Rev. Kennedy, CSA - ?enrolled?

[Al Murray]

My step-uncle, Rev. Wayne Kennedy, according to his obituary, was a chaplain in the CSA. I don't know from where, but it would have been Virginia, Maryland, or Kentucky. I looked on Ancestry and did not see him among the Civil War soldiers. Question: Were chaplains part of the regular army and thus on the muster rolls? If not, was there a separate place he would have been listed? Thanks!

 

[Awanita]

maybe this link may help you I have found it very helpful in my research. Good luck

http://www.usgenweb.org/

 

[E_just_E]

This bit might be of interest to you:

Point Pleasant Register
July 17, 1862


More Prisoners
On Wednesday of last week, Captain James W. Myers, of the 11th Va. Reg., while on a scout with his command near Great Bend, Little Kanawha, captured the following named Rangers:

Capt. George Downs of Calhoun county; Wm. Harris, of Wood county; privates Seth Rogers, Nuten Ratliff, J. U. Morgan, Rev. Wayne Kennedy. Kennedy was a preacher at Parkersburg, and formerly edited the Itinerant at that place. The Rangers were stopped at Down's house, and on being made aware of Capt. Myers' approach they fled, but as ill luck was on their side that day, in running from one squad they ran upon the one under the immediate command of Capt. Myers. Kennedy on being commanded to halt seemed to quicken his speed, when he was fired upon and wounded in the arm. He was left at Great Bend. Harris fired at Capt. Myers, but missing him, threw up his arms and asked to be permitted to surrender as a prisoner of war. Eight guns and their accoutrements were also captured.—Capt. Myers arrived here on Saturday last with all the above prisoners but Kennedy, and left in the evening on the Henry Logan for Parkersburg, and on Monday reached Wheeling where his prisoners were delivered over to the Military authorities.

Capt. Myers has accomplished a good work in the arrest of these notorious desperadoes, and we hope to hear soon that some Colonel, Major, Captain or Lieutenant, has succeeded in arresting or exterminating another band of notorious guerrillas under Andy Duskey, operating between Sandyville and the Three Forks of Reedy.—[Ravenswood Chronicle.]



According to this, a Reverent with that name was a Ranger in VA in the part that what is now WV. The Mocassin Rangers were a pro-Confederate self-governed militia group (I guess that you can call them guerillas) that was active in what is now WV, before its breaking out from VA into a separate state. After WV became WV (6/20/63,) most of the Mocassin Rangers joined the CSA Army. That "11th VA" you see up there, it actually is "11th WV", just organized in July of 1862 and was part of the 8th Corps of the US Army. Not to be confused with the 11th VA (CSA) that was part of the Kemper's Brigade at Gettysburg.

 

[Allie]

There was also a Wayne C Kennedy who was a union soldier in WV.

 

[E_just_E]

There was also a Wayne C Kennedy who was a union soldier in WV.

View attachment 60704

There was only Union then This guy served from 1898 to 1899. Spanish American War

 

[Allie]

There was only Union then This guy served from 1898 to 1899. Spanish American War

Interesting, his card is listed under Civil War. I wasn't paying attention to the dates.

Still likely a relative!

 

[Al Murray]

Thanks. Yes, GENWEB is a great site.

 

[Allie]

I found a ghost story about Rev. Wayne! Here's a link to the book on google books:

https://books.google.com/books?id=6...Bw#v=onepage&q=reverend wayne kennedy&f=false

Here's the bit about Wayne Kennedy:

According to this, the story took place in 1864 and first appeared in the Cincinnati Enquirer around 1884.

 

[Al Murray]

This bit might be of interest to you

Wow! Yippee!!! THANKS!!!!! This is him and I did not know any of it. I have his papers dating from the 1840s to his death, all his letters, lodge cards, etc. I did not know that he was in the Moccasin Rangers. I don't know how I missed this when I searched American Memory as I did find his obituary from 1880 in the same paper. (I am much better at research in archives than on line). This is great stuff!

I know these Moccasin Rangers. When the war started my family lived at Ravenswood, WV on the Ohio River. They may have been strong unionists, as despite good jobs (one was a lawyer) the 3 sons immediately signed up in the Union Army. The father, John Flesher, was adjutant in the 141st militia Union Home Guards. He wrote to the governor that he could not muster enough men for fear of these rangers. I started researching the rangers and wow. My connection is that this John Flesher had married Minerva Camden. Her brother, Lenox, married Mollie Foggy here in Randolph County and then he in 1863 was captured as a civilian and died near Fort Delaware. Post war she married Rev. Kennedy.

This guy served from 1898 to 1899. Spanish American War

This is his son, I didn't know this either!

I found a ghost story about Rev. Wayne! Here's a link to the book on google books

Thanks, Allie. I had seen this and it is interesting. I'll tell you something. Although I am not one who tends to believe in ghosts for lack of evidence (I have never seen one) the cache of papers I have, about a third of which belonged to Kennedy, give me a weird feeling every time I get them out to work on transcribing them (a couple I have posted on the forum here before). I can't explain it nor describe it. I think the feeling might have something to do with the long, convoluted story of how I got the papers and who all is in them (there are several subsets). But whatever it is when I first saw that ghost story I thought - "yeah - that fits."

Thanks so much to all of you!

 

[Al Murray]

Allie I forgot to mention that there is another story going around down there on the Ohio River that Rev. Wayne is a ghost that haunts a hotel or old inn to this day

 

[Allie]

Did the moccasin rangers have another name? Under that name there don't seem to be official service records.

There are a bunch of "W" Kennedys in Civil War records for Virginia, so it's possible he did join another CSA regiment after they ceased to be active. I'm having trouble looking stuff up on ancestry because it won't allow searches for historic counties.

 

[Al Murray]

Did the moccasin rangers have another name?

I've never seen another name, but that doesn't mean there wasn't one. I was under the impression that they were irregulars and thus without service records.

There are a bunch of "W" Kennedys in Civil War records for Virginia, so it's possible he did join another CSA regiment after they ceased to be active. I'm having trouble looking stuff up on ancestry because it won't allow searches for historic counties.

I know your pain. I wish ancestry had a better way to narrow searches. It seems to me that sometimes even when it allows narrowing it does not stick to results per the search terms. Rev. Wayne was born and raised in Kentucky, joined the Masonic Lodge in Baltimore in the 1840s, and lived on the Ohio River in (West) Virgnia at the start of the war. I think identifying him with an initial on Ancestry would be hopeless.

 

[Allie]

I did find him in the 1880 census, and I found his marriage record to Mary Ann Foggy (married a Camden who died in the war, then married him in 1870). But no luck before the war. According to a book which is referenced, he is buried in Randolph county, my guess would be in the same cemetery with his son. He's not on findagrave, however.

 

[ErnieMac]

A couple of stories relating to the Moccasin Rangers. I've also seen some threads in our forums regarding Nancy Hart who seems to have been associated with them.
http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/2005
http://www.newsandsentinel.com/page...an-fighters-in-western-Virginia.html?nav=5286

 

[Al Murray]

he is buried in Randolph county, my guess would be in the same cemetery with his son. He's not on findagrave, however.

The graves were moved. Camden, Kennedy, and several others were buried in a little cemetery which the WPA transcribed in the 1930s. It might have been an older, Wilson cemetery but I don't know. When they built the airport here they moved the burials to the (huge) IOOF cemetery nearby. My uncle (Lenox Camden) must have made a profound impression on Mollie. Her letters and poetry after his death are real are really sad, and after she married Kennedy they named sons Wayne Camden Kennedy, Camden Wayne Kennedy, and I think one Lenox Camden Kennedy. In later years the family marked all of their (new) graves with 1940s-era stones.

 

[Al Murray]

According to this, a Reverent with that name was a Ranger in VA in the part that what is now WV. The Mocassin Rangers were a pro-Confederate self-governed militia group (I guess that you can call them guerillas) that was active in what is now WV, before its breaking out from VA into a separate state. After WV became WV (6/20/63,) most of the Mocassin Rangers joined the CSA Army. That "11th VA" you see up there, it actually is "11th WV", just organized in July of 1862 and was part of the 8th Corps of the US Army. Not to be confused with the 11th VA (CSA) that was part of the Kemper's Brigade at Gettysburg.

I just found this