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Civil War Interactive Discussion Board > About this Forum - Start Here > Introductions > Confederate Activities |
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Civil War Interactive Discussion Board > About this Forum - Start Here > Introductions > Confederate Activities |
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| Confederate Activities | Rating: 
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| Posted: Fri Sep 16th, 2011 01:23 am |
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1st Post |
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Kennith A. Simpson Member
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I hope someone out there can be of assistance. My great, great, grandfather was Mathew Nathan Ford. Mathew lived in what once was a part of the state of Virginia. Wyoming County, Turkey Wallow Hollor, little place called Wolf Pen. Around January 25 1863, Mathew was serving as a civilian scout for a group of Confederate soldiers. Mathew was not a Confederate Soldier himself. Mathew was taken prisoner by Union forces and between Jan 25th and February 25 was transported to Camp Chase, Columbus, Ohio. Camp Chase was a Union base that served as both a training facility and Union Prison for POW's. While a prisoner at the camp, Mathew became ill with Typhoid Fever and died on the 10th or 11th of July 1863. For some reason his body was taken to a potter's cemetery on the outskirts of Columbus and buried instead of being buried with the Confederate soldiers that died in the camp. I have managed to piece together the story and am only missing a few important ingrediants. I am unable to find any military actions during that time frame in the Wyoming County or Turkey Wallow Hollow area. I am trying to determine which unit or soldiers Mathew was acting as a scout for. I would like to know if he was involved in any major activities or if he just came across a group of lost Confederates and tried to do the right thing and guide them back to their unit. In any case Mathew was officially listed as a Rebel Scout for Rebel Forces. Any assistance anyone could provide would be greatly appreciated.
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| Posted: Fri Sep 16th, 2011 04:22 am |
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2nd Post |
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Hellcat Person 
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Alright, I'm hitting the Civil War Battles Page roight now, having to do a word search since they had to take down the listing of battles by state. As Wyoming County is in West Virginia today at least I know what state to look for. I'm coming up with these hits between January 25th and February 25th 1863 (I'm only going to link those pages where Confederate forces are actually known to the webmaster): Bristerburg Road Jan 27th Charlestown Feb 12th http://www.fortunecity.com/victorian/pottery/1080/charlestown_wva_12feb63.htm Kingsville Ford Jan 26th Romeny Feb 16th Smithfield Feb 12th http://www.fortunecity.com/victorian/pottery/1080/smithfield_wva_12feb63.htm That's all I can say I found for certain, I may have missed some, I'm not sure. And I'm don't know if any occured in the area you're looking for or not. http://www.fortunecity.com/victorian/pottery/1080/
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| Posted: Sun Sep 18th, 2011 06:26 pm |
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3rd Post |
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Albert Sailhorst Member 
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I don't know if this helps any, but http://www.forgottenoh.com/Cemeteries/campchase.html says "A cemetery was established at the Camp near the end of 1863. The Confederate dead who had been buried in the city cemetery were moved back to Camp Chase.".....I would surmise that he was simply not exhmed and moved with all the others, but I bet you already knew that!!!  Interestingly the website that lists POWs at Camp Chase (http://www.civilwarhome.com/campchasecemeteryDEF.htm#F) does not have him listed. They should have had him listed, at the very least, as a civilian. I tried to "google" a roster of Camp Chase prisoners, which one would think should be easy to find; however, all I could come with is a list of burials, of which, I didn't find Matthew Nathan Ford. I don't know why there is not a list of all prisoners, living or deceased, anywhere.... Kenneth, I bet you tried everything I just mentioned, but I thought I'd look anyway! Good luck with your search and please let us know what you find out!!
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| Posted: Sun Sep 18th, 2011 06:33 pm |
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4th Post |
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Albert Sailhorst Member
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One more thing: If you have a copy of the Official Record of the War of Rebellion on cd rom, you may be able to do a search by location (i.e. search for Wyoming County or Turkey Wallow Hollow) ....If you don't have a copy, "google" the O.R.'s (or a variation or the whole title. Every once in a while, you can find an on-line database that is searchable, but I don't believe it to be as reliable as having the cdrom I think the main problem you will have is that there were over 10,000 engagements during the war, most of them VERY minor and thus of little note. If the OR's show nothing, contact the local Historical Societies to see if they have any info on troop activities, camps, engagements, etc.... Again, good luck!!
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| Posted: Sun Sep 18th, 2011 11:20 pm |
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5th Post |
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Hellcat Person
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Albert, that's a brilliant idea. I do have The War of the Rebellion on CD-ROM, but I tend to access it online a lot too. Actually more online as my CD-ROM copy, whoever did the transcript, has spelling errors so I tend to save it more for when I can't get online. Cornell University did put it up as a part of their Making of America series so I hit them for it. http://digital.library.cornell.edu/m/moawar/waro.html
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| Posted: Mon Sep 19th, 2011 12:32 am |
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6th Post |
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Albert Sailhorst Member
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Hellcat, I have used the Cornell U. site, too, but not all that much to say I am experienced with it. Last year, I was going to order it on cd rom, but came to find out that it won't work on my computer (as I recall, my computer had "better" capabilities than it was meant for.....don't ask me.....I am not a computer person!!!!).... Thanks!!....I appreciate the input!!
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| Posted: Mon Sep 19th, 2011 05:45 am |
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7th Post |
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Hellcat Person
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My CD-ROM is PDF files so a PDF reader should be able to read it. Even with the errors it's still a great thing to have. But the one thing I really don't like is that it's missing things like maps and charts that I get looking at the pages on Cornell's site. And Cornell ever takes it down at least I still have the CD-ROM. I do like the Cornell site because it's scans from the hard copy. Typically if I'm not sure where to look I just do a simple search for a specific item. Like a search for Wyoming County turns up twenty-five hits in ten volumes. It tells which volumes and how many hits per volume. Then I just go to the volumes and call up the result details. This gives the listing of the hits so I don't have to go to the index for that volume, I can then go to the page the hit is on. Unfortunately as it is a scan I then have to read through the entire page as it doesn't go straight to the hit itself. The Civil War Battles Page does reference The War of the Rebellion, and it's sister naval volumes, making it easier to find a particular volume.
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| Posted: Tue Sep 20th, 2011 12:21 am |
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8th Post |
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Albert Sailhorst Member
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I have a lap-top, 64 some=thing-or-other.....The info for the OR's on cd rom said it won't work on that kind of computer (this was back in Feb of this year) so I don't have them. As soon as I can find them compatable with whatever it is that I have, I can't wait to ge them!!! I haven't been using the Cornel site as much as I could/should, only because I was waiting to get in on cd......stupid, ain't I??? Thanks, y'all!!!
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| Posted: Tue Sep 20th, 2011 12:54 am |
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9th Post |
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Hellcat Person
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Maybe, maybe not. If I had hardcopy I might go for that first. I looked at a copy on Amazon a few years ago. The entire series, used, was well over a hundred dollars (don't remember exactly how much). Looking now they seem to have reproductions of the individual volumes. That's still way over a hundred dollars for four seires and a total of seventy volumes. But still, there is an advantage to a search feature when you're not certain where to look.
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| Posted: Tue Sep 20th, 2011 02:02 am |
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10th Post |
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Albert Sailhorst Member
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I think the price you have is for a volume, or a few volumes, as I think there are about 124 (or something like that) volumes......I used the hard-bound volumes when I was doing research in Bolivar, TN at the library there......I liked the books, but the value of doing a search on cd rom is enormous!!
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| Posted: Tue Sep 20th, 2011 02:05 am |
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11th Post |
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Kennith A. Simpson Member
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Thank you for your response. I recently visited the Ohio State Historical Society and was able to locate some documents. The Book of the Confederate Dead, 1862-1865. Page 129, July 11 dos show M. Ford Citizen of Virginia as being at Camp Chase. Page 154 of the List of Prisoners of War Deceased, Champ Chase Ohio July 63, shows July 10 Mathew Ford, Rebel Scout, Wyoming Co. Virginia. I have reason to believe that he was taken prisoner january 25 1863. The tragedy is that as a civilian he was not given the same accord as a soldier and thus when he died of Typhoid Fever his body was turned over to the City Cemetery which was a paupers grave yard outside of Columbus. The City discontinued using the cemetery shortly afterwards and had a private company move the graves. However they failed to move a large number of the graves and when the land was sold for development some of the remaining graves were uncovered. People refused after that to live on the property and it was abandoned again. The City then plowed the land up to build a highway and more headstones etc. were uncovered. I still have to obtain the news paper articles from the Columbus Dispatch but there were several writeups about the tragic situation with the cemetery. Mathew's body was one that was not moved and to the best of my knowledge still rests somewhere under Long and Fourth Streets. I want to collect as much information as I can pertaining to Mathew Nathan Ford so that I can give validation to his life and although his remains can never be brought home his soul can be at peace knowing that his family and descendents remember him and know the whole story. While I feel that my great, great grandfather deserved better than a paupers grave I know that there are probably thousands of other families who will never know what happened to their loved ones. Maybe I can take the thousands of missing loved ones and make them one less. When one checks the list of deceased personnel at the military site Mathews name is not on the list. Mathew was a prisoner of war none the less and as such should be rembered. Many of the Civil War Records can now be located on Ancestry.Com. One such document , can not read title of document, but the document lists the Name, Rank, Regiment, or County, and State, Company, Where Captured, When Captured, Sent for Exchange, Remarks (This appears to be a disposition of prisoners form during the period when the North and South Exchanged prisoners of War). Number 3 on the lists rerads, Ford, Matthew, Rebel Scout, Rebel Army, Wyoming County, Va., (can't make out month) 25th, the rest is blank Last edited on Tue Sep 20th, 2011 02:28 am by Kennith A. Simpson |
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| Posted: Tue Sep 20th, 2011 02:13 am |
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12th Post |
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Albert Sailhorst Member
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WOW, Kenneth!!......You sure have a lot of info there....I am glad you shared.....Words can't describe how I feel, as I share your respect, concern and care....I think it an injustice what has been done to that cemetary, but echo your sentiment of their spirit living on, as it lives in you....One who, after nearly 150 years, still cares.....Don't ever loose that and teach your children the same.....
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| Posted: Tue Sep 20th, 2011 02:31 am |
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13th Post |
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Kennith A. Simpson Member
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Thank you.
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| Posted: Tue Sep 20th, 2011 09:10 pm |
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14th Post |
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Hellcat Person
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I thought I read in one of my books that scouts were to be treated like spies unless taken in uniform. Or maybe even if taken in uniform. I don't know, I'd have to go through all my books that cover scouts and spies and that side of the war. I want to say it was the Officer's handbook which Stackpole Books reprinted (The 1862 Army Officer's Pocket Companion). Can't be sure it was that one, though. As for what the city did to the cemetary, sounds typical. Once they were the final resting place, now if their in the way of progress who cares enough about the dead. Doesn't seem to matter if their Federal, Confederate, Revolution, colonial, or what. Always bothers me to see golf courses built next to or around old cemetaries, but that's nothing cause at least the cemetary still is there. It's when they decide to "move" the bodies so they can build over the cemetary. Or worse, they leave 'em their and just plow them over or flood them for a resivor without even trying to remove the bodies.
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| Posted: Mon Dec 24th, 2012 07:11 am |
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16th Post |
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Texas Defender Member 
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Thanks to the action of the moderator, this posting is no longer needed.  Last edited on Mon Dec 24th, 2012 08:23 am by Texas Defender |
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