Singleton relays strange, unusual facts from the American Civil War

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 “Strange, fascinating facts on Civil War and aftermath” was originally published in the March 3, 1988 edition of The Monroe Journal in Monroeville, Ala.)

It has been well over 100 years since the Civil War, or the War Between the States, has ended. But many of the events in today’s news deal directly with the happenings that transpired during the times when the perils of the war touched almost everyone.

Even today, we have known people whose lives have been touched, in one way or another, by circumstances that in most instances history does not record, and about which we know little or nothing.

Take, for example, when one of history’s first observation balloons hung over the battlefields before the battle of Richmond, Va. in 1862. A foreign observer studied the gas-filled floating bag with interest. This man was Count von Zeppelin, a Prussian observer, the father of the dirigible.

The famed “Quantrill’s Raiders,” who struck terror in the hearts of many of the people who supported the Union, had riding with guerrilla band such names as the Young Brothers, who were later to be known throughout the West as outlaws. The youngest of the band, not yet 16, was Jesse James.

Lyrics sold for $4

After the first writing of the lyrics of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” the song was sold to the Atlantic Monthly for $4.

It was in the battle near Lynchburg, Va. in June 1864 that a former vice president of the United States, Confederate General John C. Breckinridge, faced two future presidents in uniform: Gen. Rutherford B. Hayes and Maj. William McKinley. (Four other Union officers served in the White House: Ulysses S. Grant, Chester A. Arthur, James A. Garfield and Benjamin Harrison.)

In the strange spring of 1865, Confederate President Jefferson Davis, then a captive, rode with Vice President Alexander H. Stephens in a carriage through the streets of Augusta, Ga. They were being carried to a Federal prison. An 8-year-old boy peered through the blinds at them from inside the Presbyterian minister’s home, absorbing a scene that he would never forget. That child was to become the president of the United States. The child was Woodrow Wilson.

Lunch with his family

Sgt. Henderson Viden of the 2^nd Arkansas went to war to fight the enemy. In March 1862, he found himself marching through familiar country, and was soon fighting across his own farm, in the battle of Pea Ridge. During a lull in the fighting, he went over to his house and had lunch with his wife and children. After lunch, he returned to his position at the battle lines.

Gen. John F. Reynolds, U.S. Army, was killed at the battle of Gettysburg. Some years after the war, when the state of Pennsylvania was building a large monument to her dead who were killed in the war, the worker who carved Gen. Reynolds’ statue out of granite was the Rebel sniper who had killed him by a bullet through the neck. The workman was Fank Wood, a native of the hill country of North Carolina.

And finally, the story of a hero of the U.S. Marines in the Korean conflict, Gen. Lewis B. “Chesty” Puller, who played a major roll in the retreat from the Chosin Reservoir. Gen. Puller is the grandson of one of Jeb Stuart’s cavalry officers who was killed at the battle of Kelly’s Ford. His grandmother died after a 10-mile walk in a snowstorm when Federal troops burned her house, having found her husband’s spurs hanging on a wall and having classed them as war equipment.

Confederate flag in Korea

Members of Co. H of the 3^rd Battalion of the U.S. Marines flew a Confederate battle flag for months in the Korean war. The flag was shot down five times. It was always replaced upon request by the Daughters of the Confederacy from Tennessee.

So, all in all, when and if we look deep into our history, we will always find events that relate us or our families to a special time or a special place or battle. Then let us be not too hasty when we judge someone or something that fills only a tiny place within our history.

The time of the terrible Civil War, which tore our nation apart, was a period that we must not forget. We must also not dwell on the hatred and the atrocities that mar our lives even today.

We must remember that the Civil War and its aftermath helped to mold a stronger nation within ourselves. From our mistakes, we must vow that we will never again allow our nation to be split apart or separated as it was that awful time in our history.

The time is at hand when we must bury our differences and work forward to survive in this messed-up world of today. If we do not pull together as one and work in harmony for the betterment of our beautiful land, no one else will. Our nation stands at the crossroads; which will it be? The choice can be only ours.

They fell, who lifted up a hand
And bade the sun in heaven to stand;
They smote and fell, who set the bars
Against the progress of the stars,
And stayed the march of the Motherland!

Fold up the banners, smelt the guns!
Love rules. Her gentler purpose runs.
A mighty mother turns in tears
The pages of her battle years
Lamenting all her fallen sons!...

(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 to Vincent William Singleton and Frances Cornelia Faile Singleton, during a late-night thunderstorm, on Dec. 14, 1927 in Marengo County, graduated from Sweet Water High School in 1946, served as a U.S. Marine paratrooper in the Korean War, worked as a riverboat deckhand, lived for a time among Apache Indians, was bitten at least twice by venomous snakes, moved to Monroe County on June 28, 1964 and served as the administrator of the Monroeville National Guard unit from June 28, 1964 to Dec. 14, 1987. He was promoted from the enlisted ranks to warrant officer in May 1972. For years, Singleton’s columns, titled “Monroe County history – Did you know?” and “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. It’s believed that his first column appeared in the March 25, 1971 edition of The Monroe Journal. He also helped organize the Monroe County Museum and Historical Society and was also a past president of that organization. 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.)