Thursday, September 6, 2012

Non Military Guerrilla Fighters in the Civil War

In 1906 Vladimir Lenin said:

"Guerrilla warfare is an inevitable form of struggle at a time when the mass movement has actually reached the point of an uprising and when fairly large intervals occur between the 'big engagements' in the civil war."

He was describing actions during the Russian Revolution, however his statement also rings true for the American Civil War.   

Webster defines a guerrilla as "a person who engages in irregular warfare especially as a member of an independent unit carrying out harassment and sabotage".  

Not all participants in the Civil War were members of the regular military.   Prior to the conscription act, men who were too old to enlist or who didn't want to leave their homes for long periods of time offered their services as guerrilla fighters.   These men were organized in small groups with the sole purpose of harassing their larger, slower moving, regular army enemies.  These bands of guerrilla fighters were able to strike quick and make near immediate withdrawals.  

Two of the most famous leaders of Guerrilla Fighters in the Civil War were General John Hunt Morgan and Captain William Clarke Quantrill.  It just so happens that I'm related to men who served with each of these men. My 2nd cousin 6x removed, Cullen Nowell rode with Morgan.  Josiah Daniel, my 2nd cousin 5 times removed, rode with Quantrill. 

General John Hunt Morgan

John Hunt Morgan is best remembered for his 1863 raid in which he and his men rode over 1,000 miles that covered an area from Tennessee, up through Kentucky, into Indiana, and over into Ohio.  This was the farthest north that any Confederate troops would penetrate in the conflict.  Prior to this raid, he and his men operated around the Tennessee-Kentucky border, where they staged strategic raids to strike vulnerable targets.  

Morgan's 900 men left Knoxville, TN on the morning of July 4th 1862 to conduct their first raid.  They swept through Kentucky, harassing the rear flank of Union Major General Carlos Don Buell's Army of the Ohio.  They captured nearly 1,200 Federal soldiers, acquired several hundred horses and destroyed massive quantities of Federal supplies. Cullen Nowell, who was 59 years old, rode with Morgan on this raid.

Marker for Cullen Nowell on his family homestead


Cullen Nowell was born in Johnston County, NC in 1803.  At the outbreak of the Civil War he and his family were living in Benton County, TN.  They had left North Carolina some time in late 1828 as Cullen and his family were listed as living in Humphrey's TN on the 1830 Census.  On July 12, 1862, during a raid in Lebanon Kentucky, Cullen was captured by Federal troops.  Raiders weren't very popular with regular military folks due to their unconventional methods.  After his capture, Cullen was originally sent to Alton Military Prison in Illinois.  He appears on a record listed as "Cullen Nowell Civil & Military #7 sent to Sandusky, OH on November 14, 1862".  

Sandusky, OH was the home of Johnston's Island Prison Camp.  There are two records for Cullen Nowell in the Johnson's Island Prison Camp records: "2 Nowell Cullen Died Nov 21st 1862" and "7 Nowell Cullen Guerrilla Morgans Band Lebanon Ky July 15 1862 Johnson's Island Nov 21 Johnson's Island Measles 1/633W". 

Prisoner of War List from Johnston's Island

This record indicates he was captured while serving as a "guerrilla" with Morgans' Band of raiders at Lebanon Kentucky on July 15, 1862 and that he died in Johnson's Island Prison on 21 Nov 1862 of Measles. The 1/633W is recorded as his "Letter Mark". This record does specify that he was buried on Johnson's Island but does not give a burial location.   Nowell only lasted one week at Johnston's Island. 

Marker at Johnston's Island Prison Camp

Close-up of Marker showing Cullen's name


Cullen Nowell is buried in an unmarked grave in the Johnston's Island Confederate Cemetery

Here's my relation to Cullen:




Early picture of William Clarke Quantrill

During the Civil War, William Clarke Quantrill wrecked havoc along the Missouri-Kansas border.  In 1861, Quantrill traveled to Texas to meet with members of the Cherokee Nation, most notably Joel B. Mayes.  Mayes was a Confederate sympathizer and War Chief of the Cherokee's in Texas.  It was here that Quantrill would learn the guerrilla tactics he would use in the war.

Quantrill and his men ambushed Union patrols and supply convoys, seized mail, cut telegraph lines, and struck towns on either side of the Missouri-Kansas border.   This was an area full of both Pro-Union and Pro-Confederate citizens, although Missouri attempted to maintain "strict neutrality".   Quantrill focused many of his efforts toward Pro-Union citizens in this region.  Members of the outlaw group "The James-Younger Gang" rode with Quantrill, including both Frank and Jesse James and Cole Younger.  My 2nd cousin 5x removed, Josiah Daniel also rode with Quantrill in Missouri.

Josiah Daniel was born in Jackson, Missouri in 1844.  There are no records of him serving the Confederacy in any official capacity other than a guerrilla fighter.   Josiah's older half brother, Leonard, died in the "Border Wars" a pre-Civil War conflict on the border of Missouri and Kansas.  Leonard was mysteriously killed 4 days before his 24th birthday on June 10, 1861.  He had attended college at the University of Kansas.  It is believed that Leonard's death greatly influenced Josiah's decision to participate in Quantrill's raid against Union officials.

On August 15, 1862, a fight broke out in the town of Lone Jack, MO.  The battle was a result  of Confederate guerrilla recruitment in Missouri in 1862.  Although Missouri had officially sided with the Union, there was much anti-union sentiment amongst it's inhabitants.   Many Confederate and Missouri State Guard recruiters left Arkansas and traveled to Missouri where they hoped to replinish their depleted ranks.  Independence, Missouri had fallen to a rag-tag group of Confederates on August 11th.  The Confederate forces mainly operated independently with no clear sense of seniority.  It was at the Battle of Lone Jack, MO where Josiah Daniel would lose his life.  It is reported that Josiah was treated by a Doctor James Noel on the battlefield.  Josiah Daniel died from his wounds on August 16, 1862.   His burial location is not known at the time of this blog entry.

Dr. James Noel was almost executed by Federal troops for giving aid to the enemy.  He was spared when the Federals found out he was treating injured men from both sides indiscriminately.

Here's my relation to Josiah:

Josiah Daniel (1844 - 1862)
is your 2nd cousin 5x removed
John Daniel (1797 - 1879)
Father of Josiah
James Key Daniel (1766 - 1851)
Father of John
Josiah Daniel (1744 - 1811)
Father of James Key
William Ford Daniel (1774 - 1848)
Son of Josiah
L. Chesley Daniel (1806 - 1882)
Son of William Ford
William Henry "Buck" Daniel (1827 - 1896)
Son of L. Chesley
Phebe Lucy Daniel (1862 - 1946)
Daughter of William Henry "Buck"
Valeria Lee Moss (1890 - 1968)
Daughter of Phebe Lucy
Phebe Teresa Wheeler Lewis (1918 - 1977)
Daughter of Valeria Lee
Joyce Elaine Lewis (1948 - )
Daughter of Phebe Teresa
Chip Stokes
You are the son of Joyce




Another casualty incurred by my family in the form of a Non Military Guerilla Fighter was Albert Gallatin Farrar.  Albert was born in Granville County, North Carolina in January of 1817.  He is my 1st cousin 5x removed.  In 1834, Albert followed his father and family to Benton County, Tennesee.  By 1854, Albert and his brother Junius, had settled near Cave Springs, Arkansas and homesteaded around 200 acres.  By March of 1862, the Western Theater of the Civil War had expanded to Cave Springs, Arkansas.  Although there are no official records of Albert serving the Confederacy in any official capacity, famliy lore states he was killed during the Battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas between March 6 - 8, 1862.  His body was found on the battlefield and was buried in a private cemetery on the outskirts of Cave Springs.  An unconfirmed family legend states that Albert was quite possibly killed by his own brother Junius Henry Farrar. 

Junius was one of only a handful of Union Sympathizers in his area.  After having his farm burned twice by bushwackers, Junius and his two eldest sons, John Harrison and Nicholas G. and enlisted in Company F, Arkansas 2nd Union Cavalary.  Junius and Albert reportedly did not see eye to eye on secession.  This could have come in to play at the Battle of Pea Ridge.  Either way, Albert's life was indeed ended at the battle.   He is buried in a small private cemetery on the outskirts of Cave Springs, Arkanas.


Grave of Albert Gallatin Farrar

Here's my relation to Albert:

Albert Gallatin Farrar (1817 - 1862)
is your 1st cousin 5x removed
Elizabeth Roland Harris (1800 - 1886)
mother of Albert Gallatin Farrar
Ransom Harris Sr. (1764 - 1832)
father of Elizabeth Roland Harris
Ann Washington Harris (1795 - 1870)
daughter of Ransom Harris Sr.
James C. Moss (1824 - 1891)
son of Ann Washington Harris
William Allen Moss (1859 - 1931)
son of James C. Moss
Valeria Lee Moss (1890 - 1968)
daughter of William Allen Moss
Phebe Teresa Wheeler Lewis (1918 - 1977)
daughter of Valeria Lee Moss
Joyce Elaine Lewis (1948 - )
daughter of Phebe Teresa Wheeler Lewis
Chip Stokes
You are the son of Joyce
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