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

[Rob Neufeld]

I'm beginning to wonder if Frazier's portrayal of Inman's character may have been fictional. Might Inman have been a deep family man? Somehow he may have managed to come home for Christmas, Dec. 1864.

Another matter: Is there an inclusive word for the people who hunted deserters from the Confederate Army?

[Carroll Jones]

Rob,

Your articles look good. You might want to add to the slavery discussion that many slave holders rented out or leased their slaves to keep some income coming in during the lean war years.....Carroll

[terrell garren]

Rob,

I'm uncomfortable with the "community minded" terminology when referring to slavery here. I don't think we can say anything positive about it and still be accurate. I would suggest that the role of slaves varied here just like it would in any other slave holding state. I would have to argue that slavery here wasn't different enough to call it so. In many cases a mountain slave holder would own just one or two slaves. On small farms they would have been stuck with the worst possible jobs. I also suspect that many faced living conditions well below horrible. There is simply nothing to say about slavery here that would make it any better that it was anywhere else.
Terrell

[Rob Neufeld]

I've revised the intro I pasted into my last post. Here it is plus the paragraphs on Marshall. Asheville, Swannanoa, and Henderson County, and a little feature on Terry to follow. When I finish the piece, I'll post it on another page, not Terry's blog, but, Terry, that you and the others would be interested in scrutinizing.

Inside Guide to Civil War Sites


Though few battles took place in the Asheville area, it was of great significance. Many soldiers came from here. North Carolina contributed more men to the Confederate Army than any other state, and, within North Carolina, the western part had the highest enlistment rate.
At first, Confederate enthusiasm in Western North Carolina was overwhelming, as shown by a twenty-to-one-ratio of Confederate to Union enlistments. Men fought to defend their homeland. Then a short war for a great cause became an endless one for a gutted cause. Mountain men looked to defend their homes.
As men died—on battlefields, in hospitals, in prisons, hiding out—the home region became grim. Poor families, tested women, deserters, bounty hunters, invalids, vengeance-seekers, home guardsmen, robbers, and criminals strove to survive.
Allegiances across the region varied. Asheville and Flat Rock were Confederate strongholds. Asheville had an armory that supplied rifles, a training camp (Camp Patton), and a few large slave-holders. Madison County had Unionist diehards.
In Western North Carolina, the African-American population had a different experience than in most of the South. Many served as maids and tradesmen, and had a domestic, community-minded outlook.
The last stages of the war focused on the East Tennessee-Western North Carolina territory that served as the passage between eastern and western campaigns. The battles in the Asheville area, with the exception of the Warm Springs hotel capture, took place during this period.

Marshall

On Feb. 28, 1861, Madison County men traveled to their county seat to vote 2-to-1 against secession. The next vote took place on May 13, 1861, after Lincoln’s call for troops, when Unionism had come to seem an affront to a widespread urgency.
On voting day, the county sheriff patrolled the courthouse area, intimidating voters he considered Unionist. He went after a man with whom he had an old quarrel. After a short chase, the sheriff shot his gun, hit the man’s son, and retreated to a second story perch in a nearby house. The inflamed father killed the sheriff with a shot through a window.
Almost two years later, during the rough winter of 1862-3, Marshall was again a hot spot. The war had passed the point of Fredericksburg. The Confederate Army had instituted a draft. Madison County mountain men came down to Marshall to seize supplies that Confederates were withholding from Unionists.
One group ransacked the house of Col. Lawrence Allen, terrorizing his children, sick with flu. Allen and the 64th N.C. Regiment retaliated, resulting in the Shelton Laurel Massacre. Three major novels have incorporated the massacre (see the Inside Guide to Literary Sites).

[Rob Neufeld]

I am writing a few pieces for an upcoming Asheville Citizen-Times special feature on leisure time. One of them is on Civil War sites--places to gain understanding, not just highway signs. I am happy to cite sources.

Here's my intro. What do y'all think?

Though few battles took place in the Asheville area, it was of great significance. The soldiers came from here. North Carolina contributed more men to the Confederate Army than any other state, and the western part had the highest enlistment rate in North Carolina.
At first, Confederate enthusiasm in Western North Carolina was overwhelming, as shown by a twenty-to-one-ratio of Confederate to Union enlistments. Men fought to defend their homeland. Then a short war for a great cause became an endless one for a gutted cause. Mountain men looked to defend their homes.
As men died—on battlefields, in hospitals, in prisons, hiding out—the home region became grim. Poor families, tested women, deserters, bounty hunters, invalids, vengeance-seekers, home guardsmen, robbers, and criminals strove to survive.
States of mind across the region varied. Asheville and Flat Rock were Confederate strongholds. Asheville had an armory that supplied rifles, a training camp (Camp Patton), and a few large slave-holders. Madison County had Unionist diehards.
In Western North Carolina, the African-American population had a different experience than in most of the South. Many served as maids and tradesmen, and had a domestic, community-minded outlook.
The last stages of the war had focused on the East Tennessee-Western North Carolina territory that served as the passage between eastern and western campaigns. The battles in the Asheville area, with the exception of the Warm Springs hotel capture, took place during this period.

[Rob Neufeld]

Thanks, Terry. The exchanges on this blog, and my current reading of a book about the Ponders, is making me feel very humble. As a generalist, how can I possibly ever know enough to state things confidently? Thanks for your rigorous work. /Rob

[terrell garren]

Rob,

Carroll sent me one of the panels from Inman's compiled service record. It looks to me like the release date may coincide with the oath. If so, they may have let him go. Surprising, but not impossible. Anyway, Pack has the compiled service records for the 25th. I'll go look at the complete record tomorrow. That way we can confirm what is on the full record.

This is intesting.
Terrell

[terrell garren]

Rob,

I don't disagree with the family view very much, they're mostly in agreement with me, I think? I just think the difference is in timing. I beleive Inman was murdered, someone with a previous family connection to the Confederates was probably responsible. You must also remember that lots of mostly loyal Confederates did what Inman did. They couldn't carry on with the insane slaughter on the battlefield and they took themselves out of the war. Some of them were battlefield heros like Inman certainly was. He fought through some of the toughest fighting in all the Civil War. "Going over to the enemy" or a "surrendered to the enemy" comment is found on many Confederate records. Toward the end of the war this move saved a lot of Confederate lives that might have been lost otherwise. It was a reasonable thing to do. They would have been offered the chance to join the Union Army of course, but most did not. There is no evidence that Inman did that, so I don't see any way that the Union Army would have allowed him to go home. He would have remained in some kind of Union custody until it was clear that the Confederates were defeated. Unless someone can demonstrate that Inman went into the Union Army, which still might happen, then I can say that it is likely that he never came home until after the war.

Please keep in mind, this is just my personal opinion. It does not mean that I'm right and if someone proves me incorrect I'll be the first to admit it and point out the new evidence.
Thanks, Terrell

[Carroll Jones]

Rick, thanks for the info. Cornelia recorded everything, didn't she? And she seems to have suffered so much with those chronic headaches of hers. Regarding Mr. Inman carrying home his sick son, both William Pinkney and his brother Lewis Hezekiah Inman deserted from the 25th Regiment N.C. on September 5, 1862. That was about the time the regiment was getting ready to cross the Potomac River into Maryland on Lee's first invasion of the North. Garland Ferguson wrote that many of the men were not too happy about invading enemy territory. Afterall, the reason they had volunteered to fight was to defend their homeland from an invading enemy. Mr. Inman could have been helping one or both of his sons get back home.

[Rob Neufeld]

Hey, this is great stuff--a lot of differing interpretations of facts; and even facts. Well, you may be right, Terry about Inman not being able to come back during the war. But then what do we say about Inman family history? Is there any way to incorporate their heritage?