E. F. Comegys: A career worth noting

            Edward Freeman (E.F.) Comegys was a Confederate soldier during the Civil War. He served in the 43^rd 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 43^rd Alabama on May 13, 1862 and remained with that command until the final days of the war. The 43^rd 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 43^rd 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 43^rd 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 43^rd’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 43^rd’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.

 

            Thanks for reading.

Answers

          In a previous blog your loyal blogger asked five questions about the American Civil War and asked you readers to read the questions and consider your own answers.

          As previously stated, there are no right or wrong answers here. Your thoughts are as good as anyone’s. It said in the previous post that this blogger promised to post a set of replies and they are below, with the questions.

 

          QUESTION #1: If war had somehow been avoided, how long would the institute of slavery have remained legal in the United States of America?

          ANSWER #1: Given how difficult the struggle for civil rights was in the 1950s and 1960s as it was, it seems possible slavery might be legal in some form today had the Civil War never happened. It is instructive to recall that some states that remained loyal to the Union during the War left slavery legal until the war ended.

 

          QUESTION #2: How different would American society have been during the 20^th century had Abraham Lincoln lived through the completion of his second Presidential term and seen to the start of Reconstruction?

          ANSWER#2: Lincoln wanted to let the South up easy. Much of the punishment-oriented governance that dominated the years during and following Reconstruction would no doubt have been different with a living Abe Lincoln. Carry this thought forward. Using what we know about Lincoln’s ideas for Reconstruction as a baseline, it is very possible that much of the strife that has marked some periods of our history since the war could have at least been lessened.

 

          QUESTION #3: How would your life have been different if the Confederate states had secured their independence?

          ANSWER #3: Your loyal blogger would not have been born had the Confederate States of America won its separation from the Union.

 

          QUESTION #4: In terms of action on the battlefields, who was the single most important individual in the fighting? No fair choosing one per side and no fair choosing the individual foot soldier as answers.

          ANSWER #4: Ulysses Grant commanded the victorious army in the most important victories in both the Western and Eastern theaters of the war. This is an easy answer for your loyal blogger.

 

          QUESTION #5: No single event has had a bigger impact on United States history than the Civil War. Study of the War era and the War itself offer educational opportunities on many social and historic topics. Should the War be reemphasized in K-12 classrooms?

          ANSWER #5: Yes. Here is a partial list of topics that could be covered in different ways at different grade levels: Politically correct or not, the war happened, so a bit of study of the War itself; the struggle for racial equality during the century after the end of the War; the importance of addressing major issues in a timely manner (rather than kicking the can down the road, as Congress did regarding the elimination of slavery from the time the Constitution was written until the War started); the cost of the war in terms of money spent and lives lost (among other things, Southern states had to start providing pensions for former Confederate soldiers in the decades after the War); the impact of the war on the non-combatants; the impact of the war on America’s foreign relations and how far behind most of Europe the United States was with the elimination of slavery; the change in the way Americans conducted their politics following the War and whether that impacts us today.

 

       Thanks for reading and answering.

 

5 questions for your consideration

          If you study the Civil War or just enjoy reading about it, you have read about the controversies surrounding the big moments of the conflict. The ‘What if’ stuff.

          Your loyal blogger enjoys debating the ‘What if’ questions although generally speaking, all that really matters is what actually happened. Determining what actually happened is hard enough, even after all this time.

          The traditional what ifs include: What if all of JEB Stuart’s cavalry force stayed with the main body of the Army of Northern Virginia during the entire Gettysburg campaign? What if Robert E. Lee stayed with the Union army instead of following Virginia into the Confederacy? What if the Union army won at the first battle of Bull Run, as it should have?

          The reader is invited to determine on his/her own whether the following questions are traditional what iffers or not. Regardless of that determination, the reader is asked to consider the following questions and develop answers. Your local blogger will provide a set of replies at a future date.

          Before the questions for consideration, your loyal blogger reminds that there are no right or wrong answers here. There are only ideas.

 

          QUESTION #1: If war had somehow been avoided, how long would the institute of slavery have remained legal in the United States of America?

 

          QUESTION #2: How different would American society have been during the 20^th century had Abraham Lincoln lived through the completion of his second Presidential term and seen to the start of Reconstruction?

 

          QUESTION #3: How would your life have been different if the Confederate states had secured their independence?

 

          QUESTION #4: In terms of action on the battlefields, who was the single most important individual in the fighting? No fair choosing one per side and no fair choosing the individual foot soldier as answers.

 

          QUESTION #5: No single event has had a bigger impact on American history than the Civil War. Study of the War era and the War itself offer educational opportunities on many social and historic topics. Should the War be reemphasized in K-12 classrooms?

          Think these questions over and, as you do, we thank you for reading.

The name game

            P. Allen Motes was born in Alabama’s Pike County on September 14, 1832 and started along his way to success.

            Whatever his first name was.  

A farmer, Motes married Mary Alice Godwin on March 12, 1854 and life went along. Things changed when Alabama joined the Confederacy. Presly enlisted in 1862, becoming a member of the 4^th Battalion of Hilliard’s Legion. He originally enlisted in the 4^th Battalion’s Company A, but later transferred to Company D.

            The Legion did not see combat action until September 20, 1863 when the Legion played a central role in the Confederate victory in the battle of Chickamauga. Motes, who was six days beyond his 31^st birthday at the time, was wounded in his left leg. One report has Motes breaking his leg, another says Motes was “shot through,” his left leg.

            Motes’ military career ended with the injury. He returned to Alabama and resumed farming. But Mary Alice died of the measles on May 6, 1870, leaving Presly with four children. No slacker, Presly married again on February 19, 1871. His second bride was Mary Elizabeth Head and she eventually out-lived her husband, although Presly and Mary Elizabeth did manage to have a child together.

            The Motes holdings grew to include 395 acres (200 improved, 195 wooded) with a cash value of $2,000. They had farm equipment valued at $50 and livestock worth $400 (1 horse, 2 mules, 2 milch cows, 2 working oxen, 3 other cattle and 15 swine).

            Presly Motes died October 30, 1908 at age 76 in Crenshaw County, Alabama. He was probably unaware that his name would one day leave researchers confused.

            Motes’ military service cards list his first name as Presly, but a report from the Adjutant General’s office decades after the war mentions in passing that some muster rolls for the Legion also have Motes’ first name spelled ‘Prisly.’

            It appears neither spelling was accurate. His tombstone spells his name ‘Presley.’

            No matter how his name was properly spelled, you’d have to agree that P.A. Motes had a busy life. And just think: He did it all without the internet.

 

            Thanks for reading.

FOR HEADLINE, SEE BELOW

It is shocking to me to see what has happened to headline writers. Even today, where the web is without the space limitations we had back in the day when newspaper editors had to make things fit, headline writers still can't get things right.

Hurricane Fay brushed some islands and began weakening over the weekend. It was downgraded to a tropical storm and drifted away from land, its power lessening as it went. So the most obvious headline of the year sat waiting...and went unused.

The headline should have read:

FAY DONE, AWAY

Remember you saw it here first.

It's the people, stupid

                Your loyal blogger recently finished Susannah Ural’s excellent book, “Don’t Hurry Me Down to Hades,” an outstanding research piece about the impact of war on the lives of people living during the Civil War era.

          The book is very good but this is not a book review. Perhaps this is a reflection prompted by reading the book.

          The Civil War is a people story. All wars are the same in that respect. In the case of the War Between the States, the people are fascinating. Ural’s book is a classic example of that simple fact.

          When we forget that it was people who had to fight the war or otherwise live through the era, we forget what really mattered: People were freed from enslavement because of the war. People fought, bled and died on the battlefields. People died of disease in the army. People had to rebuild shattered lives and live with battered minds and bodies after the war. People lost loved ones in the fighting and many people lost their livelihoods.

          Of course, it was people who started the war and people who went to war eagerly, expecting a short war with plenty of glory to go around.

          This writer took a history class in college a few decades ago. Two fellow students, big fans of computerized war games (such as they were at the time), approached the professor after a lecture and gleefully explained how they had fought the same battle in their game that the professor lectured about that day.

          The losing general, they explained to the professor, could have won the day by making some sort of movement. “He’d have only lost a few thousand more men,” the war gamers said.

          A few thousand lives, thought yours truly. A few thousand lives.

          Your loyal blogger is fond of studying the battlefield. What happened? Who made the key decision? Why was the decision reached? And how did those men, the ordinary grunts, keep moving in the face of mortal danger?

          When you have the answers to those questions, you have a story about people. If you miss that central fact, then you simply don’t understand history.

          And you’ll never learn from it.

 

          Thanks for reading.

JEB Stuart: Lots to think about

          Eric J. Wittenberg and J. David Petruzzi produced a book about JEB Stuart’s contribution to the battle of Gettysburg titled, Plenty of blame to go around, Jeb Stuart’s controversial ride to Gettysburg.

          There will be no discussion here of Wittenberg and Petruzzi’s conclusions about Stuart’s ride around and sometimes into the Union Army in late June/early July of 1863. Interested readers of this blog can read the book themselves and reach their own conclusions. The book was published by Savas Beatie.

          The book does give a reader plenty to think about as it covers Stuart’s ride and the difficulties his cavalry encountered along the way. If you begin reading with a negative opinion of Stuart or just think poorly of the decision to go marauding at the beginning of Lee’s invasion of the North, you’ll find plenty of ammunition in this book.

          If you lean toward a more positive opinion of Stuart’s ride, you’ll find plenty of chances to resupply your ammo, too.

          This book is more about the controversy than it is the event itself, which makes it a fun read. Bring your opinion with you when you begin to read this book. Keep it right by your side.

          The decisions made by Confederate leadership at Gettysburg have been debated for 151 years now. There is plenty to debate. However, whether you revere the memory of Confederate commander Robert E. Lee or dismiss him a defender of slavery, one thing is clear: The fight at Gettysburg was not his finest military performance.

          Allowing Stuart to attempt a ride around the Union army at a time when Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia was committed to an invasion of Maryland and Pennsylvania seems foolish today. Depending upon Stuart to stay in contact with the main Confederate force appears to be a colossal mistake today.

          And separating his army from the main portion of its cavalry arm at a time when he was leading his army into an all-or-nothing invasion of largely unknown territory? Hummmmm.

          Discussions of Stuart’s failure to be in the Gettysburg area on June 30 when his troopers were really needed must start with the decision to send him on a rompish ride to begin with and that permission came from Lee.

          Before you can opine that Stuart failed Lee, you must agree that Lee failed himself by not restraining Stuart’s desire for a ride around the Union army.

 

          Thanks for reading.