Saturday, August 14, 2004

Family diary tells story of kindnesses given soldier held in Civil War prison

Haley Wachdorf News-Bulletin Staff Writer; hwachdorf@news-bulletin.com

Belen Bertha Shiplet has a link to her ancestors that any genealogy buff or history teacher would envy.

Shiplet has a copy of her great-great-uncle DeWitt Clinton Thomas' diary, detailing his experiences in the Civil War. Thomas wrote about his time in the Confederate militia years after the end of the war and then continued to keep his journal in his later years when he settled in Texas and had a long career as a well-respected district judge. He died in 1917.

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Shiplet became the owner of the diary after one of her uncles passed away in 1972. That uncle had preserved the diary by typing the text and binding it as a manuscript when the pages of the original diary began to disintegrate from age.

"It was falling to pieces," Shiplet said. "Some of it has omissions because there were parts missing that were too bad to read. But my uncle, before he died, said 'I've got it out and the next time I come I'll bring it you.' Then he died, but at his house when we went to take care of the funeral, it was sitting there on the piano with my name on it."

When she got home, Shiplet read the diary for the first time. And then she read it again. And again. Because while reading the diary, she learned that before her great-great-uncle settled down to family life and prosperity, he had some hair-raising adventures.

In 1861, Thomas' family was living in Texas, having recently moved there from Alabama. His father had lost a great deal of money after co-signing a loan for a man who did not hold up his end of the bargain, and much of the family's property was forfeited to pay the loan. Family members who had moved to Texas invited Thomas' family to join them. But soon after, Thomas decided on a different course for himself, Shiplet read.

"In the year 1861, the cry of war was heard all over the United States," Thomas wrote. "A call was made for volunteers. My parents were opposed to my going into the service, but my father said that if I volunteered, he could not blame me and would attend to my business for me at home. I determined to enlist for 12 months."

Thomas' experiences and thoughts are told in some detail in the diary. Shiplet said it was interesting to read the opinions of a Southern soldier about the practice of slavery after years of studying the Civil War in school.

"He gave his opinion of slavery, which he said he didn't really approve of it, but the North had ships bringing slaves in, too," she said. "He said they did acquire a few slaves, mostly because they were being beaten and his father would trade some work in return for the slaves. He said they were always treated fair with him."

The most dramatic feature of the diary is Thomas' account of his capture by Union forces while staying in a home in Mississippi.

"In October 1863, we were in a house in Tchulahoma," he said. "We had been seated when the cry of 'Yankees!' caused us to spring to the door. To our astonishment, we found ourselves facing the muzzles of their gun and the word 'Surrender' was distinctly heard. There was no chance to get to my horse, for my enemy was in possession of him already, and the click of their guns showed that they were in earnest."

Thomas was taken captive and went first to a prison camp in Memphis, Tenn., which was occupied by the Union troops, and then to Illinois, where he was held for a total of two years.

Although Thomas describes the hardship and trials of becoming a prisoner of war in his account, he is careful to note the kindnesses shown to him by certain members of the Union forces.

"When disarmed, they ordered me to mount a horse and we were hurried away," he wrote. "In justice to two of the party, I will say that the sergant soon rode up to me and assured me that I would not be mistreated, not even insulted, and told me to report any ill usage to him. He then called another man and said for him to remain with me and see that I was treated as a prisoner of war should be."

During his captivity, Thomas contracted smallpox and almost became one of the thousands of men who died not from bullets, but from illness, during the war. He spent nearly a month in a hospital camp and was then returned to prison. Again, he recounts being treated kindly, this time by a fellow patient after a nurse refused to give him more blankets when he had severe chills from his fever.

"A convalescent, P.S. Lane, had seen and heard all that occurred between us, and after the nurse had left, came to me, spoke kindly to me, and told me to be patient, as soon as night came, he would find me plenty of cover," he wrote. "True to his promise, he came to me with a pair of heavy blankets ... and the noble hearted man took off my filthy socks, washed them out clean, and waited on me like a brother. Again, I had found a friend in the hour of need."

At the end of the war, after being forced to swear allegiance to the Union, Thomas wrote that he was released from prison and sent on his way. Through the kindness of a stranger, he was given money to get him home to Texas. Upon his return, he learned that his parents had died while he was away, leaving only his siblings and a few former slaves who stayed on their property.

But in spite of his loss of time and loved ones, Thomas flourished. He married, had children, and according to Shiplet, became a respected judge in Texas.

Shiplet said reading the diary gives her a sense of pride in her heritage, and she also said she can see how some of her uncle's beliefs about integrity and honor have survived through the years in her family.

"I read it over and over again," she said. "It's something that goes with his day-to-day life and you have to read a whole bunch of it to get a feel for it. ... It kind of brought back some of the morals he had that were passed down, I think, through the generations: To always be honest and not to speak ill of a person even if you didn't like them."

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