Williamsburg Virginia

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Dave is an an Army brat and retired from the Air Force in 2006 and is now working as an AF civilian. Debbie works in real estate for a local firm. We both enjoy the outdoors and being 'tree-huggers' as we have been called. As tree-huggers, we enjoy feeding 'our' herd of backyard deer and their friends the squirrels, birds, foxes, possums, and raccoons. Between us we have seven kids and eleven grand-kids spread out from Virginia to Texas, to Idaho to Washington.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

CW Mason in the Civil War


Have been doing some ancesteral research and discovered that my great-great-grandfather (CW Mason) fought in the Civil War, having been mustered in South Carolina's Orr's Rifles on July 20th 1861 at Camp Pickens South Carolina by Lt Sloan at the ripe old age of 19.  He survived throughout, surrendering at Appomattox in 1865.  During my research I discovered he was wounded at the First Battle of Deep Bottom here in Virginia and fought in many battles during the war.  Here is a run-down of his unit, Orr's Rifles:


1st Regiment Rifles, known as Orr's Rifles, was organized at Sandy Springs, South Carolina, in July, 1861. Its members were recruited in the counties of Abbeville, Pickens, Anderson, and Marion. The unit was first stationed on Sullivan's Island and called by the other troops "The Pound Cake Regiment" because of its light duty. Then in April, 1862, it moved to Virginia with 1,000 men. Assigned to General Gregg's and McGowan's Brigade, it fought with the army from the Seven Days' Battles to Cold Harbor . Later the regiment endured the hardships of the Petersburg trenches and the Appomattox operations. Of the 537 engaged at Gaines' Mill , fifty-nine percent were killed, wounded or missing. The unit reported 116 casualties at Second Manassas and 170 at Fredericksburg , then lost forty-nine percent of the 233 at Chancellorsville and three percent of the 366 at Gettysburg . There were 12 killed and 81 wounded at The Wilderness , 15 killed, 36 wounded, and 44 missing at Spotsylvania , 3 killed and 34 wounded at Deep Bottom , and 9 killed and 37 wounded at Poplar Springs Church . It surrendered 9 officers and 148 men.

Battles included:

Seven Days Battles VA (25 JUN - 1 JUL 1862)
2nd Bull Run VA (28 - 30 AUG 1862)
Chantilly VA (1 SEP 1862)
Antietam VA (17 SEP 1862)
Shepherdstown Ford (20 SEP 1862)
Castleman's Ferry (3 NOV 1862)
Fredericksburg VA (13 DEC 1862)
Chancellorsville (1-4 MAY 1863)
Gettysburg PA (1-3 JUL 1863)
Falling Waters (14 JUL 1863)
Bristoe Campaign (9 - 22 OCT 1863)
Mine Run Campaign VA (NOV - DEC 1863)
The Wilderness VA (5 - 6 MAY 1864)
Spotsylvania Court House VA (8 - 21 MAY 1864)
North Anna VA (23 - 26 MAY 1864)
Cold Harbor VA (1 - 3 JUN 1864)
Petersburg Siege VA (JUN 1864 - APR 1865)
First Squirrel Level Road VA (30 SEP 1864)
Jones Farm VA (30 SEP 1864)
First Pegram's Farm VA (1 OCT 1864)
Five Forks VA (1 APR 1865)
Appomattox Court House VA (9 APR 1865)

The First Battle of Deep Bottom was part of the Petersburg Siege listed above.  About two weeks ago I visited the battlefield area east of the Richmond/Petersburg area.  In fact, the following historical marker descibes the battle:

After the surrender of the south at Appomattox, CW Mason returned home to South Carolina.  At some point, the Mason family moved to the Corinth Mississippi area, and then on to East Texas area, specifically Alto.  Needless to say, it was quite eerie to be standing near where my great-great-grandfather fought and was wounded over 145 years ago.  An earlier visit to Appomattox brought up those same feelings.

The following are two images of documents associated with CW Mason. The first document is an image of a document my great-great-grandfather received on 2 September 1862, granting him 20 days furlough (sick leave) in Richmond Virginia.  The second image seems to be a pay stub received for those 20 days of leave, 33 cents a day for a grand total of $6.60. 

While the dates of pay seem to indicate September 1862, the pay was not acknowledged until April 6th 1863.  Based on the dates of the furlough and the dates of the battles above, looks like my GGG missed the Battle of Antietem (in Maryland, although Virginia is showing above), the bloodiest battle of the civil war. 

NOTE:  CLICK ON IMAGES TO SEE FULL DOCUMENT


   

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