Would like to get your opinions

[Barnesville Blues]

I am continuing my work and still trying to create a biographical roster of the 4th Battalion Georgia Sharpshooters. Company A continues to be my biggest challenge as this was a mixed company from the start of the war with Men coming from all over Georgia and even other states. I am looking at one man in particular at the moment. He is listed as Private E. N. Farmer. Private Farmer didn't enlist in the Battalion until March 8, 1864 which to me makes 1 of the following three things likely.

1. He is on the young side
2. He is on the old side
3. He was previously a member of a different military organization.

Private Farmer's service record does give us a slight clue. Apparently after the Battle of Nashville, he either became separated from his command or was transferred as he did not surrender with the Army of Tennessee. Instead, he surrendered at Citronelle Alabama and it states he was par of "a detachment of detailed men commanded by Lt. M. T. Kison and were surrendered by Lt. General R. Taylor CSA to Major General E.R.S Canby USA. These men were paroled at Meridian Miss. on May 12, 1865. His parole document lists his place of residence as Wilkeson County Georgia. Now there is not Wilkeson County Georgia. There is a Wilkes County and a Wilkinson County. I searched Census data for Wilkes County and didn't really hit on any matches. Next I searched Wilkinson County Georgia and here I hit on a match, a man named Elijah N. Farmer b. 1838, d. 1899. Elijah N. Farmer is buried at Mt. Carmel Cemetery in Wilkinson County. He has a government marker which lists him as a Private in Company F, 2nd Georgia State Troops however a person added to his bio "Muster rolls show that he actually enlisted in and served in Co F 2 Georgia State Line."

Fold 3 claims to have the records for the 2nd Georgia State Line but there is no soldier with the surname Farmer listed in them at all. I managed to contact a descendant of Elijah N. Farmer and he told me that he found the muster roll in the Georgia Archives with his ancestors name. I asked him about the possibility that his ancestory may have enlisted in the 4th Ga SS after the 2nd Georgia State Line and he refused the idea, said he wasn't possible, pointed to the muster roll he had and to Elijah's widows pension. He widow Nancy S Farmer filed for Pension in Baldwin County Georgia in 1910. Widows pension are can be inaccurate but if her information is accurate then it seems to point to this Elijah N. Farmer not being the same person as Private E. N. Farmer of Company A, 4th Battalion Georgia Sharpshooters. However, I have not found any better matches. What do you think?

https://vault.georgiaarchives.org/digital/collection/TestApps/id/500441/rec/35

 

[lupaglupa]

The only other man with his initials I find from Georgia is an Ethelred Farmer but he died in 1862 so is clearly not your guy.

I find no records for Elijah N. Farmer in Fold3 at all. I have become quite suspicious of cemetery markers as they seem to be less accurate the more recently they have been put up.

I duplicated all of your steps and found what you did. I tried looking for close and not so close spelling errors. I don't find any other service record for E. N. Farmer of the 4th Sharpshooters. So I'm guessing this was his only regimental assignment.

Either there are two men or the family has the one man in the wrong unit.

In ancestry I found a muster roll of men sworn into service in 1862 that includes an E. Farmer. There is a middle initial but it's odd (Ancestry has transcribed it as Cro). The document is filed as Wilkes County but on top written in pencil it says Wilkinson. Confusing much? This is likely the Elijah Farmer you found in Wilkinson, there are a number of records for him. I can find no other likely suspect.

I agree with you that the family may well have the wrong information. It seems to me more likely that this is your man than not. But without some other bit of documentation I'm not sure how you prove it. If it were me my next step would be to look and see if Elijah Farmer was active in any veterans groups and may have left some paper trail that way. A newspaper list of veterans with his unit designation attached, an article in Confederate Veteran that mentions him, etc. Those are long shots, unfortunately.

 

[Manassas 1861]

Well we know one thing for certain. He was a farmer

 

[Stryker65]

View attachment 533762

2nd Georgia State Line, IIRC, surrendered as part of Richard Taylor's department. Perhaps it's the same one?

 

[Barnesville Blues]

What I am thinking is that this is the same guy and the family and I are both correct. I am thinking he probably originally enlisted in the 2nd Georgia State Line but then for what ever reason, joined the 4th Ga Batt'n SS towards the end of the war. I have found quiet a few men who enlisted late in the war who had previously serviced in other organizations. So far throughout the whole Battalion, I have found men who had previously served in other Georgia Units, 1 who had previously served in a South Carolina unit, one who had previously served in an Alabama Unit, and even 1 in Company A who had previously served in a Texas unit prior to enlisting in the Battalion.

The variable here is the muster roll the family claims to have found at the Georgia Archives. I have not been able to locate it. I don't doubt them that they found it but I would love to get a date off of it to see if the dates work together or if they contradict each other which could prove whether or not this scenario is possible. The reaction I got from the family was strange. I have tracked down descendants before who seemed disinterested but this group almost seems insulted that I would think their ancestor might have served in another unit.

 

[Stryker65]

I can confirm E. N. Farmer served in the Second Georgia State Line, but nothing about if it was the same guy. I have the roster for the 2nd in "Joe Brown's Army: The Georgia State Line 1862-1865." At brief glance, nothing about transfers or many men being pulled into the Confederate service. I will go read it again, perhaps.

 

[Barnesville Blues]

I can confirm E. N. Farmer served in the Second Georgia State Line, but nothing about if it was the same guy. I have the roster for the 2nd in "Joe Brown's Army: The Georgia State Line 1862-1865." At brief glance, nothing about transfers or many men being pulled into the Confederate service. I will go read it again, perhaps.

I suppose the question is, did he serve in this unit until it was surrendered or is there a gap where this could be the same man? According to his wife's pension, it looks like he enlisted in the Georgia state line in the spring of 1863 but E.N. Farmer of the Sharpshooters didn't elist until 1864.

 

[Nathan Stuart]

Can see that Pvte. E. N. Farmer enlisted on Feb. 15, '63, at Irwinton in 'Co. F, 2 GA Regiment, GA State Line'. His name appears on the Muster & Pay rolls for this unit in the period from Feb. '63 to the end of Jan. '64, when he is recorded as being absent in hospital on this last date. (Interestingly, in this last muster/pay roll up to the end of Jan. '64 it's stated as the last such roll recorded for the unit).

During this period, the unit guarded the coast and state's railroad bridges, and in mid-June '64 later joined Cumming's brigade in the AoT. (The unit fought at New Hope Church, Atlanta, and Jonesboro and believe it was present at Griswoldville in Nov. '64).

Although what's disclosed above is not conclusive on whether he is the same person who enlisted in the 4 Batt. GA SS on Mar. 8, '64, it's entirely possible based on this limited information found. In this period thought men were pulled out of (and transferred from) these local defense units into full service in other Confederate field units, like say the 4 Batt. GA SS.

 

[lupaglupa]

This looks more and more like it could be the same man. I'm not as familiar with Georgia pension applications as I am Mississippi. Were people required to reapply multiple times? I find the information submitted often changes slightly and there can be clues in that.

Another thought - are there other men in the 4th sharpshooters who came from the 2nd? Often people were transferred together and if you could find that there was a small group from Farmer's company it could lend support to this theory.

 

[Barnesville Blues]

This looks more and more like it could be the same man. I'm not as familiar with Georgia pension applications as I am Mississippi. Were people required to reapply multiple times? I find the information submitted often changes slightly and there can be clues in that.

Another thought - are there other men in the 4th sharpshooters who came from the 2nd? Often people were transferred together and if you could find that there was a small group from Farmer's company it could lend support to this theory.

In Georgia, the applicants generally had to file every year until 1910, then they had to just file once. It appears in Georgia as well, even though I have never seen this rule written anywhere, if a widow or former soldier applied relatively early after the war, say the 1880's, they seem to only have had to apply once as well. I have seen soldiers apply in 1885 then you don't see them apply again until 1890, then they do so again every year until death or 1910.

So far, I have not found any others that have transferred from a State Line unit or militia or state troops. According to the obituary for another soldier in Company A, he had originally enlisted in a 16th Georgia Battalion at Macon Georgia prior to enlisting in the 4th Ga SS but I have not looked into that unit yet to see if it was a state unit troops unit or a Georgia CSA unit. There are still a good few in Company that I have not found anything on...some of them are nothing more than names in the service record as I have found no live person in records which seems to match them so it is possible. It seems like the dates work for this being the same man.

 

[lupaglupa]

I pulled up some of the online muster rolls at the Georgia Archives website. They unfortunately don't have the specific ones we need for this project. But in scanning some of them I did see several people noted as transferring in from the sharpshooters. So migrating between the units doesn't seem to have been uncommon.

I tried a newspaper search, which was, of course, a nightmare. Last names that are common words are the devil to research. The local historical society might have local newspapers. The Georgia Historical Newspapers site did not show any papers from Wilkinson digitized.

 

[lupaglupa]

I compared the lists of soldiers for the two units and found no overlap. But then Farmer is on neither list so that may not be particularly helpful.

 

[Stryker65]

So far, I have not found any others that have transferred from a State Line unit or militia or state troops. According to the obituary for another soldier in Company A, he had originally enlisted in a 16th Georgia Battalion at Macon Georgia prior to enlisting in the 4th Ga SS but I have not looked into that unit yet to see if it was a state unit troops unit or a Georgia CSA unit. There are still a good few in Company that I have not found anything on...some of them are nothing more than names in the service record as I have found no live person in records which seems to match them so it is possible. It seems like the dates work for this being the same man.

State Troops 16th Georgia Cavalry Battalion was formed in, and served in, Northern Georgia, with troops from Fannin and Gilmer counties, so probably not this one.

Only other option is Confederate 16th Georgia Cavalry Battalion (also this), formed at Big Shanty in May, 1862, with troops from Jackson, Jasper, and Coweta counties.

Confusing since both units were formed in Northern Georgia, nowhere near Macon, or even near Big Shanty where the battalion was organized.

 

[Story]

For what it's worth
The majority of the company muster rolls in this series are from military organizations created by the State of Georgia during the Civil War for service within the state. These military organizations include the Georgia Army (1861), Georgia State Troops (September 1861- May 1862), the Georgia State Guards (August 1863-February 1864), and the Georgia State Line (1862-1865). Most units were later turned over to Confederate service. There are also nearly 250 muster rolls from Georgia Volunteer Infantry.

These records were taken from Record Groups 22-1-63, Defense Dept., Adjutant General, Confederate Muster Rolls.

CONTENTdm

vault.georgiaarchives.org

Actual rosters

https://vault.georgiaarchives.org/digital/collection/cmr/search/page/1

 

[Story]

As far as establishing navigation points, found this -

The 4th Battalion Sharpshooters was organized from part of the 3rd Georgia Infantry Battalion during the spring of 1863. The unit contained four companies and was assigned to General Bates' and Tyler's Brigade, Army of Tennessee. It served from Chickamauga to Atlanta, moved with Hood into Tennessee, and ended the war in North Carolina. At Chickamauga the battalion had 92 effectives on the first day and 54 on the second, and in December, 1863, it totaled 101 men and 70 arms. On April 26, 1865, it surrendered. Major Theodore D. Caswell was in command.

4th Battalion Georgia Sharpshooters

 

[Stryker65]

Although what's disclosed above is not conclusive on whether he is the same person who enlisted in the 4 Batt. GA SS on Mar. 8, '64, it's entirely possible based on this limited information found. In this period thought men were pulled out of (and transferred from) these local defense units into full service in other Confederate field units, like say the 4 Batt. GA SS.

What I am thinking is that this is the same guy and the family and I are both correct. I am thinking he probably originally enlisted in the 2nd Georgia State Line but then for what ever reason, joined the 4th Ga Batt'n SS towards the end of the war.

Could definitely happen if he had served in the State Guards and State Militia (first iteration), but not the State Line. After the Guards and Militia were ravaged by the CSA Conscription Acts, Gov. Brown (w/ the help of the State Legislature) organized the State Line away from Confederate service. Company B of the 1st State Line for instance, tried to transfer to Confederate service -- the Governor refused, notwithstanding the many more recruits waiting to be enlisted into the State Line.

The GA House of Reps was solidly against the State Line, and introduced 3 or 4 bills over the course of the war suggesting that the State Line be turned over to the CSA, but the Senate or the Governor shot it down every time. Am thinking that perhaps it's not the same E. N. Farmer, now.

If it is, either 1) he deserted to join the CSA, 2) he went home on agricultural furlough and got caught by the CSA conscription officers, 3) he was grabbed off the street in Marietta or Dalton by CSA conscription officers.

 

[lupaglupa]

@Stryker65 those are good reasons to suppose Farmer wasn't transferred. As you say, he could have switched on his own for some reason.

Surprisingly, when you consider how many people had it as an occupation, Farmer isn't that common a last name. There aren't a lot of other men in CSA records who can be this soldier. The overlap in initials and the gap in the dates make this one look possible. But it may be that we never actually know. A frustrating but common experience.

 

[Barnesville Blues]

I appreciate the help even if we didn't come a definite conclusion. This bunch from Company A are a handful to figure out.

 

[lupaglupa]

In my family I have more than one person who's widow gave only partial information on her husband's service. In one case she gave the information to match her brother's unit, where her husband did serve but only for a short time. That's what she remembered best, I guess. It's a shame the family was so unreceptive to your work. You would think they'd be proud!

 

[Stryker65]

In my family I have more than one person who's widow gave only partial information on her husband's service. In one case she gave the information to match her brother's unit, where her husband did serve but only for a short time. That's what she remembered best, I guess. It's a shame the family was so unreceptive to your work. You would think they'd be proud!

Maybe they thought Ga. State Line was militia, or something...