One should never say never... I thought I had told the last of the Civil War ancestor stories, but that was not quite so.
Another of my husband's great, grand grandfathers was Andrew Pippin, born 1 Mar 1825 in Jackson County, Tennessee, and lived there all his life. Andrew married Mary "Mollie" Goolsby about 1845 and they had seven children born before the War, a daughter born during the War, and one more son in 1866. Mollie died before 1870, and Andrew married again in 1871 to Lucinda Hutcheson by whom he had at least ten more children for a total of nineteen, eighteen of whom reached adulthood.
Andrew's Civil War story is told through his pension application.
Andy enlisted in Co. B, 28th Tennessee Volunteer Infantry at Murfreesboro, on 23 Dec 1862 [Stated 1862 in his pension application but the enlistment must have been in 1861 based on other events.] and served as a private. His Regt was merged with the 84th TN on Mar 8 1863 and designated as the 28th Consolidated; he was in Company K. His commanding officers were his his first cousin Capt. Alfred C. Pippin and Col. P. D. Cunningham. [Cunningham was killed 2 Jan 1862 at the Battle of Murfreesboro and Alfred Pippin died in a skirmish 13 Jan 1864.]
Andrew stated he was in the Battle at Murfreesboro, Missionary Ridge and Chickamauga where he received a gunshot wound in the upper right arm and was taken to the hospital. [This may be an error as the Missionary Ridge battle occured a couple of days following Chickamauga; his unit was certainly there at the Ridge, but I believe Andrew was already in the hospital.] He was released from the hospital as "unable for military service" by a nurse. He was captured by the Yankees on the way home and imprisoned at Nashville and held there for about two months, very ill and growing worse.
Andrew received no medical aid and was advised he would die if he remained in prison. He was offered transportation home on Jan 3 1864, provided he sign the oath of allegiance to the United States. He signed the oath, so he could go home. After arriving home he was bedfast and helpless for sometime. It was more than a year before he gained much use of his arm. His brother Simeon "Sim" testified that he was with Andrew in the Battle of Chickamauga, and with him when he was released from the hospital, very ill with his wound. He was with Andrew when he was captured and was carried with him to prison in Nashville and knew that Andrew grew worse while there.
Just as an aside: Regimental history reveals that at Chickamauga, Pippin's unit sustained 34% casualties. Very few men remained to surrender by 1865.
Andrew was denied his Confederate pension for signing the oath. A document dated, 7 Aug 1908 "War Records Report" says: Took the oath at Nashville, Jan 4 '64. The board hold a soldier had no right to take the oath, but must go to prison. Independent of this, he was on his way home when captured."
Examination of the file sent from the Tennessee Archives included a letter from Mr. T. C. Fuqua, dated 17 Dec 1914, stating that Mr. Pippin is dead [the cemetery record states that Andrew died 17 Dec 1913] and his widdow is "just to mercies of charity" He states further that Pippin was evidently entitled to a pension but lacked some in proving his claim and all correspondence has been lost; please send proper papers for re-application & instructions for doing so.
Application was first made 1 Jul 1908 and the letter from Mr. Fuqua about his death is the last dated document found in the file. Strangely the outside of the pension jacket is stamped "Accepted" - I believe Andrew was accepted as a pensioner but the notice arrived after his death.
Lucinda applied for her Widow's Indigent Pension on 8 Sep 1926. She was living with her son-in-law S. R. [Silas Redmon] Jackson and had no property of any kind; she was totally blind. She named all the children and gave their ages. She did not remember the company & regiment Andrew served in. John Tucker was named as a friend who would be willing to furnish more information.
D. B. Flatt and Willis Meadors were her witnesses. Flatt said he'd known her for 40 years and known her husband since he was a child. They did not know anything about his military service except what they'd been told. They knew he had been born in Tennessee and that they had cohabitted together and recognized as husband and wife. She had no property nor had conveyed any in the past two years as she had none to convey and she was blind.
Algood Moore, Clerk of the Putnam County Court, certified that the court house was destroyed by fire in 1898 and if the record of the marriage of Andrew Pippin and Lucinda V. Hutchison ever existed, it had been destoyed by said fire.
An inquiry was sent to see if Andrew Pippin had served in the 8th Regisment of the TN Cavalry. The reply came back that "one Andrew Pippin, who enlisted at Murfreesboro, residence Jackson Co., served in Co. B, 28th Tenn. Inf., C.S.A. which became Co K, 18th (Consolidated) Tenn. Inf. C.S.A.
Apparently her friend, John Tucker was contacted as there's a typed letter from him. His letterhead reads: John Tucker, General Merchandise, Coffins and Caskets. Double Springs, Tenn. It's dated 2 Oct 1926, and he offers to try to find old people who can testify to the marriage of Andrew & Lucinda by their living together, but says there is no one living who was present at their marriage. He is willing to assist her anyway he can at no charge as he lost his father in the Confederate Army.
The Pension card has the following note: No proof of marriage. No Trustees certificate. Can't file. Perhaps this was all eventually corrected as it's also stamped ACCEPTED. The Tennessee pension records do not give the amount awarded.
