Edward Freeman (E.F.) Comegys was a
Confederate soldier during the Civil War. He served in the 43rd
Alabama Infantry Regiment after enlisting as a Sergeant.
Comegys had a unique career, both
during and after the war. Born in Alabama in 1841, he passed away in
Gainesville, Texas Jan 26, 1910. Comegys appears to have attended the
University of Alabama, completing his college days in 1859.
He enlisted in the 43rd
Alabama on May 13, 1862 and remained with that command until the final days of
the war. The 43rd played a key role in the Confederate victory at
Chickamauga on September 20, 1863.
Comegys
was promoted as the war went on, first to Lieutenant and then to Captain
of his company. He was captured during the fight at Hatcher’s Run on March 25,
1865 and then released at Ft. Delaware, Delaware on June 17, 1865.
The remainder of the 43rd
was a part of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and surrendered with
that outfit at Appomatox a few weeks after Comegys was captured.
After surviving his long service in
a losing cause, Comegys returned home and started his post-war life. He didn’t
spend much time at home in Alabama. He married the former Susan Harris and was
working in Gainesville by 1876. The marriage produced six children.
Comegys became the Superintendant of
the Denton Public Schools in 1884 and held that position until 1890, when he
took the same position with the school system in Gainesville.
The former soldier was an active
member of the United Confederate Veterans. Importantly for historians, Comegys
attended a reunion of Confederate veterans in 1907 or 1908 and met researcher
Archibald Gracie, the son of Confederate Brigadier General Archibald Gracie.
The 43rd was part of the
elder Gracie’s brigade when it was part of the dramatic charge up the sides of
Horseshoe Ridge at Chickamauga. That meeting at the reunion of Alabama
Confederates began a series of communications with the younger Gracie and that
eventually generated information that historians can pour over now, giving
voice to witnesses of the closing hours of the fighting for control of the
Ridge.
Witnesses whose testimony is
generally ignored. Most histories of the battle generally praise the 43rd’s
contribution to the Confederate attack on Horseshoe Ridge of Sept. 20, 1863 but
few histories of that attack offer a full retelling of the 43rd’s
movements. The testimony of Comegys and others offers to complete the story.
So Comegys’ career is valuable in a
number of ways: He was an effective soldier (albeit for the wrong cause), an
educator and an important contributor to fully understanding some battles
during the Civil War.
E.F. Comegys will probably never
have a best-selling book written about his life. He was one of the faceless
millions who survived the war, succeeded during Reconstruction and lived a long
life.
