U.S., Confederate Soldiers Compiled Service Records, 1861-1865
General Lee Stopped Civil War Because of Jacksonville Man's Deed
Sgt. John McCrimmon Has Kinfolk Around These Parts
This article is compiled by Julian Williams.
General Robert E. Lee himself could not overlook Sgt. John McCrimmon of Jacksonville, Georgia.
In fact, he had to get the Civil War stopped (short truce) because of John's actions.
Note: I feel like I should tell something of John's family connections before I relate what he did.
We will get to that next week.
Some of them are even over in Coffee County.
Carol Ray Morgan, Coffee High librarian, and her sister, JoAnne Ray Lewis, Douglas Director of Community Services, are acquainted with John McCrimmon. He is their great-great grandfather.
Likewise for many people, like Edison Ray, living in Telfair County and other counties.
Carol and JoAnne know what John did.
Even though he didn't know it at the time (because he was further back in time), Capt. Gabriel Clements of General Francis ("The Swamp Fox") Marion's fighting forces of South Carolina (Revolutionary War) was, in a way, to furnish John a wife (Gabriel's granddaughter, Christiana).
Capt. Gabriel was thought well of in South Carolina.
They placed him in charge of all South Carolina militia from 1780-83.
But that was before John came along so the Captain never knew, at least in this life, what John did.
Unfortunately, Capt. Gabriel didn't quite make it to Telfair County from South Carolina.
He died in Crawford County (Ga.).
But his wife, Mary, did make it.
That's how Gabriel's son, Little Jimmy Clements, wound up down here around Uniondale (about six or seven miles east of Jacksonville).
He came with his mother.
And in that vicinity is the church (Mt. Carmel Methodist) where he installed the altar rails he made and also the church (Mt. Galilee Baptist - Clements Cemetery) where he is buried (along with his wife and his mother).
His mother, Mary, by the way, lived almost a century.
She was born in 1770 and died in 1869.
Just the other day I took a picture of her grave.
She beat the Declaration of Independence here by six years.
She was aware of what John did because John did it in 1862 (September 1 to be exact).
And Capt. Gabriel Clements' son, Little Jimmy Clements, was going to know John McCrimmon because John McCrimmon became his son-in-law.
That's how John got Christiana (from her father, Little Jimmy Clements).
Little Jimmy Clements was a spry little man - full of energy and talented.
He built the altar rails and lectern and communion table at Mt. Carmel Methodist Church (begun either in 1837 or 1851, depending on which document you use).
If my eyes do not deceive me, it appears that a tiny "G" is carved into the top one of the corner posts of the altar railing.
Could be - Uncle Little Jimmy Clements was a member of the Coffee Masonic Lodge at China Hill, Georgia, (about 7 miles west of Jacksonville).
That would have been about like him to do that.
He spoke with an Irish brogue and gave his daughter to John McCrimmon to marry.
He knew what had happened concerning John.
Never leave out the clergy.
Reverend William Murl Williamson was a pioneer missionary and preacher through these parts who had a hand in reviving, organizing and/or building such churches as Blue Water in Laurens County, Blockhouse, Siloam and Rockwell in Telfair, plus Hopewell and Pleasant Grove in Dodge County.
It is said this great servant of God baptized over 9,000 persons into the Christian faith.
He was one of John McCrimmon's sons-in-law and is buried not very far from John in the Blockhouse Baptist Church Cemetery near Jacksonville, Georgia.
He also knew what General Lee knew about John McCrimmon.
And Joseph Ray, Jr. (1863-1945) was also proud that John McCrimmon came along because he married John's daughter, Mary Catherine McCrimmon.
That's how Carol Ray Morgan and JoAnne Ray Lewis and Edison Ray and all those other descendants got here (John and his wife had lots of children who had lots of children).
Yep - you guessed it - Joseph Ray, Jr. knew very well what his father-in-law, John McCrimmon, had done.
And, if you'll check the next article, you also will know what John McCrimmon did that stopped the Civil War on that first day of September in 1862.
Credits:
Billie Sue Smith;
Carolyn Jones Pridgen;
History of Telfair County 1807-1987;
C.D. Clements;
others.
