41st VA Lookup, and POW ID question

[Hank Trent]

Two questions.

One, does anyone have the 41st Virginia Infantry book in the Virginia regimental history series? Could you do a lookup on the thumbnail service record of private George B. Fitzgerald, Co. G? I'm really curious to see if there was any record of his service after the summer of 1863.

Second question:

When a soldier was captured, how did his captors identify him, other than just asking him his name and regiment? I'm talking about an insignificant private or low-ranking officer, not anyone important.

In other words, if a Confederate soldier was captured and lied to his captors about his regimental affiliation, how would that show up in his service record in the archives? Would his captors simply write down what he said and when the dust settled, his name and the fact of his capture would be filed with the false regiment in the archives, as his only record of his service with that regiment?

Hank Trent
Having fun researching a man who was known to lie!
hanktrent@voyager. net

[ewtaylor]

Re: 41st VA Lookup, and POW ID question

Can't help with the 1st request, sorry. The POW question is a little strange. I don't know why anyone would want to lie about their regiment. There were some soldiers who knew their company, but not their regiment number. Early in the War my gggrandfather marched off to Raliegh with a group of fellows from Ashe County, Nc. Upon arriving they were split up and placed into companies. He sent a letter home telling his brothers to join Company A, as that was the group he was with (ended up being 26th reg). When the recruiter came to town the older brothers joined Company A, but from a differnet regiment (37th reg).
One of those brothers was captured at Hanover CH and paroled a few months later. His service record has a company muster sheet stating he was captured and then a another sheet he had to sign stating he was a paroled prisoner and needed new equip, uniform, and pay.
I also have a couple of service records showing some other family members surrendering after Appomatox. Their records are not CS records. They were in the CS cav and the surrender/pow records are from the US gov't. They state Company, Regiment, also personal description of prisoner- hair & eye color, height, weight, etc.
hope this helps,
everett taylor

[Charles Heath]

Re: 41st VA Lookup, and POW ID question

One, does anyone have the 41st Virginia Infantry book in the Virginia regimental history series? Could you do a lookup on the thumbnail service record of private George B. Fitzgerald, Co. G? I'm really curious to see if there was any record of his service after the summer of 1863.

"Fitzgerald, George B., enl. 6/26/61, Petersburg, for 1 year; pvt. 2nd Co. G; discharged 10/15/61, chronic alcoholic."

Source: Page 105, 41st Virginia Infantry, William D. Henderson.

Want to cross post this one with the thread on the OTB Forum?

Charles Heath

[Hank Trent]

Re: 41st VA Lookup, and POW ID question

chronic alcoholic

That's got to be him! Co. G was recruited from the same place he was living in the 1860 census. Thank you. I was hoping he lasted in that regiment until the summer of '63, but at least I'm getting a little closer to filling in the chronological details.

I don't know why anyone would want to lie about their regiment.

In this case, the guy was nuts, according to numerous eye-witness accounts. So not everything he did was logical. However, the rank, company and regiment he gave when captured were all the same as one of his in-laws, except "infantry" was changed to "cavalry." Coincidence? I dunno. There's no other record of him serving with that cavalry regiment until he was captured, and it was recruited far from where he lived. So I'm now working on the theory that maybe he just made up the information on the spur of the moment when captured, and that he was actually serving elsewhere.

His comrades who knew him in prison in 1864 claimed that prison life and illness made him go crazy, but I'm starting to doubt that. He seemed to be having an okay life through the early 1850s, then there's a gap, then in 1860 there's the first questionable thing (long story, but his wife was trusted to manage property instead of him). And now the alcoholism thing in 1861.

In that gap, his father, mother, and all his younger siblings, died in the 1855 yellow fever epidemic that decimated Norfolk. Don't know what he was doing at that time, but I'm wondering if that had more effect on his mental state than prison life.

Edited to add: And the biggest coincidence is, I picked this guy at random to study out of 600 prisoners for the I600 event, and now it turns out that he served for a little while in the same regiment as my great great grandfather, the 41st Virginia.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[Dignann]

Re: 41st VA Lookup, and POW ID question

Hank,

In the off chance you haven't already seen these:

"Fitzgerald, George B.: Va. 2 lt inf 8 Mar 1847; 11 inf 9 Apr 1847; 1 lt 29 June 1848; hon must out 14 Aug 1848."
- Francis B. Heitman. Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1903) p.423

Also, in the ORs is a reference to prisoner "Capt. J.B. Fitzgerald." Since this closely matches the entry for the non-officer in the 12th Va Cav, perhaps it is actually a piece of correspondence on your "George B. Fitzgerald"?

WASHINGTON, D.C., September 23, 1864.

Major-General FOSTER, Department of the South:

GENERAL: The Secretary of War authorizes you to release and send North the five rebel officers mentioned in your letter of the 19th instant, they taking the required oath of allegiance. If, however, Capt. J. B. Fitzgerald was in our army after the rebellion commenced, he will not be released.

Very respectfully,

H. W. HALLECK,
Major-General and Chief of Staff.

- OR, Series II, Vol. VII, p.865-866


Eric

[Hank Trent]

Re: 41st VA Lookup, and POW ID question

Thank you! I had the Mexican War one, but what's odd is that I think he shows up in the regular army out west after the Mexican War too, but I can't find any service record. Is there a better place to try for 1850s US Army records than Heitman's?

From the 1850 census in San Diego at http://www.rootsweb.com/~casdgs/281A.HTM listed in an army barracks just a few lines apart:

Fitzgerald, George P., 22, M, Quarter Master Agent, birthplace Virginia

Fitzgerald Edward H., 35, M, Bvt. Maj., $5,000, birthplace Pennsylvania.
REMARKS: Occupation: Bvt. Maj. 1st. U.S. Dragoons

The second man is definitely my George's brother. Everything about the first man matches my George, except his middle initial, P instead of B.

Would a "quarter master agent" be a civilian position that wouldn't show up in the service records?

I also think I found my George in San Diego again in 1851-1852, leading "Fitzgerald's Volunteers" against Indians and outlaws. It's possible his rank there (listed variously as captain or major) may have been a non-US Army, militia-type thing, though.

Also, in the ORs is a reference to prisoner "Capt. J.B. Fitzgerald." Since this closely matches the entry for the non-officer in the 12th Va Cav, perhaps it is actually a piece of correspondence on your "George B. Fitzgerald"?

Thank you! Yes, that's him. He went by J. B. in other records too, and claimed to be both a captain and a lieutenant.

He must have kept trying to take the oath, since that would be the third time. Mauriel Joslyn's book says about him:

desires to take the oath at Ft. McHenry, 2 Dec. 63, "a Virginian by birth and residence, joined army in 1861. Says he left the Confederate Service, went to Norfolk, reported to GEN Nagle. Says he took the oath but has no papers showing to be the case."

General Nagle was in Norfolk from November 1862 to May 1863.

For an obscure person, I'm surprised what I've been able to find. The trivia I could tell! According to some literary critics, his father Edward, a purser in the US Navy, was the basis for a minor fictional character in one of Herman Melville's novels.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[Dignann]

Re: 41st VA Lookup, and POW ID question

For pre-Civil war service, I can't think of another place to look other than the National Archives. Heitman only lists officers, and "Quarter Master Agent" does sound like it could be a civilian job. To my knowledge, service records only exist for those who are either enlisted or commissioned in the service. Heitman is pretty darn accurate for dates of service.

Here's Edward's entry from Heitman (p. 422):

"Fitzgerald, Edward H.: Pa. Va. 2 lt 6 inf 26 Oct 1839; 1 lt 7 Nov 1845; r q m 27 Mar to 5 Aug 1847; tr to 9 inf 25 Aug 1847; capt 8 Sept 1847, which he vac same date; capt a q m 5 Aug 1847; tr to 1 drgs 23 Aug 1849 to rank as capt from 5 Aug 1847; bvt maj 13 Sept 1847 for gal and mer con in the battle of Chapultepec Mex; died 9 Jan 1860."

Tom Broadfoot's The Roster of Confederate Soldiers 1861-1865, Volume V, edited by Jane B. Hewett, (Wilmington, N.C.: Broadfoot Publishing Company, 1996) bears an entry on page 499:

"Fitzgerald, G.B. VA 157th Mil. Co.B 2nd Lt."

Eric

[Hank Trent]

Re: 41st VA Lookup, and POW ID question

Heitman is pretty darn accurate for dates of service.

Here's Edward's entry from Heitman (p. 422):

It surprised me that Heitman didn't mention anything about Edward's service after 1849, unless the entry is just meant to be read that nothing "official" happened between being transferred to the first dragoons in 1849 and his death in 1860, because that could indeed be true. But there's not much doubt he established Fort Jones in California in 1852 (see http://www.militarymuseum.org/FtJones.html ) and accounts of his forays against the Indians are easy to find in google and google books.

"Fitzgerald, G.B. VA 157th Mil. Co.B 2nd Lt."

I've been wondering about that. Most I could find on the 157th was:

http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read...-10/0909552500

The 157th was basically from Roanoke County VA
Companies A and B volunteered and in service a
few weeks March 13 thru April 24, 1862

On April 15th, 1862 some were assigned to the
36th Regiment Virginia Infantry

Roanoke was a long way from the Norfolk/Petersburg area, where my GB seemed to be centered, and there are no Fitzgeralds in the 36th VA Inf regimental history to give more information, so unfortunately I don't think it's him, at this point.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[Charles Heath]

Re: 41st VA Lookup, and POW ID question

Hank,

Through the cenus records, FT learned Edward, his brother, may have been born in PA. That may be of some help. I'm sure you've seen this from the book, but what an "obit" it is:

"Two days ago, Lt. George B. Fitzgerald was taken to the hospital, and this morning announcement was made that "Fitz is dead". He was a confirmed opium eater; a poor, miserable wreck--ragged, filthy, lousy...He has had no blanket, no socks, hardly clothes to cover him; none of us could supply him, and he slept alone, covering himself with an old piece of tent fly...A graduate of West Point; a lieutenant in the old army, mingling with the Lees, McClellands and Grants..." Capt. Henry Dickinson; 2nd VA."

Charles Heath

[vbetts]

Re: 41st VA Lookup, and POW ID question

The POW question is a little strange. I don't know why anyone would want to lie about their regiment.

This doesn't apply to the 41st Virginia question, but we had POWs lie about their regiments coming into Camp Ford when they were white officers of black units. That was guaranteed to make you the focus of unwanted attention in Texas, followed closely by being from a Kansas regiment. We find out about these men later from reminiscences and regimental histories. Men also occasionally lied heading out of prison, taking the place of someone who had died or escaped but who had not been noted by sloppy Confederate record keeping. We'll never have a 100% correct POW list for Camp Ford.

Vicki Betts

[Hank Trent]

Re: 41st VA Lookup, and POW ID question

Through the cenus records, FT learned Edward, his brother, may have been born in PA.

It looks like George's father was born in Pennsylvania also and lived there until Edward Jr. was born in 1815, but moved to Virginia before his daughter was born in 1819, according to the census, and lived in Virginia the rest of his life.

However, George's father also had ties to Washington D.C., since the 1854 Register of Officers of the U.S. Navy says the father was born in Pennsylvania but was a citizen of the District of Columbia. And the same book lists his son William as having been born in the District of Columbia (in 1822), but a citizen of Virginia and appointed from Virginia. When the father died, he left property in Washington DC to his heirs.

So the father may have been a citizen of DC who lived in Norfolk most of the time for his Navy job, or may have permanently moved there. He shows up in the 1852 Norfolk city directory at 131 E. Main.

"A graduate of West Point; a lieutenant in the old army, mingling with the Lees, McClellands and Grants..."

That was apparently not much of an exaggeration. I haven't found direct connections to the Lees, McClellans or Grants yet, but his father apparently exuded the air of a classic southern gentleman in the Lee mold. The following is from Herman Melville, A Biography by Hershel Parker, 1996:

In 1844 there was "a slave, Robert Lucas, who had come into the jurisdiction of Massachusetts by arriving on the United States [a frigate] and was being held in custody. The purser, Edward Fitzgerald, a Virginian, [George's father] had enlisted his slave Lucas as a landsman drawing nine dollars a month during his service on the United States, wages that, by common usage, Fitzgerald collected... [The judge] rendered his decision on 11 October: the moment the frigate went out of Virginia, the slave became free, and since Lucas now found himself in Massachusetts as an employee of the government, and not as a runaway, he was a free man. The sailors still on board the frigate witnessed the purser's quiet acceptance of the decision, a decency that helped confirm Herman's sense of identity with the aristocrats of Virginia."

Herman Melville was among the sailors with the ex-slave on his return voyage.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net