looting, there are also allegations by multiple Union sources of some pretty horrible atrocities committed by the 3rd Virginia at the end of June 1864 while pursuing retreating Union forces near Staunton (First Battle of Ream's Station) when they caught several hundred fleeing slaves who had been traveling with the Union army and allegedly made it a point to shoot or saber the unarmed slaves and beat the ones they captured. Most of the men from the 3rd Virginia obviously came from the slave owning class and it is apparent from reading memoirs that many were pretty openly racist. The alleged massacre of fleeing slaves in late June 1864 may have been partly motivated by revenge for the 3rd Virginia having been badly repulsed the previous month from an attack on Fort Pocahontas garrisoned by two black regiments (Battle of Wilson's Wharf).
The most comprehensive history of the 3rd Virginia Cavalry which was his unit is from the Virginia Regimental Histories series by Thomas P. Nanzig: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0930919858/?tag=civilwartalkc-20
Some key published first-hand accounts are:
The Civil War Memoirs of a Virginia Cavalryman by Lt. Robert T. Hubard of the 3rd Virginia, company H (https://www.amazon.com/dp/0817315306/?tag=civilwartalkc-20).
Recollections of an Old Dominion Dragoon: The Civil War experiences of Sgt. Robert S. Hudgins II, Company B, 3rd Virginia Cavalry by Sgt. Robert S. Hodgins of the 3rd Virginia, company B (https://www.amazon.com/dp/0942365046/?tag=civilwartalkc-20).
Sabres, Saddles, and Spurs by Col. William R. Carter of the 3rd Virginia (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1572491442/?tag=civilwartalkc-20)
Recollection of private Joseph E. Ragland, company C (page 24: https://archive.org/details/alongborderhisto00math/page/24
Early life: 1842-1860
My 2nd great-grandfather was born T.R. Fourqurean (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/104706192/thomas-reuben-fourqurean) in Halifax County, Virginia, in 1842. T.R.'s father was a moderately wealthy plantation and business owner who according to the federal censuses owned 25 slaves in 1840 and 33 in 1850. In 1851, T.R.'s father died aged 38. His grave was inscribed in part (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/175094290/reuben-daniel-fourqurean):
He was born in the county
of Halifax, which contained
his home and in which he
breathed his last. In all
the revelations of life he
sustained his part. He was
a devoted husband, an affectionate
father and an indulgent master,
a good neighbor and a useful
citizen.
T.R.'s mother soon remarried to a business associate of her late husband and by the 1860 census the family still owned 26 slaves. Source: https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin...gs-d&pcat=35&fh=0&h=1088929&recoff=&ml_rpos=1
In 1855, Robert Elijah Jordan (1829-1894), the son of another business associate of T.R.'s father married T.R.'s elder sister Eliza and also moved in with them becoming T.R.'s older brother-in-law. He would later be in and briefly command T.R.'s unit during the war.
Civil War: 1861-1865
1861:
South Carolina fired on Fort Sumpter on April 12 and Virginia voted to secede and became part of the Confederacy on April 17. Young men from various counties in Virginia immediately began organizing cavalry companies on their own and training. By late May 1861, what would become company C of the 3rd Virginia Cavalry had assembled near Richmond and began officially enlisting. This is the summary of T.R. Fourqurean's record from Nanzig's book:
"Fourqueran, Thomas R.: Age 19, 6', blue eyes, dk. hair, fair complex. Company C, enlist 5/23/61, Bl. Wal. Private; det. 7-8/63, courier to Col. Owen; w. 5/9/64, Mitchell's Shop, promoted Lt. 2/27/65; c. 4/1/65, Five Forks; POW Johnson's Is. Paroled 6/18/65, Johnson's Is."
Company C was known as the Black Walnut Dragoons and was mainly organized by two former VMI cadets, William H. Easley (1832-1861) and Thomas H. Owen (1833-1894), the latter of whom seems to have been a relative of T.R.'s step-father. Owen and Easley couldn't agree who would be captain of the company and so fought a bloodless duel which Easley unexpectedly won, he then becoming the captain and Owen the first lieutenant.
At the end of May the regiment moved to Yorktown and began training under John Bell Hood. In mid-June they had their first minor skirmishes with Union cavalry, during which the 3rd Virginia lost its first few casualties to enemy fire and some unfortunate friendly fire incidents. In July, there were countless minor skirmishes with Union raiding parties on the peninsula toward the end of the month the 3rd Virginia was sent to hunt down runaway slaves being recruited by Union general Benjamin Butler. From August to December 1861, the 3rd Virginia remained encamped at Yorktown fighting many small-scale skirmishes with Union cavalry and being on constant picket duty but not seeing any serious action. The marshes around Yorktown were also unhealthy and led to an outbreak of disease, with the newly elected captain William H. Easley of company C being one of it's victims in December, leaving the captaincy to Thomas H. Owen.
.......................
I'll post the record of the years 1862-1865 in the comments because I'm past the character limit for this post, but suffice to say T.R. was captured on April 1 at the Battle of Five Forks, sent to Old Capitol officers' prison in DC in early April, by late May was transferred to Johnson's Island on Lake Erie and he was paroled from there on June 18 after taking the Oath of Allegiance. He then walked back home, according to my grandfather "sometimes by hitching rides on wagons and sometimes by walking. This was hard on a man used to a fine horse."
Later life, marriages and children: 1866-1910
After returning home probably in late 1865, T.R. soon saw that his future prospects there were dim and decided to go out west to Texas. In 1867, he was living in Texas and married another Southern refugee. I have a 1795 silver dollar that T.R. carved his initial and date on in this year. The next year T.R.'s mother died at home in Virginia.
T.R. did well for himself in the following years as a "land man" who bought Texas land at cheap prices and then sold it for more but it was a risky business. From 1870-1878, he had three kids with his first wife until she died in 1883. In 1886, he remarried to my 2nd great-grandmother and had two more kids in 1888 and 1889. In 1898, his second wife died.
Old age: 1911-1925
In old age after all his children had grown up, T.R. would spend his time staying with his various children and this is how my grandfather born in 1919 remembered him (from a letter to my mother):
I remember him when he was very elderly, lonesome, and short of funds. He visited his children frequently and my mother and dad were popular ones. I recall he had a parrot who accompanied him and it was able to sing “Yes, We Have No Bananas”. Mother was not fond of the parrot and objected to his not observing food restrictions during WWI. But she would never mention these things to her father-in-law. Your grandfather loved to have animals at the house and once had a goose walking around. The elderly Reuben said to Ina (your Grannie): “Ina, I will kill that goose if you will cook him. Ina replied that the goose belonged to Tom and you will not kill him”. … I’m told that during WWI he would pin a map of France on the wall and stick pins in whenever an army changed position. Unfortunately our walls were covered with wallpaper. Last but not least, he was playing chess on our porch with another Civil War veteran when he was heard to say "I would die happier if I had killed more Yankees." My presence was quickly curtailed.
My grandfather wrote that he “loved to tell about the War and until his death had strong feelings about the battles, politics, and the future of the country,” but my grandfather’s mother never wanted him around listening when his grandfather would sit on the porch with his old army buddies. At one point my grandfather infamously heard him say that he would have died a happier man if he had "killed more Yankees" before being shooed away by his mother. I’ve always been disappointed he didn’t get to hear more and I think my grandfather was too. However, thanks to my research and the fact that the 3rd Virginia Cavalry is a pretty well documented unit with many published accounts from members I think I've developed a very complete picture of what he did and where he was during the war.
I'm not interested in this because I like romanticizing my ancestors or anything and in fact one of the most interesting things to me is learning how my ancestor wasn't just a gallant soldier who had an "exciting time on several battlefields" as my grandfather put it. The physical deprivation and fighting with the enemy was brutal, and there was also a lot of nasty infighting and politicking within the regiment itself that reared its head in April 1862 when the first elections for new officers were held and over 90% of the original officers were voted out, in response to which several of them angrily accused their opponents of fraud and resigned from the army, about which former Lt. Robert T. Hubard wrote:
"[the election] was a disgraceful piece of demagogism that did more than all other things combined to bring about our final defeat. Not only did the men as a general rule select in preference the most amiable men who would indulge them most or the most unprincipled who resorted to all kinds of intrigue to secure success, but ever after during the war officers feared another "re-organization" and never dared to enforce discipline."
One of the ways this lax discipline was abused by men of the 3rd Virginia was by deliberately mistreating their horses so they could be sent on back home on furlough to acquire new ones, which Hubard bitterly writes was frequently done:
"This method of keeping up the cavalry was subject to *very great* [original emphasis] abuse. Men would purposely neglect their horses to break them down and get these details so that the indifferent soldiers and worthless men, (for they were synonymous), were nearly always home or on the road and the good men had all the fighting to do and all the hard drudgery of military life. Yet this would be the case anyway where the *discipline* could not be enforced as was the case with the Confederate soldiers."
Although the moral of the 3rd Virginia was initially pretty high during the first part of the war, it increasingly deteriorated after the Gettysburg Campaign (during which the 3rd Virginia was with Jeb Stuart's column when he rode up through Maryland and Pennsylvania for which he has been blamed for the Confederate defeat) and reached an all-time low after the death of Jeb Stuart at the Battle of Yellow Tavern in May 1864. In late 1864 during the Valley Campaigns, there were bitter recriminations in the 3rd Virginia against Confederate generals Jubal Early and Thomas L. Rosser who they blamed for a series of defeats, and by January 1865 the 3rd Virginia was reportedly on the verge of mutiny. Colonel Thomas T. Munford then in command of the 3rd Virginia was even arrested and court-martialed in January 1865 by General Rosser after allegedly refusing to obey orders to join a raid into West Virginia rather than return home because their horses were all starving (even then the 3rd Virginia never went along). In addition to a lot of looting, there are also allegations by multiple Union sources of some pretty horrible atrocities committed by the 3rd Virginia at the end of June 1864 while pursuing retreating Union forces near Staunton (First Battle of Ream's Station) when they caught several hundred fleeing slaves who had been traveling with the Union army and allegedly made it a point to shoot or saber the unarmed slaves and beat the ones they captured. Most of the men from the 3rd Virginia obviously came from the slave owning class and it is apparent from reading memoirs that many were pretty openly racist. The alleged massacre of fleeing slaves in late June 1864 may have been partly motivated by revenge for the 3rd Virginia having been badly repulsed the previous month from an attack on Fort Pocahontas garrisoned by two black regiments (Battle of Wilson's Wharf).
The most comprehensive history of the 3rd Virginia Cavalry which was his unit is from the Virginia Regimental Histories series by Thomas P. Nanzig: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0930919858/?tag=civilwartalkc-20
Some key published first-hand accounts are:
The Civil War Memoirs of a Virginia Cavalryman by Lt. Robert T. Hubard of the 3rd Virginia, company H (https://www.amazon.com/dp/0817315306/?tag=civilwartalkc-20).
Recollections of an Old Dominion Dragoon: The Civil War experiences of Sgt. Robert S. Hudgins II, Company B, 3rd Virginia Cavalry by Sgt. Robert S. Hodgins of the 3rd Virginia, company B (https://www.amazon.com/dp/0942365046/?tag=civilwartalkc-20).
Sabres, Saddles, and Spurs by Col. William R. Carter of the 3rd Virginia (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1572491442/?tag=civilwartalkc-20)
Recollection of private Joseph E. Ragland, company C (page 24: https://archive.org/details/alongborderhisto00math/page/24
Early life: 1842-1860
My 2nd great-grandfather was born T.R. Fourqurean (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/104706192/thomas-reuben-fourqurean) in Halifax County, Virginia, in 1842. T.R.'s father was a moderately wealthy plantation and business owner who according to the federal censuses owned 25 slaves in 1840 and 33 in 1850. In 1851, T.R.'s father died aged 38. His grave was inscribed in part (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/175094290/reuben-daniel-fourqurean):
He was born in the county
of Halifax, which contained
his home and in which he
breathed his last. In all
the revelations of life he
sustained his part. He was
a devoted husband, an affectionate
father and an indulgent master,
a good neighbor and a useful
citizen.
T.R.'s mother soon remarried to a business associate of her late husband and by the 1860 census the family still owned 26 slaves. Source: https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin...gs-d&pcat=35&fh=0&h=1088929&recoff=&ml_rpos=1
In 1855, Robert Elijah Jordan (1829-1894), the son of another business associate of T.R.'s father married T.R.'s elder sister Eliza and also moved in with them becoming T.R.'s older brother-in-law. He would later be in and briefly command T.R.'s unit during the war.
Civil War: 1861-1865
1861:
South Carolina fired on Fort Sumpter on April 12 and Virginia voted to secede and became part of the Confederacy on April 17. Young men from various counties in Virginia immediately began organizing cavalry companies on their own and training. By late May 1861, what would become company C of the 3rd Virginia Cavalry had assembled near Richmond and began officially enlisting. This is the summary of T.R. Fourqurean's record from Nanzig's book:
"Fourqueran, Thomas R.: Age 19, 6', blue eyes, dk. hair, fair complex. Company C, enlist 5/23/61, Bl. Wal. Private; det. 7-8/63, courier to Col. Owen; w. 5/9/64, Mitchell's Shop, promoted Lt. 2/27/65; c. 4/1/65, Five Forks; POW Johnson's Is. Paroled 6/18/65, Johnson's Is."
Company C was known as the Black Walnut Dragoons and was mainly organized by two former VMI cadets, William H. Easley (1832-1861) and Thomas H. Owen (1833-1894), the latter of whom seems to have been a relative of T.R.'s step-father. Owen and Easley couldn't agree who would be captain of the company and so fought a bloodless duel which Easley unexpectedly won, he then becoming the captain and Owen the first lieutenant.
At the end of May the regiment moved to Yorktown and began training under John Bell Hood. In mid-June they had their first minor skirmishes with Union cavalry, during which the 3rd Virginia lost its first few casualties to enemy fire and some unfortunate friendly fire incidents. In July, there were countless minor skirmishes with Union raiding parties on the peninsula toward the end of the month the 3rd Virginia was sent to hunt down runaway slaves being recruited by Union general Benjamin Butler. From August to December 1861, the 3rd Virginia remained encamped at Yorktown fighting many small-scale skirmishes with Union cavalry and being on constant picket duty but not seeing any serious action. The marshes around Yorktown were also unhealthy and led to an outbreak of disease, with the newly elected captain William H. Easley of company C being one of it's victims in December, leaving the captaincy to Thomas H. Owen.
.......................
I'll post the record of the years 1862-1865 in the comments because I'm past the character limit for this post, but suffice to say T.R. was captured on April 1 at the Battle of Five Forks, sent to Old Capitol officers' prison in DC in early April, by late May was transferred to Johnson's Island on Lake Erie and he was paroled from there on June 18 after taking the Oath of Allegiance. He then walked back home, according to my grandfather "sometimes by hitching rides on wagons and sometimes by walking. This was hard on a man used to a fine horse."
Later life, marriages and children: 1866-1910
After returning home probably in late 1865, T.R. soon saw that his future prospects there were dim and decided to go out west to Texas. In 1867, he was living in Texas and married another Southern refugee. I have a 1795 silver dollar that T.R. carved his initial and date on in this year. The next year T.R.'s mother died at home in Virginia.
T.R. did well for himself in the following years as a "land man" who bought Texas land at cheap prices and then sold it for more but it was a risky business. From 1870-1878, he had three kids with his first wife until she died in 1883. In 1886, he remarried to my 2nd great-grandmother and had two more kids in 1888 and 1889. In 1898, his second wife died.
Old age: 1911-1925
In old age after all his children had grown up, T.R. would spend his time staying with his various children and this is how my grandfather born in 1919 remembered him (from a letter to my mother):
I remember him when he was very elderly, lonesome, and short of funds. He visited his children frequently and my mother and dad were popular ones. I recall he had a parrot who accompanied him and it was able to sing “Yes, We Have No Bananas”. Mother was not fond of the parrot and objected to his not observing food restrictions during WWI. But she would never mention these things to her father-in-law. Your grandfather loved to have animals at the house and once had a goose walking around. The elderly Reuben said to Ina (your Grannie): “Ina, I will kill that goose if you will cook him. Ina replied that the goose belonged to Tom and you will not kill him”. … I’m told that during WWI he would pin a map of France on the wall and stick pins in whenever an army changed position. Unfortunately our walls were covered with wallpaper. Last but not least, he was playing chess on our porch with another Civil War veteran when he was heard to say "I would die happier if I had killed more Yankees." My presence was quickly curtailed.
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