Women Imprisoned at Andersonville

   When we think of war-time women prisoners, a few famous spies, like Belle Boyd, Rose O’Neal Greenhow, and maybe Pauline Cushman come to mind. There were a few others imprisoned who are not household names. Margaret Leonard is one of them.

   Margaret Larney was born in Ireland, came to the United States, and married Isaac Newton Leonard. Leonard enlisted in Company H, 2^nd Massachusetts Heavy Artillery the following year and was sent to eastern North Carolina. When Confederates under Robert F. Hoke came to invest Plymouth in April 1864, Margaret did not leave with the other refugees. Instead, according to a veteran’s post-war account, she “engaged in making coffee for the men in a building exposed to a heavy fire. At one time a solid shot passed through the building, taking with it one of her dresses, which hung on a nail by the wall. Another carried away the front legs of her cooking-stove. Yet when the fight was over, on the evening of the 19^th, she had coffee for the men, and supper for the officers. She was in Fort Williams during the remainder of the fight.” She and her husband were both captured and imprisoned at Andersonville.    Margaret Leonard lived in the prison for a time, but eventually Captain Wirz moved her in with his family. After a while, “she began insulting” the Captain’s family and Wirz had her sent to Castle Thunder in Richmond. There she befriended Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, who described her as “a large stout Irish woman.” Before long, Leonard was sent beyond Confederate lines. Isaac survived the war but died in 1869. Margaret lived in California until her death in 1900.[1]

Grave in Florence, South Carolina (findagrave).

   Francis Jane Scadin, wife of Herbert Hunt, arrived a couple of weeks after Margaret Leonard. Hunt was a steamboat captain. Hunt had just married Francis, and with his new bride and other guests, set sail on a “pleasure cruise.” As the story goes, the ran into a United States revenue cutter, who forced Hunt to head to North Carolina to take on a load of corn. In the process of being loaded, Hunt and his ship were captured. His bride, thinking his imprisonment would last only a few days, disguised herself and went with him to Andersonville. Doctor J.J.W. was sent to Andersonville in July 1864 and ordered to oversee the dispensary. On his first night, “I heard a very small infant crying near my office. . . Upon inquiry one of the guards informed me that it was the infant of Captain Hunt and his wife, only three days old.” Kerr visited her the next morning, finding her in a tent with the babe, “in the most abstract poverty I had ever seen.” It appears that while in the prison proper, Federal prisoners had cut the back out of her tent and took her trunk with clothing and cash. Kerr made arrangements to move her to a home nearby and worked with a merchant friend in Macon to secure clothing for new garments. What exactly became of Mrs. Hunt is unknown.[2]

   Another woman imprisoned at Andersonville appears to have been Florena Budwin. Our information about her comes from a Pvt. Samuel Elliott, a member of the 7^th Pennsylvania Reserves. Elliott was captured during the battle of the Wilderness in May 1864. He, along with Florena Budwin and her husband, were sent to Andersonville. It appears that Florena had disguised her sex when she enlisted. At least Florena and Elliott were transferred to the prison in Florence, South Carolina. Elliott wrote in 1890 that “I knew the female prisoner at Andersonville, having seen her frequently pass our detachment on her way to the swamp for water. I remember her as a woman rather above medium height, sunburnt, with long, unkempt hair. Her clothing consisted of a rough gray shirt, a pair of worn out army trousers, and what was once a military cap, but scarcely enough of it was left to afford protection from the burning sun.” When transferred to Florence in September 1864, her “sex was discovered…and she was taken… to be a nurse in the hospital.” She served several months as a nurse at Florence, then contracted pneumonia and died on January 25, 1865. She just might be the first woman buried in a national cemetery.[3]

   There are probably many more stories like these that are lost to history.

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[1] Marvel, Andersonville, 174; Davis, Ghosts and Shadows of Andersonville, 147; Goss, The Soldier’s Story of his Captivity at Andersonville, 60.

[2] Marvel, Andersonville, 56;  Sheppard, Andersonville, 38; Confederate Veteran, vol. XXIII, 318; Speer, Portals to Hell, 264.

[3] The Independent-Records, June 24, 1890; The State, May 29, 1934.

Torn Families – the Merrimans

   We often say that the war was fought “brother vs. brother.” Here is another example, the Merriman family (You can read about two other families here – the Gibbon family and the Flusser family.)

   Eli T. Merriman was born in Bristol, Connecticut, in 1815, graduating from Yale University in 1833, and then studying medicine in Pennsylvania and Vermont. He married another Connecticut native, Jenette Bartholomew. In the 1830s, the family moved to Texas, and Merriman became the first doctor to open a practice in San Marcos, Texas. Merriman served in the Mexican-American War, lived in Brownsville, then Banquette, Corpus Christi, and had six children with Jenette before they divorced. He also served in the Texas Legislature, and during the war, he became a Confederate doctor. He served at hospitals in Texas. His own ranch at Banquette served as a hospital “for the contagious.”[1]

   At least three of Merrimans’ sons served in the war. Two fought for the South, and one for the North.

   Walter Merriman (1835-1911), born in Connecticut, enlisted on January 1, 1863, in Rio Grande Station, in Company D, Duff’s Partisan Corps, which later became the 33^rd Texas Cavalry. He brought his own horse and equipment and was mustered in as a corporal. The only other muster roll in his file is dated July 31, 1863, but he did survive the war. The 33^rd Texas Cavalry was involved in the battle of Nueces and did patrol duty along the Rio Grande.[2]  

   James E. Merriman (1843-1931), born in Connecticut, enlisted in Company K, 8^th Teas Infantry on May 4, 1862, in Corpus Christi. He was mustered in as a private. In October 1862, he was reported on detached service, but he appeared back with his command by the end of year. Merriman appeared present or accounted for through the end of 1864, although he was out sick or in a hospital for part of that time. The 8^th Texas Infantry was involved in the battles of Corpus Christi, Fort Esperanza, and the Red River Campaign.[3]

   Henry E. Merriman (1837-1921), like his brothers, was born in Connecticut and went with the family to Texas. However, Henry returned to Connecticut where he was working in a store when the war began. On August 11, 1862, he enlisted in Company K, 16^th Connecticut Volunteers.  The 16^th Connecticut was involved in the battle of Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg, Siege of Norfolk, and the battle of Plymouth, North Carolina. At the latter, Merriman was captured and subsequently imprisoned at Andersonville, Florence, and Macon.[4]

   A 1904 newspaper article praised Henry Merriman for sticking it out in prison and not writing to his father asking for assistance in getting released. Given that Doctor Merriman was in localized Texas hospitals, and not the “high ranking” Confederate the post-war newspaper made him out to be, it is unlikely that the doctor could have done anything for Henry. Given the distance and time, one has to wonder if the different members of the Merriman family even knew who was in what army.

  

[1] https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/merriman-eli-t; Hughes, Yale’s Confederates, 143.

[2] Walter Merriman Compiled Service Record, M323, Roll 0163, Record Ground 109, National Archives.

[3] James E. Merriman, Compiled Service Record, M323, Roll 0325, Record Group 109, National Archives.

[4] Hartford Courant, June 14, 1904.

Federal Prisoners and Southern Ministers and Chaplains

   Earlier this year, I started a series on prisoner of war camps in the South. One post was an overview of prisons (here), and another post looked at the different types of prisoners held at Salisbury (here). This post will examine the clergy who worked with the prisoners.

   The Confederate government apparently never appointed chaplains to prison camps. Instead, the work of the church, ministering to the spiritual needs of the prisoners, was undertaken by concerned clergy.

   At Salisbury, in 1864, Dr. A.W. Mangum began preaching to the prisoners inside the prison pen. Mangum tells us in his short history of the Salisbury Prison that some preaching had taken place in the post hospital by Dr. Richard O. Kurrie, and then by Dr. Wilson and a Dr. Rumple. Wilson recruited Mangum to preach in the hospital, but was discouraged by Major John Gee, the prison’s commanding officer, from preaching to the general prison population. Gee found the prisoners “generally foreign and Catholic” and did not believe that the Methodist Mangum would find a “kindly reception.” But at some point, Gee obviously softened his stance, for when Mangum entered the prison yard, he found a Baptist minister preaching to a large group of men. Mangum selected his own spot and began to sing. A crowd gathered, which Mangum found “respectful, earnest and solemn.” While Mangum goes on to talk about working on establishing a prison library, he does not go into much further detail of his preaching at Salisbury Prison.[1] 

Bishop John McGill

   It is interesting to note that Major Gee thought most of the prisoners were “foreigners and Catholics”; it was apparently the Catholics who ministered to prisoners at Camp Sumter in Andersonville.  There are a couple of mentions of Protestant ministers at Andersonville, including the Methodists Robert James Hodges and E.B. Duncan. There could be more whom history has forgotten. Andersonville was not Salisbury. It was in the middle of nowhere, served by a railroad not tied to a large city further south. When the Reverend William John Hamilton visited Andersonville in May 1864, he found a large number of Catholic prisoners. Hamilton lived in Macon, and southwestern Georgia was a part of his charge. He contacted the Bishop in Savannah who sent Father Peter Whelan to minister to the prisoners. Finding more men to minister to than he could handle, he asked for help, and Father H. Claveril was sent. The two lived in a shack not far from the prison. According to Peggy Sheppard, the pair “soon won the admiration and respect of most prisoners—Catholic, Protestants, Jews, and atheists alike.” They could often be seen crawling into dugouts to hear confessions or to administer extreme unction to dying men. Claveril was replaced by Father John Kirby, who was replaced by Father Hosannah, a Jesuit priest from Mobile who could speak several different languages.[2]

   Libby Prison, located in the Confederate capital, had the benefit of several religious gatherings each week. Chaplain Henry C. Trumball, 10^th Connecticut Infantry, was captured during the assault on Battery Wagner near Charleston, South Carolina, in July 1863. He was held in several prisoner of war camps before being exchanged in November 1863. Trumball noted that there were prayer meetings held three evenings a week, and when chaplains were present, “sermons, twice each Sunday.” It seems in the case of Libby Prison, there was often some Federal chaplain incarcerated within who was able to provide religious meetings, i.e., Charles C. McCabe, 122^nd Ohio, Louis N. Beaudry, 5^th New York Cavalry, Joseph T. Brown, 6^th Maryland Volunteers. There were some outside chaplains.[3] One prisoner at Libby noted that the Catholic Bishop of Richmond visited the prison. The Right Rev. John McGill was noted as “frequently” attending the Northern soldiers confined in Libby prison,” although McGill, Northern born, was “decidedly southern in his sympathies.” If McGill could not attend in person, he sent others, including Revs. Father Scully and Mahone, and the Jesuit Fathers O’Hagan, McAtee, and Tissot.[4]

   However, not all of these measures were appreciated. Historian George Rable noted that the Federal officers at Libby Prison debated, but did not pass, a series of resolutions against “Rebel ministers” conducting services. One Pennsylvania officer noted that the local pastors “had better teach humanity to their own people before attempting to preach Christianity” to the prisoners.[5] However, if the writings of Northern chaplain Henry S. White are to be believed, this worked both ways. White was appointed chaplain of a Rhode Island regiment in 1863 and was captured in eastern North Carolina on May 4, 1864. For a brief amount of time, White was quartered in a church in Andersonville. His request to preach to the prisoners was met with mixed support and was eventually denied. White was soon moved to the officer’s prison in Macon.[6]

   The work on Southern clergy among Federal prisoner of war camps is a neglected topic of study. Outside of a few brief mentions in Rable’s God’s Almost Chosen Peoples (2010) and Miller’s In God’s Presence: Chaplains, Missionaries, and Religious Space During the American Civil War (2019), the topic does not seem to merit any scholarly coverage. The role of local churches and prisons could be explored, as well as the attitudes of various denominations, like the Baptists, Presbyterians, and Methodists. (Or, if you know of a source that deals with this subject, please drop me a line.)

   

 

  

  

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[1] Poteat, Confederate States Military Prison at Salisbury, NC, 27-32.

[2] Sheppard, Andersonville, Georgia, U.S.A, 33-37. See also Marvel, Andersonville: The Last Depot, 140-144, 163-164.

[3] Trumball, War Memories of an Army Chaplain, 297.

[4] Magri, “Catholicity in Virginia during the Episcopate of Bishop McGill, 1850-1872,” The Catholic Historical Review, Vol. 2, No. 4 (January 1917): 422-423.

[5] Rable, God’s Almost Chosen Peoples, 367.

[6] White, Prison Life Among The Rebels, 42.