Dave Neel
More on Co. A
Thu Sep 7 21:54:21 2000


My recollection is that several companies of the 40th were composed mainly of Alabama 12 month troops who re-enlisted; however, Co. A was clearly a spring of 1862 company formed primarily, I will not say exclusively, of men from the southern part of Sumter County. I have to question the dates and locations mentioned in the source you have cited (for instance, accounts are very specific about the various camps the 40th occupied while in the defenses of Mobile in 1862 and there is no mention that I see of going down to Ft. Morgan).

Samuel Sprott, in his memoirs that are basically a history of the 40th, mentioned the companies from Sumter that went out in 1861 (all to Virginia), then stated that other companies were formed that summer, but disbanded after their services were refused because they could not be equipped at the time.

The South Sumter Guards were recruited by E.Z. Gulley, beginning in February of 1862. On March 4th, the recruits met and organized at Intercourse, Alabama, and were sworn in. Because of some technicality they were sworn in again on March 17. They began drilling at Gaston, Alabama. On March 25th they arrived at the Fairgrounds in Demopolis and continued drilling. They were joined by what became companies B, C, D, and E. The companies were ordered to Mobile, and arrived there about April 18th. The regiment was completed by the addition of the remaining companies, and held elections for regimental officers about May 1 (Willet's Diary says the 16th). The May mustering date reference in your source might well be the date the unit was transferred from the State into the Confederate service, but I haven't checked that out.

Sprott's account is borne out pretty closely by individual service records of members of the regiment and by Willet's diary (Picken's Planters, Co.B).

Sprott, who reached the rank of Captain, served as a sergeant with Co. A, and was the company's orderly sgt. for a good spell. He listed a roll from memory of the Company, which included H.S. Fincher, that includes 122 names (and he said he may have omitted some).

Looking at records, since the companies continued to recruit you will find men enrolling with Co. A at Demopolis or at Mobile, but most of those men actually came to the company from Sumter County, and travelled to the company.

If I get a chance, I will check the 1860 Census on Fincher to see if he crops up in Sumter or in Pickens. Even if he had moved as a young man to Pickens, it would not be uncommon to see him end up enlisting with a company from the area where he was reared.

With your interest in the 40th, you need to pick up a copy of Sprott's writings; look for "Cush: A Civil War Memoir, by Samuel H. Sprott, published by Livingston Press, 1999.

Would be interesting to match census records to as many men in Co. A as possible.

Dave Neel








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