Alan Pitts
Covington County
Fri Dec 29 07:59:40 2000


A good place to start would be the 1860 census. Taking a look at the state index, it appears that the name Balcom or Balkom was somewhat unusual in Alabama. I looked at several variants and only saw a few, all in the southeast corner of the state. None in Covington County, but one household by that name existed across the Florida line in Santa Rosa (that county included half of present-day Okaloosa).

Three Balkoms served in Company "G", 15th Alabama. The company captain, William C. Oates, wrote a book entitled "The War Between the Union and the Confederacy and Its Lost Opportunities". Half of page 677 is about 1st Sergeant Josiah Balkom. Oates says, "His loss was a great shock to his company and comrades." The other two are mentioned on page 680. I'm not a genealogist, but I strongly believe that the few Balkom families in southeast Alabama are related. Josiah was a great soldier in a great regiment, not something many folks can claim.

Aside from these three, there are three others in the Broadfoot index. These are James K. of Co B, 1st Ala. Inf. Regt & later Co H, 39th Ala. Inf. Regt.; Joseph D. of Co D, 57th Ala. Inf. Regt. and John W. of Co A, 37th Ala. Inf. Regt. I transcribed the service records of the 1st, 37th and 39th Alabama years ago, and will look for these records if you're interested. It's possible John W. was the William J. you're intersted in.

I found a letter from George A. Snowden, Judge of Probate, Covington County, Ala., dated Andalusia, Mar. 31, 1862. He starts by saying that sixty men from the county have enlisted in various Florida companies. He lists twenty in Capt. T. D. McCall's Company from Conecuh (23rd Ala.), two in Capt. May's Company from Conecuh (16th Ala.), "some" in a Monroe County cavalry company just forming (2nd Ala. Cav.), a "good many" in Capt. J. J. Deen's of Butler (17th Ala.), "good many" in Capt. Glasgow's of Butler (13th Ala.), fifteen in Capt. E. Y. Hill's of Butler (8th Ala.), "some" in Capt W. D. Perryman's (17th Ala.), several with Capt. Randolph Owens (Blount's Ala. Battn.; Capt. Owens later with the 1st Georgia Confederate at Mobile), "some" with Capt. John B. Curtis of Pike, "some" in Capt. Gus Johnson's Cavalry of Pike, (1st Ala. Cav.), "some" in Capt. Moxley's company of Coffee (18th Ala.), "some" in Mason Kinney's Co (33rd Ala.), sixty in Capt. Appleton Justice's of Coffee (33rd Ala.) and one man in Capt. Richard H. Powell's of Macon (3rd Ala.)

Companies based mostly in Covington were Capt. James T. Brady's (B-18th Ala.), Capt. M. Harper's (A-25th Ala.) and Capt George M. Sowell's (I-29th).

I'd suggest finding your ancestor and his family relations on the census first, then match those names to service records. Please contact me if you need other help. This is Homer's part of the state, so I'm certain he'll be able to point you to useful information.






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