Berrien Minute Men | Ray City History Blog

Old Yaller’s Widow Was Denied Pension

June 3, 2012 at 12:50 am (Berrien Minute Men, Chapman Family, Uncategorized)
Tags: Aden Boyd, Berrien Minute Men, Boyd's Meeting House, Confederate Widow's Pension, Elbert J. Chapman, Empire Church, Harris Gaskins, Jesse Hodges, Joseph S. Morris, Mary A. Chapman, Mary Ann Boyd, Nancy Sykes

In 1891 Mary A. Chapman, widow of “Old Yaller” Elbert J. Chapman , was destitute and applied for a Conderate Widow’s Pension from the State of Georgia. The pension was denied on the grounds that Chapman was a deserter.

Born Mary Ann Boyd in Lowndes County in the year 1836, she was a daughter of Aden Boyd and Nancy Sykes. Her parents were neighbors of Dred Newbern and Jonathan Sirmans. County deed records show that on February 22, 1839, Aden Boyd purchased land from Levi J. Knight. This land was a part of lot 356, 10th district of what was then Lowndes but now Berrien County. Her parents were Primitive Baptists, and her father donated the land for Empire Church, which was originally known as Boyd’s Meeting House.

Mary Ann Boyd married Elbert J. Chapman in June of 1859.

Mary A. Chapman’s application for a Confederate Widow’s Pension was based on his service in Levi J. Knight’s Berrien Minute Men, but across the cover of the application was scrawled in large letters and underlined for emphasis – “Refused.” Further notations included, “husband shot for desertion.”

The application included an Affidavit made by the Widow Chapman.

According to Mary Chapman’s sworn statement, E. J. Chapman enlisted in the Berrien Minute Men in mid-September, 1861. “Some time during the war he was killed by his on men for deserting one company and going to another company of our own Army, and to the best of applicants knowledge, he was killed in North Ga in the year 1863.

This statement was corroborated by Harris Gaskins, Jesse Hodges, and Joseph S. Morris.

The three witnesses stated, “He was on or about the 15th day of Oct. 1863 killed by his own men for leaving his own company & joining the Artillery in the Western Army. he was brought back from Jackson Mississippi and shot by Court Martial in Northern Georgia witnesses state further, that E. J. Chapman was in a cavalry co in Mississippi when he was brought back, court martialed and killed.”

Later newspaper accounts of Old Yaller, Elbert J. Chapman, added the following:

“During the administration of Governor Atkinson Hon. F. M. Shaw, who was a member of the Legislature, saw in person the Governor and our Pension Commissioner, Mr. Lindsey, in regard to Mrs. Chapman drawing a pension, which had been rejected because her husband was a deserter. The fact that he only quit one command and went to another, that he had, in fact, deserted neither his flag nor his country, but was serving both faithfully and well when found in Canton, did not change the conclusion reached by the Pension Commissioner, and Mr. Shaw’s efforts to secure her a pension were in vain. She was an invalid and living in poverty.”

NOTE: The F.M. Shaw referred to above is usually known as F.M. Shaw, Jr. to distinguish him from the Francis Marion Shaw who lived at Ray City. F.M. Shaw, Jr. was from the Adel community:

“Francis Marion Shaw, Jr. owned large tracts of land east of Adel, much of which was later deeded to his children. He served in various civic positions, including that of Chairman of the Berrien County Board of Education, County Commissioner for several terms, and state Representative, the latter an office to which he was elected in 1894.”

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How Old Yellow Was Killed

June 1, 2012 at 12:37 am (Berrien Minute Men, Chapman Family)
Tags: 29th Georgia Regiment, Adams Cavalry, Alexander Paris Perham, Berrien Minute Men, Elbert J. Chapman, J. D. Cameron, J. J. Owens, John C. Lamb, Mary A. Chapman, Mary Ann Boyd, Milltown GA, Morton Station MS, OLD YALLER, Rufus Augustus Means, Wirt Adams

In 1909, Rufus Augustus Means, who served in the 29th Georgia Volunteer Infantry along with Elbert J. “Old Yaller” Chapman, related the circumstances of Chapman’s death. Elbert J. Chapman’s widow, Mary Ann “Patsy” Chapman, later lived in the 1144th Georgia Militia District, the Ray’s Mill District.

Rufus Augustus Means was one of the men detailed to shoot Elbert J. Chapman for desertion during the Civil War.

Rufus Augustus Means was a private in Company B, under the command of J.J. Owens, and Chapman was mustered in Company D, the Berrien Minute Men. But Means spoke of “Old Yaller” in a familiar manner, referring to Chapman’s family as “Patsy and the children in Milltown.”

Account of the death of Elbert J. Chapman published in The Jeffersonian, Volume 6, Issue 9, 12 August 1909 (Page 3), from the Thomas E. Watson Papers #755, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

HOW “OLD YELLOW” WAS KILLED.

Dear Sir: – As to the shooting of E. J. Chapman, of the 29th Georgia regiment, in Mississippi, I have seen two or three statements of the shooting. I will give you my statement of it. The 29th was stationed at Savannah, Ga., and when in the tent he was taken with a notion to visit Patsy and the children at Milltown, Berrien County, Ga., and from there he went to Mississippi and joined Adams’ cavalry, and when the brigade went to Mississippi our quartermaster, J. D. Cameron, caught Chapman at Canton, Miss., and we marched from there in the direction of Vicksburg, and at Vernon, Miss., they court-martialed Chapman, and they held up the sentence until after the seige of Jackson. We stayed some time and then we marched from there to Morton Station, the the Mississippi Southern, and when we stopped there the sentence was read out at dress parade. In the evening they did not have time to execute him, and had to put it off until the next day. The Judge Advocate of the Court was Major J. C. Lamb, of the 29th regiment. J. C. Lamb was the first captain of the company that Chapman belonged to. Major Lamb got the upper half of his head shot off at Jackson and so he got killed before Chapman was shot. I will never forget that killing, as I was one of the men that was detailed to shoot him, and also three others out of my company. He went by the name of “Old Yellow.” My company was from Franklin County, Ga. J. J. Owen was our first captain.
This is a correct account of the shooting of “Old Yellow,” as he was called.

RUFUS A. MEANS
29th Ga. Regiment, Co. B.
Leesburg, Texas.

Old Yaller’s Widow Was Denied Pension (raycityhistory.wordpress.com)
A Friend of Old Yaller (raycityhistory.wordpress.com)
More on the story of Old Yaller (raycityhistory.wordpress.com)
Elbert J. Chapman Was A Victim of Military Discipline (raycityhistory.wordpress.com)

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A Friend of Old Yaller

May 24, 2012 at 12:43 am (Berrien Minute Men, Chapman Family, Uncategorized)
Tags: 26th Regiment Georgia Volunteer Infantry, 29th Georgia Regiment, Berrien Minute Men, Elbert J. Chapman, General Levi J. Knight, OLD YALLER

Old Yaller

A previous post transcribed an article from the March 22, 1887 edition of the Atlanta Weekly Constitution concerning General Levi J. Knight’s Berrien Minute Men and the execution of Elbert J. Chapman during the Civil War. Here is an earlier Constitution clipping on the same topic, published January 4, 1887:

1887 recollection of “Old Yaller,” Elbert J. Chapman.

The Atlanta Weekly Constitution
January 4, 1887

“Old Yaller”

Sometime ago THE WEEKLY CONSTITUTION published an article about the execution of a deserter who was known among the soldiers as “Yaller Jacket.” A member of the 26th Georgia, who claims to be familiar with the facts, says the soldier was known as “Old Yaller,” instead of “Yaller Jacket.” Yaller was a member of the 29th Georgia, and his real name is given as Chapman. When Yaller overstayed his time and was put in the guard tent for a term of days he decided his sentence was too sever, and he accordingly “lit out.” The member of the 26th Georgia who claims that his is the true story says Yaller went to Mississippi and joined a cavalry company where later on in the war he was found, a deserter, it is true, but still fighting for the confederacy. Yaller was put under arrest a second time, but instead of trying to escape, would stick to the guard all through the skirmishing, retreating and marching. One night in a severe rain all the guards were lost, but next morning old Yaller turned up smiling. The member of the 26th, who writes to set history straight, says:

“We continued the march to Brandon and Norton station, some ten or twelve miles east, and here took up camp again. Here it was made known that “Yaller” had received a death sentence and was to be shot. Near this place, out in an old field, the army was marched out to witness his execution. These are the facts, according to the best of my recollection of twenty-three years ago. “Yaller” was a member of the 29th Georgia, and not of the 30th.”
If “Old Yaller,” or “Yaller” or “Yaller Jacket” has any friends living I would be glad to hear more about him. It will be noticed that while he was late in getting back from his trip home and skipped out from the guard tent while under a light sentence, he still stuck to the army and never deserted the guards when the finding of the court-martial hung over him.

About three weeks later, a response appeared in the Constitution:

1887 clipping about a friend of Old Yaller.

The Atlanta Weekly Constitution
January 25, 1887 pg 3

A Friend of Old Yaller

Mr. Moses Williams of Thomasville, Ga., says that old “Yaller” of “Yaller Jacket,” the soldier who was shot for desertion, lived near hi before the war. Mr. Williams says of “Old Yaller:” “He was a good man, but was poor. He fought right on for the confederacy and was a good soldier, too. There were twelve men to shoot him. I hope he is at rest.

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The Poetry of Mary Elizabeth Carroll

May 11, 2012 at 12:10 am (Civil War, Knight Family, Ray City Georgia, Uncategorized)
Tags: 29th Georgia Regiment, Berrien County GA, Berrien Minute Men, Bessie Griffin, Henry Harrison Knight, Jesse Carroll, Jimmie Gardener Gullette, John Graham Knight, Joseph S. Bazemore, Lowndes County GA, Margaret A. Knight, Margaret Chestnut, Mary Elizabeth Carroll, Mary Virginia Knight, Ray City GA, Ray's Mill GA, Walter Howard Knight, William Joseph Lamb, William Washington Knight

Mary Elizabeth Carroll was born May 9, 1839 a daughter of Margaret Chestnut and Jesse Carroll. Before the Civil War, Mary Carroll’s father was one of the wealthiest men in Berrien County.

Mary Elizabeth Carroll, wife of 1) William Washington Knight, 2) William Joseph Lamb.

Mary Elizabeth Carroll married William Washington Knight in 1855, a union of two influential families in Lowndes and Berrien county histories (The Knights and the Carrolls were cut from Lowndes into Berrien County in 1856.) The bride was a petite dark-haired beauty of 16; the groom, at 26, was 6 feet in height, with dark hair and blue eyes. William was born 4 Mar 1829 in that part of Lowndes, Georgia that is now known as Berrien County, Ga. He was the eldest son of Levi Knight and Ann Clements/Herrin, and a grandson of William Anderson Knight.

In 1860, before the start of the Civil War, Mary E. Carroll and her husband William Washington Knight were living in the vicinity of Beaver Dam Creek near the present site of Ray City, GA. William owned a farm there, situated next to the farm of his uncle, John Knight.

1860 Slave Schedule, Berrien County, GA.

http://archive.org/stream/populationschedu142unit#page/n140/mode/1up

William W. Knight’s real estate in 1860 was valued at $1100, and he had a personal estate of $700. William and Mary were raising their young children, Mary V. Knight (4), Margaret A. Knight(2) and Walter H. Knight (6 months).

1860 census enumeration of Mary Elizabeth Carroll and William Washington Knight, Berrien County, GA.

http://archive.org/stream/populationschedu111unit#page/n403/mode/1up

In January 1861, William Washington Knight was elected Justice of the Peace in the 1144th Georgia Militia District. As an elected official he could have claimed exemption from military service during the Civil War. But on October 1, 1861 Knight enlisted in the “Berrien Minutemen,” a Confederate army unit then being organized by his father, Levi J. Knight. William served in the 29th GA infantry in Company K, the Berrien Minutemen, and was elected 2nd Sergeant.

It must have been difficult for young Mary E. Knight, left home to raise her children alone while William and many other young men of the county marched off to war with the Berrien Minutemen. Two years into the war, on August 6, 1863, she penned the following:

It is not that my lot is low

that bids this silent tear to flow,

It is not greaf that bids me mourn;

It is that I am All Alone.

In woods and glens I love to roam

When the tierd hedges hies him home

Or by the woodland poole to rest

When pale the stars looks on its breast

Yet when the silent evening sighs

with hallowed airs and symphonies

my spirit takes another tone

and sighs that it is All Alone.

The Autumn leaf is sear and dead

It floats upon the watery bead

It would not be a leaf to dye

Without recording sorrows sigh

The woods and winds with sudden wail

Tell the same unvaried tale

I ‘ve now to smile when I am free

And when I sigh to sigh with me

Yet in my dreams a form I view

that thinks on me and loves me too

I start, and when the visions flown

I weep, alas that Am All Alone.

Supply requisition records for Company K show that William Washington Knight was was in service in Dalton, Georgia on December 6, 1863. Shortly after that, Knight was furloughed home because of illness. He died of chronic diarrhea at Milltown, GA December 27, 1863.1

As the war dragged on, the widowed Mary E. Carroll Knight was left to raise their four children :

Mary Virginia Knight 1856 – 1916
Margaret Ann Knight 1858 –
Walter Howard Knight 1859 – 1934
Lillian Melissa Knight March 22, 1862– 1947

But with the end of the war Mary re-married in 1865. Her second husband,William Joseph Lamb, was also her first cousin. His mother, Margaret Carroll, was a sister of Jesse Carroll, Mary’s father. His father was William Lamb, who was one of the early settlers of Milltown.

William J. Lamb was a Civil War veteran who had been seriously wounded in battle (see William J. Lamb ~ Confederate Veteran). The census of 1870 shows Mary Elizabeth Carroll was living with her husband, William J. Lamb, in the 1144th Georgia Militia District, later known as the Ray’s Mill District. With them were Mary’s children Mary V. Knight, Walter H. Knight, Lillian Knight.

1870 census enumeration of William J. Lamb and Mary Elizabeth Carroll, Berrien County, GA.

http://archive.org/stream/populationschedu0135unit#page/n439/mode/1up

Also living with the Lambs was their cousin, Henry Harrison Knight, a son of John Graham Knight. Henry was working as a country merchant at the time. Later he would open one of the first stores in the community of Rays Mill (nka Ray City), GA.

Mary Elizabeth Carroll Lamb, circa 1875, daughter of Margaret Chestnut and Jesse Carroll. Image detail from original courtesy of http://berriencountyga.com/

The 1880 census enumeration of Mary Elizabeth Carroll Lamb with husband, William J. Lamb, in Berrien County, GA. Neighbors were William, Virginia and Luther Langford. Nearby were Mary’s son, Walter Howard Knight, and his wife, Jimmie Gardener Gullette.

1880 census enumeration of William J. Lamb and Mary Elizabeth Carroll, Berrien County, GA.

http://archive.org/stream/10thcensusl0134unit#page/n380/mode/1up

In 1900 the census records show Mary and William Lamb living in the Lower Fork District, No. 658 of Lowndes County. They were boarding with Bessie Griffin and Joseph S. Bazemore. (see Bazemore-Griffin Wedding 1899)

1900 census enumertion of William J. Lamb

1900 census enumeration of William J. Lamb and Mary Elizabeth Carroll Lamb

http://archive.org/stream/12thcensusofpopu209unit#page/n440/mode/1up

Mary Elizabeth Carroll Lamb died December 29, 1906. She was buried at Beaver Dam Cemetery, Ray City, Berrien County, GA.

Grave marker of Mary Elizabeth Lamb, Beaver Dam Cemetery, Ray City, GA

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Georgia Gossip about Hardeman Giddens

August 20, 2011 at 12:11 am (Giddens Family, Society and Leisure)
Tags: 29th Georgia Regiment, Alapaha GA, Berrien County GA, Berrien Minute Men, Clinch County GA, Gaskins Cemetery, Hardeman Giddens, Harmon Gaskins, Jacob Giddens, James A. Fogle, John C. Lamb, Lowndes County GA, Lyman F. Giddens, Magnolia GA, Malissa Rowland Rouse, Martha J. Gaskins, Ocilla GA, Ray City GA, Sarah Ann "Annie" Sirmans, Thomas Connell, William Newton Fiveash, William Parrish

Hardeman Giddens (1843- 1910) led an active life that often caught the attention of citizens in Berrien County and beyond. In March of 1884, the Georgia Gossip was about the horse racing at Alapaha, GA, and whether Hardeman’s black stallion was as fast as he believed. The Challengers were W.N. Fiveash, Dr. Fogle, and Mr. Henley. William Newton Fiveash, a young man of Magnolia, GA and later of Ocilla, GA entered his bay pony. Dr. James A. Fogle, a surgeon trained during the Civil War, put his sorrel horse into the race. (Fogle was the original proprietor of the Alapaha hotel later known as the Schockley Hotel) The winner for the evening was Mr. Henley’s sorrel mare.

The Atlanta Constitution
25 Mar 1884, pg 2

Alapaha is now engaged in the pleasures of the turf. In a recent race — half mile heat – between Mr. W. N. Fiveash’s bay pony and Mr. Hart Gidden’s black horse, the bay came under the string two lengths ahead. The next race was between Dr. Fogles’s sorrel horse and Mr. Henley’s sorrel mare. The horse was beaten by a neck. Then, Mr. Giddens still believing in his black, a race was arranged between the black and Dr. Fogle’s sorrel. The sorrel was again the winner. The last race of the evening was between Fogle’s sorrel horse and Henley’s sorrel mare. Henley’s mare came under the string ahead, but it was claimed that if a good start had been obtained the horse would have won. The races were quite exciting and proved that Alapaha contains some good horseflesh.

Hardeman Giddens, born MAR 1844 in Lowndes (nka Berrien) County, Georgia , was a son of Jacob Giddens and Sarah Ann “Annie” Sirmans. The 1860 Census shows he was a resident of Berrien County at the time, Berrien having been cut out of Lowndes in 1856.

During the Civil War, Hardeman Giddens joined the 29th Georgia Regiment, Company D, the Berrien Minutemen, enlisting for 12 months. He mustered in at Sapelo Island, GA on 4 November 1861 as a private in Captain John C. Lamb’s Company D (later Company K) . Records show in 1862 he was on duty at Camp Young, near Savannah, GA. In October he was on extra duty there as a mail carrier. He was documented on payroll record rolls for April 1862, December 1862, and January – March 1863 at a rate of 25 cents. In September 1863, Hardeman Giddens was at the Battle of Chickamauga. His war experience and amazing good fortune in battle were the subject of a previous post: Civil War Bullet Dodger Hardeman Giddens Finally Catches One in 1887

Georgia 29th Infantry, monument at Chicamauga battle field.

Georgia 29th Infantry, monument at Chickamauga battle field.

After the war, Hardeman Giddens returned to Berrien County, GA. On the day before Valentines Day, February 13, 1870 he married Martha J. Gaskins. She was a daughter of Harmon Gaskins & Malissa Rowland Rouse, born on February 16, 1838 in Lowdnes Co, GA. Martha had been widowed twice. Her first husband was Thomas N. Connell, who died in the Civil War; her second was William Parrish.

After marriage, the Giddens made their home in the 1148th Georgia Militia District, where Hardeman was farming land valued at $225 dollars. His father Jacob Giddens, age 68, lived in Hardy’s household and assisted with farm labor.

In the census of 1880, Hardeman Giddens was enumerated in Georgia Militia District 1148 with his wife Martha, and sons James and Lyman.

In 1900, Hardeman Giddens and Martha, now his wife of 30 years, were living on the family farm near Ray City, GA. The Giddens owned the farm free and clear, and their two sons, Lyman and William, lived with them and helped their father work the farm. It seems Martha Giddens must have had a hard life. She birthed 9 children, only four of whom were living in 1900.

Martha J. Gaskins died in Berrien Co, GA on 26 February 1910 at age 72. The 1910 Census shows in that year Hardeman Giddens was living with his eldest son, Lyman F. Giddens, who was a prominent citizen, barber, and (later) mayor of Ray City, GA. Hardeman Giddens died later that year on October 2, 1910 and was buried in the Harmon Gaskins Family Cemetery, Berrien County, Georgia.

Hardeman Giddens and the Big Fishing Frolic
Civil War Bullet Dodger Hardeman Giddens Finally Catches One in 1887
Mayor Lyman F. Giddens Brings Electric Plant to Ray City ~ 1922
Boys Lost in the Swamp
Early Berrien Settlers Traded at Centerville, Georgia
DAN CUPID WINS OUT AFTER FOURTY YEARS
Me and Mrs. Jones: Harmon Gaskins Had A Thing Going On – Twice
More Forensics of Fiction (on the old hotel at Alapha by Cynthia Shearer)
Fogle-Shockley Hotel, 1886, Alapaha (Vanishing South Georgia photographs by Brian Brown)

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Levi J. Knight and the Confederate Payroll Fraud

June 18, 2011 at 10:10 am (Berrien Minute Men, Knight Family)
Tags: 29th Georgia Regiment, A.C. Myers, Berrien County GA, Berrien Minute Men, Big Shanty GA, Edmund Kirby Smith, Edward C. Anderson, George A Mercer, Jasper S. Whiting, Levi J. Knight, Levi J. Knight Jr, MacKays Point, Ray City GA

As previous posts have noted, family historians of Berrien County, GA have struggled with the confusion of the two Confederate officers named Levi J. Knight. Apparently, even during the war, the Confederate States Army suffered the same confusion.

In July 1861, Captain Levi J. Knight, early pioneer of Ray City and Berrien County, called for 100 volunteers to go with him to the fight for the Confederacy. These men were mustered into Confederate service during the summer of 1861 at Big Shanty, Georgia and joined the 29^th Georgia Volunteer Infantry as the Berrien Minute Men. This company traveled to Savannah where they trained and served near the Georgia coast. Levi J. Knight became Captain. Later, while stationed with “companies at Advanced Batteries, Savannah River, GA, commanded by Lieut. Col. Edward C. Anderson, C. S. Artillery,” he was promoted to Major of the 29th Regiment.

Knight, at 58 years of age and suffering from asthma, did not serve through the war. On May 14th, 1862 he retired from service and returned to his home.

Three months after L. J. Knight’s separation from the Confederate States Army, questions arose about pay he had received while serving as Captain of Company A, 29th Georgia Regiment. The Quartermaster General, A.C. Myers, reported the matter on August 12, 1862.

               Quarterms Genl’s Office
                               August 12th 1862

Gen’l
As required by pas.
1086 Army Regulations I have
to report to you that Capt.
Levi J. Knight, Co. “A”, 29th
Reg. Geo. Vols., has twice drawn
pay from Maj. L. J. Smith,
Qtr Msr., for the month of
October 1861. He was first
paid Oct. 31. & again Nov.
25th 1861

                 Very Respectfully
                          Yr Obd Servt
                            A. C. Myers
                           Qr Msr Genl

Gen’l L. Cooper
       Adj’s & Inspt Genl
               C. S. Army

1862 letter from the Adjutant General's Office alledging that Levi J. Knight defrauded the government of the Confederate States of America by drawing pay twice for the same month.

1862 letter from the Adjutant General’s Office alleging that Levi J. Knight defrauded the government of the Confederate States of America by drawing pay twice for the same month.

On August 14, 1862, Jasper S. Whiting, Major & assistant Adjutant General, “ Respectfully referred [the matter] to ~~Maj Genl E.K.Smith~~ Mercer, Savannah Geo., Commanding , who will call the attention of Capt Knight, Co “A” 29th Regt Geo Vols & ask for explanation. By command of the Secy of War.”

At the Savannah Headquarters of Brigadier General Mercer, responsibility for the investigation was overseen by Captain George A. Mercer, Assistant Adjutant General. Captain Mercer further delegated responsibility for the investigation to Colonel Edward C. Anderson, 29th Georgia Regiment.

Hd Qrs Dist. Geo
Savannah, Aug 27th, 1862

Respectfully referred to Col Anderson
who will investigate and report upon the
charge against Capt Knight
       By order Brig. Genl Mercer
          Geo. A. Mercer
                         AAG

Apparently, Colonel Anderson was familiar with the case and was able to make a quick response to Captain Mercer.

Savannah 27th Augst 1862

Captain Geo A Mercer
Adj Genls Office

Captain I have made
inquiry concerning the matter referred to me in
the communication of Augst 12th from Quarter Master
Genls Office. Captain Levi J. Knight Commandg
Company G. 29th Regt Ga Vols at present serving
with me, was elected to his present position
on the reorganization  in May & at the time
specified viz October 1861, was not a Captain.
Company C 29th Regt was first commanded by an
officer of the same name – Capt Levi J Knight
(afterwards Major) then by Capt Wylly & now
L.J. Knight Jr – the nephew of the former Capt
Knight.
    I learn that Majr L. J. Knight made
two companies, called the Berrien Minute Men,
lettered respectively A & B. These companies
were commanded by Capt Knight Senr. Last fall,
on the reorganization of the Regt in May, Majr
Knight retired from the service & is now
in Civil Life. I have no doubt the error
must have occurred unwittingly as he
bears the character of an honest old man.
Connetion with him was brief & entirely official
in its character. He commanded the outpost
companies at MacKays Point.

                                     Very Respectfully
                                               Yoobst
                                    Edwd C. Anderson
                                          Col Comdg

Colonel Edward C. Anderson letter of August 27, 1862 explaining confusion over the two officers of the Berrien Minute Men named Levi J. Knight.

Colonel Edward C. Anderson letter of August 27, 1862 concerning Levi J. Knight and the Berrien Minute Men, Page 2

Subsequently, Capt George A. Mercer wrote a letter “informing Levi J. Knight that he will forward any papers to Richmond in reference to his case.”

Confederate States of America
Head Quarters Military District of Georgia
Savannah, Aug 28th, 1862

L.J. Knight Esq
Dear Sir
I am directed by Genl. Mercer
to call your attention to the enclosed papers and
to request that you will return them to this office.
Genl. Mercer will of course report to the War
Department that you are no longer in the service
and therefore not subject to his control : he will
however gladly forward any explanation you may de-
sire to make to the Authorities at Richmond.

I am Sir Very Respy
Your Obdt Servt
Geo. A. Mercer
AAG

Captain George A. Mercer letter of August 28, 1862 to Levi J. Knight offering him the opportunity to respond to allegations that he drew double pay while serving as Captain of the Berrien Minute Men.

On September 6, 1862 Levi J. Knight wrote a response to Captain Mercer indicating that he never drew double pay and that the error must be in the bookkeeping of the Quartermaster Generals Office.

                          Lowndes County Sept 6th 1862

Capt Geo A Mercer
Agt Genl Officer

                                                   Captain yours dated 27th
concerning charges from Richmond that I had drawn
pay twice as captain for the month of October 1861
has been read and is now before me. I cannot see how
any error can have taken place except it should be in
the dates. I was mustered in as Captain the 1st of August
1861 and drew my pay as such from Maj Smith for
the months of August September and October 1861 at
three different times. I afterward drew as captain for
six days for the month of November – and for the ballance
of that month as Major and drew my pay as Major
up to the 30th of April at the reorganization. I retired the
14th of May last and am now at my residence in Lowndes
county. I know I drew only for three months and six
days. Two of the requisitions may have been dated October
and none for September. This I know that I drew only
what was due me as Captain for the time I served as
such.

                                                        Very Respectfully Yours
                                                         Levi J. Knight

Levi J. Knight letter of September 9, 1862 to Captain George A. Mercer.

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Isbin T. Giddens Dies of Brain Fever at Guyton Hospital, Georgia

June 13, 2011 at 11:56 am (Civil War, Giddens Family, Remedies and Medicine)
Tags: 29th Georgia Regiment, Berrien Minute Men, Camp Chase, Guyton Georgia, Guyton Hospital, Isbin T. Giddens, Levi J. Knight, Matthew O. Giddens, Milltown GA, Ray City GA, W.S. Lawton, Whitesville GA, Whitesville Georgia, William H. Whitehead

Isbin T. Giddens and Matthew O. Giddens were the two youngest sons of Isbin Giddens, a pioneer settler of the Ray City, GA area. The Giddens brothers served together in the Civil War. They joined Levi J. Knight’s company of Berrien Minute Men, Company G, 29th Georgia Infantry at Milltown (nka Lakeland), GA. Neither would survive the war.

Mathew O. Giddens, a subject of previous posts (Matthew O. Giddens ~ Confederate POW), fought with the Berrien Minute Men for more than three years before he was taken prisoner on December 16, 1864 near Nashville, TN. He was imprisoned at Camp Chase, Ohio where he died three months later. Federal records of deaths of Confederate prisoners of war show that M. O. Giddens, 29th GA Infantry, died of pneumonia on February 7, 1865 at Camp Chase. He was buried in one of 2260 confederate graves at Camp Chase Cemetery.

Isbin T. Giddens became a corporal in Company G, 29th Georgia Infantry Regiment, the Berrien Minute Men. He was enlisted at Savannah, GA on August 1, 1861. From August 1, 1861 to Feb, 1862 confederate military records show he was present with his unit.

Whether in the P.O.W. camps or in regimental camps, Confederate soldiers like Mathew and Isbin Giddens were under constant risk for disease. In early December of 1861, soldiers of the Berrien Minute Men wrote home that there was an outbreak of measles in the camp of the 29th Regiment. In late December, the measles outbreak was even worse. By July of 1862 letters home from the Berrien Minute Men told of diseases spreading throughout the confederate camps: chills and fever, mumps, diarrhea and typhoid fever.

That summer, Isbin T. Giddens had made the rank 2nd Sergeant, Company G, but by July he was himself gravely ill. He was sent to the Confederate general hospital at Guyton, GA about twenty miles south of Savannah. (Note: This community was also known as Whitesville, Georgia. See Guyton History.)

The historical marker at Guyton bears the inscription:

In May 1862 the Confederate Government established a General Hospital in Guyton, Georgia. This hospital was located on a nine acre tract of land between Central Railroad, a determining factor in locating hospitals, and current Georgia Highway 119, Lynn Bonds Avenue and Pine Street. The end of May saw five people on the medical staff at this hospital. Five months later the number had reached 46 people including surgeons, assistant surgeons, contract physicians, hospital stewards, ward masters, matrons, ward matrons, assistant matrons, nurses, cooks, and laundry workers. By May 1863, this hospital had a medical staff of 67 people. Confederate documents reveal that this hospital had 270 beds and 46 fireplaces. When the hospital was filled to capacity the Guyton Methodist Church was used to take in patients who could not be placed in the hospital. Surgeon William H. Whitehead was the Surgeon-in-Charge from May 1862 until February 1863, when Surgeon William S. Lawton took charge and served in this capacity until the hospital was abandoned in December 1864, when the 17th Army Corps of General Sherman`s Federal Army approached. From May 1862 to December 1864, this hospital provided medical care, food, clothing, and lodging for thousands of sick and wounded Confederate soldiers.

The assignment to Guyton hospital perhaps gave Isbin a better than average chance of surviving his illness. In Surgical Memoirs of the War of the Rebellion, Volume 2, issued 1871, Guyton Hospital was described as one of the most effective of the general hospitals in Confederate Georgia. Patients at Guyton were far more likely to survive gunshot wounds or disease than soldiers sent to other Georgia hospitals.

The excess of mortality in the general hospitals of Savannah and Macon, Georgia, over that of Guyton, was clearly referable in great measure to the hygienic conditions and relative locations of the various hospitals…In the crowded hospitals, the simplest diseases assumed malignant characters; the typhoid poison altered the course of mumps and measles, and pneumonia, and was the cause of thousands of deaths; and the foul exhalations of the sick poisoned the wounds of healthy men, and induced erysipelas, pyaemia, and gangrene. Who can estimate the suffering inflicted, as in the celebrated case of the Augusta hospitals, by the development and spread of hospital gangrene in overcrowded hospitals situated in the heart of towns and cities?
As a rule in military practice, the wounded should never be placed in wards with patients suffering from any one of the contagious or infectious diseases, as small-pox, measles, scarlet fever, typhus fever, typhoid fever, erysipelas, pyaemia, or hospital gangrene; and these various diseases should not be indiscriminately mingled together. The voice of the profession is unanimous as to the exclusion and isolation of small-pox, but we know from extended experience that sufficient care was not exercised in the isolation of other diseases.

Despite the hospital’s better record with disease, Isbin T. Giddens died of “Brain Fever” on July 17, 1862 at Guyton Hospital. The term Brain fever, no longer in use, described a medical condition where a part of the brain becomes inflamed and causes symptoms that present as fever. In modern terminology, conditions that may have been described as brain fever include Encephalitis, an acute inflammation of the brain, commonly caused by a viral infection, or Meningitis, the inflammation of the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord. Giddens died with no money in his possession. His effects, “sundries”, where left in the charge of W.S. Lawton, Surgeon and later,Surgeon-in-Chief. His place of burial was not documented.

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