Or(r)in McFadden deserter?

[Stryker65]

I seem to have previously mentioned a fact about Colonel Orrin McFadden, USA, of the 80th USCT. Problem is, I can't find evidence of this "fact." I was wondering if perhaps my theory was correct.

In looking up Colonel McFadden, there exist only two relevant Civil War personnel by that name:

• Private Orin McFadden, Company D, 47th Georgia Infantry. Enlisted September 26, 1862; deserted at Camp Williams on October 13, 1862 and went to the USN South Atlantic Blockading Squadron at Fort Pulaski.
• Lt. Col. Or(r)in McFadden, 80th U. S. Colored Troops. Enlisted April 1, 1864; discharged March 1, 1867. Born June 1, 1834 in Wiscasset, Maine, and died January 10, 1913 in Dresden, Maine.

In my notes, I reference Colonel McFadden as a schoolteacher from the North who -- upon the war's beginning -- was conscripted into the 47th Georgia, subsequently deserting to the Union, his proper nationality. However, I have as of recently found no reference to him being a schoolteacher at all, nor any reference to him being a conscript. It could have been from history-sites.com, which has recently crashed, but other than that I have no idea.

What makes this interesting is that the theory makes sense. Why would Private McFadden desert after only three weeks in the service, and go not to his home in Georgia, but to the Union Navy?

Does anyone have any insights into this? If it's just a coincidence, it's quite a shocking coincidence.

 

[13 IL Cav & 64 GA Inf]

I seem to have previously mentioned a fact about Colonel Orrin McFadden, USA, of the 80th USCT. Problem is, I can't find evidence of this "fact." I was wondering if perhaps my theory was correct.

In looking up Colonel McFadden, there exist only two relevant Civil War personnel by that name:

• Private Orin McFadden, Company D, 47th Georgia Infantry. Enlisted September 26, 1862; deserted at Camp Williams on October 13, 1862 and went to the USN South Atlantic Blockading Squadron at Fort Pulaski.
• Lt. Col. Or(r)in McFadden, 80th U. S. Colored Troops. Enlisted April 1, 1864; discharged March 1, 1867. Born June 1, 1834 in Wiscasset, Maine, and died January 10, 1913 in Dresden, Maine.

In my notes, I reference Colonel McFadden as a schoolteacher from the North who -- upon the war's beginning -- was conscripted into the 47th Georgia, subsequently deserting to the Union, his proper nationality. However, I have as of recently found no reference to him being a schoolteacher at all, nor any reference to him being a conscript. It could have been from history-sites.com, which has recently crashed, but other than that I have no idea.

What makes this interesting is that the theory makes sense. Why would Private McFadden desert after only three weeks in the service, and go not to his home in Georgia, but to the Union Navy?

Does anyone have any insights into this? If it's just a coincidence, it's quite a shocking coincidence.

No idea. Sorry.

 

[RedRover]

I seem to have previously mentioned a fact about Colonel Orrin McFadden, USA, of the 80th USCT. Problem is, I can't find evidence of this "fact." I was wondering if perhaps my theory was correct.

In looking up Colonel McFadden, there exist only two relevant Civil War personnel by that name:

• Private Orin McFadden, Company D, 47th Georgia Infantry. Enlisted September 26, 1862; deserted at Camp Williams on October 13, 1862 and went to the USN South Atlantic Blockading Squadron at Fort Pulaski.
• Lt. Col. Or(r)in McFadden, 80th U. S. Colored Troops. Enlisted April 1, 1864; discharged March 1, 1867. Born June 1, 1834 in Wiscasset, Maine, and died January 10, 1913 in Dresden, Maine.

In my notes, I reference Colonel McFadden as a schoolteacher from the North who -- upon the war's beginning -- was conscripted into the 47th Georgia, subsequently deserting to the Union, his proper nationality. However, I have as of recently found no reference to him being a schoolteacher at all, nor any reference to him being a conscript. It could have been from history-sites.com, which has recently crashed, but other than that I have no idea.

What makes this interesting is that the theory makes sense. Why would Private McFadden desert after only three weeks in the service, and go not to his home in Georgia, but to the Union Navy?

Does anyone have any insights into this? If it's just a coincidence, it's quite a shocking coincidence.

Yes. same guy apparently.

If a Confederate soldier deserted and went home, that would not have been wise. There was a force of conscript hunters in the South that made avoiding conscription, or returning home from desertion impossible without risking great danger. Most had to hide out. Others were inclined to seek safety in the Union lines.

Col. Oates of the 15th Alabama observed that even furloughed men, much less deserters, were frequently harassed or mistreated for returning home from the army...

These buttermilk rangers, whom Oates noted numbered almost as many, if not more, than those sent to the front, did not scruple to act summarily against deserters. Joshua Frier recalled his brother was a deserter executed summarily upon apprehension in Georgia...

The records show Pvt. McFadden of Co. D, 47th Georgia Volunteers deserted from "Proctor's Point" and made his way to the US forces on the coast. There he would have been safe from recapture, retaliation, court-martial, etc. by the buttermilk rangers or the Confederate army generally.

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/78865942

This man was indeed the same as the USCT officer, as attested in Maine in 1892...

Collections of the Maine Historical Society. [1st Ser.̈

www.google.com

Col. McFadden was not the only man in the South who joined the Confederate Army and bided his time until he could desert to the Union lines and get out of the Confederacy. These cases were frequently brought up post-war relative to pension claims, etc.

 

[Library Lady]

I'm sitting here thinking about the kind of trouble McFadden would have been in if he'd been captured by the Confederates as a white officer of a USCT unit and a Confederate deserter.

 

[Stryker65]

Yes. same guy apparently.

If a Confederate soldier deserted and went home, that would not have been wise. There was a force of conscript hunters in the South that made avoiding conscription, or returning home from desertion impossible without risking great danger. Most had to hide out. Others were inclined to seek safety in the Union lines.

Col. Oates of the 15th Alabama observed that even furloughed men, much less deserters, were frequently harassed or mistreated for returning home from the army...

View attachment 562799
View attachment 562800

These buttermilk rangers, whom Oates noted numbered almost as many, if not more, than those sent to the front, did not scruple to act summarily against deserters. Joshua Frier recalled his brother was a deserter executed summarily upon apprehension in Georgia...

View attachment 562804

The records show Pvt. McFadden of Co. D, 47th Georgia Volunteers deserted from "Proctor's Point" and made his way to the US forces on the coast. There he would have been safe from recapture, retaliation, court-martial, etc. by the buttermilk rangers or the Confederate army generally.

View attachment 562802

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/78865942

View attachment 562798

This man was indeed the same as the USCT officer, as attested in Maine in 1892...

View attachment 562807

Collections of the Maine Historical Society. [1st Ser.̈

www.google.com

Ah! That was the source I read it in, then.

 

[13 IL Cav & 64 GA Inf]

I'm sitting here thinking about the kind of trouble McFadden would have been in if he'd been captured by the Confederates as a white officer of a USCT unit and a Confederate deserter.

Haha! BIG trouble.