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Item of Interest.
Gents-
During the 150th Anniversary of the Civil War it's impossible to mark all the events but this being the day of Cedar Mountain (August 9, 1862) I thought I would mention this one.
Back in May of this year celebrity chef Paula Deen appeared on a well known genealogy show and discovered her family had been slave owners and that a great great uncle had served in the Confederate Army. This uncle William Batts joined the 12th Georgia Infantry and sent many letters home that survive to this day in the University of Georgia's collection ( I think ). The letters abruptly stopped in the summer of 1862 and further research revealed William Batts was killed in action at the Battle of Cedar Mountain.
What they didn't have time to put on the show was that William Batts had a younger brother that also joined up with the 12th Georgia Infantry in April 1862. Joseph Batts served all the way up to the Battle of Gettysburg where he was shot through the left leg on July 1, 1863. His leg was saved but it was a disabling wound from which he would never recover. He was sent home where he remained on crutches until the end of the war. According to his pension records he never was able to walk again and would have been better suited had the "leg been taken off and he allowed to use an artificial leg."
The Batts Family never recovered from these family and financial losses and fell into hard times.
Gents-
During the 150th Anniversary of the Civil War it's impossible to mark all the events but this being the day of Cedar Mountain (August 9, 1862) I thought I would mention this one.
Back in May of this year celebrity chef Paula Deen appeared on a well known genealogy show and discovered her family had been slave owners and that a great great uncle had served in the Confederate Army. This uncle William Batts joined the 12th Georgia Infantry and sent many letters home that survive to this day in the University of Georgia's collection ( I think ). The letters abruptly stopped in the summer of 1862 and further research revealed William Batts was killed in action at the Battle of Cedar Mountain.
What they didn't have time to put on the show was that William Batts had a younger brother that also joined up with the 12th Georgia Infantry in April 1862. Joseph Batts served all the way up to the Battle of Gettysburg where he was shot through the left leg on July 1, 1863. His leg was saved but it was a disabling wound from which he would never recover. He was sent home where he remained on crutches until the end of the war. According to his pension records he never was able to walk again and would have been better suited had the "leg been taken off and he allowed to use an artificial leg."
The Batts Family never recovered from these family and financial losses and fell into hard times.