Wednesday marks the 150th anniversary of a document I purchased decades ago and tucked away for safekeeping. It survived the BFE Flood of 2009 and a couple moves. It is a letter from a Civil War soldier to his parents. The Internet is a wealth of information that if one seeks it out, can obtain all manner of knowledge. When I obtained this letter, about the only way to get info was to write letters to government archives, find genealogical clubs, and probably untold phone calls. Now, if one is patient and the least bit computer-literate, doors fly open to those who knock.
One Saturday morning I decided to look further into the life of one, A.W. Thompson Jr., a Confederate soldier who, while recuperating from a wound incurred in the battle of Chickamauga, wrote home.
This is what he wrote:
"Atlanta, Georgia September 25th 1863
Dear(e) Father and Mother it affords me great pleasure to inform you I am yet living I am in Atlanta in the Hospital I am wounded threw the thigh the bone not hurt I was wounded on the 15th inst in the battle of Chickamauga I left the railrode on the 7th of Sept so I could not get any letters from home if you wrote any I have not heard from G (?) since he left home I have me some cruches made but not able to use them yet I am not able to give you a ful detale of the battle but it was a bloody fought battle We lost more men killed and wounded than any battle before My Capt and First Lt and about 25 men wounded 9 omen kiled some other dangerously wounded We wond a compleat victory we are stil driving the enemy back
Father as soon as I get able to travel I am going to try and get a furlough and come home I think I can get one I am well attended to I have a member of my company to wait on me Answer int he first mail and give me all the news
A W Thompson Jr
Adress Atlanta Ga To A W Thompson Sr
Faire Ground Hospital 18 Ward No. 11And this is the envelope in which he sent it.
Soldiers Letter A W Thompson
Prvet A W Thompson Jefferson PO
Company G 6th Ark Reg Chesterfield Dist
S C
I was able to uncover a list of soldiers who fought in Company G of the 6th Arkansas Regiment and found our Private A.W. Thompson, Jr. Now let's see what we can decipher.
THOMPSON, A.W. Pvt - Enlisted 19 Sep 1861 at Pitman's Ferry, AR. Wounded at Chickamauga, GA and in Columbia, SC in hospital 9 Feb 1864. Wounded 22 July 1864 and died 25 Aug 1864. Age 27.
1. A.W. enlisted at Pitman's Ferry Arkansas.
Pitman's Ferry
East Side
West Side.
Pitman's Ferry was a major river crossing on Current River and was located on the Missouri-Arkansas state line.
This is a history of A.W.'s company.
After organization, the regiment marched on June 19, 1861 overland to Pocahontas, Arkansas. Measles broke out in camp, and a great many died here. In September, 1861, the regiment was transferred to Confederate service in the brigade (consisting of the 2nd, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th Arkansas Infantry regiments) commanded by Brig. Gen. William J. Hardee. Company B, as well as a number of individual soldiers from the other companies, declined to enlist for Confederate service here, and were released to return home, where many later joined (or were conscripted) into other units .
After a short raid into Missouri, Hardee's troops (and the 6th Arkansas) established camp at Pittman's Ferry on Current River. In the latter part of September, 1861, the brigade was moved to southeast Missouri, and thence by boat to Columbus, KY, arriving on October 3. From there, it was sent to Cave City, Barren County, KY, where it spent the winter of 1861. While camped at Cave City, the 6th Arkansas smelled its first powder, and a deep companionship with Terry's Texas Rangers and Swett's Mississippi Battery was formed in a skirmish with a Union patrol. Colonel Lyon was killed in an accident on October 10, 1861, while supervising the crossing of the regiment over the Tennessee River, when his horse fell over a precipice with him. Lt. Col. Alexander T. Hawthorn succeeded to Colonel in his place, and Gordon N. Peay of Company A was promoted to replace Hawthorn as lieutenant colonel.
On December 17th, the 6th Arkansas supported the 8th Texas Cavalry (Terry's Texas Rangers) and Swett's Mississippi Battery in a skirmish at Woodsonville, KY, when Colonel Terry was killed. The regiment occupied this advanced position until the fall of Fort Donelson, when it moved with the remainder of the army to Corinth, Mississippi under General Albert Sydney Johnston. BG Hardee having been promoted to Major General, Col. T.C. Hindman of the 2nd Arkansas was promoted to brigadier general and the brigade command until he was promoted to major general, and Col. R.G. Shaver was appointed as his successor. Col. Shaver commanded the brigade gallantly at the vicious battle of Shiloh, General Hindman commanding the division. The 6th Arkansas was decisively engaged at Shiloh with the Confederate left wing, engaged against Sherman's Federal troops. The 6th Arkansas was able to re-arm itself with "Springfield rifles" (probably .58 cal. M1855 rifle muskets) from Federal weapons left on the field at Shiloh.
When Corinth was evacuated, the brigade retreated to Tupelo, MS where it remained until July, 1862. Then the 6th Arkansas was sent to Chattanooga, TN, with General Bragg as part of General Patrick R. Cleburne's division, and from there on to the Kentucky campaign. It was present when 4,500 Federals surrendered at Munfordville, KY, and was in the line Richmond and at Perryville, when Adjutant Sampson Harris, of Company A, was mortally wounded. Sergeant W.W. Carter of Company A was promoted to lieutenant and succeeded Harris as adjutant. Before the regiment had left Corinth, approximately 200 men of the 12th Arkansas which had escaped from Island No. 10 were organized into two companies and attached to the 6th Arkansas. In December, at Shelbyville, TN, these two companies were returned to their own regiment as the 12th Arkansas had been exchanged by that time. Casualties at the battle of Perryville had already weakened the regiment, as well as decimating the 7th Arkansas, so the 6th and 7th Arkansas regiments were consolidated into one unit on December 15, 1862.
The regiment was heavily engaged at the battle of Murfreesboro, TN (Stone's River) on December 31, 1862, through January 2, 1863; and in the spring advanced to Bell Buckle TN, where it remained until June 24, 1863, when it was hastily ordered to the front to Liberty Gap, where it found and reinforced the 5th Arkansas in dealing with a large Union force. It retreated from middle Tennessee to south of the Tennessee River, and went into camp at Chickamauga Station, a few miles south of Chattanooga, and remained there until about the 1st of September, when Bragg began maneuvering for the battle of Chickamauga. The regiment was engaged, actually, or in line of battle, all through the Georgia campaign -- at Chickamauga, the siege of Chattanooga, and stood with Govan's Brigade in the succesful defense of Tunnel Hill, the Atlanta Campaign and the defenses of Atlanta where they, along with the rest of Govan's Brigade, were captured en masse near Jonesboro, GA. They were exchanged three weeks later, and rejoined the Army of Tennessee at Palmetto, GA. and were at the battles of Spring Hill, Franklin, and Nashville, TN. The few survivors of the 1864 Tennessee campaign were collected and reorganized near Tupelo, Mississippi early in 1865, and then travelled by rail to North Carolina where they participated in the last grand charge of the Army of Tennessee at the battle of Bentonville, NC. The remaining survivors of Govan's old Arkansas Brigade were consolidated into a single regiment, the 3rd Confederate Infantry Regiment, Consolidated, containing the survivors of the 1st, 2nd, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 13th, 15th, Dawson's 19th, and 24th Arkansas and the 3rd Confederate Infantry at the last reorganization of the Army of Tennessee at Smithfield, NC on April 9, 1865, only to be surrendered with General Johnston's army near Durham Station, NC on April 26, 1865. Of the nearly 1000 men mustered with the 6th regiment, only about 150 remained with the colors at the surrender.
| THOMPSON, A W | |||||||||
| CONFEDERATE STATES ARMY | |||||||||
| DATE OF BIRTH: | |||||||||
| DATE OF DEATH: 08/25/1864 | |||||||||
| BURIED AT: | |||||||||
| STONEWALL CONFEDERATE CEMETERY | |||||||||
| ATTN: SHERRY HUSAK 797 MEMORIAL DR GRIFFIN, GA 30223 | |||||||||
(770) 229-6410
Oddly, this summer's Great Trip North 2013 Bike ride took me through Griffin, Georgia. There are a lot of empty spaces between his birth in 1837 and his death in 1864. But what remains is a record of devotion to a cause and to his family. Like all soldiers everywhere, a moment to write home, to tell the folks everything is O.K. He is hopeful of a chance to go home on furlough, I wonder if he ever made it. Was "G" his brother? His second wounds proved to be more serious and about a month later he died.
Just another name on stone, a life quickly extinguished. The pain of his loss lasting the lifetimes of his parents and family. It seems the one pervasive constant in mankind's ascendancy is conflict. The millions upon millions of lost life, blood and suffering is a continuing theme through the ages.
From our earliest Cro-Magnon battles for food to today's war over terrorism, people have died in the hopes of creating something better. I don't know if that better even exists. Our politicians and theologians tell us it does. Once saw a guy hawking his book about war being interviewed. The questioner asked him what was the common denominator of all battles. Without hesitation, the author said "the blood." Perhaps someday young men and women like A.W. will be able to stay home and die of old age in their own beds.
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