• honeysucklefarm.ok@gmail.com

Category: Franklin County Tennessee

John Bates’ Final Years, Part 1

This is part one of the final years of John BATES’ life.  For those of you just getting here, I’ve posted several times about my maternal 3rd great grandfather, John.  My initial post about John is here  and it gives you the background you’ll need about John’s life.  My cousin visited Rock Island (where we thought John had died) and he guest-wrote a blog post that you can find here.  On a trip to Georgia I found some documents related to John and wrote about some of those here.  Recently I made another discovery that initiated this blog series about John and you can read that post here.  The initial timeline for the final years of John BATES is included in that post but I was able to create a more accurate timeline that will serve as the outline for this series and I posted that here.  Since I posted the updated timeline and this post on a Tuesday, I will try to continue posting John’s story installments on Tuesdays just to keep things simple.  Today’s post will begin with the early years of John’s first enlistment and will go through Battle of Mill Springs in 1862.  So let’s get started.

The Beginning of the End

John’s initial enlistment was on 10 November 1861 and was supposed to last 6 months.  He enlisted with Company C, 10th Georgia State Troops, Walker’s Brigade, Army of State Troops (Captain was John OATES).  According to the Murray County Museum records, John fought in a battle at Murfreesboro, Tennessee, was captured at Tullahoma, Tennessee, and died at Rock Island (Illinois- the Union military prison camp).  There are notes on this document that the company reorganized and went into Confederate service in May of 1862.  They became the 3rd Confederate Regiment, Company F, Wharton’s Brigade, Army of Tennessee (the unit that John enlisted in for his second enlistment; also captained by John OATES).  My theory is the Murray County Museum records are incorrect.  I think it’s too much of a coincidence that there was a John BATES in both units and both units had John OATES as their caption.  Both John BATES’ enlisted at Spring Place, Georgia.  I’m not saying it’s beyond the realm of possibility that there were two in the same unit.  I just don’t think it’s probable in this case.  None of my research so far has indicated that my theory is incorrect.
Murray County document John Bates enlistment
According to the Georgia Archives website, the Captain of Company C of the 10th Regiment Infantry, Third Brigade of the Georgia State Troops was Captain John OATES.
georgia archives document john bates enlistment
Records for this unit show that John BATES was called into service on 16 December 1861 as a Private.  He joined for duty and was enrolled on 16 December 1861 at Spring Place, Georgia by Captain John OATES for a period of 6 months.  (I’m aware this information conflicts with the November date and I’m trying to get it all figured out.)  This document shows he was last paid by Paymaster Major Lamar through 31 January 1862.  It’s interesting to note that on this document John’s name is crossed off and the remarks state, “Details to Napier Battery February 8 1862”.  There are several possibilities for “Napier Battery” and I’ve been unable to determine which unit is being referred to here.  Two websites discuss possible units: Tennessee Genweb website and  Tennessee Genweb website.  Hopefully in the near future I’ll be able to solve this problem.
company c ga state troops john bates
On the far right of the document you’ll see John BATES’ signature in the section showing payroll from 31 January 1862 through 31 March 1862.  I do believe that is actually John’s signature since the guy above him  has a “his mark x” note beside the name and John’s signature doesn’t have that notation.
john bates signature
Please note this copy of the same document.  John’s name is not crossed out on this copy and it shows that he was paid $12 per month.  (Tennessee Genweb)
John Bates payroll 2
In addition to those details, the remarks section says, “Details to Napier Artillery February 8 1862”.  (See discussion above about Napier Battery.)
During the payroll periods of 16 January through 31 March 1862, the 10th Regiment, 3rd Brigade was stationed at Camp Jackson.  There were a number of Camp Jackson’s in existence and I haven’t been able to narrow it down more than that yet.  One thing I enjoyed about this document is the description of Captain OATES’ assessment of the unit.  He graded the unit fair in discipline, good in arms, fair in instruction, competent in accoutrements, good in military appearance, good in clothing.  (See bottom left corner)  For the initial period from 15 December 1861 to 31 January 1862, Captain OATES had rated the unit like this: discipline tolerable, arms good, instruction tolerable, accoutrements complete, military appearance tolerable, and clothing tolerable.  (Georgia Archives)  One additional fact for that initial period from December 1861 to January 1862 is that John was paid for 1 month and 15 days at $11 per month for a total of $16.50 in pay.  He was also given $10 for clothes.  Third Lieutenant T. R. BATES witnessed John’s receipt of payment.
muster roll 10th regiment
You can find the muster roll page with John’s name on it here.  He’s number 17.
I am checking into ordering Confederate military records but am not sure what exists for this time period other than what I’ve found online.  I will come back to this time period in John’s life if I find more information at some point.
What is more certain about this time period is what was going on in the United States and in the war in general.  In November of 1860, Abraham LINCOLN was elected president.  On 20 December 1860 South Carolina seceded from the Union, quickly followed by six other states.  On 9 February 1861 the Confederate States of America was formed and Jefferson DAVIS was appointed President.  He was sworn in as President of the United States 4 March 1861.  (History Place website)  In April of 1861 Confederate forces fired shots on Fort Sumter, thus beginning the Civil War.
Confederate States of America Cabinet
Harper’s Weekly, 1 June 1861; found at Son of the South/Lee Foundation website.

The Battle of Fishing Creek in Kentucky

**Please note that I have no documentary proof that John was in this battle.  Records have been hard to come by for his units.  I can only look at his enlistment dates and presume that he was here based on where his regiment was stationed at this point in time.
In early January of 1862, troops began congregating around Mill Springs, Kentucky.  Kentucky was important to both sides and the side that won Kentucky would have a definite advantage in the war.  A battle ensued there on 19 January 1862.  The Confederates called it the Battle of Fishing Creek.  The Union called it The Battle of Mill Springs and, since the winner is the one that gets to write the history, it became the Battle of Mill Springs.
Confederate troops had marched much of the night through cold and rain to advance on Union troops in this area.  Unaware that Union troops had just received reinforcements, the order for Confederate troops to advance was given at midnight on 18 January 1862.  At 6:30 the next morning, the battle ensued.  Confederate guns were not firing consistently in the rain.  One estimate given was that only about one-fifth of the Confederate weapons were firing.  (Mill Springs Battlefield website)  Weapon issues, along with cold, mud, rain, and fatigue from marching all night were some of the major issues the Confederates faced in that battle.  Confederates camped and tried to regroup that night but realized they could not hold their position and survive.  They crossed back over the Cumberland River to safety in the middle of the night that night leaving behind all of their artillery, wagons, camp equipment and most of their horses.  In that battle, the Confederates suffered twice as many casualties as the Union.  The bodies of two Confederate officers killed in action (General Zollicoffer and Lieutenant Peyton) were removed from the battlefield and returned to their Confederate families.  The rest of the Confederate dead were left on the battlefield to be buried in a mass grave.  Most of the Union dead were buried in Mill Springs National Cemetery.  You can read the details of the battle and of Confederate Lieutenant Peyton’s bravery before his death at Mill Spring Battlefield website.
gen zollicoffer death
This is a print for sale at philaprintshop.com showing the moment of General Zollicoffer’s death at the Battle of Mill Spring.

Meanwhile, Back at the Confederate Capital

In March of 1862, just a couple of months after the Battle of Mill Springs, Confederate President Jefferson Davis discussed drafting men for service.  In April, the first draft was passed into law and instituted.  The initial Confederate draft required 3 years’ service from draftees.  The draft was not received well.  (Wikipedia)
My initial guess about John’s re-enlistment was that John was drafted and unable to hire a substitute to serve his time and was also unable to buy his way out of service (both of which were permitted by law during the Civil War).  However, initially only men ages 18-35 were drafted.  John was 44 years old.  Men ages 36-45 weren’t required to enlist until September of 1862 and even then, men over 40 weren’t initially accepted.  (Civil War Daily Gazette)   So it appears that he voluntarily joined the second time.  I have found information that says that any man who volunteered before 15 May 1862 was eligible to “organize their own regiments or reorganize existing ones and elect their own officers”  and “receive a $50 bounty”. (Rootsweb Genealogy Pages)  John enlisted the second time on 10 May 1862 and mustered in on 16 May 1862, for Confederate service in Captain John OATES’ Company, HOWARD’s Battalion, Company F, 3rd Confederate Cavalry.  He enlisted in Spring Place, Georgia.  Since John enlisted so close to the deadline, I think it’s possible he had bigger plans to organize his own company or have available the option to reorganize a unit he had previously been in, possibly the opportunity to name his son as an officer, or something along those lines.  If he had bigger plans, those plans never materialized for whatever reason.  A side note on this website states that $50 in 1862 would equal about $1,120 in 2010 so that would be hard to pass up if you were inclined to do the work and needed money.).
The 3rd Confederate was attached to Joseph Wheeler’s division within the Army of Tennessee and they fought under the leadership of Brigadier General Nathan Bedford Forrest.  John enlisted at Spring Place, Murray County, Georgia for a 3 year stint.  (The draft law required a 3 year stint initially.  It was later increased. Some information I’ve read says he was Captain of Company F but resigned.  Other documents I’ve found say he was a Sergeant.  One record listed him as a “4 Sergeant”.  The 4 Sergeant led a section of men within the Company.  I’m assuming he led the fourth section and that’s why he was designated “4 Sergeant”.  There would have been four sections within Company F and each section was led by a Sergeant.

Next Up…Shelbyville, Tennessee

We’ve made it through the Battle of Mill Springs, or if you were John, the Battle of Fishing Creek.  It was intense for me to read all the details and think that someone important in my life was probably there and fighting.  Between now and the next time we meet to talk about John he will have marched from the Cumberland River near Mill Springs, Kentucky all the way to a location near Shelbyville, Tennessee- a distance of 184 miles.  Think about that walk this week and then meet me back here next Tuesday to learn about the next stop on the journey.  I’m looking forward to it.  I hope this week’s journey for us will be easier than the journey was for John.
Until then,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives blog
Notes: Websites were accessed between 1/16/2018 – 1/29/2018.

New, Updated Military Timeline for John Bates

Following is the updated timeline of John Bates’ final years in the military.  This is the timeline I’m currently working with after finding better information online than what I was working with last week.
10 Nov 1861                     Initial enlistment
19 Jan 1862                      Battle of Mill Springs (KY)
11-16 Feb 1862                Battle of Fort Donelson (TN)
March 1862                      Confederate President Jefferson Davis discusses drafting men 18- 35 years old
10 May 1862                     John re-enlists
16 May 1862                     John reported for duty/joined service/Mustered in
September 1862              Confederate Congress passes legislation requiring men 18-35 to enlist for a period of 3 years
8 Oct 1862                         Battle of Perryville (KY)
16 Oct 1862                       Battle (?)- Lexington, KY
31 Dec 1862- 2 Jan 1863  Battle at Murfreesborough, TN (Battle of Stones River?)
2 Jan 1863                          Battle (?)- Tullahoma, TN
Between 2 Jan-10 Sep 1863    Captured at Tullahoma, TN- Prisoner of War
Between 2 Jan-10 Sep 1863    POW- Rock Island Military Prison, Rock Island, IL (information obtained from the Murray County Museum, Murray County, GA.  They got it from info in a book at the courthouse there.  This info differs from military records.)
31 Aug 1862-18 Jan 1863     Last paid by Captain Gibbons to 31 Aug 1862 PRESENT
31 Dec 1862-30 Apr 1863     Undated/non-information military document (perhaps they didn’t know where he was?)
6 May 1863                            Unit was reorganized into Company A, 37th GA Volunteer Infantry Regt. while John was imprisoned
19-20 Sep 1863                     Battle of Chickamauga (GA)
15-25 Oct 1863                     Battle of Philadelphia (TN)
20 Oct 1863                         Captured in Monroe County, Tennessee, during Battle of Philadelphia
14 Nov 1863                       Appears on a descriptive roll of Prisoners of War at Camp Chase, Ohio from Camp Nelson, KY received by Colonel S. G. Griffin.
31 Dec 1863                       Muster Roll: 30 Apr-31 Dec 1863 dated 31 Dec 1863; last paid 30 Apr 1863 ABSENT FROM DUTY
Jan & Feb 1864                  Undated; last paid by Captain J. L. Gibbons to 30 Apr 1863 ABSENT
22-27 Feb 1864                   Battle of Dalton (GA) occurred while John was a POW.
29 Feb 1864                        Transferred from Camp Chase, OH to Fort Delaware, DE
4 Mar 1864                          Received at Fort Delaware, DE from Camp Chase, Ohio
7 May 1864                          Skirmish (?)- Tunnel Hill (GA) occurred while John was a POW.
14-15 May 1864                  Battle of Resaca (GA) occurred while John was a POW.
4 July 1864    Pay            May & June 1864; Last paid by Captain Gibbons to 30 April 1863 ABSENT
14 Oct 1864                        Admitted (notes don’t say where- maybe Point Lookout, MD?)
30 Oct 1864                        Discharged/”paroled” at Fort Delaware in prisoner exchange
31 Oct 1864                       Other record says date of arrival at Fort Delaware is 31 Oct ; Exchanged on this date.
14 Nov 1864                     John must have died en-route to Venus Point as his tombstone says this date.
15 Nov 1864                   Received at Venus Point, Savannah River, Savannah, GA from Point Lookout, MD.  Delivered by Lt Col. John E. Mulford & Assistant Agent for Exchange- 3,023 paroled Confederate Prisoners of War including 4 citizens and 4 surgeons & 74 officers.  W. H. Hatch asst agent of exchange. Note: Venus Point is attributed to both Jasper County, South Carolina and to Savannah, Chatham County, Georgia.

Happy Anniversary, Lum and Mary

Today’s blog post is about George Columbus BATES and Mary Ann SEELY, my maternal 2nd great grandparents.  They were married on this date (13 January) in 1880.  If you’d like to review what I’ve already written about George, you can find posts about George’s apple orchard here and I mentioned George in this post, too.

1860-1869

George Columbus BATES was born in December of 1856 in Dalton, Whitfield County, Georgia, to John C. and Mary Jane (MOBLEY) BATES.  George went by a shortened form of his middle name- Lum – and that’s how I’ll be referring to him here in this blog post.  By 1860 (4 years after Lum’s birth) he was living with his family in Fancy Hill, 1013th Georgia Militia District in Murray County, Georgia.  Hiram GARRETT (possibly SARRETT) was the census enumerator that year and he came by the family home on a Wednesday- 1 August 1860.  Lum would have still been a few months shy of his 4th birthday at that time but he is enumerated as 4 years old in the census.  His father, John, was a farmer.  John valued his real estate at $800 and his personal estate at $1000.  These amounts were about “middle of the pack” in comparison the other families censused on the same page.
In 1860, Lum’s older brother, Greenberry BATES was living with the family.  Green was 18 years old and was a farm laborer.  Just a few years later Green would be serving in the Civil War for the Confederacy.
Mary was born on Sunday, 6 June 1858 in Lawrence County, Missouri, to Charles and Synthia (FOSTER) SEELY.  In 1860 Mary and her family were living in Mount Pleasant, Mount Pleasant Township, Lawrence County, Missouri.  Their census enumerator that year was John W. PAYNE who came to enumerate the family on Saturday, 16 June 1860.  Mary was 2 years old at the time.  Living in the home were Mary’s parents plus four of her older siblings including Elijah, William, James, and John.  In addition to these older siblings, she had an older brother who died as an infant.  His name was George.  In the years to come, Mary would help welcome two younger siblings- Elzora Josephine and Charles Harvey.  Mary was living right next door to her maternal grandparents, Frederick and Mary (BURNETT) FOSTER.  Mary’s dad was a farmer.  Charles valued his real estate at $400 and his personal estate at $700.  These values were toward the lower end of the spectrum in comparison to the families censused on the same page as Charles.

1863: A Difficult Year

In July of 1863, Lum was 6 years old.  That year both his dad and his older brother were fighting for the Confederacy in the Civil War.  John (his dad) was fighting at Tullahoma, Tennessee when he was taken prisoner and transported to Rock Island.  Rock Island was the Yankee version of Andersonville Prison.  It wasn’t a place you wanted to go.  In July of 1863 John died.  I blogged a little about John’s military service and death here and my cousin did a guest blog post for us here.
Lum’s brother, Green, was taken as a prisoner of war at Missionary Ridge in November of 1863.  He was initially sent to Rock Island but was transferred to a different military prison a couple of weeks after his capture.  Green survived the war.  I’m sure it was a pretty rough year for the whole family.  If you want to read more about Rock Island and our part in the Civil War you can follow the links above that discuss John’s service.  You can view the Missionary Ridge battlefield here.  You can view a dramatic skit that explains the Tullahoma Campaign here.  I also recommend Wikipedia for a brief, to-the-point overview of any topic.
Other known siblings of Lum’s were an older sister Martha, an older brother Washington who I think died in 1860, and a younger brother Henry Franklin who wasn’t yet born in 1860.  In 1868, Lum’s mom got married again.  This time she married Paul E. BRINEGAR.
Side note:
The best I could tell, this was the location of John and Mary (MOBLEY) BATES’ homestead in Georgia.  They had a nice view of the mountain.
John Mary Bates view from homestead GA

1870-1879

On Tuesday, 26 July 1870, census enumerator Robert M. ROMBERT visited the BATES family.  By this time Lum’s dad, John, had died as a prisoner of war at Rock Island prison and Lum’s mom had remarried to Paul E. BRINEGAR.  The family consisted of stepdad Paul E. BRINEGAR, mom Mary J. (MOBLEY) BRINEGAR, younger half brother Franklin (later enumerated as ‘Henry’).  In 1870, Paul was farming and he valued his real estate at $850 and his personal estate at $200.  If I were to judge based on the information given by other respondents on the page, Paul was in the middle of the pack as far as money and possessions owned by the people in his area.  Mary Jane was “keeping house” as were the majority of women that I’ve encountered on older census records.  Lum was a farm laborer.  Franklin was only 2 years old.  He was not working or in school.
On Thursday, 23 June 1870 enumerator John H. STROUD visited the SEELY family.  Parents Charles and Sinthia were living in Bentonville, Osage Township, Benton County, Arkansas with their children, James, John, Mary, Elzora, and Charles.  The elder Charles was a farmer and valued his real estate at $500 and his personal estate at $250.  If I were to judge based on the information given by other respondents on the same page, Charles more well off than most of the people around him.  Sinthia was keeping house.  Despite their ages, the older children (ages 20 and 17) were not working – or at least no occupation was listed by the census enumerator.

1880

Sometime between 26 July 1870 and 28 June 1880, Lum and Mary met each other and fell in love.  I wish I had stories to tell you either from records or family stories passed down through the years.  Sadly I don’t, so we’ll skip right to the month of the wedding.
On Wednesday, 7 January 1880 it was warmer than usual in Benton County, Arkansas.  The weather was described as “too warm for overcoats and fires”.  (Arkansas Democrat, 7 Jan 1880)  That was the day that the license was issued for George Columbus BATES and Mary Ann SEELY to marry.  The wedding didn’t happen until Tuesday, 13 January 1880.  By then, it was “decidedly cooler”. (Arkansas Democrat, 14 Jan 1880)  Lum (George) was 21 years old according to the marriage license although other official documents have put him at age 24 at the time of his marriage.  (My personal belief is 24 years old.)  Mary was 20 years old according to the marriage license.
The first record I have that was dated after the wedding is the 1880 Federal Census.  On the Monday, 28 June or Tuesday, 29 June 1880, census enumerator John M. CLAYTON arrived at the newly-married couple’s home.  They were living in Dickson Township, Benton County, Arkansas.  He was listed as being 23 years old and she as being 22.  They lived next door to Lum’s now-widowed mother, Mary and Lum’s half brother who is now listed as Henry.  Living on the other side of Mary was her older son Berry, now married and with his own large family.  Lum was farming and Mary was keeping house.

A Good Stopping Point

If you work on your own family history then you know that most of the 1890 census was destroyed.  So, unfortunately it’s hard to know what Lum and Mary did in the 20 years between the 1880 and 1900 censuses.  One thing I do know they did was have babies.  Starting with Albert (my great-grandfather) in 1881 and continuing with Charles in 1887, Herman in 1891, and Vesta in 1894.
It is at this point that I’m going to stop their story.  I’ll finish it during the year in other blog posts about Lum and Mary as I celebrate their births and write about their deaths.
Until then,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives blog

Have no product in the cart!