Date: 2/3/01 2:27:55 PM EST
From: larau@acninc.net (Lee A.Rau)
To: INJACK1@aol.com
Greetings,
Described below are three members of my wife's branch of the Childress family who served in the Civil War. They are Richard Alexander and John Marion Childress, who were brothers, and a first cousin, who was also named Richard Alexander Childress. John Marion was my wife's great grandfather. I've not found a compiled service record for him, but he applied to the state of Arkansas for a pension. A Certificate of Confederate Pension issued in 1979 by the Arkansas History Commission lists his unit as Company C,. 1st Georgia Infantry Regiment. It also indicates that his pension application was rejected. (Perhaps he had too many assets). A nephew of my wife and myself, a gg grandson of John Marion's, who is a Civil War re-enactor, insists that John Marion was a Corporal in Company C, 1st Virginia Volunteer Infantry, nicknamed the "Big Goose", and not the Georgia Regulars. I will be e-mailing you a copy of a letter written by John Marion's grand daughter, Mollie Childress, as if she were one of John Marion's gg grand daughters (I have no idea why), in which she describes John's mother praying during the Battle of Chickamauga for the safety of her son. The letter indicates that John was captured during the battle and held prisoner until the end of the war. The Childress plantation was located at Pond Spring, Walker County, Georgia, which was behind the federal lines during that battle. Family tradition holds that his mother, "Sookie", "captured a Yankee" during that battle. The unfortunate trooper was apparently rummaging for food in either a corn crib or root cellar (depending on the version of the story told) when she crept up on him and locked the door on him. Confederate soldiers later took him away. John's brother and his first cousin both enlisted in Company I, 60th Regiment, Georgia Volunteer Infantry on May 6, 1862. As they both had exactly the same name, company muster rolls distinguished between them as Sr. and Jr. based on their respective ages. On July 19, 1862, John Marion's brother was admitted to General Hospital, Howard's Grove, Richmond, Virginia, suffering from a gun shot wound. He died the next day. His first cousin died the next month on August 15, 1862, near Lovingston, Virginia, as a result of typhoid fever.
Date: 2/3/01 2:27:55 PM EST
From: larau@acninc.net (Lee A. Rau)
To: INJACK1@aol.com
Greetings,
Described below are three members of my wife's branch of the Childress family who served in the Civil War. They are Richard Alexander and John Marion Childress, who were brothers, and a first cousin, who was also named Richard Alexander Childress. John Marion was my wife's great grandfather. I've not found a compiled service record for him, but he applied to the state of Arkansas for a pension. A Certificate of Confederate Pension issued in 1979 by the Arkansas History Commission lists his unit as Company C,. 1st Georgia Infantry Regiment. It also indicates that his pension application was rejected. (Perhaps he had too many assets). A nephew of my wife and myself, a gg grandson of John Marion's, who is a Civil War re-enactor, insists that John Marion was a Corporal in Company C, 1st Virginia Volunteer Infantry, nicknamed the "Big Goose", and not the Georgia Regulars.
I will be e-mailing you a copy of a letter written by John Marion's grand daughter, Mollie Childress, as if she were one of John Marion's gg grand daughters (I have no idea why), in which she describes John's mother praying during the Battle of Chickamauga for the safety of her son. The letter indicates that John was captured during the battle and held prisoner until the end of the war. The Childress plantation was located at Pond Spring, Walker County, Georgia, which was behind the federal lines during that battle. Family tradition holds that his mother, "Sookie", "captured a Yankee" during that battle. The unfortunate trooper was apparently rummaging for food in either a corn crib or root cellar (depending on the version of the story told) when she crept up on him and locked the door on him. Confederate soldiers later took him away.
John's brother and his first cousin both enlisted in Company I, 60th Regiment, Georgia Volunteer Infantry on May 6, 1862. As they both had exactly the same name, company muster rolls distinguished between them as Sr. and Jr. based on their respective ages. On July 19, 1862, John Marion's brother was admitted to General Hospital, Howard's Grove, Richmond, Virginia, suffering from a gun shot wound. He died the next day. His first cousin died the next month on August 15, 1862, near Lovingston, Virginia, as a result of typhoid fever.
By separate e-mails, I will send a photo of John Marion and the letter written by his daughter Mollie.
Good luck with your very interesting project.
Lee Rau