U.S., Confederate Soldiers Compiled Service Records, 1861-1865
Fredericksburg Tragedy Seen in Dowling's Song
This article is compiled by Julian Williams.
My friend Kenneth Dowling invited me to come over to McRae and tell the Rotary Club of some of my findings regarding early events and personalities of this part of the country. After a beautiful drive from Douglas to McRae, I could think of no reason why anyone would not enjoy traveling Highway 441 - especially when nature is at its colorful best.
At Kenneth's office in the Security State Bank, I learned something else - he does a pretty good job composing words for music. I'll bet he does some pretty good picking to go with it. I told him I wanted to share his copyrighted song about his great-grandpa Joseph E. Palmer. He agreed. It sets the tone for the story of the Battle of Fredericksburg, VA, on December 13, 1862.
In this battle the war-weary, freezing, hungry and shoeless Confederates gained a victory of immense proportions. They gained a great advantage by positioning themselves behind a four-foot high stone wall at the base of Marye's Heights. If General Burnside of the Union forces expected the fruits of victory that day, he was disappointed. All he got was a green persimmon. And if you've eaten one, you know what I mean. Hence, he was speechless. But, his men had plenty to say after losing 12,600 on "the field where not even a chicken could live when we open [fire] on it." (Paraphrase of E.P. Alexander to Confederate General James Longstreet who later passed the remark to General Lee).
Kenneth's Grandpa was there (and other places):
Great-Grandpa Joe Palmer went off to fight in the fall of '61.
Fifteen months from the day he joined up he was wounded at Fredericksburg.
He fit (dialectic fought) in battles for four years under the "Stars and Bars"
Til he took a ball at Hawes Shop in 1864.
The wound he took in his foot, he carried all of his days.
It reminded him of the battles he'd fit, and of comrades in grey.
Well, the jolly boys who wore the grey
And fought their brothers in blue
Sometimes called across the river to them
Conversing through a truce.
And til they died, ever(y) chance they had
Survivors met and shared
What they'd gone through in the CSA.
No one else could understand.
Short rations, worn shoes, rain and mud, heat and fierce cold,
The blood-soaked ground, the smoke and fire, and the cannonading sound.
The worst of it was the friends they lost; they loved them like their own kin.
No man can tell the pain they knew when they laid them in the ground.
Great Grandpa Joe heard with his own ears Gen'l Stonewall Jackson say
When he was shot by his own side that he didn't blame his men
For he had crossed the line They were to defend.
And he owned up he was the first To come across that line.
Of a total of 120 men in Joe Palmer's Montgomery County, GA, Sharpshooters Company, GA 61st, 61 received wounds, 13 were killed, 36 died from wounds and/or disease, etc., 28 were captured and 1 was listed as missing. The following were casualties at Fredericksburg on December 13, 1862.
John W. Adams, Wounded. Elected Sheriff of Montgomery Co., Ga., and discharged March 12, 1864.
M.J. Adams, Wounded.
W.T.E. Adams, Wounded through right hip and permanently disabled at Wilderness, VA, May 6, 1864.
Berrien Burch, Captured and was exchanged and last roll call showed him present.
William Chaney (or Cheney), Killed.
J.A. Conner, Wounded. Buried in Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, VA. Previously wounded at Sharpsburg, MD, Sept. 17, 1862. Died of Wounds at Gordonsville, VA, March 12, 1863. Buried in Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, VA.
Wilson W. Conner, Wounded. Died of typhoid fever at Charlottesville, VA, Dec. 16, 1862. Buried in the Confederate Cemetery there.
Hugh Gillis, Wounded, left thigh. Later wounded in left breast, causing paralysis in left side and arm, at Spotsylvania, VA, May 12, 1864.
Joseph W. McAlister, Wounded in shoulder and left lung. Previously wounded at Sharpsburg on Sept. 17, 1862. Later wounded at the Battle of the Wilderness, VA, May 5, 1864.
Appointed 5th Sgt., Captured at Spotsylvania, VA, May 12, 1864. Released at Lookout Point, MD, June 5, 1865. Born in Ga., Feb. 1, 1840; Died March 17, 1920.
W.R. McKay, Killed.
J. McQuaigg (or McQuaig), Killed.
Daniel N. McRae, Wounded. Previously wounded at Sharpsburg, MD, Sept. 17, 1862. Appointed 2nd Sgt. Pension records show he surrendered at Appomattox, VA, April 9, 1865. Born in Montgomery Co., Ga., in 1832 or 1837.
James (Jim) Miller, Killed.
James Nail, Wounded. Captured Nov. 30, 1863. Admitted to Old Capitol Prison, Washington, D.C., Feb. 21, 1864, and died April 9, 1864.
Joseph Palmer, Wounded in leg. Later wounded at Hawes Shop, VA, May 28, 1864. At home on wounded furlough at close of war. Born in Ga., Dec. 25, 1831 and died, Montgomery Co., Ga., Sept. 6, 1906.
R.D. Wooten, Missing.
Abel T. Wright, Wounded in right leg, left hip and left arm and captured. Paroled at Old Capitol Prison, Washington, D.C., June 10, 1863. Received at City Point, VA, for exchange on June 12, 1863. Retired from field service April 20, 1864. Born in Ga., Aug. 28, 1833. Died in Wheeler Co., Ga., Dec. 23, 1913.
Hillery T. Wright, Appointed 4th Sgt., Wounded in face, "Part of cheek bone gone," and left arm and hip. Captured at Winchester, VA, Sept. 19, 1864. Paroled at Point Lookout, MD, and transferred to Aiken's Landing, VA, for exchange, March 15, 1865. Received at Boulware & Cox's Wharves, James River, VA, March 18, 1865. Born in Laurens, Co., Ga., April 10, 1840.
The men of the 61st were at Fredericksburg with the Georgia 20th and the Georgia 49th and many other soldiers. The North and the South were losing a potential of young men who would never be replaced. Only Providence knows the rhyme and reason for it all. But at the time, the freezing soldier could only bury himself in the heap of dead bodies around him and hope that morning would find him alive.
