CONFEDERATE
ANCESTORS:
The following surnames are
my 5 relatives that have fought under the Confederate banner:
Gustavus
E. Vautrot 2nd
Alabama regmt. Alabama Artillery Corporal Gage’s
Battery
Thomas
Z. Prather 15th
Georgia regmt. Georgia Infantry Private Delhi
Rangers
Thomas
J. McFaddin 20th
Arkansas regmt. Arkansas Infantry Private Hempstead
Legion
Josiah
and John Johnson 2nd
Louisiana regmt. Louisiana Cavalry Privates Bonds
Mounted
Partisan Rangers
My paternal grandmother, Dorothy Vautrot (maiden name Matthews), was a member of the Daughters of the American
Revolution (D.A.R.) and The United Daughters of the Confederacy (U.D.C., Alfred
Mouton Chapter #1515). She tied our genealogy to a relative
("Colonel" Thomas McFaddin)
that was a patriot who battled British soldiers during the American Revolution (1775-1783
A.D.). Captain John McFaddin, his
son, was in the War of
1812; his father was "Colonel" Thomas McFaddin, a
Revolutionary War soldier, and listed in the volume of "Marion Men."
He is called "Colonel," but in fact, the highest rank he ever held
was that of Lieutenant; but at one time, he was the adjutant for Francis
Marion, "The Swamp Fox." General Francis Marion fought more battles
in South Carolina than were fought in any other of the colonies.
The son of Captain John McFaddin was John Gamble McFaddin (born in 1805 in Salem, South Carolina; died in 1861 in Arkansas). He married Martha Mills English (born in 1811; died in 1878), and they had a total of twelve children. Most of them died young; the family moved to Hempstead County, Arkansas, where there is a large cemetery plot erected in their name.
Interestingly, John Gamble McFaddin's son, Thomas James McFaddin (born in Sumter, South Carolina 06-04-1830; died 6-17-1870), fought for the Confederate Army initially with the 3rd Consolidated Regiment of Arkansas Volunteers and later in the 20th Arkansas infantry. Prior to his voluntary enlistment in the Confederate Army, he married Mary S. Bradley (born 11-14-1832; died 3-8-1852). Under South Carolina law at that time, he inherited all of the slaves and other property of his wife and child; and he had a considerable number of slaves of his own. All of the McFaddins were Presbyterians, and did not believe that they should sell their slaves; and Thomas James McFaddin came to Arkansas to get land so he could have a place for all of his slaves. He arrived in Arkansas in 1857, settled near Washington, Arkansas in Hempstead County. His parents later came, too: John Gamble McFaddin and Martha Mills English McFaddin. He remarried--Alice Teresa Duffie, a Roman Catholic lady; they married on 1/31/1858 in the vestibule of St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans, LA. Thomas J. McFaddin and Alice Teresa Duffie had 5 children (3 daughters and 2 sons). They had a son, Manton Charles McFaddin (11/29/1858-10/11/1892), who moved to Lafayette, LA and married Alma N. Prather (1869-1941) on 9/18/1889; this couple had one daughter named Ellen Marie McFaddin. Her paternal grandfather was the Confederate soldier Thomas James McFaddin; on Ellen's maternal side are the Prathers; Thomas Z. Prather is another Confederate soldier that I am related to. I have more about him in a section below. Anyway, Ellen McFaddin's father (Manton Charles McFaddin) died, and her mother, now a widow, married a Montgomery. Little Ellen was only 8 years-old when her mother remarried. After Ellen McFaddin (now raised by Montgomery) grew-up, she married Otis Matthews (so, she called herself Ellen McFaddin Matthews). Ellen McFaddin Matthews was my paternal grandmother's mother (my great-grandmother). Ellen and Otis had several children: most died at young ages (Anna Lee from the Influenza pandemic of 1918, Otis J.R. from crib death, M.O. from cirrhosis), but I spent a lot of my young adulthood with my grandmother, Dorothy Matthews, and great-uncle, Robert Matthews; one of their sisters (Alma Matthews) married Roland Bourque (who died from tuberculosis), whose son is my cousin, "Uncle Matt."
Back to my Confederate great-great-great grandfather's Civil War experience: Thomas J. McFaddin was captured at the Battle of Corinth (1862) and again after the siege of Vicksburg (1863); and lived for many months in a Yankee prison there in Vicksburg. The prisoners lived on rats. He had been injured in the defense of Vicksburg: a cannon caisson was about to fall from a parapet, and in keeping it from falling, he received some internal injury that ultimately resulted in his death a few years later. Eye witnesses remember that the day he was exchanged by the Yankees, he "looked like a walking skeleton; and that he was literally starved almost to death." He reached his home in Arkansas via a mule. His faithful slaves had set-up a road block at the gate before his farm, in order to protect the white woman and children from the scalawags and marauders; and when Thomas J. McFaddin reached the gate to his home, he looked so terribly forlorn and weak, that his slaves did not recognize him. When he told them who he was, they insisted that the "Yankees had done killed Marse Thomas." His wife came down and recognized him; and she and his mother (Martha Mills English McFaddin, then the widow of John Gamble McFaddin) nursed him back to health. He went to fight again beneath the Confederate "Stars and Bars" at other battles that followed! Of note, that he was so loved by his slaves is shown by the fact that when they were freed, they took the McFaddin surname, and even to this day, there are many black McFaddEns in Hempstead County; but they all spell their name "McFaddEn" to differentiate it from the white people.
The son of Captain John McFaddin was John Gamble McFaddin (born in 1805 in Salem, South Carolina; died in 1861 in Arkansas). He married Martha Mills English (born in 1811; died in 1878), and they had a total of twelve children. Most of them died young; the family moved to Hempstead County, Arkansas, where there is a large cemetery plot erected in their name.
Interestingly, John Gamble McFaddin's son, Thomas James McFaddin (born in Sumter, South Carolina 06-04-1830; died 6-17-1870), fought for the Confederate Army initially with the 3rd Consolidated Regiment of Arkansas Volunteers and later in the 20th Arkansas infantry. Prior to his voluntary enlistment in the Confederate Army, he married Mary S. Bradley (born 11-14-1832; died 3-8-1852). Under South Carolina law at that time, he inherited all of the slaves and other property of his wife and child; and he had a considerable number of slaves of his own. All of the McFaddins were Presbyterians, and did not believe that they should sell their slaves; and Thomas James McFaddin came to Arkansas to get land so he could have a place for all of his slaves. He arrived in Arkansas in 1857, settled near Washington, Arkansas in Hempstead County. His parents later came, too: John Gamble McFaddin and Martha Mills English McFaddin. He remarried--Alice Teresa Duffie, a Roman Catholic lady; they married on 1/31/1858 in the vestibule of St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans, LA. Thomas J. McFaddin and Alice Teresa Duffie had 5 children (3 daughters and 2 sons). They had a son, Manton Charles McFaddin (11/29/1858-10/11/1892), who moved to Lafayette, LA and married Alma N. Prather (1869-1941) on 9/18/1889; this couple had one daughter named Ellen Marie McFaddin. Her paternal grandfather was the Confederate soldier Thomas James McFaddin; on Ellen's maternal side are the Prathers; Thomas Z. Prather is another Confederate soldier that I am related to. I have more about him in a section below. Anyway, Ellen McFaddin's father (Manton Charles McFaddin) died, and her mother, now a widow, married a Montgomery. Little Ellen was only 8 years-old when her mother remarried. After Ellen McFaddin (now raised by Montgomery) grew-up, she married Otis Matthews (so, she called herself Ellen McFaddin Matthews). Ellen McFaddin Matthews was my paternal grandmother's mother (my great-grandmother). Ellen and Otis had several children: most died at young ages (Anna Lee from the Influenza pandemic of 1918, Otis J.R. from crib death, M.O. from cirrhosis), but I spent a lot of my young adulthood with my grandmother, Dorothy Matthews, and great-uncle, Robert Matthews; one of their sisters (Alma Matthews) married Roland Bourque (who died from tuberculosis), whose son is my cousin, "Uncle Matt."
Back to my Confederate great-great-great grandfather's Civil War experience: Thomas J. McFaddin was captured at the Battle of Corinth (1862) and again after the siege of Vicksburg (1863); and lived for many months in a Yankee prison there in Vicksburg. The prisoners lived on rats. He had been injured in the defense of Vicksburg: a cannon caisson was about to fall from a parapet, and in keeping it from falling, he received some internal injury that ultimately resulted in his death a few years later. Eye witnesses remember that the day he was exchanged by the Yankees, he "looked like a walking skeleton; and that he was literally starved almost to death." He reached his home in Arkansas via a mule. His faithful slaves had set-up a road block at the gate before his farm, in order to protect the white woman and children from the scalawags and marauders; and when Thomas J. McFaddin reached the gate to his home, he looked so terribly forlorn and weak, that his slaves did not recognize him. When he told them who he was, they insisted that the "Yankees had done killed Marse Thomas." His wife came down and recognized him; and she and his mother (Martha Mills English McFaddin, then the widow of John Gamble McFaddin) nursed him back to health. He went to fight again beneath the Confederate "Stars and Bars" at other battles that followed! Of note, that he was so loved by his slaves is shown by the fact that when they were freed, they took the McFaddin surname, and even to this day, there are many black McFaddEns in Hempstead County; but they all spell their name "McFaddEn" to differentiate it from the white people.
No comments:
Post a Comment