The fighting Averys

   “Major, tell my father I died with my face to the enemy,” is a well-known last request made during the war. It was uttered by Col. Isaac Avery after he was mortally wounded at the battle of Gettysburg. Isaac Avery was just one of five Avery brothers who rose to prominence in the 19^th century. They were all the sons of Isaac and Harriet Erwin Avery. The Avery family were large landowners in western North Carolina.

William W. Avery

   The oldest brother was William Waightstill Avery. Born in Burke County in May 1816, W.W. Avery graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1837. He later studied law under Judge William Gaston and was admitted to the bar. Avery became a trustee of the University in 1850, and in 1857, became a director of the Western North Carolina Railroad. Avery served several terms in the General Assembly, and in the 1856-1857 term, was speaker of the North Carolina Senate. He, along with Thomas L. Clingman, was a strong advocate for secession. In 1858, he ran for a seat in the US House, but lost to Zebulon Baird Vance. In 1860, Avery was chairman of the state’s delegation to the Democratic National Convention, meeting in Charleston. Appointed Chairman of the resolution committee, Avery “favored the majority report denying the right of congress or territorial legislation to prohibit slavery in the territories, demanding federal protection for all property in those territories, upholding the Fugitive Slave Act, and advocating the acquisition of Cuba from Spain as soon as practicable.” Many delegates walked out, but not the North Carolinians. They would walk out when the convention met again in Baltimore. Once North Carolina left the Union, Avery served as a member of the provisional Confederate Congress and as chairman of the committee on military affairs. Avery failed to win an appointment to the Confederate senate and returned to western North Carolina, where he worked on raising a regiment for Confederate service. W.W. Avery was mortally wounded while leading local home guard in a skirmish with raiders in northern Burke County in late June 1864, dying on July 3, 1864. Avery was married to Mary Corinna Morehead, daughter of Governor John Motley Morehead, and they had several children.[1]

Clark M. Avery

   Clark Moulton Avery was the next son with a wartime connection. He was born in October 1820 and, like his older brother, graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unlike his brother, he was not a politician, but instead farmed a large piece of property in Burke County. In February 1861, friends enticed Avery to run for the state secession convention, and election that he won. However, the convention did not meet. Avery would not serve when the actual convention met in May. Instead, when the principles of the foundation of the United States came under attack, Avery joined the military. On April 25, 1861, he was elected captain of Company G, 1^st North Carolina Volunteers, fighting at the battle of Big Bethel in June 1861. Then-colonel D.H. Hill wrote that "Captain Avery Company G displayed great coolness, judgment and efficiency in the battle of Bethel." As the regiment neared the end of its six-month term of enlistment, Avery was elected lieutenant colonel of the 33^rd North Carolina Troops, and then in January 1862, colonel. In March 1862, Avery was captured at the battle of New Bern, being released seven months later. He returned to his regiment and was wounded in the fighting at Chancellorsville and at Gettysburg. At the battle of the Wilderness in May 1864, Colonel Avery was struck in the left arm. When he refused to go the rear, a stretcher was brought forward, and he was carried along the lines, encouraging his men. Avery was eventually struck four times that day, including in the leg, neck, and through the body. Avery survived for six weeks before dying of his wounds on June 18, 1864. Avery was married to Elizabeth Tilghman Walton and was survived by four children.[2]

Isaac E. Avery 

   Isaac Erwin Avery was born in December 1828 in Burke County. For one year, he attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill but then left the school to help manage his father’s farms in Burke and Yancey Counties, North Carolina. He also worked with Charles F. Fisher and Samuel McDowell Tate to construct the Western North Carolina Railroad. When the war came, he worked on forming a company that became a part of the 6^th North Carolina State Troops. Avery was elected captain of Company E on May 16, 1861. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel and then colonel of the 6^th NC and was wounded at the battle of Malvern Hill. On July 2, 1863, while leading Hoke’s brigade in an attack on the Confederate left, Avery was mortally wounded, penning the famous note after his wound: “Major, tell my father I died with my face toward the enemy.” Avery died the next day. Colonel A.C. Godwin, 57^th NC, wrote in his official report that, upon the death of Avery, “the country lost one of her truest and bravest sons, and the army one of its most gallant officers.” His slave, Elijah, began to return to Burke County with the body, but he was forced to stop and bury Avery in Williamsport, Maryland. Avery’s body was later moved to Rose Hill Cemetery in Hagerstown.[3]

   Alphonso Calhoun Avery was born in September 1835. After graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Avery studied law under Chief Justice Richmond M. Pearson and was licensed in June 1860. AC Avery helped his brother Isaac raise a company and was then elected first lieutenant in that company in the 6^th NCST. Following the battle of Seven Pines, he was promoted to captain, but by the end of 1862, he was transferred to the staff of Maj. Gen. D. H. Hill as assistant inspector general. Major Avery later served on the staffs of John C. Breckinridge, Thomas C. Hindman, and John B. Hood. At the end of the war, Avery was commanding a battalion in the western parts of North Carolina, attempting to curtail some of the damage being done by Federal raiding parties and bushwhackers. Avery was captured in Salisbury by some of Stoneman’s men and was imprisoned at Camp Chase until August 1865. After the war, Avery practiced law and was elected to the state senate; he lost his seat when the radicals came to power, served as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1875, and then served as judge of the superior court. Trinity College (now Duke University) conferred upon him a MA, and the University of North Carolina honored him with an LL.D. In 1888, A. C. Avery was elected an associate justice of the Supreme Court, serving for eight years. In 1892, he assumed the position of dean of the law school at Duke University. Avery retired in 1897 and became a prolific writer, respected historian, and prominent member of the Southern Historical Society. His first wife was Susan Washington Morrison, daughter of the Rev. R. H. Morrison. His brothers-in-law included D.H. Hill, Stonewall Jackson, and Rufus Barringer. Avery’s second wife was Sarah Love Thomas, the daughter of Col. William Holland Thomas. A.C. Avery died in June 1913.[4]

   The last Avery brother to serve in the war was Willoughby Francis Avery, born in Burke County in May 1843. He was attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill when the war broke out, and, leaving the school, he joined the 3^rd North Carolina Cavalry, where he was elected third lieutenant. When the company was reorganized, he failed to win reelection and resigned. Avery was then appointed a second lieutenant in Company C, 33^rd North Carolina Troops. Promotion to first lieutenant came on January 14, 1863, and on December 15, 1863, he was promoted to captain and transferred to Company E. A month later, he was transferred to Company I. Captain Avery was wounded in the mouth and throat at the battle of the Wilderness in May 1864, returned to duty in November 1864, and was captured at Salisbury on April 12, 1865. He was confined at Camp Chase and released in June 1865. After the war, Willoughby Avery edited newspapers in Charlotte and Asheville before returning to Burke County and establishing a newspaper in Morganton. He was married twice and died November 1876.[5]

   There are, of course, the Avery daughters as well. Adelaide Leah Avery (1822-1897) never married but became one of the first librarians in Burke County. Mary Ann Martha Avery (1831-1890) married Joseph Franklin Chambers. Harriet Justina Avery (1833-1902) married Pinckney B. Chambers, a major in the 49^th North Carolina Troops. The last daughter, Laura Myra Avery (1837-1912), never married.

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[1] Warner and Yearns, Biographical Register of the Confederate Congress, 9-10; Powell, Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, 1:67.

[2] Powell, Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, 1:111; Allardice, Confederate Colonels, 68.

[3] Jordan, NC Troops, 4:266; Allardice, Confederate Colonels, 47; The Herald-Mail, November 4, 2007.

[4] Powell, Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, 1:66-67.

[5] Manarin, NC Troops, 2:221; Jordan, NC Troops, 9:220; Powell, Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, 1:72.

Transferring prisoners across the South.

   According to the Library of Congress’s Civil War Desk Reference, there were 211,411 Federal soldiers taken prisoner during the war. Of those, 16,668 were not incarcerated. They were paroled without going to a prisoner of war camp. That leaves 194,743 who did time in one of numerous prisons across the South. Considering the prisoners of war camps were spread out across the South, how did the Confederate government move these prisoners from camp to camp?[1]

   After a Federal soldier was captured, he was taken to a secure location to the rear of the battlefield and corralled together with other prisoners. Charles Mattocks of the 17^th Maine Infantry was captured on May 5, 1864, during the battle of the Wilderness. Mattocks wrote in his journal that he was sent to the rear “and delivered to the Provost Guard.” That evening, the group, composed of 10 officers and 150 men, was moved a mile and a half further back. The next morning, the prisoners were started on foot to Orange Court House. Their escorts were “Lee’s Body Guard,” the 39^th Battalion Virginia Cavalry. Mattocks considered his escorts “very nice chaps. They showed us every favor possible and even allowed us to ride their horses when we were tired.” It was on the morning of May 7 that Mattocks writes of being searched by the Provost. On May 8, Mattocks and his companions were loaded on the railroad and shipped to Lynchburg, Virginia. Mattocks mentions almost escaping “owing to the smallness of the guard,” but the attempt was foiled. He was eventually moved via Danville, through the Carolinians, and then to Macon, Georgia. Mattocks says little of his guard while on his journey.[2]

   It appears that different regiments were utilized to escort prisoners to holding areas. The 16^th Alabama Infantry was detailed to escort prisoners to the rear during the battle of Shiloh in April 1862.  A member of the 9^th Alabama Infantry reported that his regiment escorted a large number of Federal prisoners to the provost marshal following the battle of Chancellorsville in May 1863. Also following Chancellorsville, the 52^nd North Carolina, late in arriving at the battlefield, was sent back to Richmond guarding 2,000 Federal prisoners. Following Gettysburg, Picket’s depleted division became a large provost escorting prisoners toward Maryland and Virginia, much to the chagrin of the Virginians.[3]

Train Of Prisoners Approaches Savannah River, Drawing is a drawing by Quint Lox.

   The 39^th Battalion Virginia Cavalry was frequently used to transport Federal prisoners from the battlefield to a railhead. At Fredericksburg, Company A assigned to guard the prisoners actually boarded the train, continuing into Richmond. At Chancellorsville, Company D was reported escorting 650 prisoners to Guinea Station on the night of May 3. Following the battle of Spotsylvania Court House, the battalion moved with about 400 Federal prisoners in front of them, and corralled prisoners following the battle of Cold Harbor. It is possible that the duty continued through the siege of Petersburg, but the mundane assignment seldom appeared in their letters or diaries. The 39^th Battalion Virginia Cavalry was not the only force to escort prisoners. Capt. Edward A.H. McDonald, 11^th Virginia Cavalry, recalled escorting prisoners from the battle of Cedar Run, Virginia, in August 1862, to the rail station at Orange Court House.[4]

   It would be a common thought that the task of moving prisoners would fall under the duties of the Army Provost. However, Kenneth Radley tells us in his book on the subject that “Escorts for prisoners as they filtered back along the chain were only infrequently provided by the provost because of their severely limited strength; that duty had to be performed by whatever other troops were available.”[5]

   It is unclear if escort companies listed in the Army of Tennessee performed the same duty as those in the Army of Northern Virginia. It seemed that every division, corps, and army commander was listed as having such a company. For example, for the battle of Chickamauga in September 1863, two companies are listed as escort for Braxton Bragg: Dreux’s Company Louisiana Cavalry and Holloway’s Company Alabama Cavalry (Crocheron Light Dragoons), both under the command of Capt. Guy Dreux. After Bragg’s departure, Joseph E. Johnston retained both companies as escorts.

   Whole regiments were used to move prisoners. LeGrand J. Wilson, 42^nd Mississippi, recalled being sent to guard prisoners on Belle Island, Richmond. The men found the duty “very disagreeable.” Finally, the prisoners were paroled and sent out to be exchanged. The 42^nd Mississippi detailed 300 soldiers to escort the 5,000 prisoners to Varina Landing. The Confederates had to walk in front of the Federals, keeping a slow pace due to the heat. Even with those safeguards, several Confederates and Federals fell out, with several of the Federals dying.[6]

   At times, prisoners were moved through the interior of the Confederacy to other prisons. Railroads were utilized for these transfers. It was easier to secure the prisoners within box cars, thus reducing the amount of guards needed for each trip. Captain Benjamin F. Grigg, Company F, 56^th North Carolina, was reported absent on detail “guarding prisoners” in January-February 1864. According to family, Grigg was in charge of a fifty-man detail escorting prisoners from Richmond to Andersonville. The 5^th Georgia Reserves, or at least part of the regiment, escorted prisoners into Savannah. In December 1864, the 58^th North Carolina moved 1,200 prisoners from Columbia, Tennessee, to Corinth, Mississippi. The trip was arduous, with the regiment (numbering about 311 men) moving their 1,200 prisoners partially on foot and partially via rail.[7]  

   There were undoubtedly many regiments, or portions of regiments, detailed to move Federal prisoners across the South during the war years. Some of these men might have welcomed the diversion, a chance to escape the boredom of winter camp or just to see a different part of the country. Others probably found the duty laborious and were happy to be free of their charges. One thing is for certain: this is a portion of the war that needs to be explored more.

This article is a part of a 2021 series exploring the fringes of military prisons in the South. You can check out the other articles below:

Federal Prisoner of War Camps in the South

Federal Prisoners and Southern Ministers and Chaplains 

The Types of Prisoners at Salisbury Prison

  

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[1] Civil War Desk Reference, 583.

[2] Mattocks, “Unspoiled Heart”: The Journal of Charles Mattocks of the 17^th Maine, 138-152.

[3] Barrett, Yankee Rebel, 102; OR, Vol. 10, 1:597; 15:969; Jordan, NC Troops,12:399.

[4] Hardy, Lee’s Body Guard, 23, 34, 60, 64; Rolph, My Brother’s Keeper, 94.

[5] Radley, Rebel Watchdog, 164-65.)

[6] Wilson, The Confederate Soldier, 93-94.

[7] Munson, North Carolina Civil War Obituaries, 158n.133; Speer, Portals to Hell, 268;  Hardy, The Fifty-eighth North Carolina Troops, 146-47.