Re: Camp Priceville

Posted by Bryan Howerton on July 21, 2001 at 21:48:21:

In Reply to: Camp Priceville posted by Dorene ford on July 21, 2001 at 20:31:33:

Dorene -- the Confederate army had no pension system. Presumably, one would have been established if the South had won the war. Next of kin (widows, if the soldier was married; parents, if he was not) could file a so-called "death claim", i.e., a claim for payment of the deceased soldier's accrued pay and allowances, if any. That was it. At the local level, many counties enacted ordinances allowing the payment of a small stipend to families of indigent soldiers, including survivors of deceased soldiers, but only if a rather strict "means test" could be met. It was intended only for the desperately needy. Confederate soldiers certainly did not enlist in the service of their country for financial security. They risked everything, with no promise of reward, and no guarantee that their families would be cared for by the State. It was only long after the war that individual States authorized the payment of Confederate pensions, but again most had a strict means test. Actually, only a small percentage of Confederate veterans ever received a pension; and during the war they rarely received the pay due them.

If a man was unable to perform his duties, with no expectation that he would be able to within at least 60 days, he was supposed to be discharged. There was no official notification process. Early in the war, casualty lists were posted in many newspapers, but most families were notified by letter from the man's company commander or one of his comrades.

Regarding burials at Camp Priceville -- I am not very knowledgeable about that. I do know that at other camps, the graves were normally marked with a wooden marker -- usually a just pine plank with the soldier's name and regiment written on it. Naturally, they deteriorated over time, so most of the graves are now "unknown".

It's rare to find a record of specific burial location in a Confederate service record, except in the case of a prisoner of war (the Yankees kept pretty meticulous records of interments, for the most part, including section, plot and grave number). Confederate hospitals supposedly recorded the general location of the grave, but few of those records survived the war. A good example is Overton Hospital at Memphis. Those records survived because the Yankees didn't burn the place down when they captured it. The Overton Hospital records state that most of the Confederate soldiers who died there were interred in Elmwood Cemetery, in the section now known as "Soldiers' Rest".

I think I answered all your questions. If I missed anything, let me know and I'll be glad to share what little I know.

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