Benjamin J. Gaston Letters
Collection
Identifier: MSS-3915
Scope and Contents
This collection contains letters written by Benjamin J. Gaston, who served as a first lieutenant with the Independent 2nd Battalion Alabama Volunteers and as a private in the 10th Alabama Cavalry. A few letters were written in 1859 to his parents while he was in school in Pulaski, Tennessee. Gaston may have been born in Alabama or Tennessee.
The bulk of the letters were written during his service with the Confederate States Army and are to his mother, father, and siblings, from the middle of 1861 until the Battle of Shiloh on April 6, 1862. They give a detailed account of life in camp near Mobile, Alabama. Rations were short, and weapons and ammunition for his company were not issued until just before the unit went to Corinth, Mississippi. Lack of weapons was a great concern, since according to Gaston, his men were training by learning movements without firearms. When later that year when the Confederates was able to place a governor loyal to the South in office in Kentucky, the Army of Tennessee, under General Braxton Bragg, invaded Kentucky (August 1862) and Lt. Gaston was part of this invasion which failed.
During the Confederate withdrawal, Lt. Gaston was put in charge of a Union prisoner of war. The prisoner escaped from the rail car in which he was being held, and Lieutenant Gaston, who left the car and his prisoner to buy bread, was court martialed. He lost his commission and returned home, then enlisted as a private in the 10th Alabama Cavalry. In the summer of 1863, he was captured near Murfreesboro, and spent the remainder of the war as a prisoner of war in Rock Island, Illinois.
The letters are written from places like Corinth, Mississippi; Mobile, Alabama; Camp Gov. Moore, Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana; Bethel Spring, Tennessee; Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and Rock Island, Illinois. Sixteen (16) letters are written from Rock Island.
The bulk of the letters were written during his service with the Confederate States Army and are to his mother, father, and siblings, from the middle of 1861 until the Battle of Shiloh on April 6, 1862. They give a detailed account of life in camp near Mobile, Alabama. Rations were short, and weapons and ammunition for his company were not issued until just before the unit went to Corinth, Mississippi. Lack of weapons was a great concern, since according to Gaston, his men were training by learning movements without firearms. When later that year when the Confederates was able to place a governor loyal to the South in office in Kentucky, the Army of Tennessee, under General Braxton Bragg, invaded Kentucky (August 1862) and Lt. Gaston was part of this invasion which failed.
During the Confederate withdrawal, Lt. Gaston was put in charge of a Union prisoner of war. The prisoner escaped from the rail car in which he was being held, and Lieutenant Gaston, who left the car and his prisoner to buy bread, was court martialed. He lost his commission and returned home, then enlisted as a private in the 10th Alabama Cavalry. In the summer of 1863, he was captured near Murfreesboro, and spent the remainder of the war as a prisoner of war in Rock Island, Illinois.
The letters are written from places like Corinth, Mississippi; Mobile, Alabama; Camp Gov. Moore, Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana; Bethel Spring, Tennessee; Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and Rock Island, Illinois. Sixteen (16) letters are written from Rock Island.
Dates
- 1859 - 1865
Creator
- Gaston, Benjamin J. (Person)
Physical Description
Most are in good condition. Each letter is in its own plastic sleeve.
Conditions Governing Access
None
Conditions Governing Use
None
Biographical / Historical
Benjamin J. Gaston was born on 29 December 1841 in Alabama, to T.C. and Katherine Gaston. Although he was a resident of Tennessee at the outbreak of the Civil War, Gaston joined the Second Alabama Volunteers as a lieutenant because Tennessee had not yet seceded. His regiment was part of the Army of the Tennessee and when the Confederates were able to install a governor in Kentucky who was loyal to the South, the Army of Tennessee, under General Braxton Bragg, invaded Kentucky (August 1862). Lt. Gaston was part of this invasion - which failed.
During the Confederate withdrawal, Lt. Gaston was put in charge of a Union prisoner of war. The prisoner escaped from the rail car in which he was being held, and Lieutenant Gaston, who left the car and his prisoner to buy bread, was court martialed. He lost his commission and returned home, then enlisted as a private in the 10th Alabama Cavalry. In the summer of 1863, he was captured near Murfreesboro, and spent the remainder of the war as a prisoner of war in Rock Island, Illinois. At the war's end, when Gaston returned to Tennessee, he became a Methodist minister and farmer near Shelbyville, Tennessee.
He married around 1873 and had three children and 3 stepchildren. Gaston died on 24 March 1910.
During the Confederate withdrawal, Lt. Gaston was put in charge of a Union prisoner of war. The prisoner escaped from the rail car in which he was being held, and Lieutenant Gaston, who left the car and his prisoner to buy bread, was court martialed. He lost his commission and returned home, then enlisted as a private in the 10th Alabama Cavalry. In the summer of 1863, he was captured near Murfreesboro, and spent the remainder of the war as a prisoner of war in Rock Island, Illinois. At the war's end, when Gaston returned to Tennessee, he became a Methodist minister and farmer near Shelbyville, Tennessee.
He married around 1873 and had three children and 3 stepchildren. Gaston died on 24 March 1910.
Extent
0.4 Linear Feet
Language of Materials
English
Overview
Letters written by Benjamin J. Gaston, who served as a first lieutenant with the Independent 2nd Battalion Alabama Volunteers and as a private in the 10th Alabama Cavalry.
Provenance
Purchased form Beltrone and Company, 2012
Physical Description
Most are in good condition. Each letter is in its own plastic sleeve.
Processed by
Martha Bace, 2012
- Title
- Guide to the Benjamin J. Gaston Letters
- Status
- Completed
- Date
- October 2012
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- English
Repository Details
Part of the The University of Alabama Libraries Special Collections Repository