(14) Barney Davis and (15) Nancy Reed

Lineage: Pauline McClanahan Cooper > Leona Alton > Isabella Texas Davis > 

(14) Barney Davis (my 3rd great-grandfather) was born about 1814, probably around Hamilton County, Tennessee. According to my research, Barney was likely the illegitimate child of James Davis and Sarah Eastridge. This will be covered in more detail below. Barney was a soldier and farmer. 

(15) Nancy Reed  (my 3rd great-grandmother) was born around 1822 in the Hightower, Georgia, a Cherokee town near what is today the Cartersville, Geogia. This area is in the northwestern part of Georgia near Tennessee. She was the daughter of William and Susan Reed. Susan was part Cherokee. Click here for a detailed accounting of our Cherokee Ancestry.

On 25 Jul 1836, Barney and his 3 brothers Sullivan, James, and Wesley are all listed as members of Captain Benjamin B. Cannon’s Company of Tennessee Mounted Militia. They were enlisted for 12 months to serve in the Sabine War. This is more commonly called the Sabine Expedition. As a result of Mexican and Native American attacks along the Western Frontier, Major General Edmund Pendleton Gaines, was put in charge of protecting the Sabine River, as a boundary between Mexico, Texas, and Louisiana.

On 27 Jun 1837, all four brothers were mustered into Captain Benjamin B. Cannon’s Company First Regiment Tennessee Volunteer Infantry. This time they were supporting the rounding up and organizing of Cherokee Indians, in preparation for the forced migration of the Cherokees west. This march would begin in May of 1838 and would become known as “The Trail of Tears,” as approximately 4,000 Cherokee would die along the way.

A year later, Barney would marry Nancy Reed and his brother, Wesley, would marry Nancy’s sister, Nellie Reed. These two sisters were members of the Cherokee Nation.

For some reason, around this time, Barney would begin going by the name of Barney Eastridge. I do not have a good answer for why Barney Davis began calling himself Barney Eastridge, but as you will see this is clearly the same Barney and his children returned to using the name Davis after his death. My belief is that he was illegitimate and perhaps him and his father had some falling out. But it does seem that he stayed close to his brother Wesley.

Our first evidence of this comes from the papers of William Holland Thomas. Thomas was a merchant, lawyer, and a representative of the Eastern Cherokee, who remained in the East, after the forced removal of 1838. From 1835 to 1844, he worked to enforce the 1835 New Echota Treaty and to have the remaining Cherokee recognized as citizens. Eventually, in 1866, the Eastern Band of the Cherokee were recognized as a distinct tribe and given a reservation in North Carolina.

In 1840, he was trying to document all the Cherokee families in Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, and North Carolina and where they were living in 1835 when the Treaty of New Echota was signed.  According to his notes, in 1840, he was in Cleveland, Tennessee on some business and travelled 15 miles to visit the families of Eastridge and Wesley Davis. (The city of Ootlewah in Hamilton County, where Barney and Wesley’s families were living, is approximately 15 miles south of Cleveland.)

In his notes, he lists Barney Eastridge as the head of a family consisting of 2 people (Barney and Nancy). He also notes that Barney’s wife was part Cherokee, the daughter of William Reed, and that in 1835, she was living in Hightower, Georgia. 

The Cherokee town of Hightower was once located near what is today Rome, GA, but the people relocated to what is today Cartersville, GA, in 1792, after attacks by whites.

He notes that Wesley Davis was the head of a family of 4 (Wesley, Nellie, Eliza, and Cynthia). He also notes that Wesley’s wife was part Cherokee, the daughter of Susana Reed, and that in 1835, she was living in Hightower, Georgia.

Typical Cherokee Homes from 1800s

Typical Inside of Home

In the 1850 census, we find Barney Eastridge [Davis] living in Hamilton County, TN with their children Eliza, James, Newton, Wesley, and Sarah. The names of their children give some clues to family relations. James is the name of Barney’s father and brother. Wesley is the name of Barney’s brother and Sarah is the name of Barney’s mother, who is also in this census living directly next door. Barney is listed as a farmer.

The family of Nancy and Barney Davis is listed in the 1851 Silas and Chapman Rolls for Hamilton County, Tennessee. The Silas roll was a listing of those Eastern Cherokee entitled to a per capita payment based on the 1835 Treaty. The Chapman roll was a listing of all those that were approved for payment based on the Silas roll. These payments were made in December of 1851 and January of 1852 to 2,134 individuals. 

The children of Nancy and Barney Davis are listed as: Eliza, James, Newton, Wesley, and Sarah Ann. This, to me, is very strong proof that Barney Eastridge is Barney Davis. It might be a coincidence to have a wife of the same name and a child or even two, but to have a husband and wife and 5 children in the same order with the same names, is not possible. Nancy’s sister, Nellie’s, and Barney’s brother, Wesley’s, family is also listed.

It should also be noted that in the 1883, Hester Roll of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians Eliza Going, Tennessee Davis, and Texas Alton are listed and referenced as the daughters of Nancy and Barney Davis. And in the 1909, Guion Miller roll, Tennessee (Davis) Gillespie and Isabella Texas (Davis) Alton list their parents as Nancy and Barney Davis. Tennessee also lists her father’s mother as Sarah Davis, her mother’s parents as William and Susan Reed, and her aunt as Nellie Davis nee Reed.

In the 1860 census, Barney and Nancy Eastridge [Davis] are still living in Hamilton County, TN with their children Eliza, James, Newton, Wesley, Tennessee, and Isabella Texas. Barney’s mother, Sarah, is now living with them and their daughter, Sarah, has passed. Barney is listed as a farmer with a personal estate value of $200 ($7,000 in 2022).

Civil War and Deaths

Barney and his family seem to be staunch Unionists during the Civil War. Actually, before the war, East Tennessee had a strong abolitionist and pro-union sentiment. In fact, the vote of all 30 counties from East Tennessee was 34,023 against secession to 14,872 for secession. Once war started, Tennessee provided more soldiers to the Union Army than any other Confederate state, totaling 31,092 white troops and 20,133 black troops. At the beginning of the war, many Unionists in East Tennessee actively worked to sabotage the Confederate Army by blowing up bridges, interrupting supply lines.

On 23 Jan 1864, Barney and Nancy’s sons Newton and James E enlisted at Harrison, Tennessee, for a 3 year enlistments. They were both privates in the 4th Tennessee Cavalry, Company L. Their cousin, Lafayette Davis, was in the same company.

Around January 26, 1864, Barney Davis, Willis Biggs, and John Connor were arrested at their homes, taken into North Georgia, and shot in the back of their heads by a Confederate Rebel Guerrilla group known as Snow’s Scouts. Barney was just 50 years old and left behind 6 children, including my 2nd great-grandmother, Isabella Texas, who was just 4 years old.

On 12 May 1868, the United States Congress held hearings on Confederate treatment of prisoners of war. Below is the relevant testimony of A. M. Cate. Notice that the above article refers to the victim as Barney Davis, but the testimony here refers to him as Barney Eastridge. This is irrefutable proof that Barney Davis and Barney Eastridge were the same man.

Question. Please state your name, age, and place of residence.
Answer. A. M. Cate : I am forty - five years of age ; I reside at Ooltewah, Hamilton County, East Tennessee 

Q. How long have you resided at Ooltewah and vicinity?
A. Since November, 1849 

Q. State if you were in the service of the United States; and if so, in what capacity.
A. I was; as second lieutenant of Company G, Sixth Tennessee infantry. 

Q. State what, if anything, you know as to the murder of Willis Biggs, John Connor, and Barney Eastridge [Davis]; and if you knew these men.
A. I was personally intimate with them; I know they were Union men and devoted to the Union cause. On or about, the 26th of January, 1864 , they were arrested at their respective homes and taken over the State line into Georgia , and were shot down and killed; where they were found about three months afterward and identified by their families and friends, brought home and buried. 

Q. Did you see them in their coffins?
A. I did, when they were brought home. 

Q. State whether there was any cause for the murder, except the fact that they were Union men?
A. None whatever. 

Q. By whom were they shot?
A . At the instance of William Snow, who headed a band of rebel guerrillas.

This tale only confirms the horrors that were faced by those that remained loyal to their country during the Civil War, especially those that lived behind enemy lines. 

In her application to the Guion Miller Roll of Eastern Cherokees daughter, Isabella Texas, stated that her father died “in the war time,” and her mother “near the end of the war.”

It is not surprising that Nancy Davis died before the end of the war. It is just amazing that all of their children survived, given the treatment of Unionists during the war. In the same testimony mentioned above, A. M. Cate describes the treatment of Unionists during the war:

They indiscriminately patrolled Union men's houses, searched for their private retreats, and way laid the highways of the country, shooting them both before and after their capture; hung innocent men for sentiment, and tortured them in a most barbarous manner to make them give up, or tell where their money or property was; their houses were robbed, and destroyed by fire; rebel officers would authorize the taking of their horses, logs, cattle, sheep, hay, corn, wheat, flour, bacon, &c., except a scant allowance for the family, which the private rebel soldier or guerrilla would go and get, and thus reduce the families of federal soldiers and Union citizens to extreme want for food and clothing. 

It was not uncommon for a mother to take a meal with her children of corn bread and water or wheat or rye coffee, and frequently compelled to use Irish potatoes, or cow peas as a substitute for bread, and sometimes for several mealtimes destitute of either. It was with the greatest difficulty that many of them could provide the ordinary means of subsistence by the mothers, wives, daughters, and children of federal soldiers and Unionists cultivating such fields or lots as they could keep fenced, with worthless jacks, jennies, single ox or calf, and I have understood that milch cows have been used to plow and haul rails to replace those burned or destroyed by rebels, as well as firewood. 

Women, without regard to condition, were placed under the necessity of taking their little sacks of corn and walking for miles through the heat of summer or the storm of winter to a mill to get it ground, and under the same difficulties cut and haul or carry their firewood, make rails and fence, and various other hard ships, doubtless less enduring, but too tedious to itemize , and even then would many times have to give the last mouthful to a guerrilla, rebel soldier, or their sick…

I have seen multitudes composed of old men, women, and children of all classes exposed to all the severity of winter in the most pitiable conditions, thinly clad in cotton, and so ragged and dirty as to be unable to cover their nakedness, bare-headed, bare-footed, without tent or shelter, and frequently denied the comforts of fire. Language cannot represent their sufferings…

I believe thousands of Union men were forced into the rebel army, many of whom deserted, escaped to the federal lines, enlisted and proved their patriotism to be equal to any on the battle-field, while many died, and many others too timid to run the risk of desertion have left the stigma of their involuntary record clinging to their posterity as part of their father's history.

After the War

In the 1870 census, Barney and Nancy’s children Eliza J, Tennessee, Isabella Texas, and Barney Jr. are living with Barney’s mother, Sarah. They are all listed with the last name of Davis, including Sarah. They are also all listed as Indian (Native American), except Sarah.

In 1870, Barney and Nancy’s son, James, leaves for Cherokee territory in Oklahoma. James gets sick along the way and they stay 2 years in Missouri. They finally make it to the Cherokee Nation around 1878. 

At some point, after the Civil War, Newton Davis also migrated to Cherokee territory out west. He died on 8 Aug 1899 near Bartlesville, Indian Territory. He was given a veteran’s gravestone.

Barney Eastridge Davis and Nancy (Reed) Davis:

1. Eliza J. m. _____ Going
2. James E. m. Elizabeth Thornton
3. Newton
4. Wesley
5. Sarah Ann
6. Tennessee “Tennie” m. William Gillespie
7. Isabella Texas m. Robert H. Alton
8. Barney Jr.

Appendix:

Tennessee "Tennie" Davis 1906 Guion Miller Roll Application (pdf)

Texas (Davis) Alton 1906 Guion Miller Roll Application (pdf)

Lafayette Davis 1906 Guion Miller Roll Application (pdf)

Leona "Ona" (Alton) McClanahan's 1907 Guion Miller Roll Application (pdf)

Burduir Alton 1906 Guion Miller Roll Application (pdf)

Sources:

“Some Tennessee Heroes of the Revolution, Vol. 1,” by Zella Armstrong, 1933, p. 10.

“Early Hamilton Settlers,” by John Wilson, (https://www.chattanoogan.com/2001/11/6/14587/Several-Davis-Families-Settled-Early.aspx)

“The History of Hamilton County and Chattanooga, Tennessee, Volume 1,” by Zella Armstrong, 1993. 

“Diary 1840-1842 / William Holland Thomas,” https://dlg.usg.edu/record/dlg_zlna_cm001?canvas=66&x=127&y=89&w=843

“The Nashville Daily Union, June 16, 1864,” (https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83025718/1864-06-16/ed-1/seq-4/)

“Sheriff William Snow,” The Sheriffs of Hamilton County, (https://www.hcsheriff.gov/gen_info/past_sheriffs/william_snow.asp).

“Reports of Committees, 16th Congress, 1st Session - 49th Congress, 1st Session - Vol. 4,” by United States. Congress. House, 1869, pages 1018-1021.

The Weekly Herald (Cleveland, TN), 21 Jun 1877, page 2.

(28) Private James Davis and (29) Sarah Eastridge “Davis”

Lineage: Pauline McClanahan Cooper > Leona Alton > Isabella Texas Davis > Barney Davis > 

(28) James Davis (my 4th great-grandfather) was born on 08 Jul 1761 in Fauquier, Virginia. It is reported by some that his parents were Thomas Davis and Sarah (Harrison) Davis, but I do not have good evidence of this. James was a private in the Revolutionary War.

Most of the information below was provided by James Davis’s pension file (R.2745), as reported by the Quartermaster General of the War department.

James Davis was born in Fauquir County, Virginia. James volunteered in Wilkes County, North Carolina and served as a private with the North Carolina troops as follows:

• Three months in Captain John Keys’ Company
• Five months in Captain Smith’s Company of Rangers
• Six weeks in pursuit of Tories under Colonel Cleveland
• Three months in Captain Gordon’s Company, Colonel Walbury’s Regiment, and was in the Battle of Eutaw Springs.
• Six weeks in Captain Pendleton Isbel’s Company.
• Served under John Sevier in the last battle of the Revolution, The Battle of Lookout Mountain in Tennessee.

After the Revolution, many veterans received land grants western Carolina, in the territory which would become the state of Tennessee in 1796. James likely received one of these grants since he moved to Greene County, North Carolina. Green County was formed in 1783 and was named after Major General Nathanael Greene. James Davis, served under Greene in the Battle of Eutaw Springs, in 1781. 

James Davis and Mary Brumley married on 31 Aug 1786 in Greene County, according to Tennessee marriage records.

In 1814, James Davis fathers a child, (14) Barney Davis - my 3rd great-grandfather, with his consort (29) Sarah Eastridge, my 4th great-grandmother. Sarah is covered in much more detail in the profile of Barney Davis.

He was granted a pension on 28 Aug 1832, in Hamilton County, TN. At the time he was 71 years old.

In the 1840 census, James is listed as a veteran. Four of his sons also served in the Tennessee Militia, and a number of his grandsons fought for the Union during the Civil War.

On 9 Dec 1843, James Davis died in Hamilton County, Tennessee. He was 82 years old. On 9 Oct 2004, the John Sevier Chapter and the Benjamin Cleveland Chapter of the Sons of The American Revolution, assisted in a ceremony marking his grave. 

On 19 Apr 1845, Jame’s wife, Mary Brumley, died in Snow Hill, Hamilton County, Tennessee. She was 79 years old. She was buried next to her late husband, James Davis.

James Davis and Sarah (Eastridge) Davis:

1. Barney Eastridge Davis m. Nancy Reed

James Davis and Mary (Brumley) Davis:

1. James M.
2. Sullivan W. Sr.
3. Phillip 
4. John Wesley Davis Sr.
5. Benjamin Franklin Davis

Sources:

“Some Tennessee Heroes of the Revoluiton, Vol. 1,” by Zella Armstrong, 1933, p. 10.

“Early Hamilton Settlers,” by John Wilson, (https://www.chattanoogan.com/2001/11/6/14587/Several-Davis-Families-Settled-Early.aspx)

The Fighting McClanahans of East Tennessee

It is wrong to believe that all Southerners supported secession and slavery, in the years leading up to the Civil War. In fact, in 1826, there were 143 anti-slavery societies in the United States, of which 103 were in the South. 

In many areas, in the lead up to the Civil War, the majority of people did not support secession. For example, West Virginia split from Virginia to stay in the Union. Eastern Tennessee and northern Alabama were also mostly against secession and had to be occupied by Confederate troops during the War. Sam Houston, the Governor of Texas, was against secession and refused to swear an Oath of Loyalty to the Confederacy. As a result, he was stripped of his governorship. Houston predicted the South would lose the war “after the sacrifice of countless millions of treasure and hundreds of thousands of lives.” It is worth noting, that Houston grew up in East Tennessee, in what would later become Meigs County.

My McClanahan ancestors had settled in East Tennessee starting in the late 1700s, in what would become Rhea and Meigs counties. My 3rd great-grandfather, Mason T. McClanahan and his children were living in Meigs county during the Civil War period.

Even though, only 15% of Meigs County’s population were slaveholders, the county voted for Tennessee’s Ordinance of Secession (481-267). Meigs and Rhea were 2 of only 6 counties in East Tennessee that voted for Secession. The vote of all 30 counties from East Tennessee was 34,023 against secession to 14,872 for secession. 

The state of Tennessee furnished more soldiers for the Union Army than any other Confederate state, totaling 31,092 white troops and 20,133 black troops. Meigs county provided troops for both sides of the war.

It is not hard to figure out where Mason T. McClanahan stood, as 6 of his 9 sons fought for the Union. Of the other 3 sons, one had already passed away and the other two were too young to fight. Two of his sons would die in the war, Miles and Hiram.

For the McClanahans, and all the soldiers from Confederate States that fought for the Union, this would not have been a territorial war, but rather a true “civil” war. A war between communities, neighbors, and even families. They chose to go off and fight while leaving their families to live behind enemy lines.

Why Fight for the Union?

It is impossible to know exactly why the McClanahans fought for the Union, but we do have  interviews and writings of Unionist soldiers from Confederate States.

The most obvious reason, could have been simply patriotism. They loved their country and wanted to preserve it.

Another reason could have been a moral and/or religious objection to slavery. There is no record of the McClanahans owning slaves. They seemed to be small rural farmers, who did their work themselves. According to the famous abolitionist Rev. John Rankin, in his youth “a majority of the people of East Tennessee were Abolitionists.”

There is also some evidence that the McClanahans were Methodist. The Methodist Church was staunchly anti-slavery going back to its’ founder, John Wesley. In his 1774 pamphlet “Thoughts Upon Slavery” Wesley ended with:

“O thou God of love, thou who art loving to every man, and whose mercy is over all thy works; thou who art the Father of the spirits of all flesh, and who art rich in mercy unto all; thou who hast mingled of one blood all the nations upon earth; have compassion upon these outcasts of men, who are trodden down as dung upon the earth! Arise, and help these that have no helper, whose blood is spilt upon the ground like water! Are not these also the work of thine own hands, the purchase of thy Son's blood? Stir them up to cry unto thee in the land of their captivity; and let their complaint come up before thee; let it enter into thy ears! Make even those that lead them away captive to pity them, and turn their captivity as the rivers in the south. O burst thou all their chains in sunder; more especially the chains of their sins! Thou Saviour of all, make them free, that they may be free indeed!”

In 1845, there was a split within the church, over the issue of slavery, resulting in northern and southern branches. (The two branches would be reunited in 1939.) But surely, many southern Methodists retained their anti-slavery convictions, after the split.

On a purely economic level, prior to the Civil War, only 9 percent of the population of East Tennessee were slaves. Slavery was not as large of an economic factor in East Tennessee, as in some other areas. One reason for this is that the soil in East Tennessee did not support the growing of cash crops such as cotton, rice, tobacco, or sugar. These were all crops that were very highly labor intensive and the lack of these crops therefore produced less of a demand for slaves. As a result, the farmers of East Tennessee produced more diversified crops than in other parts of the south.

Below are the summaries of the service of each of the McClanahan brothers:

Jehue McClanahan (1830-1904)
Private, Company B, 3rd Regiment Tennessee Infantry
Enlisted Feb 12, 1862 in Flat Lick, KY for a 3 year enlistment.
Captured at Loudon, KY in Aug of 1862 and imprisoned at Camp Chase.
February to March 1864 Out sick in Knoxville, TN
July to December 1864 Absent Sick.
He was discharged on Feb 23, 1865 in Nashville, Tennessee and was paid $100.
Registered as Invalid in 1887.
1890 Veterans Schedule of US Census from Meigs County, TN shows Jahu McClanahan as a Pvt., Co. B, 3rd Regiment of Tennessee Infantry.
The 3rd Tennessee Infantry would have been part of the Army of Tennessee (Union) and would have supported  participated in some of the largest battles and campaigns of the war, including: Atlanta Campaign, Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, Siege of Atlanta, Battle of Jonesboro, Second Battle of Franklin, and the Battle of Nashville. For much of the time, they would have served under General William Tecumseh Sherman.
Learn more about the 3rd Tennessee Infantry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3rd_Tennessee_Infantry_Regiment_(Union)

Four of the brothers, Mason, Miles, James Franklin, and Hiram, were all members of the 5th Regiment of Tennessee Infantry. The 5th Tennessee Infantry would have participated in the Battle of Spring Hill, Second Battle of Franklin, Battle of Nashville, and the Carolinas Campaign.
Learn more about the 5th. Regiment of the Tennessee Infantry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5th_Tennessee_Infantry_Regiment_(Union)

Mason “Mace” McClanahan (1844-1922)
Private, Comapny E, 5th Regiment Tennessee Infantry
Enlisted on March 2, 1862 in Decatur, Tennessee and mustered in on March 29th, 1862 at Barbourville, Kentucky.
His enlistment record states that he was 17 years old, 6’ tall with a dark complexion, black eyes, and black hair. He was from Meigs County, TN and was a farmer.
In a muster roll from 1864, he is listed as the company cook.
At the time of his discharge on Apr 4, 1865, he was in the hospital sick and was in need of transportation home.

Miles McClanahan (1848-1864)
Private, Company E, 5th Regiment East Tennessee Infantry
He enlisted on March 2nd, 1862 for 3 years in Decatur, TN at 16 years old.
He mustered in on March 29th in Barbourville, KY.
On April 17, he was left sick at the hospital in Barbourville.
He had rejoined his regiment by May of 1862.
In 1863, he was a prisoner of war and paroled sick to the Union Hospital at McMinnville, TN on Oct 3, 1863.
In February of 1864 he was furloughed and returned to Meigs County, TN where he died of disease on May 8, 1864.

Hiram D. McClanahan (1842-1864)
Private, Company E, 5th Regiment East Tennessee Infantry
He mustered in March 29th, 1862 and died in field hospital in Allatoona, GA on June 9th, 1864 of wounds received in action on June 2nd, 1864. He was just 22 years old. 

The official record shows that he was wounded in action on June 2nd, 1864 at Lost Mountain, in Georgia. Lost Mountain served as the southwesterly anchor of a ten-mile Confederate defensive line against Union troops marching toward Atlanta, preceding the battle of Kennesaw Mountain on June 27th.  Confederate earthworks remain on the property. This is precisely where Sherman’s army would have been on June 2nd, 1864 and it would make perfect sense for wounded soldiers from there to be sent to Allatoona, GA. While there was no battle on June 2nd, 1864, Hiram could have been wounded in a skirmish or as a scout, in what was the lead up to the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain.

In the first days of June, 1864, Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman concentrated his armies along the Western and Atlantic Railroad north of Marietta to resupply after a month of heavy fighting. Gen. Joseph E. Johnston positioned his Confederate army defensively between Lost Mountain west of the railroad and Brush Mountain to the east. Sherman moved forward toward Johnston’s position on June 10. After a week of skirmishing at Gilgal Church and along Mud Creek, Johnston pulled back to a new line centered on Kennesaw Mountain, just outside Marietta by June 19. South of Kennesaw, Gen. John B. Hood struck Sherman at Kolb’s Farm on June 22 but was repulsed. Convinced Johnston had stretched his line too thin, Sherman decided on a frontal attack on the Confederate mountain bastion. After an  artillery bombardment, Sherman sent his troops forward the morning of June 27. Determined Yankee assaults reached the Rebel trenches, but were unable to break the Southern line. Sherman called the battle as "the hardest fight of the campaign up to that date.” The tactical Confederate victory failed to deliver a strategic win, namely a halt to Sherman's advance towards Atlanta. In the battle of Kennesaw mountain, 100,000 Union soldiers fought 50,000 Confederate soldiers. The union lost 3,000 while the confederates lost 1,000.

Artillery at Kennesaw Mountain

Hiram’s widow, Elizabeth, applied for pension Aug 1865, and was approved to receive $8 per month and $2 per month for each of their 4 children.

James Franklin McClanahan (1837-1901)

Private, Company E, 5th Regiment East Tennessee Infantry
He enlisted on Mar 3, 1863.
He was discharged on July 4, 1865.
He registered for invalid pension on Jan 9, 1888
James’s widow, Elizabeth, registered for his pension on Nov 29, 1901.

John McClanahan (1832-1889)
Private, Company G, 3rd Regiment Tennessee Cavalry
He enlisted on July 12, 1863 in Decatur, TN for 3 years.
He mustered in August 21, 1863 in Nashville, TN.
In most of his muster files, he was listed as a cook.
Between, February and March of 1864 he was listed as sick in Knoxville, TN

In September of 1864, the 3rd Tennessee Cavalry, 9th Indiana Cavalry, and the 111th United States Colored Troops occupied the Sulphur Creek Trestle, north of Athens, AL. Fortifications there were protecting the Nashville and Decatur Railroad, which were being used to supply Maj. General William T. Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign.

On 25 Sep 1864, Confederate cavalry under Maj. General Nathan Bedford Forrest surrounded Sulphur Creek Trestle, and after heavy bombardment the Union troops surrendered.

He was then imprisoned at Cahaba, AL. 

On 21 Mar 1865, at the end of the war, he was released from prison as part of a prisoner exchange and travelled to Vicksburg, Mississippi. In April, he and 1,965 other federal soldiers, 35 officers, and about 300 civilians boarded the Sultana steamboat. The vessel was only constructed to hold 376 passengers. 

On the evening of April 26th, the Sultana arrived in Memphis, TN and unloaded much of its cargo and some of the passengers. It then loaded the cargo with coal and headed out. Around 2am, one of her boilers exploded and caught the ship on fire. 1,169 people died in what remains the worst maritime disaster in US history. 

Picture of the Sultana taken on April 26th, 1865

John McClanahan was originally listed as one of the dead, but he actually survived. On May 7th, he was sent to Nashville, TN and mustered out there on 10 Jun 1865. He was paid $25 and the record showed that he was still owed $75.

No one was ever held accountable for the disaster and it as even overshadowed in the news by the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, which had happened the day before.

To learn more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sultana_(steamboat)

On 27 Oct 1879, he registered as an invalid and started receiving a pension. John died on Aug 3rd, 1889 and was buried in Georgetown, TN.His wife Adeline registered for his pension on Oct 5, 1889.