Julia Douglass shifted the toddler onto her hip and glanced back at Fort Smith. Shortly after her husband and her brother-in-law enlisted, the Federals arrived and everything changed.
The fort wasn’t the Garden of Eden, and she wasn’t Eve, but an armed bluecoat prevented her from returning as surely as the angel with the flaming sword.
– – –
Brothers-in-law James M. Collier and Moses S. Douglass were farmers and Tennessee natives. James was the first to bring his wife and children to Madison County, Iowa, in 1855, at age 28. Moses (with wife Julia) followed suit. As the financial Panic of 1857 hit Iowa in waves that intensified over time, James and Moses eked out a living, doing better than many Iowans.
Slavery arguments ratcheted up across the country. In early 1861, James and Moses and their wives moved to Arkansas. A year after the Confederacy instituted a draft, Julia Douglass had a baby boy. She and Moses were in Fort Smith, close to the Indian Territories, when Moses and James enlisted in Co. C, 1st Arkansas Cavalry (later known as Gordon’s Regiment Arkansas Cavalry) on June 17, 1863.
Federal troops rolled in, capturing Fort Smith. Julia Douglass took her children to Choctaw Nation, Indian Territories. Adrift in a strange land, Julia died in March 1864. Their now-motherless young son died there in October.
During this time, the 1st Arkansas Cavalry seemed to constantly forage. In April 1864, they tried to capture Union supply wagons at Poison Spring and Marks’ Mill (where one of every five of their comrades were injured). In August 1864, Gordon’s Regiment joined General Sterling Price’s bold invasion of Missouri. Ultimately unsuccessful, James, Moses, and their comrades began a demoralizing, exhausting retreat to the Indian Territories. About a month after Appomattox, the 1st Arkansas Cavalry disbanded.
Moses married Charlotte a year after Lee surrendered. The newlyweds joined brother-in-law James (and his wife, Mary) in Sebastian County, Arkansas. Moses died first, in 1892, followed by Charlotte. James died in 1901, and his wife, Mary, received a $100 Arkansas Confederate pension from 1908 until she died in 1910.
(Ancestry.com)
# # #
Thank you for reading my blog post. Please “like” my Facebook page. Please also leave any comments or questions below.
