I ran upon this interesting Confederate Boy General while watching a museum show I have on an app. Apparently he was in the lead at the Battle of Bull Run when he ran into a barrage of fire including cannonade. After the smoke had cleared, he was still alive and well but his sword was snapped off about 4 inches from the tip. At some point he wrote his wife and said he was protected by God and as long as he had his sword he could not be killed by a Federal bullet and began to prove it in several other battles of distinction. Now the crazy stuff. In the battle of the Wilderness, (1864) Jenkins and Lt. Gen. Longstreet were togeather with a group from the Palmetto Brigade when one of the soldiers found a Union flag complete with staff and started waving it around in front of the two generals. Other confederate troops mistook what was really happening and shot in the direction of the Union flag hitting Brig. Gen. Jenkins in the head and also killing Lt. Gen. Longstreet. Jenkins indeed was not killed by a bullet from the Union Army. He was killed by a Confederate one.http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micah_Jenkins#Civil_War_service
Wow, interesting! This isn't James ("Old Pete") Longstreet, though... is there another General Longstreet? I feel I should know that but I've not heard of another... and General Longstreet of Civil War fame died of pneumonia in 1904. He'd also dealt with cancer of the eye. General Longstreet (James, that is) died right before his 83rd birthday in Georgia. Very sad the way he was treated after the war. He went into politics, as a side note. Well now you've given me something to research... gotta find this other dude!
You might have me on the ropes, Kate! I not only went back to the link I provided, but did a little more research. The article I provided said that Lt. Gen. Longstreet was "struck down" along with Jenkins who was hit in the head and died a short time later. There might be some mis-reading on my part with assuming that Longstreet was killed. Since the article was about Jenkins I just assumed that the extra info given for him was because he was the subject. If it is true that Longstreet was just "struck down" it could be that he was wounded and lived to fight another day. oops.....just found one!! http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Wilderness Longstreet did not die at the Battle of the Wilderness. He was wounded by his own troops. Color me red !
Ah, thank you for saving me that time from searching for the namesake, @preacherbob50 ! I just figured there was another Longstreet, as there were some soldiers named Longstreet as well. I hadn't realized he was wounded at Wilderness. Names... strange working with them. If I'm writing about Steuart's Brigade's role at Gettysburg, I've heard things like "DUH! You mean Stuart, can't you spell?" and then I have to say that uh, no, I don't mean J.E.B. Stuart, I meant Brig. Gen. Henry Steuart, and my spelling is just fine and dandy, thankyouverymuch. People can be so cruel! Even worse when it comes to names... I did a little of my database work today and there was another cringer. I need to find enlistment, rank, death story, regiment, and family names, etc. for............ John Smith. Do you KNOW how many John Smith's took up arms to fight in the Civil War??? And on *both* sides?!
I imagine you can delete the ones who were best known to go to a local hotel or cat house. That should only give you about 5K or so to actually delve into. See? I can be a huge help to you!! Seriously, any other info? I might accidentally stumble upon something. Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while.
A blind squirrel, eh?! I think I have some of those in the back yard. It's not really so hard finding people like "John Smith" with the access I have to records. It's narrowed down right off the bat (how's THAT for an antiquated phrase?!) because I'll already know the state from which they enlisted. After I know the state, it helps if I know the place he enlisted because his family will generally be on the census records for that place. Then there are state AGO records and regimental loss records.
It is a fine thing you are doing missy! I think I would get a little frustrated attempting your passion. My own name is somewhat of a mystery so I can imagine the changes that could be possible even with the name of Smith. My name has a capital "B" in the middle. A French/German type of name. But, my younger brother says that the B used to be a small one and there is a town in Poland that is named after my last name. But, you don't have to worry about my name in the civil war....I think. My people were hiding out in Canada, Germany, maybe Poland, France, Holland and a bunch of other places. Maybe even Iowa but I have doubts concerning the dates. Smith could have been Smyth, Smythe, Smithe, Smithy, and also depends on whether whoever could write and read or not. I'm not being very positive and helpful am I? Take something to relax with and, Good hunting Kate!! P.S.... My wife's dad was called......Smithy.
Aw, thank you for saying that. It can get frustrating, but once I started "feeling" (internalizing, I should say) that each name was someone's son, brother, husband, etc. the options to *not* continue disappeared. It's my way of honoring them, I guess. What I *won't* use is the National Cemetery records. Most (not an exaggeration, sadly) of the names are horribly, shockingly wrong on the headstones. I know things were mega hectic following the battle when those thousands buried where they fell were brought to the cemetery or sent to their hometowns, but so often my reaction is "HOW could they get that one wrong?!" Mostly it's the names in error, but sometimes it's the regiments or companies... sometimes the states. There are even a few confederates resting eternally in northern soil. Disheartening work sometimes, I readily admit.
My first thought on reading that story is "pride goes before destruction." That is so sad though. I feel bad for his wife to have that kind of thing happen to her husband.
