USA > Tennessee > Shelby County > Memphis > The Old Guard in Gray. Researches in the Annals of the Confederate Historical Association. Sketches of Memphis veterans who upheld her standards in the war, and of other Confederate worthies.. > Part 19
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CRAWFORD, WEST J., born in Mississippi; reared in Vicksburg ; attended Madison College in Mississippi, and the Western Military Institute at Nashville, Tenn .; enlisted at Memphis in Company A, Shelby Grays, Fourth Tennessee. and was in the principal battles in which the Army of Ten- nessee participated ; was in Kentucky on the Georgia cam- paign, and under General Hood back into Tennessee, and was paroled by General E. R. S. Canby at Meridian, Miss., May 22, 1865 ; never was wounded seriously or captured, and rarely missed a battle or skirmish in which his regiment took part : after the surrender returned to Memphis, engaged in business
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and became a member of a leading firm, as he is yet ; has been president of the Memphis Cotton Exchange ; held various important positions in the business community, and has been for some years past president of the Commercial Publishing Company, and is a director in several financial institutions. He was married in November, 1874, to Miss Anna L. Thomp- son, a niece of the Hon. Jacob Thompson, and they have three children, Erasmus, Kate and Marianne.
CROFFORD, JOHN ALEXANDER, enlisted at the age of 16 in Company D, McDonald's Battalion, or Forrest's old regiment ; was in the battle of Chickamauga ; with Gen- eral James Wheeler in East Tennessee, and around Grant's army, immediately after Chickamauga ; transferred with Gen- eral Forrest to the Department of Mississippi ; was with Gen- eral Forrest in all his campaigns and battles till close of the war, except time absent from wound and sickness ; wounded at Columbia in October, 1864; captured a Federal flag in a charge near Okolona, Miss., on February 22, 1864. In the battle in which Colonel Jeff. Forrest was killed, Company D acted as escort for Colonel Forrest, he at the time command- ing brigade ; surrendered and paroled with the regiment at Gainesville, Ala., May 11, 1865. He is a member of the C. H. A. and of Company A, Confederate Veterans. (See p. 72).
DAVIS, W. C., born at Covington, Tenn., March 25, 1845 ; enlisted for Confederate service in the Tipton Rifles, Fourth Tennessee ; served one year ; discharged on account of being under age ; became a substitute for his father, Lewis W. Davis, First Tennessee Heavy Artillery Regiment ; went to Vicks- burg, Miss., and remained until the surrender. During this time his father was taken prisoner by Colonel Hatch's cavalry command and sent to Alton, Ill., prison and there died August 12, 1863 ; afterward joined Captain Elliott's company, Four- teenth Tennessee Cavalry ; at the battle of Franklin was by order of General N. B. Forrest promoted from private to lieutenant for gallantry ; in the retreat from the front of Nashville was wounded in the right hip ; his parole is No. 21, dated Gainesville, Ala. ; he lacked only four days of
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serving four years ; came to Memphis in January, 1870 ; was appointed a patrolman ; in 1875 was promoted to the position of captain ; in 1880, when the then chief of police, P. R. Athy, was elected sheriff, Davis was made chief of police, which position he held until July 1, 1895, when he resigned to accept. the office of wharfmaster, which position he still holds.
DRAKE, JOHN B., born in Shelby county, and was a descendant of General James Robertson, the " father of Ten- nessee " ; enlisted April 16, 1861, in Company B, Bluff City Grays, One Hundred and Fifty-fourth Tennessee, and remained until the end of the war ; saw much hard service ; was captured and held in prison at Alton, Ill., sixteen months ; married Miss Frances Cash April 24, 1867; was proposed for membership in the C. H. A. by James E. Beasley and elected February 3, 1870; was cashier of a bank; died August 20, 1875; was buried in the Confederate lot in Elmwood Cemetery ; left a wife, but no children.
ERSKINE, JOHN HENRY, born at Huntsville, Ala., De- cember 23, 1834, and was one of three brothers, Drs. Albert and Alexander being the others, who went through the war as Confederate surgeons. He graduated in medicine at the University of New York in 1858, and at once began the prac- tice of medicine in Memphis. Early in 1861 he was commis- sioned as assistant surgeon of Bate's Second Tennessee Regi- ment, served more than a year as such, was promoted to the rank of senior surgeon on the staff of General Cleburne, and was soon chief surgeon of Cleburne's Division; next was medical inspector of Hardee's Corps, became chief surgeon of the corps, and at the close he was acting as medical director of the Army of Tennessee on the staff of General Joseph E. Johnston. His promotions came rapidly, his services were continuous, and he filled every position with splendid effi- ciency and credit. He was a man of superb physique, great powers of endurance, intensely earnest and sympathetic, and drew about him hosts of loyal, loving friends. His was such a character as men love and women adore.
In all his army career, which was nearly all in the field, he
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never asked for or received a leave of absence or was disabled. His courage, zeal and skill, and unswerving kindness, endeared him to all. Returning to Memphis in August, 1865, he re- sumed practice, and was in the epidemics of 1867, '73 and '78, manifesting the same devotion and heroism that he had shown in the military service. He was three times chosen health officer of the city-in 1873, '76 and '78. In the last great epidemie he faced death for weeks to relieve stricken sufferers. But he overtasked himself, was prostrated with yellow fever, fell a martyr to duty and the cause of humanity and yielded up his life September 17, 1878. He died that others might live. It was not a time for much formality, but about fifty leading citizens united in a beautiful tribute to his memory. This was lithographed, surmounted by his picture and elegantly framed, and is yet cherished by surviving friends and relatives. Another tribute was in the form of a very
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heavy and beautiful golden medallion, prepared by army com- rades and sent to his venerable mother at Huntsville, Ala. On one side was the inscription " Dr. John H. Erskine, Chief Surgeon Army of Tennessee, C. S. A., April 26, 1865, on General Joseph E. Johnston's Staff." On the reverse was a Confederate flag, surrounded with the stars representing the Confederate States, and inside a circular rim the words " Dis- banded at Greensboro, N. C." This superb memento of lov- ing regard was sent to the venerable lady at Huntsville and accompanied by the following letter :
RICHMOND, VA., AND MEMPHIS, TENN., Jan. 8, 1879. Mrs. Susan C. Erskine, Huntsville, Ala .:
DEAR MADAM-The medallion which accompanies this let- ter has been prepared by the friends and Confederate army comrades of your noble son, Dr. John H. Erskine, in testi- mony of his official rank and standing at the end of the South's struggle for independence. We do this because the Confed- erate government was able to give commissions to very few of the military officers who, like Dr. Erskine, were entitled to them. The medallion, with its inscriptions, will serve instead of a military commission as evidence of Dr. Erskine's well-earned military rank; and his relatives may hand it down as such to their descendants. We, who sign this letter, know that when the C. S. Army of Tennessee was disbanded by its commander at Greensboro, N. C., May 2, 1865, Dr. John H. Erskine was its Medical Director.
With assurances of very deep sympathy with you in your sad bereavement by the death of such a son, we are
Most respectfully yours,
J. E. JOHNSTON, JAMES E. BEASLEY,
W. H. RHEA, EDWARD L. BELCHER,
R. B. SNOWDEN, G. B. THORNTON, M.D., W. A. GOODMAN, A. J. VAUGHAN.
COLTON GREENE, B. F. CHEATHAM.
The medallion and letter will doubtless be transmitted to posterity as a priceless family heirloom. Little more need or can be said of such a man. His memory is especially dear to many old Confederates who knew him. He became a mem- ber of the old Confederate Relief and Historical Association on the 15th of July, 1869.
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ERSKINE. ALEXANDER, born in Huntsville, Ala., Sep- tember 26, 1832, and came of old and notable families identi- fied with the early history of Virginia and Pennsylvania. His mother was the daughter of Colonel Albert Russell, who was in the Revolutionary war and was with Washington in his marches. He took a thorough academic course at Hunts- ville, and studied four years at the University of Virginia, graduating in chemistry and German; read medicine in his father's office at Huntsville and then returned to the Univer- sity, where he took a medical course ; went to the University of New York and graduated there in 1858, and settled in Memphis the same year; practiced medicine, and was con- nected before and several years after the war with the Men- phis Medical College. When the war broke out, Dr. Erskine entered the Confederate service, and was with Generals Cle- burne, Cheatham, Bragg and Polk in Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi and Georgia. He was taken prisoner at the bat- tle of Perryville and placed in charge of the sick and wounded at Harrodsburg; was afterward sent to Vicksburg and ex- changed, and joined the army at College Grove, Tenn .; was at the battle of Murfreesboro ; spent the winter at Tullahoma as a brigade surgeon in General Polk's command, and after that was in charge of the Law Hospital at LaGrange, Ga., until the surrender. After the war he resumed the practice of medicine in Memphis, and has ever since enjoyed the full- est confidence of a large clientele. Ile passed through all five of the epidemics in Memphis since the war and stood the severest tests at the post of duty and danger, and did his full part for the relief of suffering humanity. He is an elder in the Presbyterian Church, to which his ancestors belonged for several generations ; belongs to medical societies and other organizations, and is otherwise identified with the best inter- ests and moral influences of this city. Dr. Erskine has been twice married-first at Memphis, December 10, 1861, to Mrs. A. L. White (nee Law), to whom were born two sons. Mrs. Erskine died in 1868; second marriage to Miss Margaret L. Gordon, a cousin of General John B. Gordon. at Columbia, Tenn., December 19, 1872. She was a cousin of Dr. Erskine's
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first wife, and her father, Washington Gordon, a planter of Maury county, died in the Confederate service at Vicksburg. By this union there were seven children. He is now and has been since 1885 connected with the Memphis Hospital Medical College as professor of obstetrics and diseases of children.
FIZER, JOHN C., born in Dyer county, Tenn., in 1838; removed to Panola county, Miss., with his father's family when 10 years old; grew up in mercantile life ; came to Mem- phis to live, but when the war broke out he went back to Mississippi, and was elected first lieutenant and became adju- tant of the Seventeenth ( Featherstone's) Mississippi Regi- ment ; was in the first battle of Manassas and at Ball's Bluff. When the regiment was reorganized he was elected lieuten- ant-colonel ; was soon after promoted, and was in the princi- pal battles in Virginia and at Gettysburg. He came with Longstreet to Tennessee, and was in the battle of Chicka- mauga. It was at Knoxville that he lost his arm when in command of his brigade. He was afterward assigned com- mand of a brigade in South and North Carolina, and was with General J. E. Johnston at the capitulation at Benton- ville. This brief sketch gives only a faint idea of his bril- liant career. After the war he engaged very successfully in business in Memphis and married here. He was proposed for membership in the C. H. A. by Major W. A. Goodman, Captain W. D. Stratton and Dr. J. H. Erskine, and elected April 28, 1870; succeeded ex-Governor Isham G. Harris as president of the Association in 1871, and died June 15, 1876, at the early age of about 38 years.
FLANNERY, DAVID, was born February 16, 1828, in Limerick, Ireland ; he was superintendent of telegraph from Memphis to New Orleans for the Confederate government, and filled this, or a corresponding position, to the close of the war, as shown in a letter from General Stephen D. Lee; was paroled in May, 1865. and has since lived in Memphis, and is still connected with the telegraph service. His career through- out the war was one of great hazard, valuable service and thrilling interest, and would make a book of itself. He joined the C. H. A. several years ago.
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FLIPPIN, J. R., born in Williamson county, Tenn., in 1834; removed to Fayette county, Tenn., and reared there on a farm ; graduated at Old Jackson College, Columbia, Tenn., and at Lebanon Law School ; removed to Memphis and located in fall of 1856; entered the One Hundred and Fifty-fourth Tennessee Regiment as a private in 1861; was in the battles of Belmont, Shiloh, Chickamauga and Missionary Ridge; detached from command and served as brigade quartermaster when not in active service, and was surrendered under General Joseph E. Johnston at Greensboro, N. C .; resumed practice of law in 1865 in Memphis ; was elected and served with credit and distinction as Judge of the Criminal Court and as Mayor of Memphis ; spent some years in Mexico in charge of large mining interests ; married Miss Nelson of Brownsville, Tenn., in 1871 ; has three daughters and a son; is an elder in the Linden Street Christian Church, and is practicing law.
FORREST, NATHAN BEDFORD, Lientenant-General of Cavalry, C. S. A. No attempt will be made in this limited space to give an adequate sketch of the life of this most remarkable man. His methods and achievements in war are well known, and have been fully described by the ablest critics and military men of this country and of Europe. He was a born leader of men, without any of the advantages of early education. In him strong common sense and quick perception dominated over a splendid physique. He had a big, sympa- thetic heart, as was often manifested in most trying situations, but he could restrain his emotions in the pursuit of any great purpose. Self-control and faith in himself inspired courage in others. He never ordered men to go where he would not dare to lead ; if he was severe at times it was for a purpose ; it was to enforce discipline and make the best out of trying circumstances. The testimony of all who were very near him in his great campaigns is that he was sympathetic, genial and companionable. He was a temperate man ; had no small vices ; was not given to levity or common-place small talk, but was frank, candid and sincere; positive and honest in all things. His men were ever ready to follow him into the jaws of death. In judgment and discretion he was a head and
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shoulders above most men. No general and concise history of the Civil War can ever be written without giving to him large space and the highest credit for military genius. His name will go down to future generations with a luster that the centuries will not dim or the admirers of real heroes per- mit to be forgotten. N. B. Forrest volunteered as private and surrendered as a lieutenant-general. He was a self-made, strong, broad-minded man ; was a leader in civil life as well as in war, and died universally regretted by his comrades and followers, and the Southern people, who knew him best.
GOODLOE, J. L., born ir Madison county, Miss., Septem- ber 3, 1840 ; enlisted in 1861 in Company E, Twenty-eighth Mississippi Cavalry ; detailed to Harvey's Scouts; captured June, 1864, at Allatoona, Ga. ; imprisoned at Rock Island, Ill. ; wounded at Cassville, Ga., May, 1864; paroled February, 1865, and sent to Richmond, Va. ; practiced law at Memphis, Tenn., since 1867, joining this Association about 1886.
HAMILTON, HUGH A., born in Baltimore, Md., in 1834 ; was educated in that city ; became connected with an express company, and was in the Confederate army from 1861 to 1865 ; became a resident of Memphis in 1867 and died here in 1887 ; was married in 1882 to Mrs. Kate E. Dawson, daughter of Eugene Magevney, Esq.
HANAUER. LOUIS, born in Bavaria in 1820; came to America in 1838; lived at Pocahontas, Ark., and removed to Memphis in 1860 ; enlisted in the Confederate army and served for a time on the staff of General Hardee ; was a prominent merchant here for many years ; died in August, 1889.
HAYS, A. J., born in 1830, and graduated at the Lebanon Law School ; in 1861 became a member of the One Hundred and Fifty-fourth Tennessee Regiment and was appointed quartermaster of State troops with the rank of major by Gov- ernor Isham G. Harris. He served for a time, but had to retire on account of an acute case of chronic dysentery, which lasted him for seven years ; he remained the rest of the war at Hayswood plantation, near what is now Arlington, and rendered much valuable aid to the Confederates. After the
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war he engaged in planting and died of yellow fever in September, 1878, aged 48 years. He was a great nephew of General Andrew Jackson and was named for him ; he was a man of a sunny nature, and is remembered by hosts of friends.
HIX, J. M., born in Albemarle, N. C. ; came to Memphis in 1858; joined the Shelby Grays, Fourth Tennessee ; partici- pated in both days' fight at the battle of Shiloh, and was transferred on December 25, 1862, to Company B, of the Forty- eighth North Carolina Regiment, Cook's Brigade, Heath's Division ; promoted to first lieutenant ; was in the battle of Bristow station, and at both days' fight at the battle of the Wilderness and in nearly all the battles from the Wilderness in the campaign of 1864, including Spottsylvania Courthouse, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, to Richmond in March, 1865; at one time was in charge of a brigade train in Virginia ; from Richmond he was sent to North Carolina on special duty, when deserters and bushwhackers abounded in the mountains ; was paroled at Salisbury ; returned to Memphis and has lived here almost ever since and connected mostly with one house, except about six years spent in New York and California.
HUGHES, BARNEY, a native of Louisville, Ky., and in boyhood a very bright lad, who could study his lesson by leaning his book against the fence while at a game of marbles. In 1861 he was connected with the railway and telegraph business, then in their incipiency ; went out from New Or- Jeans as lieutenant with a company of heavy artillery. One of the heavy batteries under the bluff at the chalk banks above Columbus, Ky., was manned by Hughes' company, and had a share in driving Grant's forces back from the field of Bel- mont, Grant leaving his mess chest, private papers, gold pen and a saddle horse on the field for the Southern troops to use at their convenience afterward. In the operations around Island 10 Lieutenant Hughes served on the staff of General Trudeau. When General Bragg moved into Kentucky Lieu- tenant Hughes was telegraph operator at Chattanooga, and he soon after became confidential operator for General Bragg. He served in this capacity at the battle of Chickamauga, and
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also in the operations around Missionary Ridge. At the lat- ter place cannon balls went whizzing through his telegraphic tent at so lively a rate that his quarters were quickly changed. He continued in the service until peace was made ; then went West, and at Salt Lake City worked the first telegraphic instrument ever operated there. Later Lieutenant Hughes returned to this city, taking position with the Memphis & Charleston Railroad, with which he remained until his death in September, 1892. He married Miss Wittie Ellis of Ken- tucky, in 1872. Lieutenant Hughes had a host of friends and after his death a number caused a monument to be placed over his remains in Elmwood, upon which is recorded his virtues.
KELLAR, ANDREW J., was born in Kentucky, and his ancestors were from Alsace and Lorraine, settling originally in Virginia. In polities he was a Douglas Union Democrat, of Jacksonian ideas. and as a matter of fact was named An- drew Jackson, his ideal of statesmanship and heroism. He came to Memphis before the war, and engaged in the practice of law when quite a young man. When the trial came he left some of his more ultra associates behind and went out as captain of a company. After the battle of Shiloh, in which his sword belt was shot from him, he was elected colonel of his regiment, the Fourth Tennessee. Although in broken health, he was a faithful, active soldier throughout the war. He went into the battle of Murfreesboro so feeble that after the battle his men lifted him from his horse; but he had fought his fight. After the death of General Strahl, Colonel Kellar commanded the brigade, and he had received his com- mission as brigadier-general when the war closed. He mar- ried Miss Margaret Chambers of Mississippi, a descendant of Griffith Rutherford and of General Wm. Davidson of North Carolina, both of Revolutionary fame. Of this marriage was born four sons and one daughter-Chambers, Andrew Conley, William Henry, Philip Rutherford and Werdna, the latter name being Andrew reversed, still in honor of Old Hickory.
After the war Colonel Kellar practiced law in Memphis ; became interested in and finally owned the old Avalanche, and
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edited or controlled its policy for several years; sold out and engaged in other enterprises, and some years ago removed, with his family, to Hot Springs, South Dakota ; entered upon the practice of law and is now a member of the State Senate.
KELLY, W. O., born in Franklin, Tenn., November 2, 1838 ; enlisted in Company H, Twelfth Tennessee, June, 1861 ; participated and was wounded in the battle of Belmont, Mo .; also took part at Shiloh; after that was detailed for duty in commissary department under Major Lee M. Gardner, Polk's Corps; later took part in resisting an advance of General Grierson in his famous raid throngh Mississippi, acting as aid- de-camp on the commanding officer's staff ; paroled at Merid- ian, Miss., June, 1865; returned to Memphis and married the daughter of Mr. M. B. Elder, at Trenton, and has been for many years connected with a leading house in Memphis.
KINNEY, I. C., born near Covington, Tipton county ; enlisted at the age of. 16 years in Company I, Captain Alex- ander, Seventh Tennessee Cavalry; after the battle of Fort Pillow was on Colonel Rucker's staff as courier at the battle of Harrisburg ; was in the raid under Forrest made into North Alabama and Middle Tennessee in September, 1864; was in various other engagements with his regiment in that cam- paign ; came home at the end of the war; never was paroled or wounded, but saw much hard service; lived in Tipton county until last year, when he removed to Memphis and engaged in business.
LONG, REV. NICHOLAS M., born in Somerville, Fayette county, Tenn., July 27, 1849; removed to Sullivan county when he was nine years old, with his mother, who had married the second time, and grew up on a farm. In 1864 enlisted in the Confederate service, in Witcher's company, Owen White's Battalion ; after several months hard service for him, including picket duty in the mountains at perilous points, his command was ordered out of East Tennessee, and it was arranged that he should return home to care for his mother, as his stepfather was also in the army. Many of Mr. Long's near relatives
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were in the Confederate army, and they all came of heroic pioneer and Revolutionary stock. An excellent sketch of him, with references to his family connections and ancestry. appears in " Prominent Tennesseeans." (See page 172.)
LOONEY, ROBERT FAIN, a grandson of David Looney and Richard Gammon ; both resided in Sullivan county, East Tennessee, and were members of the Convention that framed the first Constitution of the State. His maternal grandfather. Richard Gammon, was one of the commissioners appointed to control the affairs of Tennessee while yet in a territorial form. Colonel Looney is the youngest of a large family, of which he and the Hon. A. M. Looney of Columbia, Tenn., alone survive. He was born in Maury county, Tenn .. where his father, Abraham Looney, moved at an early day; was educated at Jackson College, Columbia, and studied law with his brother-in-law, Judge Edmund Dillahunty ; he moved to Memphis when quite a young man. He married Miss Louisa Crawford of Columbia, Tenn. Early in 1861 he raised a regi- ment, the Thirty-eighth Tennessee, which he commanded at Shiloh and other battles. An old soldier of this regiment in a recent letter says : " I have often thought that the history of the Thirty-eighth Tennessee should be written ; other com- mands and other commanders have become famous for doing less." It won distinction at Shiloh, Perryville and Murfrees- boro, and was conspicuous in most of the great battles of the war. At Shiloh (on Sunday, the 6th) this regiment made a charge across an open field that was matchless in execution and results. Colonel Looney led the charge in person, riding far in advance of his men. (Lindsley's Annals, pp. 505-6.) Colonel Looney, in his official report at the time, said: "I received an order to charge the battery and camp under cover of the woods to the right, from Major-General Polk. through his son, Captain Polk. I quickly examined the route and saw that the order could be carried out in effect with but little more risk by moving rapidly through the open field. I
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