Biographies, Photos and Anecdotes
Company I

Pvt. Andrew Jackson Bearden

Andrew Jackson Bearden was born on March 14, 1840 in Georgia. He enlisted in the Thirty-third Infantry, Co. I on April 7, 1862 at Grenada, MS. He was 22 years old. After the war he married Martha Jane Burns and lived the remainder of his life in Panola County, MS. He is buried at Chapel Hill Cemetery, Pope, MS. His second wife applied for a Confederate widow's pension in 1910.

                                                                                                                    Courtesy of Michael Cardinell

1st Lieut. Samuel B. Brown

Confederate Veteran. Vol. XV, No. 9, Sep 1907, p. 420.

After a brief illness, Capt. Samuel B. Brown died at Water Valley, Miss., August 14, 1907, in his seventy-eighth year. He commanded Company I, 33d Regiment Mississippi Volunteer Infantry, and bore a conspicuous part in many battles in Mississippi and Louisiana under Gen. W. W. Loring. After the fall of Vicksburg, the Army of Mississippi was transferred to the Army of Tennessee, commanded by Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, and Captain Brown was in the battles from Resaca to Atlanta and with his command under General Hood in his advance on Nashville, Tenn. He was severely wounded in his right arm in the battle of Franklin, and was left in Franklin when the army assaulted Nashville. When our army retreated from Nashville, Captain Brown traveled on foot, with his broken arm in a sling, more than two hundred miles to his home, in Coffeeville, Miss. After the close of the war, he was a newspaper editor, and was very successful, He was for fifteen years Adjutant of Featherston Camp, U. C. V. A good man, a zealous Mason, a consistent Christian, and a brave soldier has passed over the river.

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Pvt. Abel Theodore Cansler

Born in Lincolnton, the county seat of Lincoln County, North Carolina in 1829, Abel Theodore Cansler was the fourth of eleven children born to Henry Cansler and Frances Shuford.  His father was a local planter and politician and Abel received an education at the local Lincolnton Academy.  In 1853, Abel married Nancy Susan McNeely in Iredell County.  Along with the family of his older brother, Adolphus Cansler, Abel and Susan, with two young children, relocated to Panola County, Mississippi in the fall of 1859. 

Abel Theodore Cansler was 33-years-old when he enlisted, on March 7, 1862, in the “Mississippi Defenders.”  Abel’s brother, Adolphus Cansler, was, by then, a major in the 1st Alabama, Tennessee, and Mississippi Regiment.  Abel also had three Cansler brothers serving in North Carolina regiments and another in the 34th Arkansas.  Enlisting as a private, Abel would serve in Company I of the 33rd until April 6, 1865, nineteen days before the final surrender.  On that day, Capt. L.W. Lawsbea issued this order, "To: Master Sergt- A.T. Cansler, 33rd Mississippi regiment is hereby ordered to Lincolnton, NC on business for the quartermaster department and rejoin his command at Goldsboro, NC or wherever it may be, as early as possible."  Abel was, thus, able to visit his father, and boyhood home, in the dying days of the war.

Abel returned to Panola County and became an elder in Long Creek Presbyterian Church.  Susan died in 1874 during the childbirth of their sixth child, John Shaw Cansler.  Abel and Susan were parents of Julia Frances Octavia Cansler (1854-1925), James Henry Cansler (1856-1943), William Abel Cansler (1859-1922), Charles Lee Cansler (1867-1921), and Isabelle Addie Cansler (1869-1944).  Abel Cansler left Mississippi for Texas on 28 January 1878.  He joined his son, James Henry Cansler, near Walnut Creek, which is about 18 miles northwest of Fort Worth.  Abel had been in Texas for about 12 months when he died from "palpitations of the heart.'  He is buried in a grave, now unmarked, in Dido, Texas.

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Pvt. John M. Covington

John M. Covington was born in 1828 in Jefferson Co. AL. He is listed on the muster rolls of the Thirty-third Infantry, Co. I. He died after 1870. His first wife was named Clementine and his second wife was Mary Musselwhite.

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Capt. Robert Haskins Crozier

Robert Haskins Crozier was born January 28, 1836 in Coffeeville, Yalobusha County, MS and died July 16,1913 in Palestine, Anderson County, TX and is buried at East Hill Cemetery. He was the son of Hugh G. Crozier and Nancy K. Oliver. He graduated from The University of Mississippi in 1857 and was the Principal of the Eureka Male Academy, Panola County, MS until the War. He married Martha C. Harding on October 6, 1859 in Yalobusha County, MS. After the War they relocated to Prairie County, AR, where Robert became the Principal of the Hickory Plains Male and Female Academy in Hickory Plains, AR. They had four children, however Martha passed away soon after 1870. On November 1, 1871, Robert married 18 year old Mary Elizabeth Reinhardt in Prairie County, AR. Also in 1871, Robert became President of Lonoke College in Lonoke County, AR. He acquired his license to preach for the Presbyterian Church in 1872. By 1880 Robert and Mary Elizabeth, with four new children had moved back to Sardis, Panola County, MS, and his Mother, who was widowed, lived with them. By 1888 they had moved again, this time to Palestine, Anderson County, TX, where Robert became Pastor at the First Presbyterian Church, where he remained for 21 years. He was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity by The Arkansas College at Batesville in 1889 and he held the title of Pastor Emeritus until his death. Nearly two thousand sermons were carefully preserved by his six children. He gave an address on the death of Jefferson Davis as well as one on the assassination of President William McKinley. He wrote nine books between 1867 and 1887, one of which was "The Bloody Junta: Or, The Escape of John Wilkes Booth: a Story Containing Many Interesting Particulars in Regard to the Trial and Execution of Mrs. Surratt and Other So-Called Conspirators." His last request to the Army after being found unfit for infantry duty on February 25, 1865 was to be transferred to the Cavalry under Brig. Gen. Chalmers and if that was not possible to assign duty he could perform.

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Pvt. William Franklin Fowler

William Franklin Fowler was born October 21, 1851 in Fayette Co., AL. He joined Company I of the 33rd Mississippi Infantry at Grenada, MS in 1862 at the young age of eleven.

Following the war, he married Amanda Miranda Methvin January 14, 1877. He drew a pension from the state of Texas until his death March 10, 1933. He is buried in Antioch Cemetery, near Gary, Panola Co., TX.

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Pvt. Richard Floyd Hubbard

Richard Floyd Hubbard was born in Manchester (now Yazoo City), Yazoo County, Mississippi on 30 January, 1832 to John C. Hubbard and his wife, Mary Catherine Thomas Hubbard. John C. Hubbard was from Marlborough Co.,South Carolina. The family moved to Tallahatchie County and then to Panola County in the mid-1830s. Richard Floyd married 1) Martha Jane Hardin, 2) Sallie Herring, and 3) S.E. File. Martha Jane Hardin Hubbard (1833-1854) apparently died during childbirth and she and their infant daughter are buried in a small cemetery in Chickasaw Hills in Panola County. All of Richard Floyd's surviving eight children were born to his second wife, Sallie Herring Hubbard. Richard Floyd served as a private in the 33rd Mississippi regiment, Featherston's Brigade during the Civil War and was captured during the Battle of Bakers Creek (Battle of Champion Hill) and was taken to the Union prison in Elmira, NY where he was held for two years. Richard Floyd died 11 May 1915 at age 83 years.

Paper and date unknown

Obituary, Bro. R.F. Hubbard

The subject of the following sketch, was born in Yazoo County, Miss., Jan. 30, 1832, and died at his home three miles East of Pope, May 11, 1915, a life of 83 years, 3 months and 11 days.

It is given to but few to live a life such as his and and (sic) to be able to relate an experience which sounds as much like fiction as actual facts. In the year 1852, during the "gold fever" period he went to California, via Mississippi, Cuba, Isthmas (sic) of Panama, crossing the isthmas (sic) on foot where the Canal Zone now exists.

Returning to Mississippi after 18 months, he married Miss Martha Hardin, who lived only a year. In 1854 he was married to Miss Sallie Herring, who died in the fall of 1892. From this union eight children were reared to manhood and womanhood. In 1893 he was married to Mrs. File who still survives him.

In 1862 he enlisted as a private in the 32 (sic) Mississippi regiment of infantry, was captured and confined for two years in Northern prisons.

For over fifty years he had been a Master Mason and a member of the Methodist Church.

It is hard to estimate the influence of such a life if in no other than a moral way, truthful, honest, pure in his home and God-fearing, we believe it is well with him. He knew the hardships of this portion of Mississippi and the great West, during pioneer days. His labor went far toward building a new country desolated and torn by war. During the Ordeal of Reconstruction, when mens' souls were tried he did his part as became a man.

In reviewing the life of this our departed brother, friend and father, we see many shining traits of character, which go far toward smoothing away the rougher parts of our faulty nature, traits, which inculcated as he did aids the divine Architect and Master to polish and fit this bit of clay to retain a soul, which was made perfect by learning to subdue the passions.

A man of plain, sober habits through life, he eschewed all pomp, display gilded hypocrisy of life. A strong individuality emunating from a strong healthy frame, such as the frugal habits of pioneer days brought forth, teaches us that temperance is a great virture. High sound phrases in reviewing his life would be out of place, nor would it be his desire, but those who knew him best believe that the influence of his life for good will (unreadable) and perpetuate itself as . . . (missing rest of obit).

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2nd Jr. Lt. Thomas B. Middleton 




Thomas B. Middleton was born in 1827 in Tuscaloosa Co., Al. At the age of 36, he joined the "Mississippi Defenders" Co. I of the 33rd Mississippi Infantry and was elected 3rd Sgt. March 7, 1862. In April 1863 he was promoted to 2nd Jr. Lt.. Following the war he returned to Panola Co., MS and died ca. 1865.






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Pvt. Charles Augustus Morgan

Charles Augustus Morgan was born July 14, 1843. He enlisted on November 1, 1862 in Abbeville, MS in Hudson's Battery and eight days later transferred into Co. I "Mississippi Defenders" of the 33rd Mississippi Infantry Regiment. Following the war he moved to Coryell Co., TX where he died April 1, 1932.

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Pvt. Christopher Morgan Schoggen

Christopher Morgan Schoggen was born March 13, 1832 in Bibb County, AL. According to his pension application, he joined the 33rd Mississippi Infantry Regiment, Company I "Mississippi Defenders" under the command of Captain William B. Johnson during the Civil War. Christopher's service started in Panola County, MS, in March, 1862, and continued until the close of the war. He applied for his pension September 4th, 1899 in Prentiss County, MS, and stated that he was 67 years old; had been a resident of Mississippi for 41 years; was currently married; and that he had one brother, two sons and a daughter.

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