Tracking down possible Confederate Soldiers

Question

For the past week (or two!) I've been working on the profiles of the sixteen children of the Hon. Marcus Boyd. At least one of the several regional biographies that include him gives what is essentially a throw-away line regarding the political/military disposition of his sons. 

(This was one of many families that split between "union" and "secession.") 

In the Encyclopedia Of The History of Missouri, Conard states that two of the sons "served under General Cabell in Texas." 

So far, I have found no hint of a military record for either son, and I was wondering if there's a resource I've not found that shows the makeup of General Cabell's troops.  Was Cabell even fighting in Texas?  

The two sons I'm working on, Theodorick and William, don't have profiles yet, as I'm still researching them. At this point, it looks like they may both have spent the war hunting for gold in California, but it could be that they left California to fight, and then returned.

 

Comments

Cabell was in charge of all the troops west of the Mississippi, and was in charge of a Texas brigade, so that part is accurate. I don't find either man in the National Park Service Soldiers and Sailors database.

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Thank you, Kathie. I didn’t find them there, either. Nor could I find much else about Cabell. Do you know of any sources that are more specific?

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The Soldiers and Sailors database has information on specific units, but you need to know which one you want, so that doesn’t really help.

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Exactly my problem. None of the references I found for Cabell actually named the units he headed.

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https://www.fold3.com/image/64992063

If you have access to Fold3, that is the link to his CMSR.

Answer 1

Do you know which 2 sons may have served in Texas? Have you already searched at Fold3?

Comments

Sorry, I probably wasn't clear. The sons were:
Theodorick Jones Boyd and William Gibbon Boyd.

I know they both went to California before the war, as part of the gold rush, and I know they were both in California after the war. But I need some help figuring out what they were doing during the war.

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Oh, yes. I went all through Fold3, which is why I suspect they didn't serve, but I'm more familiar with Union sources, so thought I'd see what others might have.

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I looked through some Texas regimental rosters. I did not see anyone I thought might be them.  I did see some William Boyd's in Alabama. None of their service files had anything to tie back to your family. So, I struck out.

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Thank you, Norman. I've scoured all of my "usual" resources, with no luck. I really appreciate you checking yours.

Unless I stumble across anything in future, I think I'm just going to include in their bios that I couldn't find anything, and that I suspect they never left California. (Four of five of them went to California in '50 to look for gold. Most came back when the war started.)

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I found the same. Alabama in Civilwardata. I did try some research but turned up with what everyone else already had.

Answer 2

I found a relative, my great grandfather's son. So in effect a great uncle who was a Confederate soldier. After the war he sold tombstones which accounts for the top-hat. His name Bill-Tom Bailey from Southern Maryland.

He is also on Find a Grave:

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/22557198/william-thomas-bailey

Comments

Deborah,

Do you know what unit William T Bailey was in?

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Norman: I can't recall if I have it or not, but I'll search and if I do I certainly will add it. Most of my relatives served in the Union Army but Maryland was a border State too.

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Deborah,

If you can give me some idea about William T. Bailey, I would be glad to see what I can find about him.  Looks like he does not yet have a profile here at WikiTree. I looked. Thought his profile might give me some idea about his military service.

Yes, Maryland did have both Confederate and Union soldiers. Maryland was one of the few slave owning states that did not succeed from the Union. Given the strong pro-slave owning segment, Maryland had a significant portion of its soldiers serve for the CSA.

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All I really know about the Baileys is what is on the Find a Grave. A large mostly farming family, probably tobacco. Father well known as Noah "Old Man Noey" Bailey. I don't have access to more info now. The family did spell their name in England and early America as "Bailye" in the 1600s

Deborah

Answer 3

That's a beautiful profile page for Marcus Boyd! I'll do some research into obscure records and see what I can find. Do you have any idea if they were involved in the Red River Campaign? I have copious resources in my library as I had two Union ancestors engaged in the Campaign.

Comments

Thank you, Victoria. I'm blushing. 

So in my digging around last night, I discovered that William almost certainly never left California. He was admitted to a hospital there in 1876, and his intake history says he'd been there since 1858. Here's William's profile.

So that's one brother checked off of my list. 

As for Theodorick, I know he was in El Dorado County, California in 1860 and Calaveras County, California in 1867, making it likely that he was nowhere near Texas, either.
 

A third brother, Robert (no fancy middle name) who was born in Springfield, Missouri in about 1841, falls off of the genealogical radar after the 1860 census. He isn't even mentioned in any of his father's or brother's biographies. I had to admit defeat for him.

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As for the Red River Campaign, I doubt these two (three?) were in it, but their brother Erastus was nearly in it. He was serving as command surgeon for General Green, but had been captured while on leave in Arkansas shortly before the campaign began.

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I wonder if they enlisted and after awhile decided "The heck with this! Let's go dig for gold!" You'd think a first name of Theodorick would be easy to track, but it's not!

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OMG! I just saw where Erastus was at Sabine Pass. That is where my ancester, [[Stevenson-1817]] was wounded and captured.

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As I've worked on this enormous family for the past week or two, I keep wondering if the brothers were ever made to face one another in action.

I know that two of the brothers were pitted against one another in the legislative arena afterward.

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I've located a Theodorick Boyed on the 1880 Census for Ada Idaho.

Answer 4

I've decided that the reason Theodorick and William don't show up anywhere is because they (probably) never left California, and Conard was just guessing. 

I have left open the possibility that they fought, but find it unlikely. 

Here are their current profiles:

• William Gibbon Boyd
• Theodorick Jones Boyd

Thanks for everyone who tried to help out. I really appreciate it.

Comments

I briefly checked the National Archives. There is one William Boyd in the California Cavalry and one in the infantry, but I assume for California that would be the union side. I couldn't find any relevant matches for Texas.

Unfortunately, just one record each, with not much info:

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/77344550

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/77344554