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| Cumberland Gap |
The War years are full of interesting stories and sad coincidences. Part of the latter may be found in the story of Daniel W. Burleson and his son William.
The Burlesons (sometimes Burlisons) were a middle-class
family living in the mountains of western North Carolina. While the 1860 census
enumerator did not divide their home county (Yancey County) into districts,
they claimed they received their mail in Burnsville, North Carolina.
Like many families in the area, the war tore this family
apart. William P. Burleson joined the 58th North Carolina Troops in
the summer of 1862. Like many records in the 58th North Carolina,
Burleson’s compiled service record is rather incomplete. We don’t know the
exact date he enlisted, what company he joined, nor his rank. He was 18 years
old. We might be able to assume that he was forced to enlist by the
Conscription Act, but we really don’t know that either. All the records tell us
is that he died of “typhoid fever” on September 15, 1862, at Cumberland Gap,
Tennessee. An announcement in the Asheville News on October 9, 1862,
told people that William A. Burleson “was a pious boy and a good boy, and
leaves a father and mother to mourn his loss.” (Jordan, NC Troops,14:422)
William’s father, Daniel, also joined the military. On May
6, 1864, in Cumberland Gap, where his son had died several months earlier,
Daniel joined Co. H, 2nd North Carolina Mountain Infantry (US).
Daniel was 45 years old at the time of his enlistment. Five months later, on
October 5, 1864, Private Daniel Burleson died of chronic diarrhea at the
hospital in Cumberland Gap, Tennessee. We really don’t know why or what
compelled Daniel to enlist in the Federal army. The two North Carolina
regiments from the western part of the state were not exactly models of
fighting to preserve the Union, or even to free the slaves. They were more akin
to robbing and plundering their neighbors. Daniel would leave several children
back in Yancey County fatherless. (Two other sons would also join local Federal
regiments in 1864).
There is really little more to add to this story. In a post-war
widow pension application, John W. Burleson, one of Daniel’s other sons, stated
that Daniel had been forced into the home guard and forced “to hunt up his
neighbors, union men, [and] help force them into the rebel army and he did not
want to do this any longer. The only thing left for him was to join the
federals…” Of course, pension records are not always the most reliable source.
In the end, it is just another tragic glimpse of our
history. Most of the graves of the Federal soldiers were relocated to the Knoxville
National Cemetery after the war. There is
a good chance that is where Daniel Burleson is interred. The grave of William,
and hundreds of other Confederates who died in the Cumberland Gap area, seems
to be lost to history.