GRANDPA CHARLIE LEHMANN'S

 WARTIME COMRADES

 

(Carl Adelbert Ferdinand Henrich Lehmann)

by William Hadskey

July 3, 1982

 

 

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With the Secession of the Southern States in 1861, there was an underlying fear that war might be eminent with the United States; and various militia units organized with enthusiasm for the impending struggle.  In Meadville, a unit called the Franklin Rifles, which subsequently became Company A Seventh Mississippi Infantry, was organized.  Fort Sumter, South Carolina, was fired on and surrendered on April 14, 1861, and the War was on.

 

The formal enlistments of the Franklin Rifles were carried out during the week of April 25-29, and the name of Charles A. Lehmann was entered on the roll on April 29.  The names reflected the best of Franklin County:  well-educated men, lawyers, doctors, portrait painters, school teachers, planters' sons, and in general, men who would be an honor to their families, state, and country.  This war fever was prevalent through the entire South.

 

The Thomas Hinds Guards, which subsequently became Company D Nineteenth Mississippi Infantry, was being organized in Fayette; and they were given an opportunity to serve in Virginia.  Grandpa was invited to the going-away picnic in Fayette for the Thomas Hinds Guards and enjoyed the good fellowship of the Jefferson County men.  Possibly he went with the group to Rodney, where they boarded the steamer on route to Virginia.

 

Grandpa was at his last drill with the Franklin Guards at Meadville on June 10; and on that date, he and David H. Osteen of Hamburg told Captain William M. Porter that they wanted to go to Virginia.  They went to Fayette, where they were joined by Andrew McClure, whose two brothers, Henry B. and James McClure, had previously left for Virginia.

 

The trio boarded the steamer Mary E. Keene at Rodney for Memphis, where they transferred to the railroad "cars" for Virginia.  They were enlisted in the Nineteenth Mississippi at the Fair Grounds at Richmond on June 19, 1861.  Both of these friends were to die in the war.  Andrew McClure was killed at Gaines Mill, and Osteen died at Chimborazo Hospital in Richmond on May 31, 1862 of typhoid pneumonia.

 

The Captain of the Company, Chesley S. Coffee, was familiarly called by the men "Old Sugar and Cream" Coffee.  Having served as a captain in the Mexican War, the Captain was the only man in the company who understood war.  He came to Fayette as a young man from Mount Pleasant, Tennessee, and was a prosperous planter.  Newspaper accounts of the period relate that the Company was enthusiastic in their drill but were distracted by winsome lasses of Richmond visiting the Mississippi boys.  Captain Coffee was wounded and captured with his body servant at the Battle of Williamsburg, and after he was exchanged, served as Lieutenant Colonel of the Regiment.  He resigned on February 14, 1863, due to his wound (and his being too fat to march) and returned to Jefferson County to serve on the Conscript Board.  His granddaughter, Ulabelle Coffee, later married Ralph Lehmann, thus uniting the Coffee and Lehmann families.

 

William F. Schwing, who was the original First Sergeant of the Company, had been promoted and became the Captain.  He surrendered the remnants of the Company at Appomattox.

 

The First Lieutenant was the forty-year-old lawyer Robert Duncan.  He received a furlough to Fayette to recruit and accidentally killed himself with his pistol.  Second Lieutenant P. Hines Burch considered the Virginia theatre not to his liking and resigned.  Thomas Jefferson Key, the Third Lieutenant, also thought somewhere else was better, resigned, and helped organize the Fourth Louisiana Artillery.

 

Cicero Jeff Liddell, the Second Sergeant, was a close friend during and after the war.  At the battle of Beaver Dam, Liddell was marching on the right; and the two Guice brothers, Isaac A. and Moses J., were on the left of Grandpa.  A spent cannon ball hit Grandpa in the chest.  (Grandpa had cut a hole in his blanket and was wearing the blanket like a poncho.)  Grandpa was knocked senseless, and one of the Guice brothers said, "There goes old Charlie."  Within seconds a cannon shot hit the ranks, killing the Guice men and knocking the gun out of the hand of Liddell.  Liddell lost his left arm and the right forefinger and thumb.  Liddell came back to Jefferson County and became a schoolteacher and Justice of the Peace.  Often he and Grandpa would get together and discuss that fatal day of June 27, 1862.  Liddell died on March 10, 1927.  Grandpa recovered from his shock but was placed among the wounded in a field near Richmond for at least one night.  He often told of how the whippoorwills were very loud that night.

 

Third Sergeant Thomas George Manifold developed camp fever and died at home while on furlough.  Fourth Sergeant William H. Terry was a prominent Mason of Fayette.  He was captured at Spotsylvania and spent the rest of the war in prison.  The Englishman James McClure was Fifth Sergeant.  He was another close friend of Grandpa.  For many years he was Treasurer of Fayette and ran a livery stable.  He stated that he buried his brother, Andrew, during the Battle of Gaines Mill, stuck his rifle at the head of the grave, and went back into battle.  McClure was also captured at Spotsylvania.

 

The First Corporal was David P. Wyatt, who was discharged for wounds.  Second Corporal Richard J. Stampley died of wounds received at Beaver Dam.  The Third Corporal, Robert C. McPhail, was a clerk from Bowling Green, Kentucky, who was working in Fayette when the Company was organized.  Due to his wounds, he was made a clerk in the headquarters of General Longstreet and finally was given a disability certificate.  He died in McGregor, Texas.  Fourth Corpora1William Lewis Stephens, of Germanic origin, in later years was quite active in Confederate veterans' organizations.  In his compilation of the members of the Company, he said Grandpa was lost at Petersburg in February of 1865.  Stephens ran a store in Fayette; and according to the editor of the Fayette Chronicle, Stephens and Grandpa were very close friends.  Stephens surrendered as First Lieutenant at Appomattox.

 

In a letter dated July 31, 1968, Uncle Rudolf made the following comments:

 

I have heard Papa tell about a bullet lodged in the folds of his blanket but it did not hurt him.  Another time he was hit on his left side by a ball and fractured two ribs and he was unconscious.  The ball fell to the ground and a man next to him picked it up and said this is the ball that just killed Charlie.  Just as he said that, he was hit in the head and was killed.  The other men told Papa about it. . . 

 

I also heard Papa tell about the doctor giving him that dose of castor oil when he and another man tried to get off duty. . .

 

The man that was made corporal after Papa turned it down was named Stevens (W. L. Stephens).  He lived in Fayette after the war. He had two boys and a girl.  The boys' names were Adolph and Louis.  I think the girl's name was Isabelle. . .  Mr. Stevens got to be a Captain (First Lieutenant) before the war was over.

 

With the exclusion of Privates Andrew McClure, David Osteen, Moses Guice, and Isaac Guice, previously mentioned, the following were the other privates in the Thomas Hinds Guards:

 

Benjamin F. Adair was wounded and captured at Harrison Landing.  Upon being exchanged, he was made Color Corporal and surrendered at Appomattox.  His niece stated that Grandpa made the bridal boots for Adair when he married and that Grandpa attended his wedding.  According to the niece, the two old veterans often visited.

 

A Lehmann oft-told story probably involved Adair.  According to the Adair family, Grandpa got three fortunes from Germany.  Anyway, the German folk sent a cousin over to see how Grandpa was handling his money.  The cousin could not see where Grandpa had spent the money wisely and said so.  He complained about the Lehmann children's playing with silver spoons, the poor physical construction of the house, the cowskin-bottomed chairs, and, in general, the peasant-like living conditions of the Lehmann family.

 

Grandpa was running a store and would buy eggs from his neighbors and put them in barrels to be sent to New Orleans and sold.  At Christmas time while the unpleasant cousin was visiting, Grandpa invited some of his old war comrades down to play cards.  Naturally Grandpa had a good supply of liquor for everyone to drink so they could see the spots on the cards better.

 

I would imagine that the cast of characters was Ben Adair, Bill Stephens, Pap Geoghegan, Jim McClure, Grandpa, and the cousin.  They were playing cards in the room directly behind the room where Grandpa and Grandma slept.  In the room was a large sideboard and three barrels of eggs.  During the game the cousin excused himself for a few minutes and when he came back, took a big drink of what he supposed to be liquor, but quickly spit it out saying someone had put vinegar in his glass.

 

Grandpa and his friends were highly incensed and started beating the cousin; and he finally, to get away from the drunken gang, climbed upon the sideboard.  Then the card players started pelting the cousin with eggs; and every time he would show his face, they would throw more eggs at him.  This continued all night.  Needless to say, the next day, the cousin made his departure and the money from Germany ceased coming.  The children and grandchildren remembered that as Grandma cleaned up the mess the next day, she only said, "Papa and his friends were enjoying themselves" or words to that effect. Grandma never gave Grandpa any lip.

 

George W. Allen was twice wounded and surrendered at Appomattox.  Charles Aly lived at Rodney and was discharged for jaundice.  William Amy, a bounty jumper, who was enlisted in Virginia, ran off after two hours; and George W. Anderson was discharged for typhoid pneumonia.

 

William J. (Billy) Baldridge was wounded and captured at Williamsburg.  He died in prison.  Charles Barland died of wounds received at Beaver Dam.  Joseph Beard was discharged due to wounds received in the Seven Days Battle, and John T. Bowman finished out the war in prison after being captured at Spotsylvania.

 

George Brady was killed at Williamsburg.  Charles O. Carpenter was wounded twice, and, not being able to get back to Virginia after being given a furlough, he surrendered with General Richard Taylor; and Jacob J. Cox was made Cadet for bravery.  Cox surrendered at Appomattox.

 

Stephen R. Compton was discharged due to a wound in the arm that caused a stiff elbow.  Thomas A. Davenport, who ran a hotel in Fayette after the war, was captured at Fort Whitworth.  Joseph A. Duffield was killed at Williamsburg and Charles E. Durst was wounded five times: at Beaver Dam, Second Manassas, and three times at Gettysburg.  Due to his wounds disabling him as a soldier, he was sent to work in the government shops at Selma, Alabama.

 

The Confederate records show that Durst was wounded one time, but on his pension records he stated that he was wounded five times.  The pension records reveal much useful information about the Company, but Grandpa never drew a pension; he stated that his boys could take care of him.

 

One member of the family said that, at the Battle of Gettysburg, Grandpa was preparing to go into action and that while he was in a crouched position a Yankee hotshot cannon ball barely grazed him from the shoulder to the hip.  It is true that the Posey Brigade, of which Grandpa was a member, was to back up the charge of General George Pickett.  The nineteenth Mississippi was behind a hill, and contemporary accounts reveal that the soldiers were anxious and some were yelling, "When do we go in?"

 

The Yankees had an intense barrage of cannon fire, and this would have been when Grandpa was grazed.  As everyone knows, the charge failed, and Grandpa and his group did not charge.  Incidentally, the Nineteenth lost a large number of men on July 2, 1863; and if the information from a patrol of the Nineteenth had been used, the South probably would have won the battle.  As another side note to the war, the regiment arrived on the field at the ending of the Battle of First Manassas and had the group been thrown into battle, possibly could have run the Yankees back to Washington and ended the war.  The regiment was also in one of those famed "Lee to the rear" episodes.

 

Gershon Eiseman, of German Jewish ancestry, was killed by a sharpshooter at Sharpsburg.  Moses Foltz, a merchant from Rodney, deserted while on a thirty-day leave in March 1864.  Frederich Frank died of wounds received in the Battle of the Wilderness, and Archibald B. Gardner, due to a wound received at Gaines Mill, was transferred to hospital duty for the rest of the war.

 

Jake Garrett of Union Church transferred to the Twelfth Mississippi and after the war moved to West Virginia.  Major Gathercole did not return to the Company after being wounded in the Battle of the Wilderness.  Thomas Jefferson Geoghegan* and his brother, Quince C. Geoghegan, died of wounds received at Gettysburg.  Quince C. Geoghegan was only sixteen and not a member of the Company.  He went to Virginia to see his brothers and went with them on the Pennsylvania campaign. *There was no Thomas Jefferson Geoghegan.  His name was Thomas Quincy Geoghegan.  Thomas & Quincy are the same person. He did die at Gettysburg and is listed on the roll at the National Archives as T. Q. Geoghegan, Private, Company D, 19th Mississippi Infantry. His younger sister, Mattie Geoghegan Hill Rowland, named her son, Thomas Quincy Hill after his Uncle Quincy, who died at the Battle of Gettysburg at age 18 on July 2, 1863.

 

The stories are told that when the men were not fighting in the Army of Northern Virginia, they would devise their own amusements.  One diversion was snowball fights, and it is said that entire brigades would fight one another.  The ministers in the army decided the man could have a better use of their time, and prayer meetings and revivals were started.  It was generally thought by Southerners that God was on their side.  (General Lee said that the Southerners had only two friends: God and the cowpea.)  And the soldiers enthusiastically attended religious services.

 

Chaplain Thomas L. Duke of the Nineteenth was an able Presbyterian minister, and he held a revival for his regiment.  One day, during a service, he was giving an unusually long Presbyterian prayer.  As he prayed, the officers slipped among the men and touched them on the shoulders.  When Duke opened his eyes, the men had gathered their arms and were prepared to march.  That is when they started for Gettysburg.  Unlike some chaplains, Duke would grab a rifle and shoot at the Yankee brethren in every battle.

 

Ambrose D. "Pap" Geoghegan later ran for Supervisor in Jefferson County.  In writing about him, a comrade stated that Geoghegan started out as a "High Private" and was captured while commanding Company F at Fort Whitworth.  He was never wounded, but his clothes and hat were torn by Yankee bullets in seven battles.  On one occasion, he took ten volunteers to probe the Yankee lines in full view of the Southern Army.  It seems that the day before, a severe fight had been fought, but on this day the Yankee fire had ceased.  Geoghegan told his men there was no use crawling through the dirt because if the Yankees were there, they were dead men anyway.  Geoghegan and his small squad told their friends good-bye and boldly marched to the Yankee lines where they captured over one hundred Yankee skulkers.  When the group returned with their prisoners, General Nathaniel Harris of Vicksburg embraced Geoghegan end tearfully tendered his thanks.  Incidentally, Geoghegan was beaten for Supervisor and moved to Louisiana.  While in Louisiana, he was trying to rescue people and animals in a flood and was drowned.  From various clues, it appears that Grandpa was with Geoghegan when they captured the Yankees.

 

Jesse B. Gibson was killed in the Seven Days Battle.  James M. Gilbert (some say his middle name was McGee, while others contend it was Monroe) surrendered at Appomattox.  A contemporary stated that he had brown piercing eyes like a hawk.  After the war, his son-in-law trifled on his daughter, and Gilbert determined to kill the son-in-law.  He waited for him at a ford of Middle Fork Creek; and the first shot missed, but the second got his man.  Gilbert later said that the sun came up and got in his eyes, and this was the reason he missed the first time.

 

Jacob E. Hamberlin died of wounds received at Gaines Mill.  William A. Hill was also wounded at the same battle and was discharged for disability.  Of the four Humphreys in the Company, Calvin and Hugh B. died of chronic diarrhea, and Eliazar was discharged for the same complaint.  Eliazar Humphrey later joined the First Mississippi Artillery.

 

Steven S. Johnson was captured at Hatchers Run, and Osburn G. Johnson was killed at Gaines Mill.  John Kelly died soon after getting to Virginia, and two of the three Key brothers died.  Richard Key died of diabetes, and Thomas W. died in the Yankee prison at Fort Delaware.

 

Pittman M. Littleton was killed at Spotsylvania.  John Looby was discharged for "mental inactivity."  Henry B. McClure, sometime drummer for the regiment, was captured at Bottom Bridge near Drewy's Bluff.  He later became the Republican leader in Jefferson County and continued as such until "there was only one white man in the Republican Party in Jefferson County and that was Henry McClure," as one writer stated.  (During Reconstruction several prominent white men joined the Republicans in an attempt to control the Negro vote and had a large measure of success.)

 

William H. McDougal was discharged due to pleurisy and pneumonia.  Henry McGladery of Ireland was wounded and captured twice.  He was working in the government Shops at Columbus, Mississippi, at the end of the war.  The editor of the Chronicle mentioned several times that Grandpa and Henry McGladery would walk the streets of Fayette discussing "the old days."  Andrew Jackson Carothers died of gangrene due to his wound at Fraysers Farm, and James H. Evens was on a wounded furlough at the end.

 

Henry L. M. Hunt of Franklin County was discharged due to a bladder problem.  Hugh H. McLaughlin, after being often wounded, was captured at Fort Whitworth; and Joseph Meggison died of brain fever in Tennessee while detailed with the Reserve Ordinance train of General Longstreet.

 

Bonnery M. Mitchell died of wounds received at Fraysers Farm.  Harris Prentiss (Tip) Montgomery served only a short time and was discharged.  He later served in the Fourth Mississippi Cavalry.  Thomas Nelty was disabled due to a gun shot wound of the upper right hip; and John Quinn or O'Quinn, the musician, being sixty years old, was discharged as over age.

 

William J. Owens died of wounds received at Beaver Dam.  The Irish emigrant Daniel O'Connell was captured at Chancellorsville.  Robert W. Radford of Fort Wayne, Michigan, and Julius Sickles, after being captured, joined the ranks of the enemy.

 

During the war, the men of the Army of Northern Virginia were often on short rations and lacking in clothing and shoes.  The Ladies Aid Society of Fayette sent enough clothing to have a change of clothing, but due to hard soldiering or losing clothes in retreats, there was a continual scarcity of shoes and clothes.  Several family members related that Grandpa told them that the safest and quietest place to sleep was in a cemetery on the various battlegrounds.  He also stated that many times he had stripped dead man of their shoes and clothing to have something decent to wear.

 

In the foregoing tenor was the little story which Uncle August told.  It was in August, and the last time I saw Uncle August was as I drove by and saw him hoeing in his garden.  During the ensuing conversation, Uncle August related that once Grandpa and his Company were on a march and they noticed a field with ripening roasting ears.  William S. Price, whom William L. Stephens called a "hospital rat," suggested that the next day they play sick and go out and steal some of the corn.  Next day, they both contended that they were sick.  Dr. Pleasant N. Bowden, Regimental Assistant Surgeon, was on to the tricks of the two goldbrickers.  He made short shift of Price and told him to go back to the Company but was very solicitous of "Charlie," stating that he had never seen Charlie sick before.  He gave Grandpa a canteen cup of castor oil and told him to drink it.  Grandpa begged to take the medicine to his tent, but the doctor made him drink it right there.  The medicine and cure caused Grandpa to have piles, and Uncle August laughed and told how Grandpa would never give any of his children castor oil when they were sick.  Price was captured just prior to Appomattox, probably on a foraging expedition.  He died in Grenada.

 

Garnett B. Reynolds saw discharged for a hernia.  Emmanuel Rubel, the regimental baker, was discharged due to wounds received at Sharpsburg.  William Robertson was killed at Spotsylvania, and Emmanuel Scharff enlisted William Amy as a substitute.

 

Many of the men of this Company are buried in Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia, with Jefferson Davis, James Ewell Brown Stuart, and other Confederate heroes; but only Joseph Scherzinger has a marker.  He died of typhoid fever.  His brother, August Scherzinger, had recruited him as a substitute and became the Sutler for the Regiment.  (Each regiment had a sutler who supplied tobacco, writing paper, whiskey, and other articles.)  The Scherzinger brothers were from Bavaria and are cited as examples of the large German population of the Thomas Hinds Guards.  There were many people of Germanic ancestry in Fayette and Rodney prior to the war, and this may be the main reason that Grandpa cast his lot with this group.

 

William T. Scott, after being wounded twice, substituted Daniel O'Connell and went to Mississippi and joined the Fourth Mississippi Cavalry.  William T. Seale of Franklin County, after his wound at Fredericksburg and a long sojourn in the hospital, received a furlough home and joined the Fourteenth Confederate Cavalry.  After the war he became Supervisor in District Two, Franklin County, and often visited in the Lehmann home.  A member of the Seale family told of visiting Grandpa in the old house (the old homestead was behind the Lehmann house, which, according to the Seale family, was built mainly by Uncle Ferdinand), and there was a heavy rain.  The house leaked badly, and Grandma was rushing around putting pans and buckets under the leaks.  Bill Seale is supposed to have asked Grandpa why he did not fix his roof, and Grandpa replied, "When it reins, it is too late and when it is not raining, I do not need a new roof."

 

John M. Shaw was wounded at least twice and captured a day before Robert Edward Lee surrendered.  David T. Shelton was wounded twice, captured and exchanged, and captured the last time on the retreat to Appomattox.  Arthur B. Sims was killed at Sharpsburg and Jefferson E. Stampley was captured in the same battle.

 

Samuel B. Stampley took his body servant, as did many others, to the war.  He was disabled at Chancellorsville.  Jacob Stampley, the first Grand Master of S. B. Stampley Masonic lodge, was wounded and later sent home for his wounds.  He is the only one of the group (of whom we have a record) who divorced his wife.  He did not like what went on during Reconstruction and emigrated to Brazil, where he remained for several years.

 

Charles E. Stringer of Hamburg died of typhoid fever.  Russ Terry was discharged due to wounds received at Sharpsburg and Chancellorsville.  James A. Tubbs died in Fayette of wounds received at Beaver Dam, and Absalom Leroy Trimble, after being wounded, was made Commissary, in which position he served to Appomattox.

 

Joseph Trimble served with his brother, Leroy.  Due to wounds, he was in Way Hospital at Meridian in 1865.  He died in Louisiana, after the war. James Foote Torrey was wounded at Gaines Hill in the leg, which wound caused him to have a stiff leg.  He later volunteered with another disabled veteran named Frank Higdon to go into the enemy lines and get cattle, horses, and other needed supplies.  He died in Oklahoma.

 

James Wiley died of pneumonia.  Archibald Baker Wilkinson surrendered at Appomattox and later went to Oklahoma.  Neil Wilkinson, the twin of Archibald B. Wilkinson, was killed at Fraysers Farm.  Frank G. Wilson died of pneumonia, and so did James Ward.

 

One character from Rodney, who was a merchant named Joseph Wertheimer, showed up in Memphis in 1864 and took the Yankee oath.  He said he was a member of the Nineteenth, but he was not.  George West, after being wounded and being sent to Mississippi, was unable to get back to his unit and surrendered with General Richard Taylor at Citronelle, Alabama.

 

William Ewing died of typhoid fever.  Uriah S. Humphreys deserted while on furlough and joined a unit in Mississippi.  Lastly, Dennis O'Connell, who received more publicity during the war than any other man, apparently was an Irish emigrant in Natchez living with his brother Daniel at the beginning of the war.  He was the Company bad boy, for which he was sent to the Confederate Military Prison at Castle Thunder in Richmond.  While in prison, the Confederate government conducted an investigation of the prison, and Dennis told some fancy lies. He was released and was promptly captured at Spotsylvania and immediately took the oath to the Yankees.

 

Thus was the record of the comrades of Grandpa. To use the statement of the old veterans, "They were the first to leave and last to get home." Grandpa said, "I fought for four years for a land in which I had neither kith nor kin."  He and his comrades fought, bled, and died, often hungry and ragged in (to paraphrase President Theodore Roosevelt) the Army of Northern Virginia, "the greatest Army ever on the North American continent."

 

On the same day that Uncle August told the story of the castor oil, he also remembered another story.  He related that after Grandpa was turned loose by the Yankees, he made his way to New York, where he hired out as a seaman on a German vessel bound for Europe.  The Captain and the crew made life rather unbearable for the ragged, penniless ex-Confederate by regaling him with statements that he was stupid for joining the losing side.

 

Upon arrival at Rotterdam, the Netherlands, Grandpa asked for shore leave.  In the city he had an uncle on his maternal side who was quite rich, and Grandpa made his way to the home of his uncle.  There he washed up got new clothes, a hair cut, and money in his pocket.  Then Grandpa went back to the ship and told the Captain that he had decided not to go any further with him, but as a token of his esteem that he would like to invite him out for a meal, to which the Captain agreed.

 

Grandpa brought the Captain to his uncle's home, which resembled a castle.  There were five chandeliers in the ceiling, a sumptuous table, fine foods, and servants scurrying about.  Uncle August said that when Grandpa told this tale, he would laugh, pop his leg with his hand, and say, "I showed that so and so that I was not white trash."

 

From Rotterdam Grandpa made his way to the home of his parents in Eystrup.  His father had gone blind since his departure, and no news had been heard of him in four years.  As he came to the door, Grandpa said, "I am home!"  His father recognized his voice and said, "Yes, Adelbert, you are home."

 

Uncle Rudolf added some extra war data in one of his letters and gave a slightly different version of the going home story which we quote.

 

When the Jefferson County Company was ordered to get ready to go to Virginia, they had a kind of picnic in Fayette.  Papa and others went from the Franklin County Company.  He and one other man got a transfer to that company and went on to Virginia.

 

I think he said he was standing by Mr. Liddell when he got wounded. . .  He told about some one stealing his blanket.  He told about it to a man named Jim McClure.  He said Charlie that's nothing.  I will get you one.  So he went and took somebody else's and brought it to him. . .

 

I heard him talk about the Seven Days Battle around Richmond and the Battle of Gettysburg and told about seeing some men bringing General (Thomas J. "Stonewall") Jackson in after some of his own men shot him by mistake. . .

 

I remember Mr. Stephens coming to see Papa and I think Mr. Gilbert did. . .

 

After the war he went back to Mr. Madison Guice's and wrote to his father end told them he had been through the war and was broke like most all the Southern people and ask him if he would send him some money so he could come home.  He waited about two months without hearing from his father.  He got impatient and left but told Mr. Guice if a letter came for him, he could open it, and if there was money in it, he may use it, and could pay him when he came back to this country.

 

Mr. Guice told Papa the letter came just a week after he left.  It had one hundred fifty dollars in it.  Mr. Guice said it was like a Godsend to him as the condition of the country was so bad.

 

Papa got a way to Natchez and got on a boat and went to New Orleans.  He got a job on a ship and worked his way to New York.  He got a job on another ship and worked his way to Bremen, Germany.  He sent a telegram to his father telling him he would soon be home.  His folks were living about twenty miles from Bremen.  They were expecting him to come in a boat, but he got a way through the country and got there before time for the boat.

 

When he got to the house he went around to the back.  His father was standing in the kitchen talking to his sisters telling her we thought Adelbert was dead, and now he will soon be home.  Papa said he could not stand it any longer so he walked in.  He said his mother was upstairs and heard them and it did not take her long to come down.

 

Papa had four names. The way he got Charles is because Carl translated in English is Charles.  His father over there called him Adelbert.

 

     The writer of this monograph is faced with a dilemma in trying to reconcile the statements of Uncle August and Uncle Rudolf as to the circumstances of the trip to Germany.  I humbly believe that the story Uncle August told is correct for the trip directly after the war.  I believe that after he returned to America, Grandpa did not write to his poor parents until he decided to go back in 1870 and that Uncle Rudolf in his letter described the 1870 trip.

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Notes in Blue are by the submitter, whose father-in-law, Archie D. V. Geoghegan, was a 2nd cousin of Mr. Hadskey. The Geoghegan Brothers were his Great-Uncles.

 

Contributed by Ann Geoghegan from the Files of William Hadskey on permanent donation at the Franklin County Public Library in Meadville, MS.

Used with permission of the family. copyright John William Hadskey Estate