Uncle Jim Bate.

[CMWinkler]

UNCLE JIM BATE.

Chas. B. Rogan, of Gallatin, Tenn., pays tribute to "a faithful old servant gone to rest:"

"Uncle Jim" Bate, a colored man who lived and died in Sumner County, had quite a history. He
was brought from Huntsville, Ala., to Sumner County before the war by Gen. Bate, being a part
of the inheritance of Mrs Bate from her grandfather, Benjamin Pope. "Uncle Jim" was devoted
to the family to which he belonged. He was an accomplished cook and house-servant, and was
serving the family as such when the war began. He accompanied Gen. Bate to the army and remained with him as a faithful servant during the entire war. He nursed the General, while wounded, with a constancy and devotion characterized by the deepest sympathy.

"Uncle Jim" came from the Confederate Army in 1863 to his home in this neighborhood, then in the Federal lines, and took South with him, at their own request, his family and other servants, fifteen or twenty in all, belonging to Gen. Bate. They were furnished homes and cared for in the South by their owner, and at the close of the war they were brought to their old home or wherever they desired to locate. Some of them are still with the family. "Uncle Jim," wishing to live in Gallatin, was provided with a comfortable home where he had his every want supplied by his former owner and members of the family, until he died recently nearly eighty years old. The "boys" who knew him during the war were fond of him. He often prepared diet for those who were sick in camp. The battle did not demoralize him, and it was his boast never to have lost anything that was under his care on a retreat. When the Confederate lines were broken and overrun at Nashville, in December, 1864, the division headquarters' wagon, in which were the army papers of Gen. Bate and camp equipage of the mess, was under a heavy fire and likely to be captured. The white driver jumped off the saddle mule and ran away, leaving the wagon. Jim abused him for cowardice and, mounting the mule, drove the wagon from under fire, thus saving it and the papers of the division. After the war Jim was kindly remembered and treated, especially by those who knew him in the army.

The white family to which he had belonged and the ex-Confederates who knew him followed "Uncle Jim's" remains to the grave. It was an object lesson to those who fought on the other side, and to Northern philosophers. He now sleeps under the shade of a beautiful oak in the Gallatin Cemetery. Peace to the ashes and honor to the name of "Uncle Jim" Bate!

Confederate Veteran, page 385, 1896.

 

[Allie]

I thought I'd see what I could find out about him. African-American records from this period are hard to find for a number of reasons - those born into slavery were usually illiterate and spelled their names more than one way, it seems they often avoided government officials such as census takers, they often moved, people with the same name may or may not be related or just have taken the name of the same slaveholder, and they tended to have informal living arrangements which may or may not have involved legal marriage. But unless Bate managed to avoid any government record of his life altogether, I think I've found the right man.

No person of that name and death date is listed in Gallatin cemetery, so it appears either his marker did not survive or there never was one. The are many blacks with the last name Bate in Sumner county - presumably his fellow ex-slaves. But there is no James, Jim, or J Bate. It appears he more often used Bates. He was described as mulatto, married to Vina, called Viney, also mulatto, and they had four children, three of whom were living in 1900.

The CV exaggerated slightly. He was nearer 70 than 80 when he died. After his death, Viney moved to Nashville and remarried a man named Rivers. She outlived him too, and died in 1928, aged nearly 100. His sons Benjamin and John I haven't been able to locate after about 1910, and I don't know the name of the third child. The third child may have been a daughter who married a Swanson, as there is a child Richard Swanson living with them in 1880.

 

[CMWinkler]

Based on the description I'm fairly certain where he's buried. After court tomorrow I'll see if I'm right and whether his grave is marked.

 

[AndyHall]

I thought I'd see what I could find out about him. African-American records from this period are hard to find for a number of reasons - those born into slavery were usually illiterate and spelled their names more than one way, it seems they often avoided government officials such as census takers, they often moved, people with the same name may or may not be related or just have taken the name of the same slaveholder, and they tended to have informal living arrangements which may or may not have involved legal marriage.

I've come across a couple of examples of African American men who went by different names based on the circumstances. Steve Perry of Rome, Georgia, went by "Uncle Steve Eberhart" when attending numerous Confederate reunions. Crockett (or Crock) Davis went by "Crockett Hill" when attending reunions of Terry's Rangers. Both men went by their former masters' names at these events, but entirely different surnames in their private lives, as evidenced by census records, death certificates, and other documentation. There's definitely an element of consciously conforming to a well-defined role going on when in front of specific audiences.

 

[Allie]

I've come across a couple of examples of African American men who went by different names based on the circumstances. Steve Perry of Rome, Georgia, went by "Uncle Steve Eberhart" when attending numerous Confederate reunions. Crockett (or Crock) Davis went by "Crockett Hill" when attending reunions of Terry's Rangers. Both men went by their former masters' names at these events, but entirely different surnames in their private lives, as evidenced by census records, death certificates, and other documentation. There's definitely an element of consciously conforming to a well-defined role going on when in front of specific audiences.

I've run across some people who did something similar. They first took their master's name, then some time before 1900 the entire extended family at one time changed to a different, unrelated name. Fortunately there were in laws living with them so I could see the continuity, or I never would have figured it out.