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Elmira Prison Camp OnLine Library |
Betty L. Norem
©1998
My maternal great,
great grandfather, Ellis Fairbanks Davis, was born in Pascagoula, Jackson
County, MS about 1813-14 (his exact birth date is unknown). He was about 12
years old when he moved to the Marianna, Jackson County, Florida area with
his father, mother and siblings, from Pascagoula. His parents, John Walter
and Rebecca (Harvey) Davis, had moved to Mississippi from Effingham County,
Georgia in December 1809, and then moved the family again about 1822 to
Jackson County, Florida. On Nov 10, 1824, Walter was listed as one of the
signers of a Petition to Congress by the Citizens of Jackson County, Florida,
which states that most of the signers had moved to Jackson County in the
early part of 1822. He was also listed on the property tax records of Jackson
County, Florida in 1825. In 1827 Walter and his son, John Davis, bought land
in Jackson County, FL located on the east side of where the town of Marianna
now stands(3). Walter was listed as the Head of Household on the 1830 Federal
Census of Jackson Co., FL., but had moved to Franklin County by February
12,1832 where he was appointed as one of two Justices of the Peace by the
Governor. This is the last record on which he was listed, and his wife,
Rebecca, was listed as Head of Household on the 1840 St Joseph, Calhoun Co.,
Fl Census, so evidently Walter died sometime in the 1830's. By 1850 his widow
had married a man named Devaughn and was again a widow living in the home of
her son, John Davis, in Marianna. Ellis moved back to Jackson County in the
early 1850s, where he resided for the remainder of his life.
Ellis was about 51
years old on 27 September 1864 when the Battle of Marianna took place during
the Civil War. He had already lost one young son to the War. Walter B., 18
years old, enlisted on 20 March 1862, as a Private in Captain Richard L.
Smith's Company, Cavalry, Marianna Dragoons. (This company was organized
about 15 March 1862, and served as an independent company until assigned as
Company B, 15th Regiment, Confederate Cavalry, about 24 Sept. 1863.) Walter
was signed in, mustered and inspected in Jackson County, Florida, by Col. J.
J. Finley, 6th Fla. Regiment, for a period of three years or the duration of
the war. He furnished his own horse, valued at $200, and his equipment,
valued at $30. This third son of Ellis F. and Ruth Davis, was to serve only a
little over three months before he died of disease (not named) at Camp
Jackson on 28 June 1862. His father filed a Claim of Deceased Officers and
Soldiers from Arkansas and Florida for settlement in the Office of the
Confederate States Auditor for the War Department, on 24 August 1863. The
document does not state how much the settlement was for.
Another son, William
E. ( "Will" ), not yet 21 years old, enlisted in the Confederate
Army on Aug. 11, 1862, at Merrill's Bridge, Marianna , Fla. He was signed up
by Lt. Joseph C. Dykes for the duration of the war. He was a Pvt. in Capt. W.
J. Robinson's Co. A, 11th Fla. Infantry. Sometime in late September, 1864,
during a skirmish at Turkey Ridge between Petersburg and Richmond, Va., he
received a gun shot wound to his left hip. He was admitted to the General
Hospital, Howard's Grove, Richmond, Va. on Oct. 4, 1864, for medical
treatment, (at about the same time that his father, Ellis, was being
imprisoned at Ft. Barrancas in Pensacola). He was released on a 60 day
furlough on Oct. 11, 1864, and he went home to Sink Creek, a few miles south
of Marianna, Fla., and was there when the war ended and was marked AWOL. He states in his
applications for a veteran's pension in 1909 that he was unable to return to
his unit because of the bad conditions of the railroad, and was advised in
December, 1864, when his furlough was up, by Gen. A. B. Montgomery, Commander
of the military Headquarters of the district between the Apalachicola and
Choctawhatchee Rivers, that he should go home and await further orders from
Capt. Robinson, his Company Commander.
He states that he "never received any further orders from said
Captain or anyone else at any time thereafter." He finally received
approval for his pension in 1913, but only after successive applications and
numerous affadavits attempting to prove that he was not a deserter. He died
on 16 March 1919 of cancer.
One can only imagine
the state of mind that Ellis was in when he answered the call to arms in
defense of his home and family, after loosing one son and not knowing whether
or not another was dead or alive in the fighting in Virginia. Left at home
was Laura, 19, John Ellis, 17, Martin, 14 (who was to become my Great grandfather),
Frank, 11, and Ellen, 7, with no mother to care for them in his absence. His
first wife, Ruth, had died in 1853, probably at the birth of Frank in March,
or shortly thereafter. He had married again almost a year later on 2 February
1854, to Elizabeth, daughter of widow, Abigail Brickhouse. She gave him
another daughter, Frances Elexena (called Ellen), born 20 October 1857.
Elizabeth died in 1862, leaving all of the children completely motherless. So
it must have been with very mixed emotions that Ellis left his children at
home alone while he took his old squirrel rifle and answered the call, which
had gone out over the county, for all able-bodied men and boys to report to
Marianna to help defend the town from the eminent raid of Federal soldiers.
His brother, Joseph, and his family, lived fairly close by, so we can assume
that he helped to look out for Ellis' children in the absence of their
father.
The following
account of the battle is an excerpt from The History of Jackson County,
and gives a much better account than this author is capable of.
The Battle of Marianna
The Battle of
Marianna was the most tragic event in the history of Jackson County, as it is
the most memorable. It was not, however, an engagement of great historic
importance, but it was a typical example of the indomitable spirit of the
South, which, in face of almost insurmount-able odds, had sustained the
Confederacy through
the years of the Civil War.
The Federal raid on Marianna
did not come as a surprise, but had been anticipated & feared by Governor
Milton for many months. He had warned the Confederate military authorities,
time and time again, of the defenseless position of West Florida - one of the
chief sources of food supplies and salt remaining to the Confederacy - which
had been stripped of its military strength to bolster the crumbling armies of
Lee and Johnston.
In 1864 Marianna was
the military headquarters of the district between the Apalachicola and
Choctawhatchee Rivers, under the command of Col. A. B. Montgomery, who,
before the Civil War was a lieutenant in the U. S. Army, and a Major in the 5th
Florida Infantry; wounded at Second Manassas. His troops at, or near,
Marianna, consisted of a small detachment of Confederate Cavalry of about 300
men, recruited largely from Jackson and neighboring counties. One company,
commanded by Capt. Robert Chisholm, was stationed at Marianna; a second
company, led by Major William H. Milton, was located about 25 miles south of
headquarters; and a third, under Capt. William A. Jeter, was 20 miles west at
Hickory Hill. The Cavalry was used principally for patroling the district,
which was infested by deserters and frequently raided by small parties of
Federals from
patrol boats, in an
effort to destroy the salt works on the Gulf coast in the St. Andrews Bay
area of Washington County (now in Bay County).
The Marianna raid
was planned by Gen. Alexander Asboth with a definite objective in view, as
shown by the following communication:
Headquarters
District of West Florida
Barrancas,
September 12, 1364.
Major-General
Drake,
Assistant
Adjutant-General,
Department
of the Gulf:
Major: I have the honor to report that owing to
the information received and forwarded yesterday, under No. 1045, I am to
start a cavalry raid into the northern portion of West Florida. Going up to
the Santa Rosa Island and swimming the horses across the East Pass to the
mainland, I will proceed to Port Washington, and from thence to Marianna and
vicinity, returning via St. Andrews salt works. My object is to capture the
isolated rebel cavalry and infantry in Washington and Jackson Counties, and
to liberate the Union prisoners at Marianna; to collect white and Negro
recruits, and to secure as many horses and mules as possible.
Very
Respectfully, your obedient servant,
ASBOTH,
Brigadier-General.
About a week before
Federal Gen. Alexander Asboth's raiders appeared in Marianna, news was
received at Confederate headquarters that the Federals had surprised and captured
a part of Capt. Chisholm's cavalry at Eucheeanna in Washington County, and
were advancing toward Marianna. On 26 September, the Yankees were reported to
be at Campbellton, only about 18 miles away, and the long dreaded appearance
of Federal forces in Marianna seemed only a matter of hours away. A call was
immediately sent over the county for all men able to bear arms to report to
Marianna at once. The following morning - the day of the raid - the town was
filled with volunteers, mostly old men and boys, who paraded the streets with
their squirrel guns and old rifles, anxious to fight, and each one was fully
confident that he could "lick a dozen Yankees."
Col. Montgomery left
town on the morning of September 27th with his staff and two
companies of cavalry to intercept the Union raiders, but finding the enemy in
greatly superior force, he fell back to Marianna, arriving about an hour
ahead of Asboth's mounted Infantry and cavalry. Col. Montgomery immediately
ordered his troops to retire across the Chipola river bridge to the
comparative safety of the east bank, leaving the town to be defended by the
old men and boys with their antiquated guns, to the best of their ability.
This brought a storm of criticism down on the head of the Confederate commander.
Editor Edward J. Judah, publisher of the West Florida News, wrote, a few days
later, that Montgomery's conduct was "too disgraceful for us to dwell
upon."
In the meantime the
organization of the volunteer defenders of Marianna had been hastily
perfected. Capt. Jesse J. Norwood was chosen to command the volunteers, which
consisted of members of Norwood's Marianna Guard, Capt. Henry Robinson's
Greenwood Guards, and several members of Capt. A. R. Godwin's Cavalry Company
at Campbellton. The rank and file included boys under 16 & elderly men
between 50 and 75 years
old, which is the
reason these volunteers were called Norwood's "Cradle to Grave
Volunteers." Capt. Norwood was a 30-year old local attorney who had
earlier served in the 5th Battalion of Florida Cavalry.
The Federal forces
consisted of three battalions - the 2nd Maine Cavalry, Lt. Col.
Spaulding in command; one battalion of the 1st Fla. Cavalry, who were
Confederate deserters, led by Major Rutkey; and two companies of Negro
mounted infantry from the 56th and 82nd Louisiana regiments. In all about 900
troops, well armed and under the command of Gen. Asboth, a Hungarian
adventurer and soldier of fortune who had sold his sword to the Yankees.
Capt. Norwood deployed
his little army behind trees, fences and any other cover they could find,
along the road from Ely's Corner, (at Lafayette and Russ streets), east to
the Episcopal church. The Yankees came into town from the west over the old
Campbellton road and were met at Ely's Corner, with a devastating fire from
the home guards that killed one of the raiders and wounded several others,
causing the front ranks of Federals to wheel and retire in confusion. The
enemy's lines were quickly reformed, however, and led by the Union general
himself, they charged back down the road, two & three abreast, literally
running over the old men and boys, forcing the defenders to retreat to the
Episcopal church yard. Here the defenders encountered a detachment of the
enemy that had skirted the northern part of town as far as the home of Mrs.
Edwin Whitehead and then turned south to outflank the home guards. At this
point, an eye-witness related, the Union troops halted, many dismounting, and
appeared to be watching the church. Soon it was rumored the general (Asboth)
had been shot, and in a few minutes orders came to fire the church and the
homes of Mrs.
Hunter and Dr. R. A.
Sanders. When the church burst into flames, men were shot down as they came
running out of the building, trying to escape the flames.
Gen. Asboth had been
shot and wounded in that first skirmish, and he was in an ugly mood. He had
been told, "there'll be no fight at Marianna; you'll be welcomed with
open arms," and here he had been painfully wounded, three of his
officers killed and there were many casualities among his troops. He not only
ordered the burning of the church, over the protest of one of his officers,
but he also ordered the town sacked and burned and permitted his
blood-thirsty Negroes to shoot and club defenseless prisoners. Someone
interceded and the order to burn the town was countermanded. Who had
sufficient influence with General Asboth to save Marianna from total
destruction is not known, but Dr.
Burke said it was a Mr. Moore.
Five of the defenders
of Marianna were killed in the church yard after they had laid down their
arms, and their bodies burned beyond all recognition in the church fire. The
victims were Woodbury (Woody) Nickels, Littleton Myrick, 15th Confederate
Cavalry, John Carter, 6th Florida Infantry; Rev. Frank Allen and Dr. M. A.
Butler, both of Greenwood.
John Davis, Sr., who
was 63 years old, had joined the Volunteers in the defense of their home
town, also. He had served as the captain of a state militia company during
the Second Seminole War in 1836 and was also the original captain of the
Jackson Home Guards. He sustained a compound fracture of his thigh during
the fighting and fell on the north side of St. Luke's Episcopal Church. He
was probably treated at home and lived
another 11 years
before his death on 5 Aug 1875 at 74 years old. . (This was one Ellis F.
Davis's 5 brothers - BN)
Major Nathan Cutler,
2nd Maine Cavalry, one of the few Yankee officers with whom the people of
Marianna became friendly, told the late John H. Carter, Sr. in 1916 that the
destruction of the church was "a piece of vandalism, committed by Negro
troops by order of General Asboth." The Major said he did not remember
all the circumstances as he was shot from his saddle about that time, but he
afterwards learned that an express order was given to fire the church.
Someone, he stated, from the Federal forces protested, but the command from
the same source was repeated, at which time kerosene swabs were run up the
sides of the building. The flames licked furiously upward - the whole church
stood ablaze - and soon burned to the ground. Armstrong Purdee, a Negro
lawyer, born a slave, was an eye witness and, years later, he wrote: "It
was fired (the church) on the west side, on the side of the steeple. I was
about 40 steps from the church on the south side of the road in line with
it." All the records of the church were destroyed but the Bible, which
tradition credits Major Cutler with saving, notwithstanding he was painfully
wounded at the time and in no position to do so.
The incident which
endeared Major Cutler to the people of Marianna was his clemency to the two
boys who shot him from his horse, seriously wounding him, and resulted in his
imprisonment at Andersonville, Georgia, for a time before he was paroled. He
told Mr. Carter the boys "literally peppered me with shot until I fell
from my saddle." One of the boys was Frank Baltzell, 14 years old, Major
Cutler remembered, but he could not recall the name of the other boy.
There are no
official records of the Confederate and Union casualties in the Battle of
Marianna. General Asboth's official report mentions two Union officers
killed and six wounded, namely: Capt. Young, 7th Vermont, and Lieutenant
Ayer, 2nd Maine Cavalry, killed; Majors Cutler and Hutchinson, 2nd Maine
Cavalry; Captains Stanley and Adams,
Lieutenant Moody, and Lieutenant Raleigh, his aide-de-camp, wounded. He made no report of the killed and
wounded among his troops.
Asboth's report is a
happy mixture of fact and fiction, designed to substantiate his claim of a
"brilliant victory." He referred to the rebel cavalry in the front
line and the sharp-shooters who had ambushed his troops, as a purely fictional force, as the home guards
had neither cavalry support nor sharpshooters. The General further stated,
"We captured 81 prisoners of war, 95 stands of arms, over 200 fine
horses, 400 cattle." There was probably not a single gun used in the
defense of Marianna that could be classed as a military arm, and the number
of prisoners was a gross exaggeration. Asboth also claimed to have captured
Brig-Gen. William E. Anderson of the state militia. This was not, however,
General Anderson, but an elderly man of the same name and initials. (War Department records show
General Anderson was captured and imprisoned).
The Federal General
ended his report with the statement. "I, myself, was also honored by the
rebels with two balls; the first in the face, breaking my cheek bone, and the
second fractured my left arm in two places." Davis Gray, a plantation owner of Greenwood, was credited with
firing the shots that wounded General Asboth. He escaped across the Chipola
River.
Edward J. Judah
published in the West Florida News, October 5, 1864, a list of the casualties
of the home guards, reporting 9 killed, 16 wounded. and 54 taken prisoner.
The article also states, "The Yankee loss is estimated at about 15
killed, and 40 wounded." The Union wounded, who survived, were sent to
the prison at Andersonville, Georgia. The Federals carried away all their wounded
except six, who were treated at the Post
Hospital, except
Major Cutler and Lieutenant Adams, who were taken to the home of Thomas M.
White. The Federals left their dead unburied. (Some years ago I saw some
graves of Federal soldiers in the cemetery in the town of Marianna with no
names or inscriptions except to identify them as Yankee soldiers - evidently
the
towns people buried
them after the Yankees left them behind.) (Author)
Among the prisoners
taken away by the enemy was Colonel Montgomeny, commandant of the Marianna
post, who is said to have been thrown from his horse and captured while
trying to escape across the Chipola river bridge. Dr. Robinson and some
others did escape to the east bank of the river, after which the planks of
the bridge were removed. Dr. Burke wrote that Col. Montgomery "was
captured at Mr. White's residence, or was soon thereafter carried there,
probably by prearrangement." Among the other prominent prisoners taken
by the Yankees, many were paroled, some escaped, and others were taken to Ft. Barrancas and
later transferred to Federal prisons in the North. Several died in prison
while others lived to come home after the war and start life anew.
In addition to their
prisoners and loot, the Federals carried back to Ft. Barrancas about 400
Negro women and children. Armstrong Purdee, the 8-year-old slave boy, was
picked up by a Union cavalryman at the Waddell plantation, about 11 miles
west of Marianna, and rode into town with him. Purdee, who later became a
prominent Negro lawyer, witnessed the battle and the burning of the church
and was one of the Negroes taken back to Pensacola by the Federals. He wrote,
"The women and children were put in wagons, and the men and prisoners
all walked, until reaching Point Washington. Here the women and children were
put on a steamboat, while the men and soldiers crossed the Bluff to Ft.
Barrancas and Ft. Pickens, I being with them. My father found out where I was
and came after me. We came back by the way of Apalachicola."
The only white man
to leave Marianna voluntarily was the telegraph operator, Charlie Philips,
who had turned over to the enemy all the telegrams that had passed between
Major W. H. Milton and Tallahassee, asking for reinforcements. This
information speeded the departure of the Federals, who pulled out of Marianna
during the night, two days before Col. G. W. Scott arrived with
reinforcements.
Editor Judah, in the
News on October 5, 1864, told how the noble women of Marianna opened their
homes to the wounded and administered to them "with all the attention
which can be bestowed by sleepless, untiring, ministering angels." He
reported that Mr. Adam McNealy and Mr. Solomon Sullivan were being treated at
the home of Mrs. W. J. Armistead, Sr.; Dr. A. F. Blount, at Mrs. W. S.
Wilson's; and young Payton Gwin (printer's devil), at the residence of Mrs.
Robert Johnson. Dr. Burke also spoke in the highest praise of the women of
Marianna. "Mrs. Armistead." he wrote, "threw open her house
and told me to bring in all that it would hold." and the doctor paid
tribute to her two daughters, Misses Sallie and Baker, as well as many other
young ladies who came in that night to aid in caring for the wounded.
Extreme youth and
age were equally conspicious in the defense of Marianna. The teen agers who
shared the honors with their older comrades-in-arms were Charles Nickels,
Richard Baltzell and Robert Armistead, only 15 years old; and Frank Baltzell
who had not yet reached his 14th birthday. They were mere school boys but
they fought like veterans. Frank Baltzell was painfully wounded, taken
prisoner, but released. He is said to have gone to sleep under a bench in the
courthouse where the prisoners were confined, and was overlooked by the
Federals in their
haste to get out of town. The other boys were also taken prisoner and carried
as far as Vernon, in Washington County, where they were released. Woody
Nickels, 17, was one of the ten defenders to lose their lives when the
Federals raided their home town.
Among the minor
engagements of the Civil War there were few, if any, which surpassed in
fierceness the clash between Asboth's Federal raiders and the Home Guards at
Marianna, September 27, 1864. It was a moral, if not an actual, victory, for
the "old men and boys," as the objectives of Asboth's raid through
northwest Florida - the capture of the isolated Confederate cavalry and the
destruction of the St. Andrews salt works - were never attained because the
"rebels" at Marianna did not give up without a fight. [End of
excerpt.]
Among the prisoners
taken away by the Federal troops was my Great Great Grandfather, Ellis
Fairbanks Davis. Copies of his military papers shows the following:
"Captured at Marianna, Fla., Sept. 27, 1864, by a portion of
the Federal Troops
under command of Brig. Gen. Asboth, on the late raid into the interior of
Western Florida.
Remarks: Member of
the Legislature." (I have been unsuccessful in finding any documentation
of him being a member of the FL Legislature - however, his nephew who was
named for him, Ellis Fairbanks Davis, Jr., later became a lawyer and member
of the legislature).
Ellis next appears
on The Roll of Prisoners of War at Ft. Barrancas, Pensacola, Florida, and
"forwarded to New Orleans, LA, per Steamer "Clinton" on Oct 8,
1864." The Roll of Prisoners of War Received at New Orleans, LA., shows
Ellis as arriving there "during the 5 days ending Oct 10,
1864." He appears again on the
roll of prisoners at New Orleans, who
were "transferred to Ship Island, MS on Oct 20, 1864, by order of Maj.
Gen. E. R. S. Canby, and received there on Oct 21st." He next appears on
the Roll of Prisoners of War at Ship Island,
Miss., "sent to
New York Nov. 5, 1864, by order of Capt. M. R. Marston." It does not
indicate whether the prisoners were sent by ship or train, & it is not
known just what date that Ellis arrived in New York at Elmira Prison, but the
following account of that prison, where so many of the Confederate soldiers
were confined, leaves no doubt that the next several months of his life, and
those of his fellow soldiers, must have been a
living hell.
[End of excerpt]
Ellis Fairbanks
Davis somehow managed to survive those inhuman conditions for his 3 months of
imprisonment at Elmira and was transferred for exchange on February 13, 1865.
He returned to Jackson County where he resumed farming and taking care of his
family. Family traditions says that
he walked almost all the way home, and since the railroads had almost all
been destroyed by the Union, this story is probably true. Ellis lived another
20 years after his ordeal, and lived to see his surviving children all
married and starting families of their own.
Will married Delaura
Pledger on Dec 24, 1867, and they had 4 sons and 1 daughter.
Martin married
Lovest (Lovey) Syrena Cooper on 15 April 1871, and they had 6 sons and 2
daughters, including Mary Ann Elizabeth, who would later become my
Grandmother Faircloth.
John Ellis married
Sara Porter about 1875, and they had 7 sons and 4 daughters.
Ellen married Warren Frederick Laramore on 25 May 1876, and
they had 3 sons and 3 daughters.
Frank married Josephine Nixon on 3 Feb. 1877, and they had
9 sons and 3 daughters.
Laura married last,
when she was 35 years old, on 28 Feb. 1880, to Jack Tanner. Being the eldest
living child and a daughter, it most likely fell to her to see all of her brothers
and one sister through their childhood and into adulthood. At this point in
time, I have no further information on her, and do not know if she ever had
children of her own.
Ellis died on Oct.
10, 1885. At this time, his burial place remains unknown, but he may be
buried in the Pledger Cemetary in Marianna where several of his descendants
are buried.
Footnotes:
(1) Before the Civil
War, Col. Montgomery was a lieutenant in the U. S. Army; was a major in 5th
Florida Infantry; wounded at Second Manassas.
(2) These companies
were detached from Col. George W. Scott's 5th Florida Battalion Cavalry,
including Companies I, G. and E.
(3) War of the
Rebellion, Series 1, Vol. Part 2.
(4) From letter of
Dr. Burke now in possession of Mrs. Ella Lewis Pierce, Marianna.
(5) Col.
Montgomery's decision was undoubtedly sound from a military standpoint
(6) Capt. Henry
Robinson was H. Robinson, surgeon at
Marianna post.
(7) Runnymede Hotel,
originally the Baltzell hospital, stands on Ely's corner at Lafayette and Russ streets.
(8) Asboth reported
officially " ... all my troops,
except the repulsed battalion, reportedly of the 2nd Maine Cavalry, behaved
with utmost gallantry."
(9) From information
furnished W. H. Milton by Armstrong Purdee, a Negro lawyer and eye-witness of
burning of Episcopal church.
(10)Woody Nickels
was the 17-year-old son of William Nickels, an alleged Unionist, as was John
T. Myrick, father of Littleton Myrick. Myrick was sheriff of Jackson County
(1845-7). State Senator (1854-1856). a Whig, he later joined the "Know-Nothing"
party.
(11) Dr. Henry
Robinson married Margaret A. Dickson of Greenwood in 1865; moved to
Jacksonville where he became a prominent banker, serving as president of the
Commercial Bank for 30 years. In Dr. Webster Merritt's history, "A
Century in Medicine," Dr. Henry Robinson is referred to as one of the prominent
"Builders of Jacksonville," who were members of the medical
profession.
(12) War of the
Rebellion, Series 1, Vol. 25, Part 1.
(13) William E.
Anderson served as Brigadier General of Florida Militia [date of commencement
or terrnination unknown]; was elected Captain of Co. H, 11th Florida
Infantry, March 17, 1863; resigned Nov. 27, 1863; private in Marianna Home
Guards and captured at Marianna Sept.27, 1864; imprisoned at New Orleans, Ft.
Lafayette, N. Y. Harbor, and Ft. Warren, Mass; released June 26. 1865, on
taking oath of allegiance to U. S.
(Letter dated June 24,
1936, Adjutant General's Office, Washington, D. C.)
(14) Davis Gray of
Greenwood is credited with firing the shots that wounded Asboth.
(15) Dr. Robinson
wrote in 1916 that Col. Montgomery's loyalty could not be questioned.
(16) Charlie Philips
was telegraph operator who left Marianna with the Federals.
(17) Mrs. Wilson was
wife of Dr. W. S. Wilson and daughter of Judge Jacob Robinson.
(18) Dr. Burke
married Elmira McNealy, whom he met while treating her father, Adam McNealy;
they moved to Texas and were pioneers of Texarkana, Texas.
(19) Frank BaltzeIl
is said to have gone to sleep under a bench in the courthous where the
prisoners were confined, and was overlooked by the Federals in their haste to
get out of town.
(20) Robinson's
praise of Major Cutler did not please some members of the UDC and he was
asked to eliminate it from his history of the Marianna raid.
(21) Downloaded from
the Civil War BBS - posted by David Cole & Steve Bowers.
====================================================
Roster of
participants sent to Elmira Prison in New York: (Data & names in Italics
are from the book The West Florida War by Dale Cox)
Blarney, John J. was
a member of the legislature and was captured at Marianna 9/26/64. He died of
pneumonia 12/15/64 at Elmira prison and was buried in the prison cemetery,
grave # 1216.8
Blaney, John. Fifty
years old, Blaney was captured during the fighting and imprisoned at New
Orleans, Ship Island and Elmira. He died at the latter place on December 15,
1864, and was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery.
Bush, Albert G.
Forty-nine years old, Bush was captured during the fighting and imprisoned at
New Orleans, Ship island and Elmira. He returned home to his farm after the
war. Bush, Allen Henry. Fifty-five years old, Bush was the local circuit
judge and had been a practicing Marianna attorney since the early 1840's.
Imprisoned at New Orleans, Ship Island and Elmira, he returned home after the
war and resumed his law practice. Judge Bush was delegated to the ill-fated
state constitutional convention on October 25, 1865, and was listed a year
later as being friendly to the Carpetbaggers then controlling local politics.
Davis, Ellis F. (b.
1814 MS; m. [1st]; m. Elizabeth Brickhouse 2/2/54 [2nd]) came to Jackson Co.
in the 1840s and was a successful farmer before the war. He was a member of
the legislature during the war and was captured 9/26/64 at Marianna as a
member of this company. He was sent to New Orleans then Ship Island prison
then onto Elmira prison where he arrived in November 1864. He was transferred
for exchange 2/13/65 and returned to Jackson County where he resumed farming.
According to an ancestor, Ellis had at least nine children by his two wives.
One of his sons, Walter B., served in Captain Smith's Cavalry Company and died
of disease 6/28/62.
Davis, Ellis. A
local farmer, Davis was captured during the fighting and imprisoned at New
Orleans, Ship Island and Elmira. Paroled from Elmira during early 1865, he
evidently returned home.
Everett, Miles.
Captured during the fighting, Everett was imprisoned at New Orleans, Ship
Island and Elmira. He was released from the latter place on March 2, 1865 and
hospitalized in Richmond, Virginia, until the 14th of May, when he was
furloughed and allowed to return home.
Harrison, Samuel was
captured 9/27/64 at Marianna and released on oath 5/29/65 at Elmira prison.
He was 5' 7", blue eyes, auburn hair, fair skin.
Hentz,Thaddeus W.
Gamble's Light Artillery. The 30-year old dentist was also a member of a
company of state artillery reservists. Suffering the loss of a finger during
the fighting, he was captured and imprisoned at New Orleans, Ship Island and
Elmira. Hospitalized during his stay at Elmira, he was released on March 2,
1865. Again hospitalized at a Confederate hospital in Richmond, Virginia,
until March 14, 1865, he returned home and resumed his dentistry practice.
Justus, J. B. was a
Revolutionary War and War of 1812 veteran. He was a member of the legislature
and was captured at Marianna 9/27/64. He was sent to Elmira prison then
transferred for exchange 2/20/65. He was hospitalized in Richmond then
furloughed 3/16/65. Sometimes called "Captain" Justiss, the
volunteer was captured during the fighting and imprisoned at New Orleans,
Ship Island and Elmira. He was exchanged during March of 1865 and
hospitalized at Howard's Grove Hospital in Richmond for two weeks before
being released on March 15, 1865.
McBright, Israel
does not appear on any rolls but was released on oath 5/29/65 from Elmira
prison. He was 5'7", blue eyes, dark hair, fair skin. Background
unknown, McBright identified himself as a member of Norwood's company and was
imprisoned at New Orleans, Ship Island and probably Elmira. His name does not
appear on Asboth's p.o.w. list, but does appear on subsequent Northern prison
records. Fate unknown.
Merritt, Alexander
S. was captured defending Marianna 9/27/64 and paroled at Elmira prison
12/12/64. He was 5'9", dark eyes, black hair, fair skin. He was believed
to have been a Unionist. A 32-year old local merchant, Merritt was captured
during the fighting and imprisoned at New Orleans, Ship Island and Elmira. He
was released from Elmira on December 12,1864, and returned home.
Morning, E. W. was a
member of the legislature and was captured defending Marianna 9/27/64. He was
sent to Fort Columbus prison and was released from prison after the war.
Mooring, Edwin W. Thirty-six years old, Mooring was a local merchant and
whiskey distiller. Captured, he was imprisoned at New Orleans, Ship island
and Elmira. At the latter facility he was listed as an "adjutant."
Eventually released, he returned home after the war.
Myrick, J. F., Sr.
was captured defending Marianna 9/27/64 and released on oath 5/29/65 from
Elmira prison.
Myrick, John T., Jr.
was captured defending Marianna 9/27/64. He was believed to have been a
Unionist.
Myrick, J. T., Jr.
Sixteen years old, Myrick was captured during the fighting and imprisoned at
New Orleans, Ship Island and Elmira. Released from the latter place on May
29,1865, he returned home. A bitter advocate of Reconstruction, despite his
father's Unionist attitudes, he was convicted in October, 1869, for killing
local black leader Matt Nichols, his wife and son. He was also charged with
assault and battery in connection with another crime and accused of ambushing
a party of freed slaves near Blue Spring. He fled the county and eventually
showed up in Texas.
O'Neal, James was a
member of the legislature. He was captured defending Marianna 9/27/64 and
died of pneumonia 3/5/65 at Elmira prison. He was buried in the prison
cemetery, grave #2387.
O'Neal, James
(Daniel). Fifty-one years old, O'Neal was captured during the fighting
imprisoned at New Orleans, Ship Island and Elmira. Listed "too
sick" to be paroled on February 13, 1865, he died on the 5th of March at
Elmira and was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery.
Pittman, Frederick
R. A private in the 11th Florida Infantry, Plttman was home on leave and
volunteered for service. Fifty- one years old, he was captured during the
battle and imprisoned at New Orleans, Ship Island and Elmira. The former Whig
politician was released from the latter establishment on December 12, 1864.
Roulhac, James B.
was a member of the legislature and was captured defending Marianna 9/27/64.
He was paroled 12/12/64 at Elmira priosn and was 5'9.5", grey eyes, dark
hair, light skin, residence: Marianna.
Tucker, Charles
lived in Quincy and was a member of the legislature. He was captured
defending Marianna 9/27/64. He died of diarrhoea 12/11/64 at Elmira prison
and was buried in the prison cemetery, grave 1107.18
Tucker, Charles (of
Quincy). Captured during the fighting and imprisoned at New Orleans, Ship
island and Elmira, he died at the latter place on December 11, 1864, and was
buried in Woodlawn Cemetery.
