Terry Diary

Diary of Charles M. Terry
1856-1960

This diary was transcribed by Hugh Corrigan, IV , a descendant of Charles M. D. Terry.
A special thanks goes to him for sharing his work.

Links to the years of the diary:

1856 1857 1858 1859 1860

Biography of Charles M. Terry

Charles M.D. Terry was born 10 May 1837, in the Greenville District of South Carolina. In 1842 his father and mother, Asbury and Winniford Terry, moved the family to Tippah County, Mississippi. They lived on Oak Lawn Plantation near the town of Salem. Asbury died 17 September 1850 and is buried in the old Salem cemetery. Winniford and the 10 children worked the land and made their living. The family of 5 boys and 5 girls did well for themselves; they had 11 slaves.
Charles wrote a diary covering the period 1856 - 1860 covering life on a farm/plantation in Mississippi. It is full of references to daily routine and neighbors. Charles ran the farming operations for the family. His middle name might have been ‘McDowell’; his father's mother was Rebecca Ann McDowell.

ConfederateService Records

Charles joined Captain Thomas J. Hardin’s Mississippi Volunteers 25 May 1861 at Chulahoma, Mississippi. This company subsequently became Company I, 19th Infantry Regiment Mississippi Infantry.

Hospitalized for pneumonia General Hospital, Camp Winder, Richmond, Virginia 20 February 1863. Released 17 May 1863.

Private Terry was shot in the face. Casualties List says ‘6th Brigade, Longstreet’s Division, engagements before Richmond 26 June - 1 July 1862’. Medical report says ‘age 24, gunshot wound at right angle nose coming out angle left lower jaw, health good’.

He was promoted to Corporal after returning to duty. He was wounded in the left thigh and captured at Spottsylvania, Virginia on 12 March 1864. Hospitalized at Lincoln Hospital, Washington D.C. Sent to prison in Elmira, New York 23 July 1864.

Charles M.D. Terry was exchanged as prisoner 29 October 1864.

The family moved to Dallas, Texas after the War in 1866. Charles married Martha Ellen Clark in June 1869. He made a fortune as a cotton broker and merchant. His daughter, Maidie Terry, would grow up to marry T.L. Bradford who was the first mayor after Dallas was incorporated. Mr. Bradford was also a founder of Southwestern Life Insurance Company.

Where is Salem?

When this diary was written, Salem, Mississippi was a part of Tippah County, a thriving town surrounded by farms and plantations. Nathan Bedford Forrest grew up in Salem, and his mother's family still lived there during the Civil War. The Yankee patrol made regular trips through Salem during the war looking for Forrest and his troops, and burning everything until there was nothing left. The town never recovered and is now little more than a wide spot in the road, in what is now Benton County.