Welcome to Soldier's Tales

SWMODave

Sergeant Major
Thread Medic
Joined
Jul 23, 2017
Location
Southwest Missouri
31PAInf.jpg

31st Pennsylvania Infantry

Welcome to Soldier's Tales, a place for stories and anecdotes by, and/or about, the soldiers who served during the Civil War. Submissions are welcome and encouraged, but please include the original sources with submissions. It is up to the reader, if necessary, to determine the accuracy of the story/anecdote thru their own research. Taking issue with an account is your right, but it is our intent to keep this forum an enjoyable place to visit, so we reserve the right to request moderators tone down any confrontations.

If you have a question, please feel free to contact your hosts, Tina @NH Civil War Gal , or David @SWMODave
 
I would think we should ask the thread starters before moving them. They may want the thread left where it was originally posted.
 
The following is extracted from @Stiles/Akin recent post on Chaplains in the Civil War:


...Albert Gallatin Willis was offered a chaplain’s pardon to avoid a hanging execution by Union soldiers. His response was quite remarkable.

He had been serving with Confederate Colonel John Singleton Mosby’s rangers for several months. Though born into a wealthy Virginia family, Willis chose to pursue a life of gospel ministry and was, at the time the war broke out, studying to be a Baptist preacher. Willis had been looking forward to seeing his home as he headed toward Culpeper, Virginia on October 13, 1864. Mosby’s men enjoyed frequent furloughs as their lightning-quick, hit and run missions allowed them to return to their homes and farms often. But Willis’s horse came up lame near Flint Hill, forcing him to stop at the local farrier’s shop at Gaine’s Crossroad. Suddenly, Willis and an unnamed companion were surrounded by troops of the 2nd West Virginia Cavalry. Taken prisoner, the two soon learned their fate. One of them would be hanged. That order had come from General Ulysses S. Grant as retribution for Federals Mosby had killed. Grant’s order required that one Confederate be hanged “without trial” for each Yankee killed by Mosby’s men.

Speaking with the two young men separately, Union Brigadier General William H. Powell informed them they were to draw straws to determine which man would die. Powell also informed Willis that he could claim a chaplain’s exemption, if he so chose. Willis had not yet been ordained and did not believe he deserved such consideration. He refused Powell’s offer. The two prisoners were brought back together and ordered to draw straws. Willis’s unnamed companion drew the short straw and then burst into tears crying, “I have a wife and children, I am not a Christian and am afraid to die!”

Upon hearing those words, Willis spoke up: “I have no family, I am a Christian, and not afraid to die.” Due to Willis’s willingness to stand in his stead, his companion was released. Within moments and after praying for his executioners, Albert Gallatin Willis was hanged. Today his remains rest inside a white picket fence in the tiny graveyard of Flint Hill Baptist Church in Flint Hill, Virginia....

 
If there are any threads that need to be moved here either report them or tag me or another mid and we can move them:D:D


Oh my- please hang on, it'll take awhile getting through them in Ladies Tea. This forum is an excellent idea- there's a ton of ' tales ' dug up when nurses related them. Always seemed lost in Ladies Tea- will try to get a list.
 
I'm glad I've finally looked at this thread. When reading threads, I don't generally pay attention to what Forum they are in, just working from the "New Posts" page.

I had assumed that you only wanted tales told by soldiers -- not stories about them told by others. Well, I do like stories, and have posted a lot of them. I've also been somewhat discontented putting them just in "General History."

I will post more here, if that is your desire. And, if you come across any of my threads in "Gen Hist" you think might well go here, feel free to move them.

jno
 
I'm glad I've finally looked at this thread. When reading threads, I don't generally pay attention to what Forum they are in, just working from the "New Posts" page.

I had assumed that you only wanted tales told by soldiers -- not stories about them told by others. Well, I do like stories, and have posted a lot of them. I've also been somewhat discontented putting them just in "General History."

I will post more here, if that is your desire. And, if you come across any of my threads in "Gen Hist" you think might well go here, feel free to move them.

jno

John - your posts are "always" welcome here.

A soldiers tale can be 'by a soldier', or 'about a soldier', and is all encompassing. If the story interests you, or even if it doesn't, chances are someone else will or might be.

And if you haven't found a home for that "uncensored letter" yet, feel free to put it here. It might not have been about a soldier, but it's a heck of a 'tale' :thumbsup:
 
John - your posts are "always" welcome here.

A soldiers tale can be 'by a soldier', or 'about a soldier', and is all encompassing. If the story interests you, or even if it doesn't, chances are someone else will or might be.

And if you haven't found a home for that "uncensored letter" yet, feel free to put it here. It might not have been about a soldier, but it's a heck of a 'tale' :thumbsup:
Thanks. The word "tales" put me off ... made me think more of the "tall" variety. Will be adding more.

That letter, btw, fit very nicely into the Abraham Lincoln Forum: https://civilwartalk.com/threads/hate-mail-for-the-president.156660/
 
I am new to the CWT forum and just noticed this sub-forum. I look forward to reading many of these stories. I may have one to contribute myself. It involves the diary of a Confederate soldier from a Missouri southern regiment who was captured and paroled after the Siege of Vicksburg. The diary fell into the hands of my grandfather when he was a young newspaper editor and he transcribed the handwritten diary and the transcription came into my hands from my mother after she passed who had gotten it from her father. At the time I received it, there was no name on the transcript as to who was this soldier. I was able to find out who he was. I kept a copy of the transcript and mailed it to a contact who placed it into the archives in the State of Missouri.
 
I am new to the CWT forum and just noticed this sub-forum. I look forward to reading many of these stories. I may have one to contribute myself. It involves the diary of a Confederate soldier from a Missouri southern regiment who was captured and paroled after the Siege of Vicksburg. The diary fell into the hands of my grandfather when he was a young newspaper editor and he transcribed the handwritten diary and the transcription came into my hands from my mother after she passed who had gotten it from her father. At the time I received it, there was no name on the transcript as to who was this soldier. I was able to find out who he was. I kept a copy of the transcript and mailed it to a contact who placed it into the archives in the State of Missouri.
 
I am new to the CWT forum and just noticed this sub-forum. I look forward to reading many of these stories. I may have one to contribute myself. It involves the diary of a Confederate soldier from a Missouri southern regiment who was captured and paroled after the Siege of Vicksburg. The diary fell into the hands of my grandfather when he was a young newspaper editor and he transcribed the handwritten diary and the transcription came into my hands from my mother after she passed who had gotten it from her father. At the time I received it, there was no name on the transcript as to who was this soldier. I was able to find out who he was. I kept a copy of the transcript and mailed it to a contact who placed it into the archives in the State of Missouri.

Wow!! What a great thing. I hope you share the diary here or let us know how to access it.

If your guy served in the Missouri Brigade, or under General Bowen or Colonel Cockrell during the Vicksburg siege, there is a thread for them in the regimental histories. I, along with @MOBDEnut, @AUG, and others would be most interested!!

Congrats!!!
 
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