MILITARY HOSPITALS
I realize it has been two months since my last post! Craig & I were traveling in the Deep South – Alabama, Mississippi & Louisiana – and enjoying the many sites, cuisines, and the occasional beach. Whenever we travel, I try to see if I have any family history in the area and where to look for any additional family records, and this trip was no different. I am very fortunate to have pension and/or military records for 5 of my 6 Civil War ancestors (the 6th soldier was enlisted only a few months when he was elected to the Missouri State Congress and resigned his position).
Since we were going to be near Marengo
County, Alabama, I conducted a Google search for a certain 2nd
cousin twice removed by the last name of PATTERSON, and I found him named in
the wedding announcement for his daughter.
I then searched for her name and found her address (it’s kind of creepy
how easy it is to track someone down through the Internet; but I only use my
computer powers for good!). I wrote her
a letter, introducing myself and included a description of a letter that my
Uncle Harold CHURCHWELL had received from his cousin who had made a trip to
Alabama and spoke with a PATTERSON relative.
I enclosed a self-addressed, stamped envelope for her return reply, along
with my email address. I was thrilled to
get an email from her a few days later.
She was going to be visiting her dad who still lived in Demopolis, and
would take my letter to show him. A few
weeks later, I received a large manila envelope in the mail with the account
written by another 2nd cousin twice removed, regarding how Jeptha
Rufus SMITH and Martha Virginia PATTERSON were married in Demopolis after the
Civil War, and that Martha then moved away from her family with Jeptha to her
new home in Missouri. He also sent me
information on the family cemetery.
Then, he told me he still lives on the property that Ira PATTERSON
purchased in 1836! I think that is
pretty amazing that the land still belongs to a PATTERSON! So, with information in hand, and having
contacted the Marengo County Records for their research policies during COVID, we
took a day trip to the county seat to look for Birth, Marriage, Death, and Deed
records. I found some Marriage records
and Deeds, which was exciting. I was
tempted to contact Mr. PATTERSON, but I just felt that would be a little too
stalker-like, so I didn’t contact him.
In Mississippi, we visited Vicksburg
Military Park, a Civil War site.
Vicksburg was an important city on the Mississippi River, and after the
Union held the city under siege for several weeks, the Confederate army
surrendered to General Grant on July 4, 1863, the day after the Union victory
at Gettysburg. This put the Mississippi
River in Union control all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. Jeptha SMITH was at Vicksburg with Company H,
1st and 4th Consolidated Regiment, Missouri
Infantry. We found several interpretive
markers located where the 1st/4th fought.
Two markers showing field locations of the
1st and 4th Consolidated at Vicksburg, Mississippi, 1863
In
his pension file it states that Jeptha was absent from his regiment, “Sick at
Hospital at Demopolis, Ala. Feb. 20, 1864.”
I’m wondering if that’s when he met Martha and if she and other local
women were helping take care of the wounded and ill soldiers. His pension file explained when he
surrendered at Vicksburg:
VICKSBURG,
MISSISSIPPI, JULY 6th , A.D.
1863.
TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN, KNOW YE
THAT:
I,
J. R. Smith , a private of Co "H"
1st
Reg't Mo. Vols. C.S.A., being a Prisoner of War, in the
hands of the United States Forces in virtue of the capitulation of the City of
Vicksburg and its Garrison, by Lieut. Gen. John C. Pemberton, C.S.A. Commanding
of the 4th day of July, 1863, do in pursuance of the terms of said
capitulation, give this my solemn parole under oath -
That
I will not take up arms again against the United States, nor serve in any
military police, or constabulary force in any Fort, Garrison or field work held
by the Confederate States of America, against the United States of America nor
as [illegible] nor discharge any duties usually performed by Officers or
soldiers, against the United States of America, until duly exchanged by the
proper authority.
J. R. Smith
sworn
to and subscribed before me at Vicksburg, Miss., this 6th day of July, 1863.
As a result
of the bitter end of the 47-day siege at Vicksburg occurring on July 4, on the
heels of the Confederate loss at Gettysburg just the day before, the city of
Vicksburg did not celebrate the National Birthday for 84 years. Then, July 4, 1947, Dwight D. Eisenhower
visited the city. A parade and party
were held in his honor, and from then on they held what they called the
Carnival of the Confederacy.
James Webb VANHOOSER, who enlisted
July, 1862 and served in the Union, Company L, 6th Missouri Cavalry,
also spent time in a Civil War hospital in the South. He contracted chronic diarrhea after bad
water and exposure at Pilot Knob, Missouri, in May of 1864. He was hospitalized at U.S. General Hospital
in Baton Rouge, LA. He was there when he
was honorably discharged on June 14, 1865, about 2 months after the end of the
war. By 1890, he was partially blind,
and suffered from kidney trouble and chronic diarrhea. He died in 1911, suffering for nearly 50
years.
The building that served as the Union Hospital in Baton Rouge had been the Louisiana School for the Deaf, and the survival of the original building is recorded on the school’s website,
https://lalsd.org/about_us/history/civil_war_period
The story is told of the time when a
Union gunboat was firing cannon at the school.
The school’s Principal actually rode in a small boat to the warship and
explained that this beautiful building was a school and not the state Capitol –
the firing was halted before any significant damage occurred.
Apparently,
once the Union won the battle, they took over the building as their hospital.
1863 - Louisiana School for the Deaf Baton Rouge, LA
My dad, Kermit W. Larew, also
experienced a military hospital during his World War II service in North Africa
and Europe. In a letter dated March 20,
1942, Kermit wrote to Mildred, “Tell Alice I said hello.” Alice was their code for Africa; before
Kermit left, he and Mildred worked out a code for where he was – Frances was
France; Irene meant Italy; there were probably more, but those are the ones I
recall my mom telling me about. Then, on
March 25 he wrote, “Well honey I am still in the hospital, but haven’t got
anything done to my throat yet.” There
is a gap from this letter to August of 1945, so my mom did quite a thorough
censoring, I guess! Ha! I also have a
scrap of paper with my dad’s handwriting, “Capt. J.W. Montague, 180th
Station Hosp., A.P.O. 667, c/o P.M.N.Y.N.Y.” and in another handwriting –
possibly Capt. Montague’s, “Microscopic diagnosis of tumor of Right Vocal Cord
Fibroma benign.” I looked up the 180th
Station Hospital (https://www.med-dept.com/articles/ww2-military-hospitals-mediterranean-theater-of-operations/)
and found that it was located in the north African country of Algeria until
April of 1944, so that is how I narrowed down where he was when he had his
throat surgery.
Note regarding Kermit's throat surgeon and diagnosis, 1943
No one wants to spend time in a
hospital, much less hundreds if not thousands of miles from their loved
ones. War takes a soldier wherever he/she
is needed, and thankfully, medical staff is nearby to meet any medical needs,
whenever or wherever they arise.
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