Since I am going to miss the Gathering of Fools (And you know I fit right in with a crowd like that). Well, first I need new rear skins, so I am gonna have to hit Hard6's before I put on too many miles.
BUT I AM THINKING REAL SERIOUS ABOUT MAKING A MISSISSIPPI 7th INFANTRY BATTALION (SAMUEL CAPER TREST) RUN! Yep, thinking real hard about it.
This is going to be a tad long (really long actually) but I hope worth the read......
Samuel Caper Trest was my Great-Great Grand Daddy and fought with the 7th Mississippi Infantry Battalion during the Civil War. He was born on March 1, 1832 in Alabama during the migration of the Trest family from Orangeburg, South Carolina to Jones County, Mississippi and died on June 19, 1923 at the age of 91 years old - a Confederate Veteren.
A brief history from Roy Pearson:
" Samuel Capers was married to Eleanor McGilvray in 1859. Samuel Capers was born in Alabama in 1833. They had the following children: William John b. 1860; Angus B b. 1862; Sarah Elizabteh b. 1864; Joseph Alexander b. 1869; Colin Oliphant b. 1871; Samuel Albert, b. 1873; Richard/Richmond Felder b. 1875 and Norman Trest. Samuel Capers was in the 7th Battalion of the Mississippi Infantry, Company C. He was captured three times. He was the son of John Trest of South Carolina. John was the son of John Trest who emigrated from Germany. He was a German sailor from the Hamburg district in Germany. He came to America in 1773. He married Rebecca Thorne and they settled in South Carolina. When their baby John was born and still a small child, the Indians’ killed Rebecca. John was lost at sea and never heard from again. Little baby John was found by the McDonalds and they raised him. He marrieed Elizabeth Walters of Orangeburg, SC. They later moved to Alabama and then to Sandersville, MS, a Scotch settlement where the McDonalds had come come to live. Samuel Capers Trest was a school teacher at Ovett School in Jones County. After the Civil War, he was the first Sheriff in Jones County during Reconstruction"
(Note - William John - born in 1860 was my Great Grandfather)
In 1859, he married Elanor Elizabeth McGilvray in Jones County, Mississippi and by the census of 1860, William John (my great grandfather) was 11 months old. Samuel Caper was 27 and his wife was 17.
Samuel Caper Trest and Elanor Elizabeth McGilvray - my great-great grandparents:
An interesting note was that in 1860, Samuel Caper Trest had 2 slaves that were handed down by his parents. These were dirt farmers - so to speak, so it was more of a collaboration than a slave/master thing.
The male slave that is listed, moved north after freedom and then came back to Jones County. He was named George Washington Trest and was the slave that took a mule and picked up Samuel Caper Trest - near death upon walking from Point Lookout Prison, Maryland....because of a leg wound in Atlanta on a mule....
He stayed in Jones County, Mississippi and is shown in every census record to live in Samuel Caper Trest's home or the house next door until 1910 when he was 71 years old. The slaves that are listed in 1860 are not really slaves, but more of a partner in share cropping. George Washington Trest, freed slave, was the one that went and got my g-g-grandfater in Atlanta when he was trying to return after the war and stayed until his death at his home.
According to Civil War Muster Rolls, when he was released from Point Lookout Maryland POW camp, on the Oath of Allegiance, Samuel Caper Trest is listed as 5' 9", Blue Eyes and Dark Hair. He was released and transferred to the General Hospital in Richmond, Virginia (with Consumption).
The Civil War began and Samuel Caper Trest enlisted with the 7th Battalion Mississippi Infantry - Company C - Jones County Rebels on May 12, 1862 and was paid $50 to fight for 3 years (that's $16.66 per year / $1.39 per month or 4 1/2 cents per day) He was 30 years and 11 days old with a 20 year old wife and 2 children.
So, according to Rowland’s "Military History of Mississippi, 1803-1898" ;
Company A -- Jasper County Company (raised in Jasper County, MS)
Company B -- Beauregard Defenders (raised in Jasper & Perry Counties, MS)
Company C -- Jones County Rebels (raised in Jones County, MS)
Company D -- Mississippi Rangers (raised in Clarke County, MS)
Company E -- Mississippi Sharpshooters (raised in Clarke County, MS)
Company F -- Renovators (raised in Jones County, MS)
Company G -- Covington Sharpshooters (raised in Covington County, MS)
Lieutenant-Colonels -- James S. Terral, died of wounds at Corinth; L.B. Pardue, killed in Georgia.
The Covington County Sharpshooter appear to have been originally intended to be part of the 27th Mississippi Infantry.
""The first six companies assembled at Quitman, Clarke County, May 3, 1862, were mustered into the service of the Confederate States and organized by the election of Lieutenant-Colonel Terral and Major Welborn. In June the battalion was joined by Company G. After some time in camps of instruction at Quitman and Enterprise the battalion was ordered in September to Saltillo, and attached to the brigade of Gen. M. E. Green, in Major-General Sterling Price's Army of the West. They were with Price in the movement to Iuka, where a battle was fought September 19, 1862." Major Welborn signed my G-G-Grandfather's muster roll."
So after boot camp in Quitman and Enterprise, the Battalion moved to Tupelo and then fought in Iuka, Mississippi under Maj. General Sterling Price. The 7th Battalion was assigned to Brig General Louis Hebert, so it would have been the 1st Brigade, 7th Battalion, Company C.
Samuel Caper Trest
BATTLE OF IUKA:
The Battle of Iuka was an American Civil War battle fought on September 19, 1862, in Iuka, Mississippi. In the opening battle of the Iuka-Corinth Campaign, Union Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans stopped the advance of the army of Confederate Maj. Gen. Sterling Price.
As Confederate General Braxton Bragg moved north from Tennessee into Kentucky in September 1862, Union Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell pursued him from Nashville with his Army of the Ohio. The Confederates needed to prevent Buell from being reinforced by Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Army of the Tennessee. Since the Siege of Corinth that summer, Grant's army had been engaged in protecting supply lines in western Tennessee and northern Mississippi.
On September 13, Confederate Maj. Gen. Sterling Price moved his Army of the West from Tupelo to the town of Iuka in northeastern Mississippi, about 20 miles east of Corinth. It was a small Union supply depot, the easternmost outpost that Grant had established on the Memphis and Charleston Railroad. Price's cavalry skirmished with pickets posted by the small Union garrison stationed there. On September 14, before dawn, the Union commander, Col. Robert C. Murphy, set fire to the supplies of the depot and marched his 2,000-man brigade back to Corinth. The Confederates dashed in and doused the flames, reaping a large collection of valuable supplies. Grant had Murphy arrested and court-martialed.
Opening of Iuka-Corinth CampaignPrice's army settled in Iuka and awaited the arrival of Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn's Army of West Tennessee, approximately 7,000 men. The two generals intended to unite and attack Grant's lines of communication in western Tennessee, which would prevent Buell's reinforcement if Grant reacted the way they expected, or might allow them to follow Bragg and support his Northern invasion if Grant acted more passively.
Grant did not wait to be attacked, approving a plan to converge on Price with two columns before Van Dorn, four days march to the southwest, could reinforce him. Grant sent Maj. Gen. Edward Ord with three Army of the Tennessee divisions (about 8,000 men) along the Memphis and Charleston Railroad to move to Burnsville, take the roads to the north of the railroad and move upon Iuka from the northwest. He also ordered the Army of the Mississippi, commanded by Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans, on a coordinated move along the Mobile and Ohio Railroad that would bring two divisions (9,000 men) swinging into Iuka from the southwest, closing the escape route for Price's army, while the remainder of that army protected Corinth against any threat from Van Dorn. (Since the departure of Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck for the East, Grant was serving as the commander of the District of West Tennessee, giving him operational control over Rosecrans's army, which was operating within the district boundaries. The relatively complex plan for the two-pronged assault was actually Rosecrans's, who had previously been stationed in Iuka and felt familiar with the area. Grant moved with Ord's headquarters and had little tactical control over Rosecrans during the battle.
Ord arrived at Iuka on the night of September 18 and skirmishing ensued between his reconnaissance patrol and Confederate pickets, about six miles (10 km) from Iuka, before nightfall. Rosecrans was late, having farther to march over roads mired in mud; furthermore, one of his divisions took a wrong turn and had to countermarch to the correct road. Ord demanded that the Confederates surrender, but Price refused. Price received dispatches from Van Dorn suggesting that their two armies rendezvous at Rienzi for attacks on the Union Army forces in the area. Price ordered his men to prepare for a march the next day. Rosecrans's army marched early on September 19, but, instead of using two roads as directed, it followed the Jacinto (Bay Springs) Road. After considering the amount of time that Rosecrans required to reach Iuka, Grant determined that he probably would not arrive on September 19, so he ordered Ord to await the sound of fighting between Rosecrans and Price before engaging the Confederates.
Rosecrans was within two miles (3 km) of the town on September 19, pushing back Confederate pickets, when his lead element, Sanborn's brigade, was struck suddenly by Little's Confederate division at 4:30 p.m., on the Mill Road, near the forks of the Jacinto Road and the crossroads leading from it to Fulton. Hamilton deployed his force to the best advantage, his artillery being posted on the only ground available for the purpose. Col. Mizner with a battalion of the 3rd Michigan Cavalry was sent out on the right and the 10th Iowa Infantry and a section of the 11th Ohio Artillery formed the left.
Hébert's brigade (five infantry regiments, supported by cavalry) moved forward on the Ohio battery around 5:15 p.m., and although met by a volley from the entire Federal line at 100 yards (91 m), it succeeded in reaching the battery before being repulsed twice. On the third attempt the Confederates drove off the gunners and compelled the 48th Indiana to fall back upon the 4th Minnesota. (The 11th Ohio lost 46 of their 54 gunners and three of their four officers. Although the Confederates had captured all six guns of the battery, they were unable to take advantage of them, because all of the horses had been killed in the fighting.[1]) At this time Stanley's division was brought into the action. The 11th Missouri was placed to the right and rear of the 5th Iowa, where it repulsed a last desperate attack of two Mississippi brigades. Fighting, which Price later stated he had "never seen surpassed," continued until after dark. A fresh north wind, blowing from Ord's position in the direction of Iuka, caused an acoustic shadow that prevented the sound of the guns from reaching him, and he and Grant knew nothing of the engagement until after it was over. Ord's troops stood idly while the fighting raged only a few miles away.
During the night both Rosecrans and Ord deployed their forces in the expectation of a renewal of the engagement at daylight, but the Confederate forces had withdrawn. Stanley followed, shelling the town, driving out a number of stragglers. He pushed on for several miles, but owing to the exhausted condition of his troops, his column was outrun and he gave up the pursuit.
The Union casualties were 144 killed, 598 wounded, 40 captured or missing; the Confederates lost 263 killed, 692 wounded, 561 captured or missing.[2] The most senior casualty was Confederate Gen. Little, who was struck in the eye by a bullet while accompanying Gen. Price. Among the ordnance stores abandoned by the Confederates were 1,629 stand of arms, a large stock of quartermaster and commissary stores, and 13,000 rounds of ammunition.
Following the fighting on September 19, Price determined to reengage the enemy the next day, but his subordinates convinced him to march to join Van Dorn. Price's army evacuated via the uncovered Fulton Road, deploying a heavy rear guard. Rosecrans's army occupied Iuka and then mounted an unsuccessful pursuit on September 20. Grant accompanied the column for several miles, but he soon returned to his headquarters, and Rosecrans took that opportunity to call off the pursuit, much to Grant's displeasure. The Confederates joined Van Dorn for the Second Battle of Corinth in October.
(Note: Louis Hebert's Brigade was the center brigade in the action of Iuka)
According to Dunbar Rowlands History:
The battalion was actively engaged in the battle of Corinth, October 3-4, with casualties of 6 killed and 23 wounded. Lieutenant-Colonel Terral received wounds from which he died.
BATTLE OF CORINTH:
The Second Battle of Corinth (which, in the context of the American Civil War, is usually referred to as the Battle of Corinth, to differentiate it from the Siege of Corinth earlier the same year) was fought from October 3 to October 4, 1862, in Corinth, Mississippi. For the second time in the Iuka-Corinth Campaign, Union Major General William S. Rosecrans defeated a Confederate army, this time one under Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn.
As Confederate General Braxton Bragg moved north from Tennessee into Kentucky in September 1862, Union Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell pursued him from Nashville with his Army of the Ohio. The Confederates needed to prevent Buell from being reinforced by Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Army of the Tennessee. Since the Siege of Corinth that summer, Grant's army had been engaged in protecting supply lines in western Tennessee and northern Mississippi. At the Battle of Iuka on September 19, Maj. Gen. Sterling Price's Confederate Army of the West was defeated by forces under Grant's overall command, but tactically under Rosecrans, the Army of the Mississippi. Price had hoped to combine his small army with Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn's Army of Tennessee and disrupt Grant's communications, but Grant and Rosecrans struck first, causing Price to retreat from Iuka.
After Iuka, Grant established his headquarters at Jackson, Tennessee, a central location to communicate with his commands at Corinth and Memphis. Rosecrans returned to Corinth. Maj. Gen. Edward Ord, whose three divisions of Grant's Army of the Tennessee had been accidentally unengaged at Iuka, move to Bolivar, Tennessee, northwest of Corinth, to join with Maj. Gen. Stephen A. Hurlbut. Thus, Grant's forces in the immediate vicinity consisted of 12,000 men at Bolivar, Rosecrans's 23,000 at Corinth, Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's 7,000 at Memphis, and another 6,000 as a general reserve at Jackson.
Second phase of the Iuka-Corinth CampaignPrice's army marched to Ripley where it joined Van Dorn on September 28. Van Dorn was senior officer and took command of the combined force, numbering about 22,000 men. They marched to Pocahontas, Tennessee, on October 1, on the Memphis and Charleston Railroad. From this point they had a number of opportunities for further moves and Grant was uncertain about their intentions. When they bivouacked on October 2 at Chewalla, Grant became certain that Corinth was the target. The Confederates hoped to seize Corinth from an unexpected direction, isolating Rosecrans from reinforcements, and then sweep into Middle Tennessee. Grant sent word to Rosecrans to be prepared for an attack, at the same time directing Hurlbut to keep an eye on the enemy and strike him on the flank if a favorable opportunity offered. But Rosecrans was already prepared.
Along the north and east sides of Corinth, about two miles from the town, was a line of entrenchments, extending from the Chewalla Road on the northwest to the Mobile and Ohio Railroad on the south, that had been constructed by Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard's army before they evacuated the town in May. These lines were too extensive for Rosecrans's 23,000 men to defend, so with the approval of Grant, Rosecrans modified the lines to emphasize the defense of the town and the ammunition magazines near the junction of the two railroads. The inner line of redoubts, closer to the town, called the Halleck Line, were much more substantial. A number of formidable named batteries, guns positioned in strong earthwork defenses, were part of the inner line: Batteries Robinett, Williams, Phillips, Tannrath, and Lothrop, in the area known as College Hill. They were connected by breastworks, and during the last four days of September these works had been strengthened and the trees in the vicinity of the centrally placed Battery Robinett had been felled to form an abatis. Rosecrans's plan was to absorb the expected Confederate advance with a skirmish line at the old Confederate entrenchments and to then meet the bulk of the Confederate attack with his main force along the Halleck Line, about a mile from the center of town. His final stand would be made around the batteries on College Hill. His men were provided with three days' rations and 100 rounds of ammunition. Van Dorn was not aware of the strength of his opponent, who had prudently called in two reinforcing divisions from the Army of the Tennessee, and the difficulty of assaulting these prepared positions.
On the morning of October 3, three of Rosecrans's divisions advanced into the old Confederate rifle pits north and northwest of town: McKean on the left, Davies in the center, and Hamilton on the right. Stanley's division was held in reserve south of town. Van Dorn began his assault at 10 a.m. with Lovell's division attacking McArthur's brigade (McKean's division, on the Union left) from three sides. Van Dorn's plan was a double envelopment, in which Lovell would open the fight, in the hope that Rosecrans would weaken his right to reinforce McKean, at which time Price would make the main assault against the Federal right and enter the works. Lovell made a determined attack on Oliver and as soon as he became engaged Maury opened the fight with Davies's left. McArthur quickly moved four regiments to Oliver's support and at the same time Davies advanced his line to the entrenchments. These movements left a gap between Davies and McKean, through which the Confederates forced their way about 1:30 p.m., and the whole Union line fell back to within half a mile of the redoubts, leaving two pieces of artillery in the hands of the Confederates.
During this part of the action Gen. Hackleman was killed and Gen. Oglesby (the future governor of Illinois) seriously wounded, shot through the lungs. About 3 p.m. Hamilton was ordered to change front and attack the Confederates on the left flank, but through a misunderstanding of the order and the unmasking of a force on Buford's front, so much time was lost that it was sunset before the division was in position for the movement, and it had to be abandoned. Van Dorn in his report says: "One hour more of daylight and victory would have soothed our grief for the loss of the gallant dead who sleep on that lost but not dishonored field." But one hour more of daylight would have hurled Hamilton's as-yet unengaged brigades on the Confederate's left and rear, which would in all probability have driven Van Dorn from the field and made the second day's battle unnecessary.
So far the advantage had been with the Confederates. Rosecrans had been driven back at all points, and night found his entire army except pickets inside the redoubts. Both sides had been exhausted from the fighting. The weather had been hot (high of 94° F) and water was scarce, causing many men to nearly faint from their exertions. During the night the Confederates slept within 600 yards of the Union works, and Van Dorn readjusted his lines for the attack the next day. He abandoned his sophisticated plans for double envelopments. Historian Shelby Foote wrote, "His blood was up; it was Rosecrans he was after, and he was after him in the harshest, most straightforward way imaginable. Today he would depend not on deception to complete the destruction begun the day before, but on the rapid point-blank fire of his guns and the naked valor of his infantry."
At 4:30 a.m. on October 4, the Confederates opened up on the Union inner line of entrenchments with a six-gun battery, which kept up its bombardment until after sunrise. When the guns fell silent, the Federal troops prepared themselves to resist an attack. But the attack was slow in coming. Van Dorn had directed Hébert to begin the engagement at daylight and the artillery fire was merely preliminary to enable Hébert to get into position for the assault.
At 7 a.m., Hébert sent word to Van Dorn that he was too ill to lead his division, and Brig. Gen. Martin E. Green was ordered to assume command and advance at once. Nearly two hours more elapsed before Green moved to the attack, with four brigades in echelon, until he occupied a position in the woods north of town. There he formed in line, facing south, and made a charge on Battery Powell with the brigades of Gates and McLain (replacing Martin), while the brigades of Moore (replacing Green) and Colbert attacked Hamilton's line. The assault on the battery was successful, capturing the guns and scattering the troops from Illinois and Iowa. Hamilton repulsed the attack on his position and then sent a portion of his command to the assistance of Davies, who rallied his men, drove the Confederates out of the battery, and recaptured the guns. Maury had been engaged sometime before this. As soon as he heard the firing on his left, he knew that Davies and Hamilton would be kept too busy to interfere with his movements, and gave the order for his division to move straight toward the town. His right encountered a stubborn resistance at about 11 a.m. from Battery Robinett, a three-gun redan protected by a five-foot ditch, where fierce hand-to-hand combat ensued, and he was forced to retire with heavy losses from arguably the hottest action of the two-day battle. Col. William P. Rogers of the 2nd Texas, a Mexican-American War comrade of President Jefferson Davis, was among those killed in the charge. Lawrence Sullivan Ross was mistakenly reported killed with Rogers.
Phifer's brigade on the left met with better success, driving back Davies's left flank and entering the town. But their triumph was short-lived, as part of Sullivan's brigade, held as a reserve on Hamilton's left, charged on the Confederates, who were thrown into confusion in the narrow streets, and as they fell back came within range of batteries on both flanks of the Union army, the cross-fire utterly routing them. Cabell's brigade of Maury's division was sent to reinforce the troops that had captured Battery Powell, but before they arrived, Davies and Hamilton had recaptured it and as Cabell advanced against it he was met by a murderous fire that caused his men to retreat.
Meanwhile Lovell had been skirmishing with the Union left in the vicinity of Battery Phillips, in preparation for a general advance. Before his arrangements were complete he was ordered to send a brigade to Maury's assistance, and soon afterward received orders to place his command so as to cover the retreat of the army. At 4 p.m., reinforcements from Grant under the command of Brig. Gen. James B. McPherson arrived from Jackson. But the battle of Corinth had effectively been over since 1 p.m. and the Confederates were in full retreat.
Rosecrans's army lost 355 killed, 1,841 wounded, and 324 missing at Corinth; Van Dorn's losses were 473 killed, 1,997 wounded, and 1,763 captured or missing.[2]
Rosecrans's performance immediately after the battle was lackluster. Grant had given him specific orders to pursue Van Dorn without delay, but he did not begin his march until the morning of October 5, explaining that his troops needed rest and the thicketed country made progress difficult by day and impossible by night. At 1 p.m. on October 4, when pursuit would have been most effective, Rosecrans rode along his line to deny in person a rumor that he had been slain. At Battery Robinett he dismounted, bared his head, and told his soldiers, "I stand in the presence of brave men, and I take my hat off to you."[3]
Grant wrote disgustedly, "Two or three hours of pursuit on the day of the battle without anything except what the men carried on their persons, would have been worth more than any pursuit commenced the next day could have possibly been."[4] Rosecrans returned to Corinth to find that he was a hero in the Northern press. He was soon ordered to Cincinnati, where he was given command of the Army of the Ohio (to be renamed the Army of the Cumberland), replacing Don Carlos Buell, who had similarly failed to pursue retreating Confederates from the Battle of Perryville.
Although his army had been badly mauled, Van Dorn escaped completely, evading Union troops sent by Grant later on October 5 at the Battle of Hatchie's Bridge, and marching to Holly Springs, Mississippi. He attributed his defeat to the failure of Hébert to open the second-day engagement on time, but nevertheless he was replaced by Maj. Gen. John C. Pemberton immediately after the battle. There were widespread outcries of indignation throughout the South over the senseless casualties at Corinth. Van Dorn requested a court of inquiry to answer charges that he had been drunk on duty at Corinth and that he had neglected his wounded on the retreat. The court cleared him of all blame by unanimous decision.
Again, from Dunbar Rowlands History of the 7th Battalion:
There was a fight at Hatchie Bridge on the retreat, and the battalion moved with Price and Van Dorn by way of Ripley back to Oxford and thence to Grenada during Grant's advance along the railroad from Memphis. With Hebert's Brigade of Maury's Division, they moved to Yazoo City and took boat for Snyder's Bluff, arriving December 31, 1862, just at the close of the attack along that line by General Sherman. In February, 1863, the battalion was reported 171 effective. They remained with Hebert's Brigade at Snyder's Bluff until the night of May 17-18, when, Pemberton having retreated across the Big Black, they marched to Vicksburg, and by 8 o’clock of the 18th were in line in the trenches just in time to meet the advance of Grant's army, and give his victorious troops a check. Hebert's position was in the main works on the immediate right of the Jackson road and extending to the left as far as and including the main redan on the Graveyard road. The Seventh Battalion was first posted between the Thirty-seventh and Thirty-sixth Regiments on the left of this line, The skirmishers were driven in that evening and the bombardment began, which continued for forty-seven days and nights. A determined assault was made upon that part of the line held by the two regiments and battalion on the 19th, and on the 22d an even more serious attempt was made to carry the position, but both were repulsed. June 2 the two regiments and battalion were moved to the right of the brigade, the battalion and Thirty-sixth Regiment on the extreme right. The redan of the Third Louisiana was blown up by a mine explosion June 25, and on July 1 the main redan at the left of the Jackson road was destroyed in the same way. The Union works were now so close and so elevated that Hebert's men were kept busy day and night rebuilding and raising their own works to have protection from the sharpshooters and artillery. July 4, at 10 o'clock, they stacked arms in front of the works, and marched back to bivouac, where they were paroled. The brigade had 2,186 paroled; 219 had been killed; 455 wounded. Capt. A. M. Dozier was paroled as commanding officer of the battalion. Capt. S. C. Pearson and Lieutenant J.C.C. Welborn had been killed; Captain W. T. Baylis, who had been elected Major, had died of wounds. The total casualty list was 17 killed, 33 wounded.
So, my Great-Great Grandfather was captured in Vicksburg and swore to not fight any more. He then gave the Union a GREAT BIG OL' SOUTHERN RASPBERRY and regrouped with his unit and fought again.....Oh well, so much for that oath!
In parole camp at Enterprise the battalion was reorganized. Hebert's Brigade was commanded for a time by Gen. W. W. Mackall, until he was made Chief of Staff of Johnston's army in Georgia. The brigade was listed in February in Maury's army of Mobile. In the Georgia campaign the battalion was attached to the brigade of Gen. C. W. Sears, made up of parts of Hebert's and Moore's Brigades, in Gen.. S.G. French's Division of the Army of the Mississippi, commanded by Lieut.-Gen. Polk, after his death at Kenesaw Mountain known as Stewart's Corps, Army of Tennessee. The brigade arrived at the scene of battle near Resaca, Ga., May 16, and thereafter was almost continuously engaged on the line which swung down around and past Atlanta. The various returns show Capt. W. A. Trotter, Lieut. A. J. Farmer, Capt. S. D. Harris, in command of the battalion. The casualties of the battalion were: At Cassville, 1 missing; at New Hope church, 3 wounded, 8 missing; at Latimer House, 1 killed, 2 wounded, 5 missing; at Kenesaw Mountain, 4 killed, 8 wounded, 60 missing; at Smyrna, 3 wounded, 1 missing; at Chattahoochee River, 1 killed, 2 wounded, 6 missing; at siege of Atlanta, 3 wounded; at Lovejoy's Station, 1 killed, 1 missing; Total, 7 killed, 21 wounded, 82 missing. Lieut-Col. Pardue and Capt. L. B. Borden were killed in the Georgia campaign. Captain Harris, appointed to command the battalion, was Inspector-General of Sears' Brigade.
The battalion took part in the attack of French's Division upon the works held by General Corse at the railroad cut near Allatoona, October 5, 1864, during Hood's campaign against Sherman's communications. In this memorable battle the casualties of the battalion were 1 killed, 13 wounded, 16 missing.
The division captured the blockhouse at Tilton, Ga., October 13; was next in battle before Decatur, Ala., October 26-29; moved thence to Tuscumbia, crossed the Tennessee River November 20; moved upon Columbia and took part in the flank movement toward Spring Hill, followed Schofield's corps to Franklin and participated in the attack at Franklin by Stewart's and Cheatham's Corps. Among the "foremost of the forlorn hope" that reached the ditches of the inner line of works, after surviving a terrible crossfire of artillery, were the following of the Seventh Battalion: Company A -- Corporal M. J. Albritton; Company B -- Capt. George D. Hartfield and Private M. Glover (both wounded near the inner line), Privates H. Steward, W. B. McDonald; Company E -- Corporal W. W. Jordan; Company G -- Capt. A. J. Thompson, wounded near second line; Company F -- Private W. Carter.
After this the brigade was with Forrest at Murfreesboro, fighting at Overall's Creek, December 4, and in front of Murfreesboro December 7; and on Walthall's line at Nashville December 15-16; crossed the Tennessee River December 26, and marched to winter quarters in northeast Mississippi.
French's Division was ordered to report to General Maury at Mobile, February 1, 1865. The return of March 10 showed Sears' Brigade commanded by Col. Thomas N. Adair, the Seventh Battalion commanded by Capt. Samuel D. Harris.
The remnant of the battalion were among the defenders of Spanish Fort, east of Mobile, and being captured there April 8, 1865, were sent as prisoners of war to Ship Island, and from there to Meridian, where they were paroled.
My Great-Great Grandfather was captured at Kennesaw Mountain, Georgia on July 5, 1864 and was a prisoner of war for more than a year.
"He is shown on the muster roles of the 7th Battalion from May, 1862 through February, 1864. On July 5th, 1864, he is recorded as being captured at Kenesaw Mountain, Georgia and became a prisoner of war. He was recieved at the Military Prison in Louisville, Kentucky on July 14th, 1864. He was transferred to Camp Douglas, Illinois (from Louisville, Ky.) on July 18th, 1864. He was sent to U.S. General Hospital in Point Lookout, Maryland for treatment. He took the Oath of Allegiance to be released at Point Lookout, Maryland on July 19th, 1865."
Conditons were bad at the prison that he was kept in.
"Point Lookout, Maryland, located in Saint Mary's County, Maryland on the southern tip of the peninsula was deemed the largest and worst Northern POW camp. Point Lookout was constructed of fourteen foot high wooden walls. These walls surrounded an area of about 40 acres. A walkway surrounded the top of the walls where negro guards walked day and night. It is reported the guards were brutal in their treatment of prisoners. Prisoner, John R. King said; "Two days out of every three we were guarded by a gang of ignorant and cruelsome negroes. Please do not think that I dislike the negroes as a race. Many of them are my friends, but the negroes authority over the white people and the defenceless prisoners suffered at their hands. Numbers of scars were left on the frame work of the closets made by negroes firing at the prisoners. The negro guard was very insolent and delighted in tantalizing the prisoners, for some trifle affair, we were often accused of disobedience and they would say, "Look
out, white man, the bottom rail is on top now, so you had better be careful for my gun has been wanting to smoke at you all day!"
No barracks were ever built. The Confederate soldiers were given tents to sleep in until overcrowding became so bad, there were not even enough tents to go around.
Approximately 50,000 Confederate enlisted men were contained within the walls of Point Lookout Prison Camp during it's operation 1863-1865. Prison capacity was 10,000 but at any given time, there would be between 12,000 and 20,000 soldiers incarcerated there.
The extreme overcrowding, Maryland's freezing temperatures, shortages of firewood for heat, and living in tents took it's toll and many lives were lost due to exposure.
As the water supply became polluted and food rations ran low, prisoners died from disease and starvation. Food was in such short supply, the men were reported to hunt rats as a food source. A prisoner, Rev. J. B. Traywick said; "Our suffering from hunger was indescribable".
Estimates report that over 14,000 prisoners died while imprisoned at Point Lookout but the cemetery is known to hold 3,384 soldiers in a mass grave with no evidence to back up this massive figure. The Confederate soldiers' bodies have been moved twice and have found their final resting place in Point Lookout Cemetery. "
(CensusDiggins.com ,Civil War Prison Camps, Point Lookout Prison)
Upon parole, my Great-Great Grandfather walked all the way from Maryland back to Mississippi.
"When the Civil War ended, Samuel was way up North. Battered, beaten, and ill, it took a long time for him to get home. He was assumed dead. Very much alive, he was elected the first Sheriff of Jones County after Reconstruction. His Granddaughter, Norma Gail Trest Baker, said some of his papers indicate he could serve more than one term around 1870."
(Lelia McGill)
He would later become a state representative from Jones County:
And died in 1923 at the age of 91.
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So, anyway, I am thinking of doing a Samuel Caper Trest Run when I am in this time. Leave out of Broussard and work my way up to Vicksburg, where the 7th Battalion fought under the Army of Vicksburg - Fourney's Division - 1st Brigade (Louis Hebert) - 7th Battalion. Then I am thinking of going up to Tupelo for the night maybe. Then go to Iuka where the battle of Iuka was fought and up to Corinth, Mississippi where the 7th Battalion was engaged in the battle of Corinth. Since it is only like 20-30 miles to Shiloh, ride up to Shiloh and see the site of one of the bloodiest battles fought - (See the background of Shiloh below). Then perhaps ride over to north of Atlanta and see Kennesaw Mountain where Samuel Caper Trest was captured. Then work my way back to Sandersville, MS where he is buried and pay my respects.
Nothing set in stone yet, but that is what I am thinking about for this time in - The Samuel Caper Trest Run. Hey, sounds like a ride to me - with lots of my family history. May just have to have a nip at each site in honor of S.C. Trest!
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BACKROUND ON SHILOH
In April 1862 General Ulysses S. Grant's army was encamped along the Tennessee River just north of the Mississippi border; poised to strike a blow into the heartland of the South. Grant had been at this location for about a month, awaiting the arrival of additional troops under General Buell before he began his march southward. Twenty miles to the south, in Corinth, Mississippi, Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston ordered his troops northward with the plan of attacking Grant before Buell arrived. The stage was set for one of the Civil War's bloodiest battles.
On the morning of April 6, Johnston's force surprised Grant in an attack that slowly pushed the Union troops back from the high ground they occupied towards the Tennessee River. Fighting was fierce. Many of the Union troops fled to the rear upon the initial Confederate assault and by afternoon General Johnston was confident that victory was within his grasp. However, Union resistance stiffened. Fighting around the white-washed Shiloh Church was particularly vicious. In a wooded thicket the Confederates labeled "the Hornets' Nest" the Northern troops struggled for nearly six hours before finally surrendering. The Union soldiers stalled the Confederate onslaught by exchanging their precious lives for time in which reinforcements could arrive. With nightfall, fighting subsided. Grant's forces were pinned against the Tennessee River but the exhausted Confederates were short of their goal of complete victory.
One casualty of the afternoon's combat was General Johnston who lost his life while directing his troops from the front lines. His death severely affected the Confederate's morale and their belief in victory.
Buell's reinforcements finally arrived during the night as did forces under General William H. Wallace, strengthening the Union lines with 22,500 fresh troops. With the break of dawn, Grant attacked, pushing the exhausted Confederates steadily back until they finally began a retreat in the early afternoon that left the field to the Union forces.
The confrontation had been a slaughter on both sides. Corpses littered areas of the battlefield to the extent that, as General Grant described, "it would have been possible to walk across the clearing in any direction stepping on dead bodies without a foot touching the ground." Nearly 100,000 troops had faced each other and almost 24,000 ended as casualties. This horrendous outcome was a wake-up call to the nation announcing that the continuing war would be costly for both sides.
In April 1862 General Ulysses S. Grant's army was encamped along the Tennessee River just north of the Mississippi border; poised to strike a blow into the heartland of the South. Grant had been at this location for about a month, awaiting the arrival of additional troops under General Buell before he began his march southward. Twenty miles to the south, in Corinth, Mississippi, Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston ordered his troops northward with the plan of attacking Grant before Buell arrived. The stage was set for one of the Civil War's bloodiest battles.
On the morning of April 6, Johnston's force surprised Grant in an attack that slowly pushed the Union troops back from the high ground they occupied towards the Tennessee River. Fighting was fierce. Many of the Union troops fled to the rear upon the initial Confederate assault and by afternoon General Johnston was confident that victory was within his grasp. However, Union resistance stiffened. Fighting around the white-washed Shiloh Church was particularly vicious. In a wooded thicket the Confederates labeled "the Hornets' Nest" the Northern troops struggled for nearly six hours before finally surrendering. The Union soldiers stalled the Confederate onslaught by exchanging their precious lives for time in which reinforcements could arrive. With nightfall, fighting subsided. Grant's forces were pinned against the Tennessee River but the exhausted Confederates were short of their goal of complete victory.
One casualty of the afternoon's combat was General Johnston who lost his life while directing his troops from the front lines. His death severely affected the Confederate's morale and their belief in victory.
Buell's reinforcements finally arrived during the night as did forces under General William H. Wallace, strengthening the Union lines with 22,500 fresh troops. With the break of dawn, Grant attacked, pushing the exhausted Confederates steadily back until they finally began a retreat in the early afternoon that left the field to the Union forces.
The confrontation had been a slaughter on both sides. Corpses littered areas of the battlefield to the extent that, as General Grant described, "it would have been possible to walk across the clearing in any direction stepping on dead bodies without a foot touching the ground." Nearly 100,000 troops had faced each other and almost 24,000 ended as casualties. This horrendous outcome was a wake-up call to the nation announcing that the continuing war would be costly for both sides.
