Alan J. Pitts
Why no military record exists.....
Tue Feb 6 12:10:50 2001


Many records are missing, so we have only hospital, payment, requisition and prisoner-of-war records on some commands like Livingston's. Quite often an ancestor's name won't appear on service record microfilm. Sometimes veterans composed rolls of everyone they could recall who served with them in a company, but there's not many of these. This regiment has little on file at the ADAH, but if you visit, ask for the correspondence file. There's always a chance of something being there when little or nothing exists in the history and muster roll files.

Since there are no muster rolls of you ancestor's command (Atkinson's Co. "F", Livingston's 8th Alabama cavalry Regiment), you have to accept the statement of service provided by the pension record. There should be statements by two witnesses who swear that the veteran served as stated. They are usually veterans from the same command. You may have noticed this on the pension record and made note of the men who signed as witnesses.

The only other major source is the Alabama census of Confederate veterans done in 1907. The ADAH collected these and placed them in folders by unit. However, they have been published as they were originally taken by census, which is by county. If your ancestor was living in Alabama in 1907, his name should appear. That may provide a fact or two more than you know from the pension.

You may be interested in what this unit did during the war. It was a hard-luck command, rushed from point to point in an attempt to stop Federal raids into the state. Led by General James H. Clanton, it served alongside the 6th Alabama Cavalry. Clanton was beaten badly at Ten Islands Ford, defeated a expedition of black troops at Pine Barren Creek, was overrun at Bluff Spring, Fla. (one veteran wrote, "our regment (sp) was cut all to smatters") and finally driven before Wilson's column eastard across Alabama, from Benton to Girard. A few survivors surrendered at Gainesville, Ala. May 10, 1865.

Here's a link to a Duke family site. A family member served in your ancestor's company:
http://members.aol.com/Jnt147/Seaborn.htm

You can find a brief history of Livingston's regiment here:

http://www.archives.state.al.us/referenc/alamilor/mil_org.html">

You will need to look for 9th Alabama Cavalry (2). Don't ask me why; that's just how it was recorded in 1872.

• more questions about the 8th — Jan Toland, Tue Feb 6 21:55
• Killed or died? — Alan J. Pitts, Tue Feb 6 23:21