Convergence of Families: Bradberry, Blacknall, McClure (Part 2)

  This is a continuation of the previous “Convergence of Families: Bradberry, Blacknall, McClure” or "What's in a Name?". In the early 1800s Richard Bradberry was a farmer in Virginia who had a typically large family with several sons. When Richard died in the early 1830s most of his sons moved west and settled around Dresden,Tennessee. There are many Bradberrys still around Dresden, in fact a Brent Bradberry about my age is a judge in Dresden. According to census and other written records, Judge Brent is a cousin of mine - but DNA has proven that Judge Brent is not related to me (probably to his delight). Here is a story that shows how DNA comparisons can both support and contradict written records.

   The 1850 census lists two families in the same census district near Dresden in Weakley County, Tennessee: John N. Bradberry, his wife Sarah Ann (McClure) Bradberry, and their only child George McClure Bradberry born in 1846; and William Richard Blacknall, his wife Mary Frances (McClure) Blacknall, and their sons born in 1844, 1848 and 1850. Sarah Ann and Mary Frances were both born in North Carolina and were close in age, and it seems likely they were sisters or possibly cousins, however I have not been able to prove this. But recent DNA tests of their descendants are highly suggestive of their close relationship.

   There are several public sources of DNA data on the internet, where hobby genealogists like me can post their own DNA. One can quickly find relatives that they have not known, and other relationships that are embarrassing (such as, your father was not who you thought he was). I was lucky and found a pair of cousins (we have matching parts of three different chromosones); a brother and sister who are direct descendents of William Frances Blacknall and Mary Frances Blacknall, through their daughter Lula Blacknall. I also have the same "DNA package" of Blacknall DNA but mine must have come through one of Lula Blacknall's siblings, and the obvious one is the same one who gave me my "not Bradberry Y DNA"; namely George McClure Bradberry.

So the picture is now clear. The most likely interpretation is that George McClure Bradberry was a brother of Lula Blacknall. Mary Frances McClure gave birth to 4 sons, 2 years apart starting in 1844, and the son born in 1846 was raised by

his uncle and aunt and he may never have known it. George was an only child and John and Sarah Ann Bradberry raised him as their own. 

Amon and Jimmy: Blue and Gray

   I have known quite a bit about the life of my great-grandmother Mary Houston Berry (my mother’s mother’s mother). She lived in Ashland, Kentucky just across the Ohio River from Ohio and close to West Virginia on the east and Indiana on the west. She was one of four children; she had a younger sister and two younger brothers Amon and Jimmy. All I can recall from family lore was that Amon became a Union soldier and Jimmy a Confederate soldier, and their home was left alone by both sides. The records that I have found were sketchy and sparse, but enough to outline the brother’s parts in the Civil War.

   Amon was born in late 1843 and Jimmy in 1846, so they were both teenagers when the war started. Amon was the first to enlist, as a private in the 5th Independent Battery, Ohio Light Artillery. I have not found his enlistment papers but he may have enlisted as early as September 1861 at Cincinnati. He mustered out at Little Rock, Arkansas on July 31, 1865. The 5th Ohio was known as Hickenlooper’s Battery - Captain Andrew Hickenlooper was a highly regarded officer who was promoted to Brigadier General by the end of the war. Certainly the artillery pieces must have varied from time to time but at one point the 5th Ohio had four 6 pound rifled guns and two 6 pound smooth bore guns. The 5th Ohio fought at Shiloh, Corinth, the siege of Vicksburg and finally at Little Rock.

   Amon never married. He appeared on the tax list for Ashland in 1865, and evidently moved to western Kentucky along with his father, sister and her family but then died in 1870 at the age of 27. I can find no record of the cause of his death, but I find it easy to believe that his health was ruined by his part in the war. After the fighting at Little Rock the 5th Ohio reported that a total of 41 men died; only 5 were killed in action and the rest from disease.

   Sometime during the last year of the war Jimmy Berry was 18 and enlisted as a private in the militia battery of artillery commanded by the confederate LT James Schoolfield, CSA. On June 11, 1864 this militia officially merged into Co A, 7th Battalion Mounted Infantry Kentucky Volunteers. They operated around Luray, VA and then fought in the first battle at Saltville, VA in early October when the Union forces were repulsed. This battle was notorious in that Confederates shot to death a number of wounded and captured Union soldiers, both black and white. In the second battle at Saltville in late December the Union forces routed the Confederates and destroyed the salt works which were vital to food preservation and curing leather.  After Lee’s surrender on April 9, 1865 at Appomattox, Jimmy’s brigade surrendered at Mount Sterling, Kentucky on April 30 and they were paroled to their homes on May 10, 1865. Jimmy was 19.

   Jimmy’s full name was James Thomas Lewis Berry. I have found no records of what he did immediately after the war, but it was most likely that he was back in Ashland when his older sister Mary was married to another Confederate soldier (my great-grandfather) on July 5, 1866. A couple of years later (Jan 3, 1869) Jimmy married Nancy Marshall Clarke in Evansville, Indiana. Nancy had been born in Morganfield, KY where some of Jimmy’s family had recently moved, and perhaps that is how they met. Jimmy and Nancy had six children but he died in 1880 at the age of 34. I have found no cause of his death.

   Jimmy’s daughter Frances (Fanny) was born in 1875 and was very interested in Jimmy’s civil war experiences; Fanny wanted to join the Daughters of the Confederacy. She probably had no written record of his service so she wrote to her aunt Mary (my great-grandmother) for information and guidance. I have a copy of a letter dated April 4, 1908 in which Mary wrote back to Fanny with names and addresses of a couple of confederate soldiers who knew Jimmy and would be happy to share with Fanny what they remembered about Jimmy. Mary was clearly supportive of Fanny’s quest to join Daughters of the Confederacy, but she indicated that she had no desire to join that group (or any other). The three soldiers that Mary loved were all gone: Her brother the Union soldier had died in 1870, her brother the Confederate soldier had died in 1880, and her husband the Confederate soldier had died in 1904. A large part of her heart must have died with them.

 

William Joseph Anderson (Part 2)

    As the Civil War broke out the two youngest sons of the late Chesley Anderson joined the Confederate Army in May of 1861, only a few days after Virginia seceded from the Union. John Burleigh Anderson, 22 years old enlisted as a Private in the Virginia Manchester Light Artillery Battalion. I have not found detailed action reports from this unit, but he was a prisoner as of 27 July 1864 at Petersburg, VA, was sent to a POW camp at Elmira, New York and was released on 13 May 1865 on taking the oath of allegiance to the Union. He was described as 6 ft tall, fair hair and blue eyes. He returned to the Richmond area, settled down, married and had a family. He worked as a nailer (nails were iron and were made by hand) and made a comfortable living until he died in 1894. 

   William Joseph Anderson, 24 years old, enlisted as a Corporal in the Virginia 6th Volunteer Infantry which was re-organized in October 1861 as Company I, 16th Virginia Infantry. He was described as 5 ft 11 inches tall, fair hair and blue eyes. Company I was assigned to the defense of Norfolk. A good deal of information from their action reports is available, and Corporal Anderson cannot have known how near he was to one of the most significant events of the Civil War.

   During the 1850s the U. S. Navy had been developing a new type of battleship, which would be steam powered and have layers of iron to protect the ship from heavy gunfire. The Navy was close to building a prototype for testing, but the Civil War disrupted their plans. And some officers who had worked on the development had stayed with the Union and others went with the Confederacy. As soon as possible the U.S. Navy rushed to start construction of the USS Monitor at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and the Confederate Navy also started construction, but in a very different way. On 20 April 1861 (3 days after Virginia seceded) the Union Commander of the Norfolk Navy Yard determined that he could not hold off the Confederate forces so he ordered his men to burn the entire yard and retreat. They left behind the frigate USS Merrimack on fire, which burned entirely down to the waterline. Once the Confederate forces took over the Norfolk Navy Yard they were faced with an enormous effort to make the Yard usable, and for months to come Company I, 16th Virginia Infantry not only guarded against Union attacks they worked to rebuild the Yard, and installed barriers in the James River and the Elizabeth River to prevent Union ships from entering, and then removing barriers so that Confederate ships could pass. It’s unlikely that Corporal William Joseph Anderson actually worked on the Merrimack, but he must have seen the unusual ship in drydock. The Confederate Navy rebuilt the USS Merrimack from the waterline up with 4 inch thick sheets of iron, and by early in 1862 the Merrimack was renamed the CSS Virginia (but most sailors continued to call it the Merrimack).

   Early in 1862 Union war ships began patrolling in the Hampton Roads (off the coast near Norfolk, where the Chesapeake Bay flows into the Atlantic Ocean) and the Confederate officers anticipated a Union invasion either at Norfolk or Yorktown, about 30 miles north. Their spies probably knew that the USS Monitor had been launched on 30 January and had left the Brooklyn Navy Yard and headed south - but they probably did not know how non-seaworthy this heavy gunship was, and how slowly she moved. In any case the Confederate Navy sent the CSS Virginia out to sea on 8 March to fight the Union ships, and she sank the USS Cumberland and the USS Congress, and the USS Minnesota ran aground trying to escape the ironclad, which seemed to be invincible. But just like a movie plot, on the next day the USS Monitor arrived from Brooklyn, and the two ironclads fired on each other for hours with hardly any effect. At the end of the day, the Virginia returned to port and the Monitor stayed out in Hampton Roads. The fight itself was a draw but the Union finished with the advantage since their wooden ships were no longer attacked by the Virginia. But this was the beginning of modern naval warfare, and since the two prototype ironclads were so hastily built and hardly seaworthy they never fought again. In two months the Union forces invaded Norfolk, and the crew scuttled the Virginia, and in December 1862 the Monitor sank off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.

   Meanwhile ashore during April 1862 Company I and other confederate soldiers were preparing for the Union invasion until they were forced to retreat on 3 May. Their conditions were terrible. A report by Brigadier General Magruder said: “...it rained almost incessantly; the trenches were filled with water; the weather was exceedingly cold; no fires could be allowed;.....(there was) neither coffee, sugar, nor hard bread, but subsisted on flour and salt meat, and that in reduced quantities…I speak of this in honor of these brave men, whose patriotism made them indifferent to suffering , disease, danger and death”.

   Towards the end of April William Joseph Anderson became ill with pneumonia and was hospitalized probably until he was able to walk. His enlistment was for one year and his term was up so he was discharged from the army. It is not known when he was able to work, but I think it is likely that he was working as a civilian as early as the summer of 1862, hauling salt and other supplies for the Confederate army. By October of 1862 Union forces controlled nearly all of Kentucky, so that he must have delivered confederate cargo to Ashland, KY before October 1862. Otherwise I have found no record of his activities until 1866 when he married Mary Houston Berry on 5 July 1866 in Ashland. He may have met her in 1862, or not until 1865 with the end of the war. 

   After William Joseph married Mary Houston, 1868 was a difficult year for them, as Mary’s mother died and then their first-born died in infancy. They moved to western Kentucky, along with Mary’s now widowed father Thomas Berry, to Morganfield, Union County. The family had connections there, since Thomas's brother David was already established at Morganfield. William started a grocery store there and in 1870 the household included William and Mary, their two sons Joseph (1 1/2) and George (newborn), and Thomas J. Berry whose occupation was now listed as lawyer (!). In addition to the immediate family there were several other people in the household: Eliza Blue (70) and Rachel A. Blue (33 and perhaps Eliza's daughter), William Mann (16, and occupation listed as druggist; probably an assistant to William), Louisa Vontress (15, black, occupation domestic servant), Richmond and Betty Lyons and their son James (55, 48, and 5, black, servants). It must have been an interesting house! Rachel Blue is listed as owning $13,000 in real estate, while William Anderson owns none. Perhaps William was renting the store from Ms. Blue. As to Ms. Vontress and the Lyons family, I don't know whether my great-grandparents were taking advantage of hiring recently freed slaves as cheap labor, or perhaps were providing shelter and employment as a kindness. This is worth further research. Thomas Berry died not long after the census in 1870. The grocery store was evidently not a great success, and the Andersons moved to Texas in 1876, with their two sons and daughter Caroline Jane Anderson (my Grandmother, b. 18 Dec 1871). Tradition is that they were on the first train to Fort Worth (19 July, 1876). In any case, they lived at Lancaster, Dallas Co. for a few years and then moved to Tolar, Hood Co. where they spent the rest of their lives. William became a farmer in Texas, and by 1900 owned his farm (with a mortgage) outside of Tolar at "Anderson Heights". He died in 1904.

William Joseph Anderson (Part 1)

   Continuing the biographical sketches of my ancestors who served in or were greatly affected by the American Civil War, this story is about William Joseph Anderson who was the father of Caroline Jane Anderson, my maternal grandmother. In the late 1700s and early 1800s all my known ancestors were born in the southern colonies (later states) and those which were adjacent to the Ohio River; none were from New England or the "Deep South". Almost all of my ancestors were supporters of the Union, but Wm. J. Anderson, a Virginian, fought for the Confederacy.

   The records in the 1600s are not perfect, but it is likely that Lawrence Anderson left Scotland in about 1671 at the age of 20 and landed in Maryland, as a servant to Captain William Bomman. Lawrence was probably indentured to pay for his transportation, and by 1702 he is on the tax list. It is probable that by 1680 he was married (wife Mary) and they had at least one child, Lawrence Anderson II. This Lawrence Anderson II married and had at least one child - Lawrence Anderson III who was born about 1700 and moved to Virginia by 1738. From here on the records are more complete: Lawrence Anderson III married May Kirkpatrick and they had 8 children some of whom stayed in Virginia and one moved to South Carolina and some to Kentucky. Their oldest son James Anderson was born in 1726 in Virginia and lived there all his life. He became a successful farmer and married Margaret Fogg; they had 15 children which was a large family even in those days. Some of his land holdings included 400 acres on either side of Soke Arse Creek (now called Bonbrook Creek). One of James and Margaret's sons was George Anderson who also lived his entire life (1750 - 1816) in Virginia. George was a successful farmer and also owned a tavern. In 1778 he was cited for serving liquor without a license and was called before a grand jury and was then dismissed. No reason was cited but it is likely that some of the jurors were his customers. In 1783 to increase his land holdings he bought 100 acres more along Soke Arse Creek. He married Jenny Bradley and they had 7 children. One of their children was Chesley Anderson who became the father of William Joseph Anderson.

   Chesley Anderson was the youngest son of George and Jenny, born about 1790. His older brothers were off on their own and Chesley stayed at home, and when his father died in 1816 he became the manager of the family plantation. In 1820 he married Nancy Dowdy and tragically she died in 1823 in the birth of their first child (Mary Anne Virginia Anderson). In 1825 Chesley's mother died and in 1826 he married Jane Wyatt Jenkins. He and Jane had 7 children, and their 2 youngest were their sons William Joseph Anderson (born in 1837) and John Burleigh Anderson (1839). 

   In about 1840 Chesley moved his family from the plantation in Cumberland County, where he had lived since his birth, to Manchester in Chesterfield County, Virginia. Manchester is now within the city limits of Richmond. There were probably good reasons for moving to the more urban location; by selling the plantation he could afford to retire at age 50, and still support his family, and his health was probably failing because he died in 1844. The census data from 1850 and 1860 is revealing. In 1850 in Manchester there are 2 dwellings side by side; in dwelling 242 are James Donnelly (head of household, no occupation listed but real estate worth $700), Jane age 40, James age 4, and Mary age 2 months. In dwelling 243 are George Anderson age 16, Lewis Anderson age 14, Joseph Anderson age 12, and Burley Anderson age 11. In the 1860 census the two dwellings have been merged. James Donnelly age 50 (head of household, trader, illiterate, real estate worth $5000 and personal estate $500), J.W. (female age 50), W.J. (male age 22, gentleman), Burley (male age 21, gentleman), J.K. Donnelly (male age 14), and M. (female age 10).

   It is clear that Chesley Anderson died in 1844, and his widow Jane Wyatt Anderson married James Donnelly in 1845, and had a son James born in 1846 and a daughter born in 1850. James Donnelly is an interesting character, probably born in Ireland and made a living as a trader and although he was illiterate he evidently bought and sold profitably. Did he marry a wealthy widow for the money? In the 1850 census he is not wealthy, but by 1860 his wealth has increased greatly. He took care of Jane's younger children, and by 1860 William Joseph and John Burleigh are young adults. He is supporting them as they are listed as "gentlemen" meaning they are not employed, and the Civil War is about to break out. (End of part 1).

 

Isabella Rawlins Attebery

   A cursory look at my family tree shows that my ancestors were mostly farmers, warriors and preachers. Recently I have been researching those who had fought in the American Civil War and/or were influenced by it. Of course for each “nth” greatgrandfather there was an nth greatgrandmother, but very few records other than the dates and places of births, marriages and deaths can be found to describe the lives of my women ancestors. I am very fortunate to have known all my grandparents. My grandfathers both died in their early 70s and both grandmothers lived into their 90s; I remember them very well. I also have been able to learn some about my greatgrandmothers, but beyond that the records are sparse. Here is what I have found about my 2nd greatgrandmother, Isabella Rawlins Attebery.

   John Mason Rawlings left London and arrived in Massachusetts in 1770. He was dedicated to the English king and opposed the colonial revolution. Apparently he and his family moved to North Carolina as the revolution began, and he was jailed (at least) for his allegiance to the king. Others in the family dropped the “g” and ever since have used the name Rawlins. As many other families did, each generation of the Rawlins worked their way west through Kentucky and Illinois. Isabella Rawlins, my greatgreatgrandmother (2nd greatgrandmother), was born in 1830 in Greene County, Illinois. Her parents were William Martin Rawlins, Sr, and Euphamie Martin who were second cousins - this was very common on the frontier and my own family tree shows how Rawlins, Atteberys, Martins and Andersons intermarried. 

   The Rawlins family in particular was an important part of the Restoration Movement within Christianity. In the early 1800s in the young United States a number of ministers and others within the Protestant churches (especially Presbyterians and Baptists) wanted to strip away the “high church” structure, and rely only on the biblical example of worship and structure. One example is that many (but not all) of the Restoration ministers would not allow pianos in church because there was no mention of pianos in the bible. In any case, some of the most important figures in the Restoration Movement were Barton W. Stone, and the father and son Thomas and Alexander Campbell. Isabella’s father William Martin Rawlins, Sr, her uncle Roderick Rawlins, and her brother William Martin Rawlins, Jr were ministers who were devout followers and students of Stone and the Campbells. The Rawlins moved from Illinois to Dallas County, Texas, in 1844 to spread the word of the Restoration. They were part of the foundation of Disciples of Christ, and both the Christian Churches and the independent churches of Christ, and Texas Christian University (TCU).

   Isabella was barely 15 when she left Greene County. Stephen Attebery, who was 10 years older, probably knew her as she grew up in the family of preachers, and he left Greene County shortly after her - the Mexican War was underway and he had just joined the First Illinois Regiment. When he was discharged from duty after his service he headed for the Rawlins home in Dallas County and married Isabella in 1847 when she was 17. They lived near the town of Lancaster (now a suburb of Dallas) and became successful ranchers. She bore 12 children, and 6 died in infancy. She lived in a man’s world: her father, uncle, and brother were preachers who had no place for women in church offices and women were certainly not allowed to vote. As far as I have found, Stephen worked hard to support his wife and children but I have no way of knowing if Isabella had an equal partnership with her husband. She died in 1877 at the age of 47. 

Stephen Clement Attebery (part 2)

    In the first part of this story I wrote about the patriarch of my Attebery line, William Attebery, who was convicted in London as a thief and was sentenced to transportation to the North American colonies for seven years of indentured servitude. He was taken to Annapolis in 1733 to begin his sentence which he completed in 1740. He then married and became a successful farmer, and raised a large family. His greatgrandson Stephen Clement Attebery was my 2nd greatgrandfather who was born in 1820 in Kentucky. 

   During the 80 years before Stephen’s birth the Atteberys proliferated. There were large families and each generation moved south and west for new farmland. It was very difficult to trace all the Atteberys for several reasons. Attebery was spelled in many, many ways (I’m using the ATTEBERY spelling because that is on Stephen’s gravestone) and the Attebery men seemed to use only a few first names: William, Thomas, Charles, Stephen. In any particular year there might be several Thomas Atteberys in several different states, and I was unable to sort them out. Fortunately a distant Attebery cousin of mine (Robert Atteberry) has recently published a very well-researched and detailed family history which allowed me to trace my Attebery family tree. There is however a still unknown reason why Stephen’s father was known as Thomas “Jockey Tom” Attebery except to distinguish him from other Thomas Atteberys. I have found no record that he raced horses, but perhaps there may be an answer sometime.

   Jockey Tom was born in South Carolina and moved to Kentucky. He married Elizabeth Clement who had moved to Kentucky from North Carolina, and Stephen was born in 1820 in Kentucky. The family moved to Green County, Illinois in 1834 where Stephen lived until 1846. Another family became important to this story: Martin Rawlins was born in Kentucky in 1796 and moved to Green County, Illinois some time before 1830. He was a well-known frontier preacher who became one of the founders of the Churches of Christ. His daughter Isabella was born in 1830 in Green County and the Rawlins family moved to Lancaster (in Dallas County,Texas) in 1846 during the Mexican War.

  The Mexican War (1846-48) was fought over Texas. In 1836 Texas was a province of Mexico, which had become populated by gringos from the U. S. There was a great deal of support for revolutionaries who wanted to break away from Mexico. The famous battle of the Alamo was a defeat for the revolution but the battle at San Jacinto a few months later turned the tables and Texas became independent, although the boundary between Texas and Mexico was not clear. By 1846 Texas wanted to become a U. S. state, but the boundary with Mexico of the new state of Texas could not be agreed upon between the U.S. and Mexico. The war was over the boundary.

   The regular U. S. Army was not sufficient to counter the Mexican army; there had been no major battles for over 30 years. Most states recruited regiments for the U.S. Army, and in June 1846 Stephen C. Attebery enlisted as a Private in Company C, First Illinois Regiment. After very little training the First Illinois entered Mexican territory at Presidio on the Rio Grande. While the U.S. Marines were fighting in the “Halls of Montezuma” the First Illinois marched overland for 140 miles to reach Saltillo and the battle at Buena Vista in February 1847. They were under the command of Zachary Taylor and although the U.S. forces were outnumbered the Mexicans were defeated. Zachary Taylor was commended for his leadership, and he was elected President in 1848.

   By June of 1847 the men of the First Illinois were discharged and were given their choice of free transportation home to Illinois, or accept a small amount of money and find their own way home. Stephen didn’t go home.

   He made his way across Texas to Lancaster. He obviously knew that the Rawlins family had moved from Green County to Lancaster, and Isabella Rawlins had turned 17, and it is clear that they had been “courting” before the war separated them. Stephen and Isabella were married on July 22, 1847.

   Stephen became a successful cattle rancher and a Captain in the Texas militia. When the Civil War broke out and Texas entered the Confederacy, Stephen Attebery refused to enter the Confederate Army. He was said to say: I have fought for this flag and I love it and I will not raise a hand against it.  

Convergence of Families: Bradberry, Blacknall, McClure

   While I am waiting and hoping for some information from the federal archives about the Mexican War and the U. S. Civil War concerning my Fite and Attebery ancestors I have decided to take some time to summarize a mystery which occurred in 1846 in Weakley County, Tennessee. It first came to light about ten years ago, and although I can't declare it solved a few pieces of the puzzle have come together.

   Several years ago I accidentally discovered a lawyer (who is now a judge) in Dresden, TN whose name is Brent Bradberry. I believe his full name is John Brent Bradberry, but he usually goes by J. Brent Bradberry or simply Brent Bradberry. Dresden is the county seat of Weakley County where my greatgrandfather George McClure Bradberry was born in 1846, so it seemed likely that "Judge" Bradberry is a cousin of mine. At about this time I was corresponding with my second cousin Ben (Benton Lawrence Bradberry) and exchanging family history tidbits. Ben and I never met face to face, and I'm sorry that he is now deceased, but our lives had parallel paths in some ways. We had both been career Naval officers; he was a helicopter pilot and I was a destroyer sailor. More than once our mail got crossed, especially during the Vietnam era. Both Ben and I had tested our DNA and they were close matches as would be expected. Genetic genealogists group DNA into three types: Y DNA passed down from father to son; Mitochondrial DNA passed down from mother to both sons and daughters; and all the rest which are more or less randomly mixed. Comparing 37 standard Y DNA markers between Ben and me, our Y DNA were perfect matches. Although my Dad Winsel and Ben's Dad Lawrence never had their DNA tested, their 37 Y DNA markers were obviously identical. Continuing up the family tree, Winsel's Dad George Dee and Lawrence's Dad Charlie who were both sons of George McClure Bradberry also had identical Y DNA markers.  So the conclusion is that George McClure Bradberry had the same Y DNA as does all his male descendants, which we now know. (Every once in a long while, there can be mutations in DNA - but they are very far between and can usually be accounted for).

   Now back to determining how I may be related to Judge Brent Bradberry. The records show that a Richard Bradberry was a farmer in King William county, VA, in the early 1800s. He had several sons, and after he died in 1826 some of his sons moved to Weakley county, TN. In particular the brothers John, Henry, Richard and James Bradberry married and established farms near Dresden. There are now some male descendents of Henry, Richard and James still in northwest Tennessee who have analyzed their Y DNA. They are close matches to each other and are in the category of "R" Y DNA which has roots in western europe and the British Isles. Their brother John may have had only one child (or none at all!), since census data shows that John and his wife Sarah Ann McClure had only one child - namely George McClure Bradberry, born in 1846. But George McClure Bradberry and all his male descendants have Y DNA in category "I" which has roots in Scandinavia and around the Baltic (one colorful theory to explain why "I" Y DNA occurs some in the British Isles is that Vikings spread "I" Y DNA as well as pillaging). So I am not at all related to Judge Bradberry. So far there are two reasonable possibilities: Perhaps John Bradberry himself had been adopted, or that John Bradberry was indeed one of the brothers and his only child George McClure Bradberry was not his natural son. It is not yet conclusive but there are indications that George McClure Bradberry was adopted.

   John Bradberry married Sarah Ann McClure and had only one child (TO BE CONTINUED...)

Stephen Clement Attebery (Part 1)

    I have been writing about my ancestor's parts in the American civil war, and most recently about John Cantrell Fite. I am now waiting for possible information from the federal archives about the wounds he certainly received and any other details about his service in the Union cavalry. Meanwhile I am diverging to write about my great great-grandfather (my mother's father's mother's father) Stephen Clement Attebery. Several years ago I quoted a biographical sketch of him from "Memorial and Biographical History of Dallas County", 1892, and I'll try now to add some details.

   The large Attebery family in the U. S. has been well researched, and they have been quite prolific. Families with more than a dozen children were common, and even siblings sometimes spelled the surname differently. Some of the spellings are: Atterbury, Atteberry, Attebery, etc. The patriarch was a convict, born in London in 1710. At that time British law was exceptionally harsh, and a convicted thief could be hanged or imprisoned for many years. Evidently hanging was considered a bit much for petty theft or similar, so the jails and prisons were overflowing. Meanwhile in the American colonies some of the colonists were slaveholders, and others would like to have slaves but couldn't afford them. So a system was developed: many thieves, drunkards and "ne'er do wells" were convicted and sentenced to "Transportation". This was free passage to America, but on arrival the "passengers" were auctioned off for seven years of servitude. After seven years the convict was free. The colonists got cheap slaves, and the ship's captain got a share of the auction price, so the "passengers" were kept in general working order. There are stories of down and out folks in England who, in desperation, would commit a petty theft and thus trade seven years of servitude to get to the American colonies. In fact, perhaps a quarter of all the British immigrants to colonial America between 1718 - 1775 were transported convicts.

   William Atterbury was tried and convicted in February 1733 (in the "Old Bailey")  of stealing 5 yards of linsey-woolsey, and sentenced to Transportation. Linsey-woolsey was a coarse, tough and warm cloth that was woven with linen warp and wool weft. It was used for outer clothing, and was worn by ordinary folks; it was not expensive. We'll probably never know whether William was a common thief or was looking for passage to America. In any case he arrived in Annapolis in November 1733 aboard the ship Patapsco and was immediately auctioned for 7 years of servitude. I haven't seen records of his price or the details of his servitude, but he was 23 years old and probably healthy and strong. It is likely that he worked in the Annapolis shipyard for the next 7 years.

   William would have finished his servitude in 1740, and by 1746 he was farming land he now owned in Maryland. He was married (his wife's name was Sarah) and they had children. In 1754 he sold his land for "three thousand pounds of tobacco", and moved across the Potomac River into Virginia where he lived until his death in 1767. 

   William was the great grandfather of Stephen Clement Attebery, and the next 50 years and two generations between them are complicated, and Part 2 will try to cover the period. 

      

John Cantrell Fite (Part 2)

   Early in the 1800s John Fite had developed his homestead in what in 1837 became DeKalb County, Tennessee, about 30 miles east of Nashville. He and Martha raised seven children, two of whom became Baptist ministers: Moses Fite, born in 1791, and Henry Fite, born in 1800. Even though John had never been ordained, he was respected as an elder and he was known as Reverend John. By 1809 a young man from South Carolina had moved into the area and quickly became known as an energetic and devout Baptist. This was Cantrell Bethel, who must have been drawn to Rev. John Fite because they established a church which became the Salem Baptist Church in the town of LIberty. Cantrell was born in 1779, and Rev. John probably thought of him as an older brother to Moses and Henry. In 1829 Henry Fite’s first son was born and named John for his grandfather and Cantrell for his surrogate uncle.

Henry Fite spent most of his life near Liberty, Tennessee and continued his father’s work as a religious worker. He served as the pastor of the Salem Baptist Church, and as did most country preachers he tended his farm. He married Mary Grandstaff in 1823; she died (perhaps in childbirth) at 39. Henry later married Martha Garrison. His oldest son, John Cantrell Fite was born in 1829.

   There were other Fite families scattered throughout east Tennessee, and John was a common first name. As a result there were several John Fites in the area, and in particular a John Fite a few miles away - but very different. Jacob B. Fite was a first cousin to Henry Fite, and Jacob had a plantation near the small town of Alexandria which is about 5 miles from Liberty. Jacob was a slaveholder and a Southern Methodist. I’m certain that Henry and Jacob must have been aware of each other but I doubt that they were friends. Jacob had a son John Armenas Fite, b. 1832, and Jacob was wealthy enough to send John A. to law school; he graduated from Cumberland University in 1855. By 1860 John A. had 2 slaves of his own.

   At the outbreak of the Civil War, John A. Fite enlisted in Company B, 7th Tennessee Infantry, Confederate Army. He was almost immediately promoted to Captain, then fought at Seven Pines, then Mechanicsville (wounded), Cedar Run (promoted to Major), fought at Chancellorsville (promoted to Colonel), and finally at Gettysburg as he led his men in the fatal Pickett’s Charge he was wounded and captured. He surrendered his sword to Captain Samuel Moore of the 14th Connecticut Infantry, and spent the final months of the war as a prisoner. After the war he returned home, married and resumed his law practice. He pledged allegiance to the United States and was elected to the Tennessee legislature, became a judge, and was widely respected. In 1890, Captain (now Colonel) Samuel Moore returned Colonel Fite’s sword as a gesture of goodwill which was considered an important act of healing (although the healing has never been complete). John A. Fite died in 1925 at the age of 93. (Part 3 next)

John Cantrell Fite (Part 1)

   This biographical sketch continues my task of writing about my ancestors who fought in the U. S. Civil War. John Cantrell Fite, my second greatgrandfather, could be characterized as the grandfather of my grandfather, a southerner who fought for the Union, and one of the older soldiers in his regiment. The Fite family had grown rapidly in a few generations after the arrival of the first Fite couple in North America, and the branch which produced John Cantrell Fite had an impact on the development of the nation.

   The founding father was Johannes Vogt who was born in 1714 in Fronhausen, Hessen-Kassel, Saxony which is in the middle of today’s Germany. (Note: There are other sources which say that Johannes was born in Louwil, Switzerland, and there are several other differences in details between sources. I have chosen the details which to me seem most reasonable). It is likely that his parents were devout Lutherans; not wealthy but reasonably comfortable. Some sources say that Johannes was a portrait painter, but if so none of his work has survived. At some time in his late twenties or early thirties he fell in love with a much younger girl, Catharine Elizabeth Cunningham born in 1728. I have seen no reliable information regarding Catharine’s background other than that her father William Cunningham was minor Scottish royalty, and it is reasonable that he may have left Scotland because of the turmoil between Scotland and England in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. In any case Johannes’s parents and probably also Catharine’s parents were opposed to their marriage. Perhaps their age difference was the problem, or perhaps Catharine wasn’t a Lutheran, but in any case the parents would not bless their marriage.

   So, they eloped. They sailed in 1749 from Rotterdam to Philadelphia on the ship Ann which carried 242 passengers from Basel, Wurtemberg, Zweibrucken, and Darmstadt. The passenger list contains the names of 92 male passengers only, no names of women or children; my assumption is that many of the men were married and were accompanied by their wives and children. There were names of three Vogt men on board: the brothers Johannes, Heinrich, and Hans Jacob. Evidently this was no ordinary elopement. Records show that Heinrich had married in 1740 so it is most likely that his wife and perhaps children were on board; Hans Jacob was born about 1716 and was also married but the date of his marriage is unknown. Catharine most likely was traveling with her future sisters-in-law. In any case the Ann arrived in Philadelphia on 28 Sept 1749, and Johannes and Catharine were promptly married. And he was no longer Johannes Vogt; the letter combination  “V, O umlaut, G, T” is practically unwritable and unpronounceable for English speakers so the name FITE was created.

   Most sources also say that the three brothers and their families disembarked with the clothes on their backs and very little money. It was common practice to have their large items such as trunks and furniture shipped on a cargo vessel, and often these items were lost, broken or stolen. (It seems very much like traveling by air with only carry-on luggage, and the checked baggage may or may not get to the destination).  

   The three Fite brothers were eventually successful. John found work as an apprentice millwright and after a few years he moved up the Delaware river to Sussex County, New Jersey where he established his own mill and became a landowner. He and Catharine had 9 children; we will follow their son John Fite, born 1758 (evidently Johannes continued to use his birth name so there was never any use of “junior” for his son John). The Fites were supporters of the American Revolution and John Fite (the younger) joined the New Jersey militia at the age of 17. New Jersey was the site of the most battles and skirmishes of the Revolution and Private John Fite fought through to the end. He was wounded but recovered and was apparently not much hampered by the wound, and his father provided the products of his mill to the revolutionary army.

   John Fite was a devoutly religious man as well as a soldier. In about 1784 he married Martha Haslet and moved to North Carolina, where he had received a land grant as a result of his army service. He was a Lutheran but found hardly any other Lutherans in Lincoln County, North Carolina. The Presbyterians had a strong organization, and he had no problems with their theology, so he joined them. He was soon chosen as a “ruling elder” and was highly respected, but he was not able to become ordained as a minister because of his lack of a formal education.

  By 1796 John and Martha had a young family. They were “just getting by” by farming, but there was more fertile land for homesteading to the west, in Smith County (which later became DeKalb County), Tennessee.  The Fites headed west to the fertile ground. It was heavily wooded, roadless land which required at least a year of very hard work while living off the land before any crops could be harvested. John continued as a devout Presbyterian, but the nearest church was 18 miles away.

   Meanwhile Baptists were proliferating. John studied their publications, and was no doubt pleased with their flexible organizational structure compared to the Presbyterians. In 1813, at the age of 55 he officially became a Baptist. (Part 2 to follow)

Tom Martin Chapter 4

 Later Life

   With the beginning of the new century Tom was left with 2 young children and no wife. Of course he had abandoned his first wife and 7 children, and she had remarried in 1893. She (Anne Marie) had married Joe Anderson who was a good stepfather for her children and they had produced a daughter, Eula. So Tom’s need for a wife may have instigated a mystery which may never be solved. But first the local newspaper, the Chelan Leader, ran a front page feature in the Thursday July 4 1901 issue. The article praised him for his service in the War of the Rebellion and for his enviable record as a loyal citizen. The reporter’s summary of his war record was almost entirely correct, but his knowledge of elementary arithmetic led him to conclude that Tom must have joined the Union army at the age of 14. Thus another consequence of Tom’s variable birth date.

   Now to the mystery. There is a document in the Washington State Marriage Records 1854 - 2013; Whitman County marriages 1902 Jan - Apr. The document is numbered 1389 and includes:

   Mary E. Robertson (nee Zimmerman), a widow, b. Ohio, age 49

   Married Apr 18, 1902 to

   Thomas J. Martin, b. Illinois, age 55, residence Chelan, a farmer

   Father Joel, Mother Elizabeth

   Married in Colfax, Whitman County, WA

   Marriage performed by Judge Chadwick

   Witnesses O.L. Kennedy and Harry M. Love

It seems virtually impossible that there could be another Thomas J. Martin, living in the same place, born of the same parents, etc. And yet I have found no evidence that Tom and Mary ever lived together, or that Mary ever took the Martin name. Mary and Mr Robertson had moved from Ohio first to Nebraska and then later to Palouse. They had 6 children and apparently farmed right on the Washington/Idaho line. Mr Robertson died in 1895 and is buried in Viola, ID, and later Mary moved to Clarkston, WA. She died in 1925 and is buried there.

Is it possible that Tom and Mary, both widowed and with young children, married in desperate need of a partner but very soon realized their union would not work?

   Tom returned to Chelan and in Sept 1902 he applied for a pension increase from $6.00 to $12.00 per month. He was ordered to report to a doctor in Wenatchee before a certain date in 1903, and he failed to report in time. His application was rejected. Sometime in 1903 and early 1904 Tom moved to Burnt Ranch in Trinity County, California. He applied again and was ordered to a doctor in Hoopa, who in October 1905 gave him a thorough exam . Tom’s measurements were: 5’8”, 150 lbs, blue eyes, light hair, fair complexion. He had a corneal ulcer of the right eye and very minor symptoms of rheumatism. His application was again rejected. He continued several times to apply again, until 1907. He was now living in Chinaflat, Humboldt county, CA. At the age of 62 he would qualify for a pension increase even without a physical exam, and he very probably turned 62 in 1906. However his “variable” birth date gummed up the works again. Finally, all parties involved agreed to accept Oct 23, 1844 as the date of his birth, and as of June 1908 he began to receive $12.00 per month.

   When Tom moved to Northern California in 1903 or 1904, he left baby Zola with her grandparents. He probably also left Willy too, but sometime before 1910 he

brought Willy to California with him. In 1910 Tom was the cook in a boarding house in Yreka, and Willy was living in a nearby neighbor’s house. He was 15 and was probably working as a farm hand. Tom had 9 children and he never acknowledged the oldest 7 after he left them in 1886. He probably never saw Zola after 1903 or 1904, and Willy after 1914. The rest of the Martin clan did not know that Willy and Zola existed until fairly recently. As it turned out, Willy joined the U. S. Army in 1914 as a Private and fought in WWI. He spent the rest of his life in the Klamath Falls area, married and lived to 101, dying in 1996. Zola stayed in the Central Washington area all her life, married and died in 1976.

   Tom stayed in Northern California, and in 1912 he was in Yreka, Siskiyou County. His pension was increased to $16.00 per month, and Tom’s brother Levi wrote to the Bureau of Pensions asking for Tom’s address. Levi had been farming in Prescott, Arkansas for at least 20 years and had not heard from Tom for several years. I don’t know if Tom and Levi got back in touch.

   Finally in 1914 Tom won the prize - he was admitted to the Soldier’s Home, at Sawtelle, Los Angeles County, as of Nov 4, 1914. The Soldier’s Homes were established by the federal government in several places around the country, starting in 1887. They were intended for veterans who were disabled and/or elderly and did not have the means to support themselves. I would have assumed that he would move into the Soldier’s Home promptly, but he remained in Yreka for more than another year. His reaching 70 (based on his birth date of Oct 23 1844) made him eligible to live in the Soldier’s Home and also a boost in his pension. However, what I can determine from his correspondence with the Bureau of Pensions is that there was a new commissioner at the Bureau who was not accepting the Oct 23 1844 birth date. Here is an example of some of the correspondence:

      DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

BUREAU OF PENSIONS

Washington

      Mr Thomas J. Martin

      Yreka, California

 Sir:

         Your claim for increase of pension under the Act of May 11, 1912 requires        

      your explanation, under oath, of the discrepancy in your statements, giving    

      October 3 and October 23, 1844, October 23, 1845 and November 3, 1843

      as the date of your birth, and you should state the correct date, without oath,

      the name of the town or township, county and state in which you resided 

      during the summers of 1850 and 1860; with whom you then lived; the full 

      names of your parents, brothers and sisters living in June 1850 and June

      1860, and, if you lived in a city, you should state your street and between     

      what streets.

                                                         Very respectfully,

                                                             E. C. Tiemann

                                                         Acting Commissioner

Here is a bit from Tom’s hand-written letter (including mistakes) to the Bureau of Pensions:

…it was nessary for me to furnish a Recrd of my Birth in reply Will say it is imposabel for me to do so as thair Was no record only our family record and I have not saw it since 1868 When I left my home my father was ded When I left and my mother did in 1872 and the home was burnt up and I lost trace of the record and have no means of finding it… 

 Finally, in 1916 Tom moved into the Soldier’s Home, Sawtelle, Los Angeles, California and his pension increased to $24 per month. Other occurrences in 1916 were that Levi wrote again to the Bureau of Pensions asking for Tom’s address, and also on March 27 1916, in the Soldier’s Home Chapel, Tom married Barbara C. Palmer, a resident of Sawtelle, white, 63 years old, widowed, and 2 prior marriages. Her late husband was a veteran and evidently she had remained at or near the Soldier’s Home (her first husband, deceased, was not a veteran).

   Tom and Barbara must have lived together, but only Tom’s name was on the list of “inmates” which the old soldiers were called on census documents. Tom and presumably Barbara left Sawtelle and he officially transferred to the Soldier’s Home in Johnson City, TN on March 18, 1920. This was evidently meant to be a short stay on the way to Florida, as Tom was officially discharged from Johnson City on Sep 15, 1920.

   Tom and Barbara arrived in St Cloud, FL shortly after leaving Johnson City, and they took up residence on Columbia Ave at 12th St. St Cloud was different from the Soldier’s Homes as it was not run by the federal government; it was essentially a small town that had been built especially for veterans. It was a precursor to retirement “towns” such as Leisure World, and was probably more comfortable for couples than the Soldier’s Homes. Depending on which birth date is chosen, Tom was 75 or 76 and his health was failing.

   In 1923 Tom applied for the maximum amount for his pension because of the extent of his disability. The examining doctor’s comments were: “The claimant is an invalid, suffering tuberculosis of glands which develop in old abscesses. The abscesses suppurate profusely and do not heal. The claimant requires help all the time being totally disabled and not able to dress, undress, or care for himself at any time in any capacity.”

   The pension increase was approved and his pension of $72 per month commenced Nov 1, 1923.

   On June 3, 1924 Thomas Jefferson Martin died. He was buried in Mount Peace Cemetery, St Cloud, Florida.

Tom Martin Chapter 3

 Peace?

   The war was over and the three Martin brothers all survived. Sam, the oldest, had moved to Texas before the war and had been drafted into the Confederate army. He had been assigned as a POW guard in the prison camp at Tyler, Texas. Levi, two years older than Tom, had enlisted in the Union army in 1862 at the age of 19. He had been captured and sent to the POW camp where Sam was a guard; he spent the rest of the war in the prison camp as relatively comfortable as possible. Tom the youngest enlisted in 1864 at 19; he was captured, then escaped, and then fought in two of the bloodiest battles of the war. When he returned home to Coles County, Illinois in 1865 he was surely not the same teenager who had gone to war a year and a half ago.

   In 1866 Tom’s father died, and it is likely that Tom left his sisters to take care of their mother. In any case by 1868 Tom had joined his brother Sam in Lancaster, near Dallas. In the 1870 census Sam is married and has two sons 3 and 1, and Tom is living with Sam’s family as a farm hand.

   In 1871 Tom’s world changed again. On 19 October 1871 Thomas Jefferson Martin married his second cousin Anne Marie Atterberry. He was 26 and she was 18. For the next 14 years he raised cattle, first in Lancaster near his brother Sam, and later in Hood County, Texas. Tom and Anne had 7 children. My grandfather Stephen Albert Martin, their second child, was born in 1874 and Estes Martin was the youngest, born in 1885. In the 1880 census they were still in Lancaster, and Tom made the first mention of debilitating rheumatism in the Federal Census form where column 15 asks the question if the individual is sick or disabled. Also in another venue he complained that he believed he “caught” rheumatism when herding cattle in 1875.

    Once again Tom’s world changed, but this time his wife and children bore the brunt. In about 1886 Tom disappeared. I have found no evidence that he ever again contacted his family in Texas. However he did occasionally write to his sister Polly and his nephew Ivory Martin. The period from about 1886 to 1889 is void of documents; the comments I found in his later pension requests and his contacts with his nephew, in some he said he had been in Canada and in others he said Mexico, Idaho, and Washington. In fact, he may have been “riding the rails” and it is possible that he had visited all of them. In any case the 1890 register of Union Soldier and Sailor Veterans has Tom in Chelan, Okanogan County, WA enumeration district 23. Chelan was opened for homesteading in

1886, and Tom had become a homesteader possibly as early as 1888 and certainly by 1890.

   In the early 1890s Tom apparently formed a loose partnership with another homesteader (David Henry Correll) for raising work horses. There was a boom in wheat growing and there was a need for draft horses, up to 20 horse teams. Tom seems to have done well. His partner was a colorful character - a cowboy, a lawman, a gunslinger, a gambler and perhaps an outlaw. Tom was the opposite - a solid citizen, a member of Harrison Post 104 of the Grand Army of the Republic, and an Odd Fellow and a Mason both in Lipan, Hood County, Texas and in Chelan. And once again, in 1895 Tom’s world changed.

   The farmer next to Tom was Turner H. Culbertson, who had a daughter Maggie Minnie Culbertson. Tom and Maggie were married on Feb 27, 1895. On the marriage license Maggie’s age was 16 and Tom’s was 39. It is likely that Tom did not know his birth date exactly, but claiming to be 39 was blatant. He was most likely 50. It is practically certain that he was born in 1844 plus or minus a year, and when he was required to give his birth date he seemed to pick a random date from the air. For the rest of his life his variable birth date haunted him.

   The next five years, until 1900, were probably the best in his life. His rheumatism and problems with his eyes continued to bother him, but he was happy with his new wife and was a well liked and respected citizen. Tom and Maggie had 2 children, William (Willy) Chesley Martin b. Apr 12 1895 and Zola Selena Martin b. Dec 12 1899. It seems that Tom and his father-in-law Turner were good friends, and Tom was about 10 years older than his father-in-law. It did not seem to bother Turner that Willy was born 6 weeks after Tom and Maggie were married. But then tragedy came in 1900. Zola’s birth must have been very hard and Maggie died on March 18, 1900; Zola was 3 months old and Maggie was just 21.

   Tom and the 2 children moved in with the grandparents, Turner and Selena Culbertson. Tom was receiving a veteran’s pension of $6.00 per month to help with the household expenses and if he had a qualifying disability he could get $12.00 per month. But the application for the greater amount required physical exams, reports from physicians, letters of support from neighbors, and a precise date of birth. This was the beginning of a large amount of correspondence with the Bureau of Pensions which provides a great deal of information about Tom’s location and welfare. 

Tom Martin Chapter 2

 WAR

   In 1861 the seceding states formed the Confederacy and the fighting began when Confederate troops fired on the Union’s Fort Sumter, in South Carolina. The Martins and close relatives were on both sides, but most were Unionists. In Joel Feagley Martin’s family all were Unionists, however the oldest surviving son Sam Martin who had been living in Texas for several years was drafted into the Confederate army. In April of 1862 the event which brought the horrors of war to the Martins became known as “The Great Hangings at Gainesville”. Gainesville was a small city which was the county seat of Cooke County, Texas. Throughout Texas county-wide voting had been held on the question of seceding from the Union, and only a handful of counties voted in favor of staying in the Union. Cooke County voted to stay; the majority of the voters were small farmers who were not slave holders and saw no reason to secede. Texas did secede and then the Confederacy passed a law that all able-bodied men between 18 - 35 must join the Confederate Army except that men with 10 or more slaves were exempted. The small farmers in Cooke County saw this as clearly unfair and many of them signed a petition to eliminate the exemption to the Confederate congress (then in Montgomery, Alabama). A couple (at least) of wealthy slaveholders took advantage by claiming that the signers of the petition were dangerous supporters of the Union. With their wealth they controlled the sheriff and the judges; they hired gunslingers to round up the small farmers and brought them before a kangaroo court. They were all found guilty, and all 41 were hanged.Three of the lynched men were Martins or close relatives. In particular Richard N. Martin was a first cousin to Thomas Jefferson Martin. It was clear to Tom Martin and his brothers that their duty was to serve. 

   Sam had been forced to serve in the rebel army and the next older brother Reason was crippled and unable to serve. Then in order of age was Levi who was 19 in 1862; he enlisted in Co. G, 130th Illinois Infantry. He was captured and spent the last year of the war in the POW Camp (Camp Ford) at Tyler, Texas where his brother Sam was a guard. Camp Ford was relatively well run, and Levi was happy enough to sit out the rest of the war.

   In February of 1864 Tom Martin and his cousin Daniel Parker Martin, both 19, enlisted in Co. A, 7th Illinois Infantry. The 7th Illinois was probably the best armed regiment in the Union army; they were armed with Henry lever action repeating rifles. These rifles could hold 16 rounds in the magazine and could fire much faster than the standard single shot rifles that were used by most soldiers on both sides. The soldiers of the 7th Illinois bought their own Henry rifles for $50. A Private’s pay was $13 per month, so they would pay about $4 a month for a year.

   Tom and Dan Martin were 2 of 200 recruits assembled on Feb 18 at Camp Butler Illinois, about 90 miles from Mattoon. They left for Pulaski, Tennessee and arrived at Feb 27, and shortly left for another 90 miles to Florence, Alabama. Company A. was based at Florence and their assignment was to patrol the Tennessee River to prevent the confederates from using the river for transport. There was almost no time for training the new recruits, so they must have been training “on the job”.

   All evidently went well through March and April, but on May 7, 1864 a confederate brigade crossed the river and attacked the union forces at Florence. The rebels greatly outnumbered the union soldiers and after six hours of fierce fighting the union forces retreated. The after-action report said “...a loss of three officers and 32 men wounded and captured.” It is not clear if some were wounded and others captured or if all 32 men were captured, but in any case Tom Martin was one of the captured men. As it turned out, on May 13 the union forces counter-attacked and drove the rebels back across the river and took many rebels captive. Meanwhile Tom Martin and the other Union captives were being taken to the confederate POW camp at Columbia, South Carolina. It’s not clear just where Tom escaped, but he said he escaped after 7 days of marching, and then 15 days of traveling at night, hiding during the day and being helped and fed by escaped slaves until he reached union gunboats on a bend at the Tennessee River at Clifton, Tennessee. After about six weeks in all Tom rejoined the 7th Illinois at Rome, Georgia. It is not clear whether he immediately returned to Company A or was temporarily assigned to Company B, but in any case the 7th Illinois was patrolling the railroad until early July, and then they moved to the south side of the Etowah River northwest of Atlanta until October 3. It appears that they had a few weeks of relative quiet. When Tom was captured it is almost certain that his captors took his Henry rifle, and I suppose he must have acquired another when he rejoined his company. His medical record has only one entry; he was on the sick list from Sept 28 until Oct 2 when he was returned to duty. The diagnosis was intermittent fever, which was a common diagnosis and could have been the result of any number of infections. In any case he was back on duty just in time for a nasty fight. 

   On October 3 the 7th Illinois and three other regiments were ordered to Allatoona, an important rail junction about 30 miles north of Atlanta. General Sherman needed to control Allatoona to move through Atlanta to continue his march to the sea, and the confederate General Hood needed to stop Sherman. On the morning of October 5 the battle commenced, with over 5000 troops in all. The Confederates had an advantage in numbers (roughly 3000 to 2000) but the 7th Illinois with their Henry rifles had the advantage in firepower, and at the end of the day the Confederates were forced to retreat. Overall there were about 1600 casualties in all. General Sherman wrote: “For the numbers engaged, they stood upon the bloodiest battlefield ever known upon the American continent”. The march to the sea continued.

   Sherman’s union forces were stronger than any the confederacy could muster, except for one last stand at Bentonville, North Carolina. The confederate forces under General Johnston numbered about 20,000 men while Sherman had more than twice as many. The fighting lasted three days, March 19-21, and at the end Sherman’s march was hardly slowed. This was the last major battle of the Civil War and the war essentially ended on April 5, 1865 as Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox. Tom Martin was discharged on July 9, 1865. There is no doubt that Tom was not the 19 year old boy who had enlisted just 18 months before.