{⋆★⋆} BG Sears, Claudius Wistar

Claudius Wistar Sears

Born: November 8, 1817
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Birthplace: Peru, Massachusetts

Father: Dr. Thomas Sears 1791 – 1839
(Buried: Oak Grove Cemetery, Chelsea, Michigan)​

Mother: Sophia James 1791 – 1879
(Buried: Oak Grove Cemetery, Chelsea, Michigan)​

Wife: Susan Alice Gray 1835 – 1893
(Buried: Oxford Memorial Cemetery, Oxford, Mississippi)​

Married: August 6, 1853 in New Orleans, Louisiana

Children:

Claude Gray Sears 1855 – 1861​
Alice Gray Sears 1857 – 1945​
Kate Sampson Sears 1858 – 1861​
Franklin Sears 1859 – 1861​
William Gray Sears 1861 – 1910​
(Buried: Glenwood Cemetery, Houston, Texas)​
George Fairfax Sears 1863 – 1886​
(Buried: Oxford Memorial Cemetery, Oxford, Mississippi)​
Rev. Peter Gray Sears 1866 – 1942​
(Buried: Glenwood Cemetery, Houston, Texas)​
Thomas Courtney Sears 1867 – 1931​
Edward Abernathy Sears 1870 – 1910​

Education:

1841: Graduated from West Point Military Academy (31st​ in class)​

Occupation before War:

1841 – 1842: 2nd​ Lt. United States Army, 8th​ Infantry Regiment​
1842: Resigned from United States Army on October 10th​
1844-1845: School Teacher at St. Thomas's Hall at Holly Springs, Miss.​
1847 – 1861: Mathematics Professor University of Louisiana​

Civil War Career:

1861 – 1862: Captain of Company G, 17th​ Mississippi Infantry Regiment​
1861: Participated in the First Battle of Manassas, Virginia​
1861: Participated in the First Battle of Balls Bluff, Virginia​
1862: Participated in the Peninsula Campaign in Virginia​
1862: Participated in the Antietam Maryland Campaign​
1862 – 1864: Colonel of 46th​ Mississippi, Infantry Regiment​
1862 – 1863: Participated in the Vicksburg Campaign, Mississippi​
1862: Participated in the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou, Mississippi​
1863: Participated in the Battle of Port Gibson, Mississippi​
1863: Held in reserve during the Battle of Champion Hill, Mississippi​
1863: Captured during the Siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi​
1863: Exchanged in the fall​
1864 – 1865: Brigadier General of Confederate Army Infantry​
1864: Brigade Commander during the Battle of Resaca, Georgia​
1864: Wounded during the Battle of Adairsville, Georgia​
1864: Brigade Commander during the Battle of Allatoona, Georgia​
1864: Brigade Commander during the Battle of Franklin, Tennessee​
1864: Wounded during the Battle of Nashville, Tennessee
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1864: Captured at Pulaski, Tennessee, on December 21, 1864​
1865: Paroled by the Union Army, Nashville, Tennessee on June 23, 1865​

Occupation after War:

1865 – 1889: Mathematics & Engineering Professor Univ. of Mississippi​

Died: February 15, 1891

Place of Death: Oxford, Mississippi

Cause of Death: Unknown

Age at time of Death: 63 years old

Burial Place: Oxford Memorial Cemetery, Oxford, Mississippi
 
Last edited by a moderator:
U.S. Genl. Hospital No. 2
Nashville, Tenn., June 23, 1865

His Excellency Governor Sharkey
State of Mississippi
Governor:
I have had the honor of applying to the President of the United States through the regular military channel for the benefits of the amnesty proclamation of May 29th​, 1865. My application was approved and recommended by Maj. Gen. Thomas Comd. Of this Dept. We this day have a newspaper dispatch saying that the President has decided that all such applications must have the approval of the Governor of the State of which the applicant is a citizen.
My application has already gone up accompanied with the amnesty oath administered by the Provost Marshall General of the Milt. Dept., and can not conveniently be referred to you, but I will be under many obligations for your recommendation to the President in my behalf. – Am restricted from the benefits of the amnesty on two points only – the 3rd​ and 8th​. Am a citizen of Marshall County, Miss., and have never occupied a civil public station. On a call from the Governor of the state I entered the Milt. Service in May ’61 and had the honor of serving as a Brigadier General in the Army of Confederate States, with I trust some honor to the valor of Mississippians.
Have no disposition to gainsay the apparent verdict of the war and trust I may be deemed worthy of further service to the honor of my country. My acquaintances in Mississippi is a good deal limited but can refer to the prominent citizens in the Northern portion of the state and doubtless to Bishop Green. Have had the reputation of being a quiet, unoffending citizen and trust I may do no discredit to the recommendation with which you may honor me. Was wounded at the battle of Nashville and am held as a Prisoner of War.
I am very respectfully, your obt. Svt.,
C.W. Sears,
Late Brig. Gen., C.S.A.
Prisoner of War



The following endorsement was written on the back of Sears’ letter, probably by an aid to Governor Sharkey:

Nashville, Tenn., June 23, 1865
C.W. Sears, Late Brig. Gen., C.S.A.
Asking recommendation for pardon as a prisoner [of] war at Nashville and his petition has been forwarded recommended by Genl. Thomas – but the President requires the approval of Governor of state.


W.L. Sharkey Letters & Petitions, 1865, Series 771, Box 954, Mississippi Department of Archives and History
 


This link has a photo that could be and fold3.com has the photo list as General Sears.
 
1861 – 1862: Captain of Company G, 17th Mississippi Infantry Regiment

Robert Moore wrote about Captain Sears in his journal since he was in Sears’ Company “G”. His journal is published under tirle “A Life For the Confederacy”.

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Captain Sears took control of the slave hands and assigned then to cook for the company and not individual soldiers. In the above entry, he expresses some frustration of being ordered to do their own washing.

A footnote of this book says he lost a leg at the Battle of Nashville. Does this fit into the highlights of his career originally posted?


{Edited to add}.
The men expressed some dissatification with Capt Sears that he took a couple weeks off.
The men got over it all. In his journal entry dated Oct 31st, 1861, he wrote:
“We have brought Cpt Sears a horse today. Paid $150 for it.”
 
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That wound at Nashville where he lost a leg, that cannonball also killed his horse.This is also how he was captured again.He was being treated in the rear area of the Army and when it retreated it left Sears behind and he was captured on December 27th.
 
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