Cemetery Works

Boulder, Colorado, USA established 2001

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Family History

Leonidas W. Franklin, Private, Company E, 3rd Florida Infantry Regiment CSA

My maternal 2nd great-granduncle, Leonidas W. Franklin, served in Company E, 3rd Florida Infantry Regiment of the Confederate Army. One of his older half brothers, Franklin Marion Franklin, and one of his young brothers, Cicero Davenport Franklin, are also documented to have served in the Confederate Army. Leonidas W. Franklin's soldier's story is detailed below.

Leonidas W. Franklin was born 1834 in Thomas County, Georgia. He was the first of four children born to Esom/Easom Davenport and Lydia Suzannah [nee Stafford] FRANKLIN. Eight older half siblings were born to Esom/Easom Davenport and Martha [nee TALBERT] FRANKLIN. Leonidas W. Franklin enlisted as a Private on 15 May 1861 at Monticello, Florida. He was mustered into Company E, 3rd Florida Infantry Regiment on 15 May 1861. He served 35 months in the 3rd Florida Infantry Regiment; 15 May 1861 to 21 Apr 1864. Leonidas W. Franklin was listed as: detailed as shoemaker on 23 Nov 1862, place not given last on rolls on 21 Apr 1864 in Columbus, Georgia While Leonidas W. Franklin was in service, the 3rd Florida Infantry regiment participated in the following battles which had a direct impact on the course of the war and / or a decisive influence on a campaign: Perryville, Kentucky, 08 Oct 1862 Jackson, Mississippi, 14 May 1863 Chickamauga, Georgia, 18-20 Sept 1863 Chattanooga, Tennessee, 23-25 Nov 1863 Leonidas W. Franklin may not have been engaged in the 1863-64 battles since he detailed as a shoemaker/bootmaker on 23 Nov 1862.

Notes

Leonidas W. Franklin was my maternal half 2nd great-granduncle. Leonidas W. Franklin died before 1880 in Russell County, Alabama. Given that: he detailed as shoemaker on 23 Nov 1862 he last appeared on his regimental roll in Columbus, Georgia he and family appear in the 1860 and 1870 Russell County, Alabama Census Russell County, Alabama, is across the Chattahoochee River from Columbus, Georgia Columbus, Georgia, was the site of the largest civil war era shoe/boot factory in the South it seems plausible that Leonidas W. Franklin worked at the Columbus, Georgia, shoe/boot factory during the last 2 1/2 years of the war. If so, it is likely that Leonidas W. Franklin, the soldier/bootmaker, would have been engaged in the last battle of the American Civil War of significance. The failed defense of Columbus, Georgia, from Federal General Wilson's Cavalry Raid on Easter Sunday, 16 Apr 1865.

Sources

Ref_01: Leatha A. Betts' Leonidas W. Franklin RootsWeb WorldConnect database entry. Ref_02: Civil War Military Units in Florida website. Ref_03: Historical Data Systems, Inc., Duxbury, MA 02331 Ref_04: Last Battle of the Civil War, paper by Charles Jewett Swift, 1915 Ref_05: Ref_04: NPS CWSSS Soldiers Records website. Ref_06: NPS CWSSS Regimental Histories website. Ref_07: NPS CWSSS Battle Summaries website.

Cemetery Works Index	American Civil War Ancestors	Family History		Other Aspects