Alan J. Pitts
Re: 6th AL cavalry Abner William Eddins ?
Wed Jun 6 11:46:02 2001


My apologies; I didn't try to answer your question. What evidence do you have that this man didn't survive the war? You might note elsewhere on the message board that others have had success determining this by finding the right household on the state census of 1866. This is available on microfilm. It's not at all unusual to find no record of service after the date you mentioned, especially since your man isn't an officer.

Here's a list of battles and skirmishes in which this command was involved:

Pensacola, Florida September 8, 1863.
Woodall’s Bridge, Alabama April 7, 1864.
Larkin’s Landing, Alabama April 8, 1864.
Harrison’s Gap, Alabama April 21, 1864.
Manning’s Mill, Georgia June 27, 1864.
Ten Islands Ford, Alabama July 14, 1864.
Cave Spring, Georgia September 16, 1864.
Pollard, Alabama December 15-16, 1864.
Pine Barren Creek, Florida December 17, 1864.
Bluff Spring, Florida March 25, 1865.
Benton, Alabama April 10, 1865.
Lowndesboro, Alabama April 11, 1865.
Montgomery, Alabama April 12, 1865.
Tuskegee, Alabama April 14, 1865.
Girard, Alabama April 16, 1865.
Columbus, Georgia April 16, 1865.

Leave off the first five, and the list works for both Livingston's 8th Alabama Cavalry (8 cos.) as well as the 6th Alabama Cavalry. If you were serving with Clanton, the easiest way to die was to be captured (as many were at Bluff Springs, Clanton's greatest disaster) and sent off to a Northern prison camp.

Of course the other strong possibility was death by disease. Since Clanton's men generally operated some distance away from the main armies and established military posts, there are few hospital entries in 6th Alabama records. There are relatively few death claims, either, claims that next of kin would file for pay due a deceased serviceman. Your man may be the unlucky exception, but I'd guess that 95% of all men that served under Clanton's command lived to tell about it, such as they had to tell....