"Mill Creek Gap plaque" by John Foxe - Own work. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mill_Creek_Gap_plaque.JPG#/media/File:Mill_Creek_Gap_plaque.JPG
There is no mention of Buzzard's Roost on the plaque commemorating a four-day portion of Sherman's infamous March to the Sea. Twenty years ago, there wasn't much information to be found at all about a place named Buzzard's Roost anywhere. The Battle of Mill Creek Gap is just about as close as you can get, and that's after digging through the saga of Resaca.
But this place with its ominous name is where Robert Carter died.
Robert Carter, the oldest son of John and Martha Carter, was born in 1846 in England and arrived here in Morgan County, Illinois, in about 1848 as a toddler.
As the eldest son of a moderately successful farmer, no one knows why Robert enlisted in Company B of the 10th Illinois Volunteer Infantry when the Civil War began. Whether it was to escape the bonds of Midwestern farm life or the feeling of patriotism felt by a young 20-year-old man, we will never know. In any event, Robert entered the service of the Union and the bloodiest war in our history.
It was here in Georgia during the Resaca campaign, the Battle of Mill Creek Gap, and consequently, the Battle of Buzzard's Roost that Robert fought under Union General William T. Sherman - and died.
Robert now rests with his parents beneath a multi-faceted grave marker in East Cemetery in Jacksonville, Morgan County, Illinois. Cemetery records indicate his burial there, and one can only imagine the wait and the dread and the longing for his body to be returned from Georgia to Illinois in 1864.
Other than a brief notation from the battlefield surgeon, there is little documentation and little known about Robert, either before his enlistment or after. There are no surviving known photographs, no medals, no military trappings left behind to tell his story. Robert never had the chance to marry or father children to carry on his legacy. In all of this, Robert was alone.
Yet he was but one of 10,000 combat deaths from Illinois, and one of almost 600,000 total who gave their last full measure on the battlefields of the Civil War.
Robert could easily be lost in this sea of bloody statistics, but not this Memorial Day.
Rest in peace, Robert.
Robert Carter was my second great grand-uncle.
The People in the Pencil Box
All things genealogy including updates, discussions, tips and hints, and examples of what to do and what not to do when researching your family tree utilizing aspects of my own family history research...and anything you'd like to ask!
Monday, May 25, 2015
Sunday, September 14, 2014
The Civil War Meets Rock and Roll
Often when engaged in genealogical pursuits, we find little
tidbits of information about an ancestor intriguing or humorous, shocking or
sad. We may not see them immediately,
but discover them after files and documents are received and filed away. Only when
we take the time to fully understand the documents before us, when we read them
analytically and record their contents do we realize what we have.
I’m not going to admit how long I’ve had this lengthy Civil
War pension file on my ancestor, John D. Alexander, or whether I have
completely analyzed all of its 165 pages. So don’t ask me. I’m not saying.
John’s file is interesting because it was filed not by John
after returning from service in the war, but by his only child, Charles. Add to that the fact that Charles was an
adult at the time of filing for his father’s pension, and you get a sense of
why the file is both interesting and lengthy.
But I digress.
John, as a resident of Kansas, joined Company D of the 8th
Kansas Volunteer Infantry on 24 September 1861. His wife, Harriet, had died in
March 1861, leaving him to care for their only child, Charles (born 21 October
1859). Charles went to live with John’s parents, William and Mary Moore McReynolds
Alexander near Golden, Adams County, Illinois, and his father went off to war.
John’s brother, David, died of injuries received in the
Battle of Stones River, Tennessee on 30 Jan 1863, having been a Corporal in the
84th Illinois from Adams County, Illinois.
John and Company D of the 8th Kansas had been in
Nashville, fortifying the headquarters for General Rosencrans. The next
movement for John and the Army of the Cumberland would be the Tullahoma
Campaign. John and a friend of his, Asa
F. Phillips of Marysville, Kansas, got a three-day pass in the latter part of
June 1863, a brief chance to get away from their daily duties before embarking
upon Tullahoma.
It turns out that John’s brother, William Alexander, had
also volunteered for the Union Army. With the 84th Illinois.
In a brief letter contained in the pension file for John
Alexander, Asa Phillips recalls the furlough.
They went to visit their brothers. And their brothers were
on Cripple Creek in Tennessee.
Cripple Creek. Hey, isn't that a song?
"Up on Cripple Creek" - The Band
Admittedly, although quite familiar with the song, I had
never really known exactly where “Cripple Creek” was. Upon doing a bit of research for this post, I
discovered that the verdict is still out on which “Cripple Creek” the rock
group, The Band, was singing about. Some say it’s Louisiana, and others claim
Colorado.
According to the map of the Murfreesboro area, there is a
Cripple Creek there, too.
I’ve listened to the song again a number of times recently,
and have thought a lot about what John and Asa, and presumably Asa’s brother
and William Alexander did during those couple of days. I wonder what they
talked about, whether they went somewhere, what they ate. I wonder if John and
William talked about their brother, David, and the fatal wounds he received at
Stones River. I wonder if they shared any letters from home or whether John
knew anything of how his only son, Charles, was getting along.
I wonder if William had any idea that he would be shot in
the head at Kennesaw Mountain, and live to receive a pension.
And I wonder if John knew that by the end of the war, he
would be nearly too ill to care for himself due to lung disease, and that he
would die on 25 March 1868 at his father’s home in Adams County, Illinois, exactly 7 years to the day that his young wife, Harriet, had died.
On a side note, the pension application made by Charles Alexander was
denied, as there was insufficient evidence to prove that John’s lung disease
was as a result of his participation for the duration in the Union cause.
Saturday, December 21, 2013
Blog Caroling with Footnote Maven
Our dear fellow Geneablogger and all-around lovely lady, Footnote Maven (www.footnotemaven.com), reminded us today that it's time for her annual tradition of Blog Caroling. Blog caroling, as FM explains it, consists of choosing your favorite Christmas carol, and blogging about it, including lyrics and video.
Christmas is about tradition, so I thought I'd give this a try and join in the singing.
It just so happens that one of my very favorite Christmas carols - okay, it's more of a song than a carol, but I think FM will allow it - also carries quite a bit of tradition along with it, perhaps in a way you might not think.
For 27 years, Darlene Love has been a special guest on the Late Show with David Letterman for his last show before Christmas. Ms. Love comes with one purpose, and that is to sing "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" to the delight of fans around the world. Darlene Love is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, a Tony award nominee, and has an exhaustive list of musical performances as a backup singer and collaborator and lead performer in her own right.
So last night, at the age of 72 years, Ms. Love took the stage over at David Letterman's show for her 27th year.
She brought the house down.
Here is last night's performance, sung as no one else on this planet could sing it.
And the lyrics are posted below, so you can listen again and sing along.
The snow's coming down
I'm watching it fall
Lots of people around
Baby please come home
The church bells in town
All singing in song
Full of happy sounds
Baby please come home
They're singing "Deck The Halls"
But it's not like Christmas at all
'Cause I remember when you were here
And all the fun we had last year
Pretty lights on the tree
I'm watching them shine
You should be here with me
Baby please come home
They're singing "Deck The Halls"
But it's not like Christmas at all
'Cause I remember when you were here
And all the fun we had last year
If there was a way
I'd hold back this tear
But it's Christmas day
Please
Please
Please
Please
Baby please come home
Lots of people around
Baby please come home
The church bells in town
All singing in song
Full of happy sounds
Baby please come home
They're singing "Deck The Halls"
But it's not like Christmas at all
'Cause I remember when you were here
And all the fun we had last year
Pretty lights on the tree
I'm watching them shine
You should be here with me
Baby please come home
They're singing "Deck The Halls"
But it's not like Christmas at all
'Cause I remember when you were here
And all the fun we had last year
If there was a way
I'd hold back this tear
But it's Christmas day
Please
Please
Please
Please
Baby please come home
David Letterman (through his representative) was quoted by the Huffington Post saying, "It isn't Christmas without Darlene Love."(1)
I tend to agree.
Wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
(1) "Darlene Love's David Letterman Appearance Kicks Off Christmas", http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/21/darlene-love-christmas-baby-letterman_n_4485773.html. Includes additional links to Ms. Love's past performances as well.
Monday, November 11, 2013
Veterans Day Honor Roll
Veterans Day.
It’s the day we remember those who served, those who never
came home, and those whose sacrifice saved lives, preserved a union, and freed
nations.
I try to put together my own list every year of those known
ancestors of mine who served, and I find that I discover more every year. It
makes me proud, of course, but it also reminds me that as I research these ancestors
throughout the year, so it was that they lived with their service every single
day of their lives. Their memories were not put on hold and brought out just on
one day a year, but every day. Perhaps because of physical injury, perhaps
because of the sheer horror that remained in their psyche, they lived with those
experiences. It makes me wonder who are we to relegate their bravery, their
steadfastness, their patriotism, to just one day.
Every day should be Veterans Day, because as I see it, we
owe them nothing less.
And now, my personal Roll of Honor as I know it to be (there
are more, I am certain).
Thank you, all, for the sacrifices you and your families
made.
*Thomas Wells, Massachusetts, Member of the Ancient and
Honorable Artillery of Massachusetts
*Jonathan Massey, Revolutionary War minuteman, Salem, New
Hampshire
*Capt. Philemon Waters, Revolutionary War, Virginia
*Edward Askins, Revolutionary War, Virginia
*James Officer, Revolutionary War, Virginia
*Major George Bruton, Revolutionary War, Virginia/South
Carolina
*Walter Wake, Civil War, Union, Company C, 20th
Illinois, wounded at the Battle of Shiloh
Robert Carter, Civil War, Union, killed in Georgia during
Sherman’s March
*Andrew Lawson, Civil War, Union
*John Robert Mawson, Civil War, Union
*James Zook, Civil War, Union
*John D. Alexander, Civil War, Union, 8th KS and
8th Wisc. Battery
Ralph John Carter, WWII, killed in action, buried in The
Netherlands National Cemetery
Robert Reeve, WWII, Iwo Jima
Major Frank Reeve, WWII, Iwo Jima
*denotes a direct ancestor
Thursday, September 19, 2013
The Book of Me - Week #2
I am participating in Julie Goucher's activity:
Week #2 - Your Birth
Do you have any baby photos?
Where were you born?
Who was present at your birth?
Dimensions?
What day was it? Time?
Did you have hair? Eye colour
Are you a twin?
All of my birth information is packed away either in my closet or at my mother's, so I can't be very exact right now. Here's what I can recall.
I was born in Jacksonville, Illinois, at Our Savior's Hospital at around 7:30 in the evening, apparently during a thunderstorm (that part always makes me giggle a bit). I weighed 8 pounds and some-odd ounces and had a head full of hair and big brown eyes. I was quite roly-poly as I remember from looking at my baby photos.
The thing that stands out about my birth was not so much the event itself, but what happened once I got here, according to what my paternal grandmother always told me.
My father was still in college when I was born, and as an English major, he was taking his share of writing courses. I don't know the name of the class or the specific assignment, but the timing was such that he wrote an essay - about me. Me, the first time he held me, the amazement he felt at my arrival and my being, the feelings he had about how scared he was that I might break if he didn't hold me just the right way. All of his emotions apparently came flooding out in this paper he wrote for a class.
Oh. He got an A+.
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
The Book of Me - Prompt #1: Who Am I?
Often when we research our ancestors, we forget to preserve our own memories. Some Geneabloggers are trying a new writing prompt series from Julie Boucher at her Anglers Rest blog entitled "The Book of Me, Written by You", about how you view "you", or in this case, how I view me.
- I am Kellie, not spelled with a "y".
- I am a mother, a daughter, a sister, a cousin.
- I am a wife, and I'm happy about that.
- I love my cat, Chloe.
- I have the most awesome daughter on the face of the planet.
- I'm not biased.
- I love history, and particularly appreciate living in the midst of it.
- I love genealogy to the point of obsession.
- I consider myself to be a professional, but I will never stop learning.
- I enjoy helping others.
- I am strong-willed and determined (never stubborn *wink*)
- I am a good friend to have around.
- I can be a perfectionist about some things, and a total mess about others.
- I take naps, and I have no guilt about that.
- I love football and hockey.
- I go crazy over flowers, vintage jewelry, and old "girlie" things. I don't know why.
- I refuse to let a day pass without at least one giggle, and preferably, a belly-laugh or two.
- I love music. It soothes my soul.
- I live with MS. I don't let it define me, but it does change my routine at times (see naps, above).
- I am a softie and will cry at any movie or show that is the least bit heartwarming.
- I am thankful for every single day.
- Really, about that bias thing...(see daughter, above)
- This "exercise" was a bit more difficult for me to write than I anticipated.
You don't have to be a blogger to do this little activity, and I must admit, it was interesting. Give it a try!!
Saturday, August 17, 2013
Andy, York, and Tellie
I was excited tonight to confirm another ancestor who fought during the period of the Revolutionary War. I'm proud of my patriotic ancestors, and am continually amazed at men who "guarded the frontier" during such an uneasy time in our newly-formed collection of states. I say that because I firmly believe that we were not aware as colonial America that we "were": a country until after the Civil War, when the concept of the preservation of the Union was solidified. But that's another blog...
I was gathering some data online about this ancestor who hailed from Spartanburg, South Carolina, and I noticed he was a slave-owner. He is not the first of my ancestors to have owned slaves, so I continued on and didn't really think much about it.
I had found a couple of possible collateral relatives to this veteran, and if you have ever used collateral research in your genealogy, you know how important those other relatives can become. If you haven't used collateral research in your family tree, it's 20 lashes with a wet noodle to you, and we need to talk.
So I searched a cemetery just to see the burials with my veteran's surname contained therein. I found a couple of possible connections that I need to look at further, but that's not what really caught my eye.
I came upon York and Tellie (my ancestor's surname).
York and Tellie were an African-American couple. York was born in Spartanburg in 1842. No one apparently knew when Tellie was born, nor when she died. York's father has no burial in the cemetery, but his name was Andy, according to additional information listed.
They have my ancestor's surname. Andy too.
I realized that I had possibly come across the slaves of my ancestors, or at minimum, their direct descendants. That's never happened to me before.
In previous research, slaves owned by one of my family lines were mentioned usually in wills, first name only, and just listed like all of the rest of the property being distributed in those types of documents. I've yet to look for any more information on them, and I chalked it up to colonial Southern life. There was a certain neutrality in those first-name-only people I had seen listed.
Seeing York and Tellie and Andy tonight was different. They have our name, and carried our name through the present day long enough for their grandson (in the case of Andy, his great-grandson) to purchase proper cemetery markers for them in the same cemetery where they rest with other members of my family.
I'm still processing this as I write. But to Andy and York and Tellie...I'm glad to have met you.
I was gathering some data online about this ancestor who hailed from Spartanburg, South Carolina, and I noticed he was a slave-owner. He is not the first of my ancestors to have owned slaves, so I continued on and didn't really think much about it.
I had found a couple of possible collateral relatives to this veteran, and if you have ever used collateral research in your genealogy, you know how important those other relatives can become. If you haven't used collateral research in your family tree, it's 20 lashes with a wet noodle to you, and we need to talk.
So I searched a cemetery just to see the burials with my veteran's surname contained therein. I found a couple of possible connections that I need to look at further, but that's not what really caught my eye.
I came upon York and Tellie (my ancestor's surname).
York and Tellie were an African-American couple. York was born in Spartanburg in 1842. No one apparently knew when Tellie was born, nor when she died. York's father has no burial in the cemetery, but his name was Andy, according to additional information listed.
They have my ancestor's surname. Andy too.
I realized that I had possibly come across the slaves of my ancestors, or at minimum, their direct descendants. That's never happened to me before.
In previous research, slaves owned by one of my family lines were mentioned usually in wills, first name only, and just listed like all of the rest of the property being distributed in those types of documents. I've yet to look for any more information on them, and I chalked it up to colonial Southern life. There was a certain neutrality in those first-name-only people I had seen listed.
Seeing York and Tellie and Andy tonight was different. They have our name, and carried our name through the present day long enough for their grandson (in the case of Andy, his great-grandson) to purchase proper cemetery markers for them in the same cemetery where they rest with other members of my family.
I'm still processing this as I write. But to Andy and York and Tellie...I'm glad to have met you.
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