A deserter from the 48th Alabama writes the regiment’s history

No sooner had the last shot of the war ended than there was a push to write a history of the conflict. Edward A. Pollard, a newspaper editor from Richmond, released The Lost Cause in 1866. While often considered a “pro-Confederate” volume, Pollard’s text was very critical of both Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee. Another newspaper editor, but in New York, Horace Greeley released volume 1 of The American Conflict in 1864. The second volume was released in 1866. An abolitionist, Greeley incorporated his own partisan views about the cause of the war, much like Pollard did with his work.

John D. Taylor (findagrave)

As time went on, the men who had fought the war began to pen their own accounts. In the north, veterans’ organizations would appoint one of their members as the regimental historian. This person would then gather materials and correspond with other veterans to write a regimental history. The South was less organized. It was not until 1885 that the United Confederate Veterans began to push for histories written by former Confederates. Over the next couple of decades, a trickle of books appeared.

We are not sure what prompted John Dykes Taylor to pick up his pen and draft a history of his regiment, the 48^th Alabama Infantry, before his death in 1888. This short survey was not published until 1902 in the Montgomery Advertiser, and later in pamphlet form by both the Confederate Publishing Company and Morningside. These later editions have a forward by William Stanley Hoole and additional notes by William C. Oates (of the 15^th Alabama fame.)

Taylor was born in Habersham, Georgia, in 1830. As a young man he moved to Jackson, Alabama, to study law and was admitted to the bar in Marshall County, Alabama, in 1857. Taylor must not have found the practice of law to his liking, as in 1860 he was working for a wholesaler in Nashville, Tennessee.[1]

Taylor did not answer the call to enlist until March 1862 when he joined Company E, 48^th Alabama as a private. He was present through all of the muster rolls through October 1864, often listed as the ordnance sergeant for his company. On August 27, 1864, his company commander actually wrote to Richmond, asking that Taylor be officially promoted to ordnance sergeant, a position he had unofficially held. The War Department agreed. It is unclear if Taylor ever received word of the promotion. In November 1864, Taylor was granted a furlough for 30 days. We assume he returned home. And he never returned. The major of the regiment wrote to the secretary of War on February 18, 1865, asking that Taylor be dropped from the rolls of the regiment. “He has not been heard from since [leaving on his furlough], and from all the information that I have, I do not think he intends to return to the Regiment,” Major J.W. Wiggonton wrote.[2]

Taylor survived the war, married twice, and lived in Guntersville, working as a wholesaler and commission merchant, along with being a notary public and justice of the peace. He died on May 9, 1888.[3]

The 48^th Alabama was mustered into service in Auburn, Alabama, in May 1862. It was composed of men from Blount, Calhoun, Cherokee, DeKalb, and Marshall Counties. The regiment was sent east, becoming a part of Brig. Gen. William B. Taliaferro’s brigade, fighting at Cedar Mountain, Second Manassas, Sharpsburg, and Fredericksburg. Later the regiment was transferred to Brig. Gen. Evander M. Law’s Alabama brigade, Hood’s Division, Longstreet’s Corps, and fought at Gettysburg, Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain, and then back east, through the Overland Campaign, Petersburg Campaign, and Appomattox Campaign. At Appomattox, the regiment surrendered 122 men.[4]

The detail that Taylor provides is good, just not deep or in great detail. For example, in writing about Chickamauga, he sums up the action of the brigade with: “Throughout the two days of terrific fighting Law’s Alabamians won new laurels and received the compliments of [illegible].[5]

But why Taylor? He ends his narrative toward the end of October 1864, about the time he heads home on his furlough. Never throughout the text does he criticize his commanders; he is not disgruntled by the outcome of the war. What were the underlaying issues that caused him to pen this short account of the regiment he served in? Are there any other cases of a soldier, who deserted toward the end of the war, who later penned a history of his regiment?

The 48^th Alabama does have a modern regimental history, written by Joshua Glenn Price and released in 2017.  

---

[1] Taylor, History of the 48^th Alabama Volunteer Infantry Regiment, 6-7.

[2] J.D. Taylor, CMSR, RG109, Roll0437, National Archives.

[3] Taylor, History of the 48^th Alabama Volunteer Infantry Regiment, 8.

[4] Taylor, History of the 48^th Alabama Volunteer Infantry Regiment, 14-20.

[5] Taylor, History of the 48^th Alabama Volunteer Infantry Regiment, 21.

New project - on Robert E. Lee!

 Robert E. Lee is one of the most written-about subjects in American history. There are scores of books, hundreds of articles, a few documentaries, and other forms of media. So why add another book to the stack? That is a question I have been asking a lot over the past few weeks.

In 2024, Savas Beatie published a book on U.S. Grant – Unconditional Surrender: Ulysses S. Grant in the Civil War. The co-authors are Curt Fields and Chris Mackowski. Chris is the editor-in-chief and co-founder of Emerging Civil War. I’m not so sure how long I have known Chris, but he interviewed me in 2019 when the American Battlefield Trust’s Teacher’s Institute was in Raleigh. I was at the annual teacher’s meeting talking about North Carolina and the end of the War. Curt is undoubtedly the premier U.S. Grant interpreter in the United States. We’ve met in person a couple of times and follow one another’s work online. The book is a part of the Emerging Civil War series. It is a quick introduction to the life, especially the war-years, of U.S. Grant.

If we have a book on Grant, why not a book on Robert E. Lee? I pitched that idea to Chris, and he thought it was a good idea. I then pitched that book idea to Thomas Jessee, someone I first met 40 years ago in the reenacting community. Thomas is undoubtedly the best Robert E. Lee interpreter in the United States. Curt and Thomas are often at Appomattox Court House each year during the surrender commemoration events. At times, they also appear on stage together portraying their respective historical characters in programs based on decades of careful research, study, and respect for the past. These events are truly historical performances in their own right, and I encourage you to check them out.  Seeing these two gentlemen in action is the closest thing to jumping in a time machine and meeting the originals. I am honored that Tom agreed to join me on the project.

Curt Fields and Thomas Jessee at Appomattox

Chris and Ted Savas at Savas Beatie Publishing both said yes. Of course, I’ve worked with Savas Beatie on other projects, including General Lee’s Immortals, my history of the Branch-Lane Brigade, and Feeding Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, plus an upcoming book on the April 1864 battle of Plymouth. (You can order signed copies of those books here.)

Over my thirty years of writing, I have spent a great deal of time with the Army of Northern Virginia – books on the 37^th North Carolina, the 39^th Battalion Virginia Cavalry, the Branch-Lane Brigade, the battle of Hanover Court House, and most recently, the book on food and the army. (This does not include many articles and blog posts.) You would think that writing about Lee would be a natural progression, and in some ways, it is. The most challenging part is that the books in this series are relatively short. And, I don’t want this to be a history of the Army of Northern Virginia. This is a look at Lee. In many cases, the descriptions of battles are just slightly expanded summaries. What is important is Lee’s personal role and how he felt about that battle. For example, he wrote that the battle of Chancellorsville, perhaps his greatest victory, was not worth the cost.

This project is due in March 2026. It is exciting to be working with such a great publishing team and with the incomparable Thomas Jessee.  We just started the first of December 2025, and it will hopefully be released in 2027.

Longstreet's other plan

Lt. Gen. James Longstreet

A lot of ink has been spilt over the decades on Gen. James Longstreet and the Gettysburg campaign. Believing that they were just fighting defensive battles, Longstreet was opposed to the attacks on July 2 and 3. He wanted to find a defensive position and let the Federals attack them. Frequently lost in the discussion is the fact that Longstreet did not even really want to be on this campaign.

Following Chancellorsville, Confederate Army of Northern Virginia commander Robert E. Lee sought to once again invade the North. He had many reasons, including a dwindling supply of foodstuffs and wanting to pull the enemy army out of Virginia. A Confederate victory on Northern soil might just galvanize the beginning peace party in the North to press for an end to the war. Elsewhere in the Confederacy, the primary Confederate army of the western theater was locked in a siege at Vicksburg, Mississippi. There were some who believed that a portion of the Army of Northern Virginia should be detached and sent to help defeat the Federal forces.

Longstreet was one of those who wanted to ship a portion of the Virginia army west. Writing in the Philadelphia Weekly Times in 1897, Longstreet recalled visiting the Secretary of War James Seddon as he passed through Richmond following his assignment in the Suffolk area. Seddon asked Longstreet his views on the matter of sending part of the ANV west. “I replied that there was a better plan, in my judgement, for relieving Vicksburg than by direct assault upon Grant. I proposed that the army then concentrating at Jackson, Mississippi, be moved swiftly to Tullahoma, where General Bragg was located with a fine army, confronting an army of about equal strength under General Rosecrans, and that at the same time two divisions of my corps be hurried forward to the same point. The simultaneous arrival of these reinforcements would give us a grand army at Tullahoma. With this army General Johnston might speedily crush Rosecrans, and that he should then turn his force towards the north, and with his splendid army march through Tennessee and Kentucky, and threaten the invasion of Ohio.”

When Longstreet met with Lee, “I laid it before him with the freedom justified by our close personal and official relations. . . . We discussed it over and over, and I discovered that his main objection to it was that it would, if adopted, force him to divide his army. He left no room to doubt, however, that he believed the idea of an offensive campaign was not only important, but necessary.”[1]

Longstreet brings up the same argument in 1896 when he pens his autobiography, From Manassas to Appomattox.[2]

Why not reinforce Pemberton in Vicksburg? “Grant seems to be a fighting man, and seems to be determined to fight. Pemberton seems not to be a fighting man. . . the fewer troops he has the better,” Longstreet wrote Wigfall on May 13, 1863.[3]

Historians are mixed on Longstreet’s motivation. Freeman speculates that “It is impossible to say how far his ambition influenced his proposal or to what extent his plan stirred his ambition. Perhaps he dreamed of supplanting Bragg and of winning the decisive victory.”[4] Piston found Longstreet’s proposal “strategically sound,” but questioned his motives. Did Longstreet wish to replace Bragg? Johnston out-ranked Bragg. Maybe Longstreet still preferred serving under Joseph E. Johnston. Piston goes on to agree with Jones and Connelly who wrote that Longstreet was a part of the “western concentration bloc.” This group of men feared that the industries in East Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama were susceptible to Federal attacks and Bragg should be reinforced by portions of Lee’s army. Longstreet actually wrote Texas Senator Louis T. Wigfall about such a proposal in February 1863 concerning this concentration of troops.[5] Wert argues that Longstreet was not a member of that “western concentration bloc.” He bases this assertion on the letter that Longstreet wrote Wigfall on May 13, 1863. Longstreet told the senator that if a forward movement was ordered, “we can spare nothing from this army to re-enforce in the West.” Instead, the Army of Northern Virginia should be reinforced. “If we could cross the Potomac with one hundred & fifty thousand men, I think we could demand Lincoln to declare his purpose. . . . When I agreed with the Secy & yourself about sending troops west I was under the impression that we would be obliged to remain on the defensive here. But the prospect of an advance changes the aspect of affairs to us entirely.”[6]

Would the proposal of a combination of men and commanders in central Tennessee have reaped the benefits that Longstreet proposed? Maybe. The plan of Lee moving north certainly did not work to the best advantage of the Confederates.

---

[1] The Annals of War written by Leading Participants North and South, 416-17.

[2] 330-31.

[3] Wert, General James Longstreet, 245.

[4] Freeman, R.E. Lee, 3:20.

[5] Piston, Lee’s Tarnished Lieutenant, 42, 44.

[6] Wert, General James Longstreet, 244-45.

A 9th Virginia Cavalry Trooper Saved by Robert E. Lee

    Recently, while reading through Charlie Knight’s From Arlington to Appomattox, Robert E. Lee’s Civil War Day by Day, I came across a line about John William Irvine (sometimes Irwin). Born in Stafford County, Virginia, in 1846, Irvine enlisted in what became Company A, 9^th Virginia Cavalry, on June 4, 1861. His occupation was listed as a student. He re-enlisted for two additional years, collecting a $50 bounty. On November 15, 1862, Irvine was captured.

   Seldom does the capture of an individual soldier call for a response from Army of Northern Virginia commander Robert E. Lee. Irvine’s capture did. Captured behind Federal lines, he was suspected of being a spy. He was quickly transported to the Old Capitol Prison in Washington, D.C. Lee wrote to Federal commander Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside on December 19, 1862.

   Irvine was tried on December 21, 1862. His charge: “Being found and arrested within the lines of the Army of the Potomac.” Irvine was found in civilian clothes and was behind Federal lines “during a time when important movements of that army [Army of the Potomac] were being made.” The military court found him guilty. The punishment: “hung by the neck until he be dead.”[1]

   Word got to Lee, and after he spoke to Col. Beale, 9^th Virginia Cavalry, and Brig. Gen. William H.F. Lee, a letter was sent through the lines. Irvine was not a spy. Instead, he was given permission to go back to Stafford County to procure a fresh horse. “This is a permission commonly given in similar cases and at the time it was not known that the place Private Irwin wished to proceed was within the lines of your army.”[2] Burnside stepped in, and Irvine was ordered to be held as a common prisoner.[3]

   Irvine was sent to Old Capitol Prison in Washington, D.C., where he was released on May 13, 1863. He was captured again just a few short weeks later, on June 30, 1863, in Hanover, Pennsylvania. This time, he was sent to Point Lookout until exchanged on April 30, 1864. Irvine appears on the last company roll dated October 6, 1864.[4] Irvine survived the war, passing away in April 1875 in Monroe County, Missouri.

  

---

[1] John W. Irvine (Irwin), CMSR, Roll 0093, M324, RG109.

[2] OR, Series 2, Vol. 5, 98.

[3] OR, Series 2, Vol. 5, 104.

[4] Krick, 9^th Virginia Cavalry, 81.

The 7th Florida Takes Prisoners to Richmond

   Several times in the past, I have written about prisons, concentrating on prison guards (here) and moving prisoners across the South (here). Captain Robert B. Smith, Company K, 7^th Florida Infantry, was in charge of a group of guards and prisoners following the battle of Murfreesboro. He recorded his story in 1914.

   “In the winter of 1863, after the battle of… [Murfreesboro]… all of the non-commissioned officers and privates who were captured at that time were sent to Richmond, Va. There were 3,300 of them.

Bristol, TN/VA in 1857

   At Knoxville, Tenn., our regiment, the 7^th Fla., was detailed to guard them as far as Bristol, on the line of the Virginia and Tennessee [Railroad]. Nothing of any particular interest happened until we reached the Watauga River. There was a very high bridge over that river, and a raiding party of Federals from Cumberland Gap had burned the bridge, and the cars could proceed no father.

   We had to march from there to Bristol, a distance of 12 or 14 miles . . . When we reached Bristol I went to the commander, Maj. Keys, and roused him out of bed and told him who I was and what I had for him. He was taken completely by surprise and did not know what to do with the prisoners. Some one, however, must have notified the railroad authorities, for there were two trains of box cars to take us on to Richmond.

   Major Keys had no one to send along as a guard, for his men were off on a scout and would not be back for two days, or more. He wanted me to go on with my regiment, but I could not, for my orders were to carry the prisoners to Bristol and return.

   I told Maj. Keys I did not think a guard was necessary—that he could take them himself. He asked me if I would be willing to go with them without a guard. I told him I would be glad to.

   Arrangements were soon made. The 7^th Fla. Was sent back under command of a subordinate officer, and the 3,300 Federal prisoners and I boarded the cars and were soon ‘on to Richmond.’”

   At Wytheville, Va., the trains stopped a long time, and the men, being hungry, swarmed off the cars to beg or buy something to eat. I could not blame them. The Mayor or Marshall wanted to know why I didn’t keep them on the cars.

   I could not help but laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation—one man guarding 3,300! However, I told him, “All right,” and went the entire length of the two trains and gave the orders that ‘no one was to leave the cars.’ Strange as it may seem, that order was obeyed just as if they had been my own men.

   One man died on the way and was put off at a station and the trains moved on. I never knew what [was] the cause of his death. When we got to Lynchburg it was early morning of the second day from Bristol. There I reported to Col. Lyons, the commandant. He wanted me to go on to Richmond, but I said: ‘No; I cannot, for some of those men have been without food for three days and are suffering.’

   He said: They have no formation and you cannot give them rations. It will be a ‘grab game’ just as it was at Knoxville, Tenn., where you last rationed them.’

   That seemed very reasonable, but a happy inspiration came to me at that moment, and I told him I could issue the rations to every man, and would assume the whole responsibility. All I asked was two hours’ time. He agreed to my proposition and issued orders for 3,000 rations. The railyard where the cars with the prisoners were was an ideal place for my experiment. Very many citizens were attracted there, curious to see and to hear.

   I mounted a box car and announced that I was going to give them rations and I wanted their help. They assured me mostly heartily that I should have it. Joy beamed in their faces and added speed to their feet and sharpness to their wits. I told them in a few words what I wanted done and began calling them by states.

   “Maine troops, fall in on the extreme right; New Hampshire troops, fall in next, Western and Northern states. After naming every state from Maine to California, there were several hundred men left. I called out to them, “Where do you belong?”

   Some one yelled out, “Call the Southern states.”

   I had not thought of that, so I called, “North Carolina troops, fall in!” Quite a good many moved to the right, and then, “South Carolina troops, fall in!” and sure enough there were some from South Carolina. The citizens began to guy them unmercifully, and when I gave the command, “Tennessee troops, fall in! it seemed that there were a hundred or more. The citizens did not guy them so much. But when I called Virginia I thought the citizens would come over the fence after them.

   Soon all were in two ranks, and I had the orderlies to step two paces to the front. Out of these orderly-sergeants, I selected 65 captains for 50 men each, and instructed them to write down the names of their men and then go with a detail of our men to draw rations.

   They were warned that if any man of their company was cheated out of his rations the captain and his four men would have to supply him with a ration, even if they went without.

   There was no complaint. That evening we loaded cars quickly, using our same formations, and proceeded on to Richmond, where we arrived at 7 o’clock the next morning. The railroad authorities were afraid to take us over the James River on their bridge neither would they permit us all to cross at the same time. We still had our company formation and could easily manage that order by sending a few companies at a time.

   Soon we were over in the city. Many people were in evidence as spectators, but they were civil and good-natured. Just to have a little amusement, as we were marching in the middle of the street towards Libbey prison, I gave the order, “By companies, right wheel into line, march!” This order was promptly obeyed, and we marched by company front until we reached Libbey Prison, where I took my leave of these jolly prisoners.”[1]

   This is quite a remarkable tale: one officer, escorting 3,000 prisoners through Tennessee and Virginia. Is there any chance of proving this post-war account? First, there is not a published history of the 7^th Florida Infantry (that I can find). The 7^th Florida was organized in April 1862 in Gainesville, Florida. They were assigned to the Army of Tennessee.[2] They are not listed in the order of battle for Murfreesboro. They were a part of Bragg’s army when it invaded Kentucky, and, in February 1863, were doing garrison duty at Cumberland Gap. They were reported in Knoxville from February 1863, through Saunder’s Raid in June 1863. So they are in the right place at the right time. (Many of the Florida Compiled Military Service Records are very difficult to read.)[3] Maybe the 7^th Florida was serving as provost marshal in Knoxville. An article detailing the movements of the 19^th Georgia Battalion notes on January 5, 1863, that when author’s battalion arrived in Knoxville, “we reported to Capt. A.S. Moseley, 7^th Regiment Florida Volunteers, who is an able and efficient officer.”[4]

   There is an interesting piece in the file of Capt. Robert B. Smith dated March 25, 1864, to the Quarter Master regarding other matters. And then there is this: “Also awaiting receipts from the Qu. Master for tents & cooking utensils turned over at Knoxville Tenn when we were ordered to Virginia.”[5]

   Were prisoners from Murfreesboro sent to Richmond? On January 13, 1863, the Daily Richmond Whig reported that 168 Federal captured at Murfreesboro were in Lynchburg, with another 800 more expected to arrive that night.[6] An Abington newspaper reported a few days later that “For several days past, the trains going eastward have been loaded down with prisoners from Murfreesboro, en route for Richmond.”[7] At least some of the Federal prisoners captured at Murfreesboro were sent to Richmond. Is there any record of Smith’s prisoners’ marching in company front formation through the streets toward Libby Prison? Not that I have found so far.

   Maybe some a good book on the 7^th Florida would prove what seems like a tall tale. Or, maybe one of those Federal prisoners captured at Murfreesboro wrote about the event after the fact. It seems that most of the Murfreesboro prisoners were paroled rather quickly.

  

---

[1] Robert B. Smith, “3,300 Federal Prisoners and I.” Civil War Times Illustrated, December 1975, 41-43.

[2] Crute, Units of the Confederate States Army, 77.

[3] CMSR, Record of events, 7^th Florida Infantry, Roll 0076, M251, RG109.

[4] The Macon Telegraph, January 9, 1863.

[5] Robert Smith, CMSR, Roll 0079, M251, RG109.

[6] Daily Richmond Whig, January 13, 1863.

[7] The Abington Virginia, January 16, 1863.

The Confederate graves at Arlington

    At a recent event, someone posed a question about the Confederate graves at Arlington. His ancestor is one of the ones in Section 16. But the greater question is: were there Confederates buried in Arlington during the war? That is a great question, and the internet is all over the place.

   Arlington was constructed by George Washington Parke Custis and was home to him and his family. The house sits on Arlington Heights, overlooking Washington, D.C. Custis’s daughter Mary married Robert E. Lee, and after the death of Custis, the house passed to her. When Robert E. Lee was in town, and not on duty someplace, this is where he called home. Lee was here when called upon to put down John Brown’s insurrection at Harpers Ferry, and it was here Lee returned when called from Texas in 1861. It was here that Lee chose to resign from the United States Army and enter the service of Virginia. It was in mid-May when Mary Lee left Arlington for the last time. On May 23, 1861, 10,000 Federal troops crossed the Potomac River and seized Arlington Heights.[1]

   The home and grounds became a military encampment and headquarters. Irvin McDowell set up his headquarters in the house. Fortifications were constructed nearby. Arlington would be inside those fortifications protecting Washington, D.C. 

Graves in Arlington, ca. 1865 (LOC)

   In 1862, the U.S. Congress passed an act dealing with collecting taxes “in the Insurrectionary Districts within the United States.” Mary Lee was taxed $92.07, and she sent the funds through a relative. However, the tax commissioners refused to accept the payment, declaring that the payment had to be paid in person by the legal owner. Mary was unable to do that The property was seized, and a sale held where the U.S. government, for $26,800, purchased the house and 1,100 acres.[2]

   Due to the proximity of the front lines, sometimes at the very door of the city, Washington was one vast military hospital. Churches and schools were pressed into service in emergency duty. Early in the war, the civilian hospital, the Government Hospital for the Insane, and the Union hotel were seized for permanent hospitals. Others were opened: the Providence Hospital, the Judiciary Square Hospital, Mount Pleasant Hospital, the Armory Square Hospital, St. Aloysius Hospital, and others. At the height of the Maryland Campaign, there were about sixty hospitals in the capitol.[3]

   Many of the Federal dead were taken to the Soldiers Home Cemetery, on Rock Creek near Fort Totten. Needing more space, Montgomery Meigs, Quartermaster General of the Army, who was in charge of the burial of Federal soldiers, allowed Federal soldiers to be buried on the grounds of Arlington. The first documented war-time grave appears to be that of Pvt. William Christman, 67^th Pennsylvania Infantry. He was interred on May 13, 1864, near the slave cemetery on the grounds of Arlington. A few others followed, but on June 15, 1864, Meigs requested Secretary of War Edwin Stanton to declare Arlington House and two hundred surrounding acres, a military cemetery. Stanton approved it the same day. It is often speculated that Meigs’ actions were to keep the Lee family from ever returning to the property. By the end of 1864, over 7,000 graves were located on the grounds.[4]

   Confederate soldiers, Southern civilians, and Northern political prisoners were kept at the Old Capital prison, a former hotel that had served as a hotel, and as the U.S. Capitol building after the British burned the Capitol in 1814. Official records record that 5,761 prisoners passed through this prison. Many were on their way to some other installation. However, at least 457 died while incarcerated at the Old Capitol Prison, most of them in the prison hospital or another hospital within the city. Some of those were interred at the Congressional Cemetery, about a mile away from the prison. (You can read more about the cemetery here) But were all of them?

    Apparently not. They were buried in different cemeteries across the city, including Soldiers’ Home Cemetery, Rock Creek Cemetery, Congressional Cemetery, and starting in 1864, Arlington. Samuel E. Lewis was a Confederate doctor during the war, moving to Washington, D.C. after the war where he continued his practice. He was also a member of the Charles Broadway Rouss Camp, No. 1911, United Confederate Veterans.  Lewis was concerned with not only the care of aging veterans, but also with the burial of Confederates who died during the war. There were over 500 Confederates who died in the Federal capital. There was a modest relocation of 241 Confederate soldiers’ remains to Virginia and the Carolinas in the 1870s, organized by various Ladies Memorial Associations. Yet the others remained.

A map showing the original location of Confederate
graves with the new section. (Virginia Museum of History)

   It was Lewis who urged the military, Congress, and the president to get involved and designate a number of acres within Arlington for the reburial of the remaining Confederate dead in Washington, D.C. Taking care of the Confederate dead was something that President McKinnley advocated in a speech in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1898. Congress appropriated $2,500 for the purpose of removing those dead from the Soldiers’ Home Cemetery and three different plots within Arlington, to Section 16 of the Arlington National Cemetery in 1900. Not everyone was in favor of this idea. The Southern Memorial Association wanted the remains of the Confederate soldiers returned to the various states and reburied in Southern cemeteries, most notably, Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond. Eventually, Lewis won the argument.[5]

   There were 136 Confederate graves at Arlington, and 128 at the Soldiers’ Home Cemetery. Reinterment work began in early 1901, and the work was finished in October 1901. Each soldier’s grave was marked by a white marble tombstone. What became known as the Confederate section was near what was then the main entrance of the cemetery.[6]

   To return to our question, yes, there were Confederate prisoners of war buried at Arlington National Cemetery once internment began in the spring of 1864. There were also Confederates interred at other cemeteries as well. Those interred at Arlington were originally in three different sections and were consolidated into Section 16 in 1901. There are still Confederates buried in the Congressional Cemetery as well. Probably half of the Confederates who died and were buried in Washington, D.C., during the war were returned to Virginia and North Carolina.

[1] Perry, Lady of Arlington, 230-31.

[2] Ashabranner, A Grateful Nation, 30.

[3] Janke, A Guide to Civil War Washington,  69, 76-80.

[4] Ashabranner, A Grateful Nation, 32-34.

[5] Krowl, “In the Spirit of Fraternity” The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, 111, 2:151-186.

[6] Ibid.

Robert E. Lee’s Compiled Service Record

    For anyone wishing to research a person, regiment, or just about anything else connected to the War, the first place to stop is the Compiled Service Records. At the very end of the war, scores of boxes from the Confederate War Department were turned over to Federal officials in Charlotte (you can learn more about this here). These papers were transported to Washington, D.C., where they were gone through by officials, trying to tie Jefferson Davis to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

   Part of the War Department papers were the muster roll sheets for the various regiments in Confederate service. These muster rolls were completed once every two months and were used to pay the individual troops. Other correspondence was also included. All of this wound up in Washington, D.C.

   After the war, there were various pension acts passed. For Federal soldiers, the pensions came from the US Congress. For Confederate soldiers, pensions came from their various states. The validity of each claim had to be verified. Were they good soldiers who were honorably discharged versus not-so-good soldiers: men who had deserted or been dishonorably discharged. Beginning in the 1890s, the War Department began creating the Compiled Service Records. The muster roll sheets, regimental returns, descriptive books, information from hospitals, and any other materials the clerks could find were copied onto various cards (usually one for each surviving muster). With other surviving documents, these cards were placed in envelopes and filed away by states and regiments. When a pension applicant or state official wrote the War Department inquiring about a veteran’s service, it was (usually) easy to pull those records, summarize the information, and send a letter with the necessary details.

   Robert E. Lee never served in a regiment. He, along with thousands of others who were staff officers, had a special category  (now known as “Confederate officers). Although Lee served as a military advisor to Jefferson Davis, as commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, and then, toward the end of the conflict, as overall Confederate commander, his folder only contains 66 pieces.

   Several of the cards refer to letters found in other places. For example, there is a card for a letter that Lee wrote to Jefferson Davis on February 19 and February 23, 1865. They are in the file of Charles E. Jones. Both letters deal with correspondence from Beauregard. Another refers to a special order issued on June 2, 1862, assigning Lee to command the army in Virginia.

   One card outlines Lee’s service as commander of the department of South Carolina, Georgia, and East Florida, including a list of his staff; his promotion to brigadier general in the regular Confederate Army; and his parole at Appomattox on April 9, 1865.

   And then there are more mundane things, like a requisition for forage for the third quarter of 1864. Lee had two horses (Traveler and Lucy) and asked for eight pounds of corn and eight pounds of oats, daily. It is interesting that in August 1864, the voucher listed four horses.

   There are pay vouchers for his thirty years of service. It is interesting to note that Lee was paid $301 a month, plus an additional $100 a month for commanding an army, plus an extra $54 a month for his thirty years of service. There are several official letters that Lee wrote. One is dated March 26, 1863, and addressed to Maj. A. H. Cole. His total pay for the months of April, May, June, and July, 1863, was $1,820.00.

   Included is a telegram from Lee to Secretary of War James Seddon, written December 4, 1862, regarding corn in the upper Rappahannock valley; a note from Secretary of War Seddon regarding the nomination of Lee for Commander in Chief; and various other letters while Lee was serving as military advisor to Davis in the spring of 1862.  These include notes to Beauregard, E. Kirby Smith, Lovill, and Josiah Gorgas.

   Also included are a handful of letters from twentieth-century people, including Douglas Southall Freeman, asking for details on Lee’s military service. Writing on August 15, 1925, Freeman was interested in any correspondence from Lee between April 1 and April 10, 1865. Freeman was advised to consult on the Official Records.

   I was curious about how Lee’s Compiled Military Service Record, at 67 pages, stacked up against some of the other Confederate commanders: P.G.T. Beauregard comes in at 170 pages; E. Kirby Smith, 81 pages; and Joseph E. Johnston, 129 pages.

   Once again, if you are going to research a person or regiment/brigade, etc., the Compiled Military Service Records, now housed at the National Archives and available online at fold3.com, is the place to start. You might find nothing, and you might discover a gold mine!