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| George Buster Singleton |
(For decades, local historian and paranormal investigator
George “Buster” Singleton published a weekly newspaper column called “Somewhere
in Time.” The column below, which was titled “It’s not every day that one
borrows someone else’s leg” was originally published in the Sept. 28, 1995 edition
of The Monroe Journal in Monroeville, Ala.)
As I have stated many times in my writings, I like nothing
better than to read or investigate a story about our early history. Since I
have been an avid student of our tragic Civil War history since early
childhood, I never grow tired of hearing over and over again stories of the
bloody conflict.
As a child I spent countless hours sitting in the corner by
the fireplace, listening to the many stories told time and time again by my
maternal grandmother about my family and its association with this dreaded war.
I have been most fortunate during my adult years to have
visited all the major battle sites of this terrible war. I have visited many,
many other battlefields whose names have since faded from the pages of our
history books.
Both sides of my family suffered greatly during this
terrible conflict. My paternal great-grandfather fell in battle during the
bloody fighting at Shiloh. A total of six of my ancestors wore the uniform of
the Confederacy. But that’s another story.
There has never been a time in the history of our country,
or perhaps even in the history of the world, when the tide of unusual
happenings unfurled as it did during and after our Civil War. As I have stated
many times before, one could spend an entire lifetime in the study of this
tragic time in history and never completely cover it in its entirety. Many
tragic events took place within the five years that shook our country to its
very soul, and even today, 130 years later, we continue to feel some of the
after-effects.
Not all tales were of battle
But all that happened during this period and its aftermath
were not the brutal, bloodletting atrocities so common on the many battlefields
of this tragic war. Over 5,500 battles and skirmishes were fought between the
North and the South during the conflict. Some events turned out to be rather
amusing, as one studies the details of this terrible war.
The date was July 1, 1863. The battle of Gettysburg had
started, and some of the fiercest fighting of the entire war was beginning to
take form. Members of the 13th North Carolina Regiment were among
those who were first to come eyeball-to-eyeball with the Union troops on that
hot July day.
Two brothers, Jack and Jasper Walker of Charlotte, N.C.,
were among those of the 13th Regiment. Jasper, the younger of the
two, was a color bearer for the regiment. He was the fifth color bearer of the
day; the other four had been shot down in fierce fighting earlier. Jack and
Jasper had been separated during the bitter skirmish, and neither knew just
where the other one was.
In trying to advance, the 13th North Carolina
Regiment suffered heavy casualties. Jasper, while trying to advance with the regiment’s
colors, suffered a serious wound in his left leg. Unable to move, he was left,
along with many others, as the 13th Regiment began to retreat from
the fierce and bloody fighting.
Prisoners of war
As his regiment retreated, the advancing Union army took
those who were alive as prisoners of war; Jasper was among them. Little did
Jack, his brother, know what had happened; it was every man for himself. Due to
the great number of dead and wounded, the survivors of the regiment were doing
everything they could to put as much distance as possible between them and the
advancing Union forces.
In the hasty retreat from the bloody fighting, Jack, too,
was seriously wounded in the left leg. Like the others, he was left for dead by
his fellow soldiers of the 13th Regiment. And he, too, was taken
prisoner as the Union army proceeded to advance after the retreating Rebels.
Neither brother knew the status of the other.
In the shuffle of prisoners, Jack was sent to one Union
prison camp, and Jasper was sent to another. Neither knew whether the other was
still alive or not. During the next two days, both brothers’ left legs were
amputated by Union army surgeons due to blood poisoning. No word had reached
either as to whether the other was still alive.
Jack and Jasper Walker were to spend the remainder of the
war in separate Union prison camps. As the dreadful war came to a close and as
General Grant and General Lee drew up the surrender agreements, the prisoners
of war on both sides were released and told that they could go home. Only when
the Walker brothers got home did they find that the other was still alive and
that they had both lost their left legs in the fierce fighting at Gettysburg.
Prospered, planned wedding
Even though handicapped, the Walker brothers worked hard and
became prosperous citizens in the town of Charlotte. They were a familiar sight
as they stumped around on the streets of the North Carolina town on their cork
legs.
As the brothers prospered, love came into the life of
Jasper, the younger of the two. As time passed, the sounds of wedding bells
could be heard on the distant horizon. Much thought and effort was put into the
planning of this special event. The big pot was going to be put into the little
pot on this special day; it would be a wedding that would be remembered for
many years by the citizens of Charlotte. Many guests would be present; those
who had survived the dreadful war of the 13th North Carolina Regiment
were to be guests of honor.
As the hour approached for the wedding, Jasper, as he rushed
around trying to get everything in order, stumbled and fell. As he surveyed the
damage, he was to find that his left leg, his artificial one, had been broken.
Not having time to get another one made, Jasper was at a loss about what to do.
He didn’t want to have to stand in the wedding ceremony on his one good leg;
this would be very embarrassing to him and his new bride.
Borrowed limb
But the good luck that had followed him and his brother in
the years after the war was not to let him down now. Jack, upon hearing that
Jasper had broken his cork leg, came forward to loan his leg to his brother to
be married on; the leg was a perfect fit. The wedding went on as planned; it
would be a while before the news of the borrowed leg hit the streets of
Charlotte.
Over the following years, Jack and Jasper Walker were fond
of telling the youngsters of Charlotte this story. This was a first; this was
the only case on record in which one man was married while standing on the
borrowed leg of another.
(Singleton, the author
of the 1991 book “Of Foxfire and Phantom Soldiers,” passed away at the age of
79 on July 19, 2007. A longtime resident of Monroeville, he was born on Dec.
14, 1927 in Marengo County, graduated from Sweet Water High School, served in
the Korean War, lived for a time among Apache Indians, moved to Monroe County
in June 1964 (some sources say 1961) and served as the administrator of the
Monroeville National Guard unit from 1964 to 1987. For years, Singleton’s
column “Somewhere in Time” appeared in The Monroe Journal, and he wrote a
lengthy series of articles about Monroe County that appeared in Alabama Life
magazine. Some of his earlier columns also appeared under the heading of
“Monroe County History: Did You Know?” He is buried in Pineville Cemetery in
Monroeville. The column above and all of Singleton’s other columns are
available to the public through the microfilm records at the Monroe County
Public Library in Monroeville. Singleton’s columns are presented here each week
for research and scholarship purposes and as part of an effort to keep his work
and memory alive.)
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