Garren's Civil War research

[terrell garren]

I am Terrell Garren and I am searching for documents, photographs and other information pertaining to Confederate soldiers known as Junior Reserves. In the last year of the American Civil War seventeen year olds were drafted and sent to the Confederate Army. Many were captured before being officially assigned to regiments. Those not captured became part of what was known as the First Regiment North Carolina Junior Reserves. There were at least two hundred such boys from our area.

I am also searching for letters, military records, old newspaper accounts or any other information on Confederate soldiers from WNC who were in Union prisons during the Civil War.

Finally, I am seeking names and information on Union soldiers from WNC. Most of these men were in the Confederate Army first. Most went over to the Union Army very late in the War. There names may appear in both Union and Confederate records. Photographs of these men are rare and important if you happen to have one.

The state of North Carolina is also researching these same groups. Any important information I collect will also be sent to the North Carolina Office of Archives and History in Raleigh.

Thank you,
Terrell T. Garren

[terrell garren]

See below:  The question was seeking help in finding the Henry Harrison on the 1870 census in Granville (now Vance) County, NC, referred to in my book, Measured In Blood. 

[terrell garren]

1870 US Federal Census, Henry Harrison, Granville, County, NC

Dear Mr. Drake,

The record I referenced for Dick Drake and Henry Harrison in my book "Measured In Blood" is on  the 1870 Census page # 52, Family record #346. I expect that you looked at that and thought it was not him because there is an error regarding Henry Harrison's age. The 1870 Census lists him as being age 17. That error puzzeled me when I was doing my research for the book. As a result, I wrote the NC Department of Archives and History and asked them to look at the issue. Here is a portion of the response from Raleigh: "The 1870 census, however, has a black man named Henry Harrison living in Henderson Township, Granville County. His age is given as 17, but this is clearly an error because his wife is 25 years old and he has three children, the oldest being five years old."

In addition you will note that column #18 is marked for Henry Harrison. This mark is supposed to indicate that he suffered from one or all these disabilities: "Deaf and dumb, blind, insane, or idiotic."

I hope this helps.

Thank you.

Terrell Garren

[terrell garren]

Errors or Omissions: Measured In Blood

Now that the book is out there, I seek help with monitoring errors or omissions. I made a "guestimated" 60,000 individual calculations. There are going to be errors.

Copies of the book have been sent to appropriate educational institutions and qualified historians for consideration. I expect some critisism, I'm just hoping it won't be too bad. I plan to publish an addendum to the book which will address any corrections. If there is some sort of major opinion or statement released I will comment here.

TG

[terrell garren]

Measured In Blood is finally finished. I ended up cutting quite a bit but I still ended up with 599 pages.

This book proves beyond a reasonable doubt that the Civil War Unionism story promoted in Western North Carolina is a myth. In some cases it is outright fraud. The whole story really revolves around money, not patriotism. I have developed a point system for each soldier which adds additional proof.

Release date is 12/15/2012.

[terrell garren]

Henderson County Civil War Book

 

The role of Henderson County in the Civil War is the subject of my new book to released late this fall. There will be a brief history of every identified soldier from Henderson County included. We will continue to seek information and or photographs on the subject until the last minute. If there is anyone who has knowledge of such information we would appreciate contact. [e-mail]

 

An event celebrating Henderson County Confederate heritage will be held Sept. 22nd at Bearwallow Mountain. Please see "The Read" events calendar for more information.

 

TG

[terrell garren]

The infamous date passes: July 1st

From time to time I have written or commented on the single worst day in the history of WNC. I've argued for some time that the worst day was The Battle of Malvern Hill, Virginia fought during the Civil War. Rob Neufeld's research on the 16th North Carolina Troops and others seems to indicates that the worst day was at three day Battle of Gettysburg on the first day. For those of us who are superstitious it is disconcerting to know that both horrors happened on July 1st. One in 1862 the other in 1863.

For the sceptics I should mention that the date has been a bad one even in modern times. In 1997 a rock slide closed Interstate 40 through western North Carolina for six months. It wrecked the tourist season and had an overall depressing effect in the region. TG

[terrell garren]

Clearification on the Royals !

The last line in my earlier posting has been misunderstood by some. When I said we should all be "suspicious," I was refering to the news media, not the royals. The Royals are just fanciful celebrities in America, thank God.

 

TG

[terrell garren]

Editorial complaint about the Royals

 

Our news media seems to worship the British Royal Family without regard to their horrible history. They represent royalty as something everyone should aspire to. Evey despicable thing in our history from the slaughter of American Indians to slavery can be traced or linked to the Royals. The crimes committed against Americans by the order of the royals in the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 are so numerous and heinous that they can't be described here.

 

It's OK to represent them as kind of interesting and fun. But it's not acceptable to worship the royals then turn around and treat Confederate History with contempt and bigotry. I respect and appreciate the British people but the royals are just people. There are no Kings, Queens, Lords or Sirs in America. Our children should be taught accordingly. Our country exists today because of the horrors committed by the royals.

 

True journalism has been lost or destroyed except for a few. The lady who did the clsoing piece for CBS Sunday Morning on June 3, 2012 about the royals would be such an exception. But for the most part the "news" is not the "news" anymore, it's just cheap, news based entertainment.

 

We should all be suspicious of everything they do and say.  TG

[terrell garren]

Henderson County Civil War Photographs

Our current research includes potographs. If any reader has any Civil War photos of Henderson County or Henderson County Civil War soldiers we would like to have a copy. That would include post war photos of soldiers and reunion photos. Please post information here if you have a lead. We will try to work out arrangements.

Thanks,

TG

[terrell garren]

Yes, that is not unusual. North Carolina Troops has it as "Lewis." The recording archivist probably misread the handwriting. As a result, the mistake will probably be repeated.

Thanks,

TG