I just found the following website with info re the sons of the original "Siamese twins" Eng and Chang Bunker. These two sons (each other's first cousin) were apparently in Virginia CSA cavalry units. Eng and Chang and their families lived in Mt. Airy NC - the model for Andy Griffith's television "Mayberry".
Historical reality IS stranger than fiction...!!!!!!!!
Enjoy,
Kenneth Byrd
.
.
.
.
at: http://sites.google.com/site/accsacw/Home/confederate-1
Chinese serving in the Confederate arm force
Christopher Wren Bunker and Stephen Decatur Bunker
written by Gordon Kwok (webmaster)
Photo Identification:
Front row:
Left hand side, taller boy: Christopher Wren Bunker
Right hand side, shorter boy: Stephen Decatur Bunker
Back row: From left to right
Sarah Yates Bunker, Eng Bunker, Chang Bunker, and Adelaide Yates Bunker
Christopher Wren Bunker was named after the famous English architect,
Sir Christopher Wren, 1632–1723.
Stephen Decatur Bunker was named after a famous American naval officer,
Commodore Stephen Decatur, Jr., 1779- 1820.
On April 2, 1865, Union Major General George Stoneman paused in North
Carolina, and decided to draft some of the locals, no matter what their
sympathies were, into his Division, and the names of all males over
eighteen were put into a lottery wheel.
One of the names drawn was Eng Bunker, a Chinese originally from Siam
(Thailand), a devoted Confederate. Not only that, he was also the world
famous, first known "Siamese twins", for he had a five-inch ligament of
flesh in his chest, linked to his twin brother, Chang Bunker. The two
also shared one liver. Chang, as strong in his southern sympathies as
his brother, refused to go. Since Chang's name had not been drawn, Gen.
Stoneman could not forced Eng to join.
Eng and Chang, known as "the Chinese twins" in their native Siam,
arrived in the United States in 1829. It was said that when the twin
were in Boston, Mass., they picked Bunker as their last name on account
of Bunker Hill Battle of the Revolutionary War. Ten years later, they
bought 110 acres in the Blue Ridge Mountains from their earnings as
"Siamese twins" on exhibit. Soon after, they became Naturalized
citizens, taking oaths of allegiance to the State of North Carolina as
well as to the United States. Fishermen in Siam, they read widely on
agriculture and soon became skilled farmers. They were among the first
in the state to produce the "bright leaf" tobacco, which was especially
prized in the manufacturing of cigarettes. And using the most modern
methods available, they raised milk cows, cattle, sheep, pigs and fowl;
grew wheat, rye, Indian corn, oats, peas, beans, and potatoes; kept
bees; and cultivated orchards, all with the help of slaves.
The twins' ownership of slaves, twenty at the outbreak of the war, seems
ironic, as they themselves had been "sold" by their mother for exhibit
by a Captain Coffin. As historian John Kuo Wei Tchen suggested that Eng
and Chang "fully adopted the values of Southern planters, and could
improve their own sense of personal self-worth and personal liberty."
Certainly, their acceptance by the community in which they chose to
settle was marginal: When Eng and Chang proposed marriage to the Yates
sisters, people in the area vigorously opposed the union as "unnatural,"
while the young ladies' parents tried to prevent it because the twins
were Chinese.
The twins persisted and eventually prevailed. On April 10, 1843, Eng
married Sarah, Chang married Adelaide, and they raised their children,
twenty-two between them, as such staunch southerners that their eldest
sons both enlisted as soon as they came to age.
Christopher, born to Chang and Adelaide, enlisted in Company I of the
Thirty-seventh Battalion, Virginia Cavalry, on April 1, 1863 "for the
war." But he was not called up for service until September 14, 1863. Of
course, as the son of loyal Confederates, he had been aiding the war
effort long before he entered active service. The Bunkers offered warm
and generous hospitality to the troops, from providing food and clothing
to nursing the wounded. Active service brought Christopher onto the
battlefield.
In the summer of 1864, Confederate Brigadier General John McCausland,
under orders from General Jubal Early in his Shennondoah Valley
Campaign, to relieve the pressure on the defense on the Siege of
Petersburg, invaded Pennsylvania again and took Chambersburg, crossing
the Potomac River with twenty-six hundred cavalrymen, including
Christopher. Sweeping aside the Union cavalry, McCausland took control
of Chambersburg on July 30 and demanded either $100,000 in gold coin or
$500,000 in U.S. currency to spare the city. When the inhabitants failed
to raise the money in the three hours he had allotted, McCausland
ordered Chambersburg destroyed, and while the city burned, drunken
soldiers plundered freely, going so far as to tear brooches, finger
rings, and earrings off women in the streets.
From Chambersburg, McCausland skirmished with pursuing Federals, then
moved on to Moorefield, West Virginia. Three miles outside the town,
certain he had left Union troops far behind, he ordered his men to set
up camp in an area that was flat and militarily indefensible. Within
twenty-four hours, Union cavalry ambushed a Confederate scouting party,
then (disguised in gray) surprised and overwhelmed Confederate
sentinels, pickets, and a small detachment on night duty, thus riding
into camp without raising any alarm. In the mayhem that followed,
Christopher became one of the many Confederates who were wounded and
captured.
The largest Federal military prison at that time was Camp Chase, four
miles west of Columbus, Ohio. Under the charge of Colonel William F.
Richardson, the prison was surrounded by a twelve-foot-high wooden wall.
Christopher, housed in a small wooded barrack with 197 other prisoners,
slept on a straw-covered bunk and passed his waking hours reading the
Bible and carving boats and musical instruments out of wood. Packages
from home supplemented his meager rations. His father also sent him
money with which he could buy items from the prison store. Nevertheless,
Christopher was probably, like most of his fellow inmates, short of
clothing and infected with lice. At least once he was reduced to eating
a cooked rat, and on September 9, 1864, he was hospitalized from
"variola," a virus that could have been either smallpox (which was then
raging through the camp) or the less serious chickenpox. Finally, on
March 4, 1865, he was exchanged for a Union prisoner of war, and his
family welcomed him home on April 17, 1865.
His cousin Stephen's military experience was similar. Enlisting in the
very same cavalry battalion on July 2, 1864, Stephen escaped the debacle
at Moorefield. But on September 3, 1864, he was wounded in fighting near
Winchester, Virginia. According to Judge Jesse F. Graves (who wrote an
unpublished biography of Eng and Chang.), Stephen "bore himself
gallantly," going back into action despite his wound. Indeed, Stephen's
two sons claimed that shortly before the end of the war, their father
was wounded a second time and then captured by the Union Army. After the
Confederate surrendered, Stephen and Christopher both chose to live in
Mount Airy, farming like their fathers, but without slaves.
(Most of the information came from the research work of Ruthanne Lum
McCunn, who graciously allowed me to use in this web site.
Others were the result of the webmaster's own research, which I had
added to this article. So the article is the result of both researchers'
work. I have visited Mount Airy, North Carolina, on November 2001, and
on the back graveyard of the White Plains Baptise Church laid the twin's
tombstone. The site is a National Historic Landmark. The bridge leading
to the town is named Eng and Chang Bridge. A street was named on one of
their descendants, Scott Bunker. I also found a Bunker family tombstone,
descendants of the twin, but unfortunately, not the tombstones of
Christopher Wren Bunker and Stephen Decatur Bunker.)
The papers of Christopher Wren Bunker were filed in the Wilson Library,
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27514-8890, U.S.A. Its
microfilm file number is CB#3934. The copyright owner is from Utah. May
I call the person Utah Copyright Holder (UCH). The papers are open to
private use to all researchers. For any public use, permission must be
granted by the UCH. The webmaster attempted to contact the UCH, but
couldn’t find the UCH.
Respecting the copyright of UCH, the webmaster won’t be able to reprint
the papers here. However, I could describe the date, location, recipient
and general characteristic of the letter, but without the verbatim
content. Any researcher who is interested to read those letters could
contact the University of North Carolina. You could get a copy of his
papers after you paid the xeroxing service fee (from the microfilm) to
the Library.
As far as we know, this is the only known document written by Chinese
veteran serving in the American Civil War. So it reflects very important
significant evident that Chinese indeed served in the American Civil
War. (I have seen reference that Hong Neok Woo had written his biography
in Chinese in Shanghai, and was translated into English. I am still
looking for the original Chinese text and hadn’t found it yet.)
I am going to write notes on the characteristic of the letters on, who
wrote it; to whom it was written, date and place it was written. The
letter reflected the lacking of food, clothing, supplies and equipment.
He asked help from home to supplement his needs. It also depicted the
tiredness of the cavalry soldiers. It also showed the locations that
they had traveled.
Letter 1
Written by Christopher Wren Bunker
To his sister
Date: November 2, 1863
Location: Camp East Tennessee
Letter 2
Written by Christopher Wren Bunker
To his sister
Date: April 20, 1864
Location: Camp Head waters of Hoeston?? (illegible) Brun. ?? (illegible)
County, Virginia
(Note: The webmaster did a little research on the rivers in Virginia and
the County in Virginia. The river name should be Holston, an old river
name, probably named after an early explorer or settler. The county name
Brun. could be the abridged name for Brunswick. This is the closest
county name I could find. If someone who knew the geography of Virginia,
and could confirm the head waters of the river Holston is in the county
of Brunswick, then, everything would jive.)
Letter 3
Written by Christopher Wren Bunker
To his sister
Date: May 14, 1864
Location: Dublin, Virginia
Letter 4
Written by Christopher Wren Bunker
To his sister
Date: June 26, 1864
Location: Lexington, Rockbridge County, Virginia
Letter 5
Written by Christopher Wren Bunker
To his sister
Date: July 1, 1864
Location: Camp Stantant, Virginia
Letter 6
Written by Christopher Wren Bunker
To his father, mother, brothers and sisters
Date: October 12, 1864
Location: Camp Chase
Letter 7
Written by Christopher Wren Bunker
To his sister
Date: October 17, 1868
Location: not stated
Letter 8
Written by Christopher Wren Bunker
To his sister
Date: November 18, 1868
Location: Camp Davall