Brass Napoleon Award Who Here At CWT Shouldn't Be? " There But For The Grace.... Go I "

JPK Huson 1863

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
Joined
Feb 14, 2012
Location
Central Pennsylvania
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Brandy Station, Harper's Weekly. Between Brandy, Aldie, Fairfield and a few more bloodbaths, really should not BE here. Gene pool could have ended during any of them. Great great grandparent somehow escaped the war's burial trenches- 600,000 plus didn't. Two others emerged if not unscathed at least able to marry and add blossoms to the family tree. Really, we just shouldn't BE here.

Not narrow escapes although they'd be welcome. Occurs to me frequently how many of us nearly missed being born by virtue of gene pools marching off to this war. It's not a genuine ' What If ' wondering how many members CWT would count 150 years later had a soldier not been with Picket's men July 3rd, 1863 or part of those endless waves Grant threw against Confederate troops at Cold Harbor. Phantom members sometimes feel a little real, thinking of those who never came home 150 years ago.

Really, how many of us are only here because a forever unknown marksmen missed, or wounded instead of killed, or something enabled them to escape ( or survive ) typhoid, cholera, measles, pneumonia. Examples, had three reasons I wouldn't be writing this, that all 3 great great grandfathers in uniform emerged from the war is a flaming miracle. 6th US Cavalry, 50th PA, 126th OVI- last two were at Spotsylvania, wounded within a day of each other. Gives me chills.

Ever think about that? That but for really, God's grace, luck, quick thinking and plain, old happenstance- well, wouldn't be here.
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I have had that thought more than once myself. Had a GGgrandfather who survived Antietam, one who survived Fredricksburg, and three who got out on Surgeon's Cert. Also had 4 GGranduncles and 7 cousins who died of wounds or illness. Some left children behind and some were never married. I always think about the fact that the ones that were never married may someday be forgotten forever.
To bring it closed my father survived WWII fighting in the Hedgerows in France, liberating Paris, fighting in the Hurtden Forest and finally wounded in the Bulge. He was one of the ones that always wondered why he survived. When he was presented the Purple Heart in the hospital he threw at the officer and said he did not deserve it, the guys in his company who died are the one who deserved an award.
 
Oh my! This subject will rattle your noggin! How blessed (lucky) we all are!
Within my limited research, Granddaddy Sorrels was wounded at Corinth and made it out of the 38th Mississippi when many did not (went on to have three wives and 13 children) and on the other front my father's ancestors survived slavery and reconstruction! For me, this was when history became real!
I look forward to reading each story!
 
I feel like pulling up a log at the campfire for a chat, along with some other men in the movie, 'Gettysburg' and make some condescending remark of Darwin and his new theory. But I won't. Instead, I will recount personal observations given in journal reports on how haphazard the 'Angel of Death' appeared to the remaining ones that lived and witnessed the passing of the reaper...whew!
Lubliner.
 
I have contemplated such things many a time. I don't believe in any sort of divine intervention so to me it's all a c**p shoot. Survival and transfer of DNA is subject to all sorts of things. Geez, just our own personal survival is - if I may use the term in a generic sense - a miracle.

As to the war being the possible preventative, g grandpa John Winn managed to not even get wounded even though he was at places like the angle at Spotsylvania. His health was permanently damaged but somehow he made it to 1900. His first wife, g grandma, though, died in her thirties less than a year after giving birth to grandpa so it was close.
 
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All my Civil War relatives were uncles and cousins but going back to the Revolution I had 8 5th great grandfathers and one 6th great grandfather that served. If anything happened to any of one them I wouldn't be here, kind of spooky. I know at least one of them had a close call. He was captured by the British during the Brandywine campaign and managed to escape.
 
I often think of this, and you have put it so eloquently, @JPK Huson 1863, much better than I could. My great great granduncle was shot in the chest, at 2nd Bull Run, and lay on the field for a day until someone found him, alive. He did not survive, and I sometimes wonder what thoughts he had as he lay there. It's one of life's saddest mysteries, who survives and who does not. My great father served all four years, and was wounded in the leg at the end, but he survived, thank goodness
 
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Had my GGG grandfather been killed I would not be here. I had never really thought about this before. Thanks for the post. He fought and was taken prisoner but thank heaven survived. Here are some of his notes from his experience.

NOTES FROM HIS WAR DIARY
Manoah Shockley's Civil War Diary written in his Artillery Hand-book written here with corrected spellings M. Shockley was assigned to Barr's Battery on the 16th of October 1863 (4). Arrived at his company on the 21st of October 1863 (4) at Saltville, VA and remained with the battery till the 6th of April then was captured at Harper's farm then taken to prison. April 14 I am on the coast at Newport News. I am at Newport News. I was in prison on the 14th. The 15th not well. On a flat piece of land with a high plank fence building around. It is guarded by Negroes commanded by white officers 15th 16th) In prison at Newport News 17th) ditto I am mending I was searched on the 17th 18th) I am tolerably well ? 19th) I am not well had bacon and beef for the ? 20th) to soap and quilt [page 2] April 3, 1865 Barr's Battery left on their way to Farmville they were captured on the 6th of the same instant. After hard fight on the sixth instant. Then we were marched to Burke's station and camped. Thence from there to city passed by the way of Petersburg. We were put on the boat on the 13th of this instant. I was captured at Harper's farm 12 miles west of Burkeville junction. I stayed near Black and White station [Blackstone, Va.] on the night of the 8th instant. I stayed on James River in the boat on my way to Newport News on the night of the 13th. This transcription is complete! [left side of page upside down] April 14 [63?] I was on the boat at Niew porte Nues [Newport News] I was at Niewporte Nues [Newport News], was in prison on the 14th the 15th not well on a flat peas [piece] of land with a high plank fence bilding [sic] around it garded [sic] by negroes comanded [sic] by white oficers [sic] 16) in prison at Newport News 17) dito [ditto] - I am [mending?] I was searched on [illegible] 17 18) I am tolerbly [sic] well [illegible] 19) I am not well [had?] bacon & beefe for [illegible] [illegible] [illegible] [illegible] 20) & soap & [illegible] [right side of page]

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My great-grandfather (yes, I'm that old) and one older brother enlisted in the 2nd Mississippi Infantry. He was wounded at least twice, at Sharpsburg (both legs) and at the Wilderness (shoulder and face), the last wound disabling him. His older brother was killed at the Railroad Cut at Gettysburg on July 1, 1863 after recovering from a wound at 2nd Manassas. Another older brother ended up in the 31st Louisiana Infantry and was killed at Chickasaw Bluffs above Vicksburg on either December 28th or 29th, 1862. Of the three brothers, my great-grandfather was the only survivor. So I do consider myself lucky to be here. Here's a postwar photo of my great-grandfather, Private Thomas Benton Weatherington, Company H, 2nd Mississippi Infantry.

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Got ya beat, Coonewah! Granddad rode with Forrest...but only briefly. He was a teenager and got in on the last year of the war, tagging along after his older brothers. If he'd been with Forrest any longer, might have gone the way of Forrest's horses! Trouble is, I don't know which war would have done for me - Mom's tribe was nigh on exterminated right off the bat and so fast they didn't know what happened. Git off the gold, ya heathen savages! Every picture you see of the old timers, they look bewildered and addled, dazed and confused.
 
Wow Diane! Bet you get a lot of raised eyebrows when you can say your Granddad was in the Civil War! In my case, my grandfather, Benton's son, was married twice. After his first wife died, he married my grandmother (quite a bit younger than my grandfather) and they had three more girls. My mother was the youngest and she was born when my grandfather was 55 years old.
 
Wow Diane! Bet you get a lot of raised eyebrows when you can say your Granddad was in the Civil War! In my case, my grandfather, Benton's son, was married twice. After his first wife died, he married my grandmother (quite a bit younger than my grandfather) and they had three more girls. My mother was the youngest and she was born when my grandfather was 55 years old.

Granddad was born in 1849 in Louisville KY. Choctaw/Catawba/Chickasaw/Cherokee. That's why I always say the past is closer than we think!
 
Granddad was born in 1849 in Louisville KY. Choctaw/Catawba/Chickasaw/Cherokee. That's why I always say the past is closer than we think!

Ain't that the truth. We are also all closer connected than we often think - i.e. it can often really be a small world.

Your grandpa was born in Louisville, my grandpa moved there about forty years later (born in Tennessee), dad was born there, I moved there in 1957, and now you and I live just over the hill from one another.

Y'all get a lot of the snow yesterday ? Our dog thought it grand.
 
Indeed we did get the snow - pretty deep, too. The dog loved it, of course, and he's got a nice thick coat but the cat took one step and said, nope, nope, nope!

That's very cool that your granddad was born where mine was! There's some wild stories about my grandpa, but considering the times he was raised in, they aren't all that crazy. :laugh: Sure is a small world!
 
Indeed we did get the snow - pretty deep, too. The dog loved it, of course, and he's got a nice thick coat but the cat took one step and said, nope, nope, nope!

That's very cool that your granddad was born where mine was! There's some wild stories about my grandpa, but considering the times he was raised in, they aren't all that crazy. :laugh: Sure is a small world!

I figured y'all probably got a good dose. We needed the snowpack.

My grandfather was a hard core Baptist minister (he graduated the Seminary in Louisville) so we didn't inherit any wild stories. I made up for that a bit but I've got no descendants so I guess I'll take all my wild stories to the grave.
 
I figured y'all probably got a good dose. We needed the snowpack.

My grandfather was a hard core Baptist minister (he graduated the Seminary in Louisville) so we didn't inherit any wild stories. I made up for that a bit but I've got no descendants so I guess I'll take all my wild stories to the grave.

:rofl: My great-uncle, who survived riding with Forrest also, was a hellfire and brimstone Baptist preacher who travelled the South distributing the Gospel, but mainly in Texas. He used to put a pistol on the pulpit beside the Bible and any rowdy cowboy who busted into the meeting house was likely to find out first hand what was yonder over Jordan!
 
Had my GGG grandfather been killed I would not be here. I had never really thought about this before. Thanks for the post. He fought and was taken prisoner but thank heaven survived. Here are some of his notes from his experience.

NOTES FROM HIS WAR DIARY
Manoah Shockley's Civil War Diary written in his Artillery Hand-book written here with corrected spellings M. Shockley was assigned to Barr's Battery on the 16th of October 1863 (4). Arrived at his company on the 21st of October 1863 (4) at Saltville, VA and remained with the battery till the 6th of April then was captured at Harper's farm then taken to prison. April 14 I am on the coast at Newport News. I am at Newport News. I was in prison on the 14th. The 15th not well. On a flat piece of land with a high plank fence building around. It is guarded by Negroes commanded by white officers 15th 16th) In prison at Newport News 17th) ditto I am mending I was searched on the 17th 18th) I am tolerably well ? 19th) I am not well had bacon and beef for the ? 20th) to soap and quilt [page 2] April 3, 1865 Barr's Battery left on their way to Farmville they were captured on the 6th of the same instant. After hard fight on the sixth instant. Then we were marched to Burke's station and camped. Thence from there to city passed by the way of Petersburg. We were put on the boat on the 13th of this instant. I was captured at Harper's farm 12 miles west of Burkeville junction. I stayed near Black and White station [Blackstone, Va.] on the night of the 8th instant. I stayed on James River in the boat on my way to Newport News on the night of the 13th. This transcription is complete! [left side of page upside down] April 14 [63?] I was on the boat at Niew porte Nues [Newport News] I was at Niewporte Nues [Newport News], was in prison on the 14th the 15th not well on a flat peas [piece] of land with a high plank fence bilding [sic] around it garded [sic] by negroes comanded [sic] by white oficers [sic] 16) in prison at Newport News 17) dito [ditto] - I am [mending?] I was searched on [illegible] 17 18) I am tolerbly [sic] well [illegible] 19) I am not well [had?] bacon & beefe for [illegible] [illegible] [illegible] [illegible] 20) & soap & [illegible] [right side of page]

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Impressive!
 
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