Hayes Lowe
46th
Thu Dec 14 14:35:51 2000


There's nothing wrong with being a perfectionist when it comes to accurate history!

I'll check on the 46th and see what I find.

I've done a lot of research since yesterday, when I looked at Ms. Bloomquist's "book". I sure thought, though, that I remembered seeing more than 5 paragraphs! I wonder if the one that I was looking at was a different version?

The book does have a number of inaccuracies, most of which can be attributed to misinterpretation of the data. I don't think that she was working from the Compiled Records, as she is short quite a few men who are listed there. And, the correct interpretation of the data could have been made with the full records at hand. I'm particularly thinking about all the men she marks as "dead" on certain dates. Turns out that most of them were not dead, but were injured, captured, and/or dismissed. And, that is made clear in the records if you see all the cards, and not just a muster roll.

Sometimes the records are just too confused to ever be straightened out. Here's an example from the Pickens Planters:

HORTON [NORTON], James Wiley, Private, promoted to 2nd Corpl. (Born December 5, 1841. Captured & paroled at Vicksburg on 7/4/1863. According to his tombstone at Pleasant Ridge in the Horton Family Cemetery, he died at Manassas Va., September 21, 1861, and his dying words were "Jesus is my only hope". 40th Alabama Infantry, CSA by Ann Blomquist, gives the date of death as 3/19/1865. The diary of John H. Curry states that he died 3/19/1864 after a leg amputation from wounds at the Battle of Bentonville. Yet another source states that he died 3/30/1865, and that he is buried at Oakwood Cemetery, Raleigh, N.C.)

The man that died four times!






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