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| Leonard S. Williams, Company A, 7th Texas Infantry Regiment, CSA |
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My maternal 2nd cousin 3 times removed, Leonard S. Williams, served in Company A, 7th Texas Infantry Regiment for 04 months, Oct 1861 to Feb 1862. He died in service. Leonard S. Williams enlisted as a Private on 01 October 1861 in Marshall, Texas. Williams died of disease, on 07 Feb 1862, at the age of 16.5 years, in Confederate hospital in Clarksville, Montgomery County, Tennessee. He was buried behind the site of the Clarksville Female Academy which served as a Confederate field hospital in 1861 and 1862. The graveyard is now referred to as the Clarksville Confederate Hospital Cemetery, Clarksville, Montgomery County, Tennessee. Leonard S. Williams' story is detailed below. |
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Leonard S. Williams was born on 02 July 1845 in the Republic of Texas; probably, present day
Navarro County, Texas. He was the fourth of 10 children born to Mary Elizabeth [nee Davis]
and Thomas 'Tomas' Williams; see Note_02. Leonard S. Williams enlisted as a Private in the Waco Guards, Waco, Texas, on 01 October 1861. The Waco Guards and eight other companies were recruited by John Gregg to form the 7th Texas Infantry. The 7th Texas Infantry, also known as Gregg's Regiment, was mustered into Confederate service on 02 October 1861 in Marshall, Texas. After mustering in, the regiment almost immediately removed to Hopkinsville, Kentucky, to join General Albert Sidney Johnston's Army. The Waco Guards was assigned as Company A of the 7th Texas Infantry Regiment on 10 November 1861 at Hopkinsville, Kentucky. The regiment wintered at Camp Alcorn, Hopkinsville, Kentucky, until they decamped, in early February 1862, to the defense of Fort Donelson, Tennessee, ~40 miles southwest. During their three month in Camp Alcorn, Hopkinsville, the soldiers of the 7th Texas Infantry suffered severely from dysentery, measles, mumps, and other illnesses which often deteriorate to pneumonia. Reportedly, 167 men of the 7th Texas Infantry died from disease [ ~22% ]; 114 at Camp Alcorn and 53 in the Confederate Hospital in Clarksville, Tennessee. This grim information bears witness to the fact that two-third of the soldiers' deaths in the American Civil War were due to disease. Another 25 soldiers of Gregg's Regiment were discharged due to disability. The soldiers who died in the Clarksville Confederate Hospital were among the ill moved from Camp Alcorn, Hopkinsville, to Clarksville, Tennessee, in late November, to remove them from threat of Union forces, and casualties from the Battle of Fort Donelson, Tennessee, 11 - 16 February 1862. Many casualties of Fort Donelson conflict were brought to Clarksville on the Cumberland River by riverboats. A report from the era state "the decks of the steamers were as bloody as if they had been used for a slaughter house". The Clarksville Female Academy was used as a Confederate hospital in 1861 and 1862. Three hundred and seven [307] Confederate soldiers died there and were buried in a mass grave behind the hospital. Leonard S. Williams was among those who were moved from Hopkinsville to Clarksville, died at Clarksville Confederate Hospital, and were buried behind the hospital. Fifth three [53] Texans were buried there. In 1897, 127 remains were found, disinterred, and re-interred in Riverview Cemetery, Clarksville, Montgomery County, Tennessee. The remains of the other 180 Confederate soldiers were not disturb and now lie beneath a bridge the City of Clarksville built over their graves in 2001. The bridge is designated The Confederate Soldiers Memorial Bridge. Additional information regarding Clarksville Confederate Hospital, Clarksville Confederate Hospital Cemetery, burial indices of the soldier buried there, and Miss Blanche Louise Lewis, the 'angel of mercy' at the hospital and the recorder of the deaths there, can be accessed at the hyperlink above. It is unknown if / unknowable whether Leonard S. Williams' body is among or The 307 Confederate soldiers who died in Clarksville Confederate Hospital are memorialized by two bronze plaque at Riverview Cemetery, Clarksville, Tennessee, reporting their names. The names of the soldier who died at Clarksville Confederate Hospital were recorded by Miss Blanch Lewis, daughter of a rich iron furnace owner. She also recorded many soldiers' regiment and home. Her original records were recent acquired [2005] by the Montgomery County Historical Society. The names were as she wrote down from the soldiers own mouths. See Note_01. |
| Notes |
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Note_01: Name Issue Two soldiers named Leonard Williams served in the Waco Guards. The Compiled Military Service Records found on Lars Gjertveit's superb 7th Texas Volunteer Infantry Regiment website lists: and However, I and other family researchers believe the middle initials of these two soldiers are transposed in the official records. Reason for this belief include: 1.1 Leonard S. Williams, son of Mary Elizabeth [nee Davis] and Thomas 'Tomas' Williams, was born in 02 July 1845 and was 16 years 3 months when the Waco Guards was mustered into Confederate service on 02 October 1861 in Marshall, Texas. This matches the age of the soldier L. _. Williams who died of disease 07 Feb 62, Clarksville, Tennessee. 1.2 A historic family letter, 13 January 1862, from to [both 2nd great granduncles] refers to is L.S. Williams [and 4 other men] "sick at hospital" 1.3 A historic family letter, 10 March 1862, from to reporting Little Len is ded. Little Len is taken to be the author's [Leonard Houston Williams, Jr.'s], nephew, Leonard S. Williams, son of Mary Elizabeth [nee Davis] and Thomas 'Tomas' Williams. 1.4 I have dealt with the records of several hundred American Civil War soldiers. Variations in soldier's names come as no surprise; I look for the "alt. name". Further to that point, the US NPS CWSSS database's Detailed Soldier Record has a field for 'an alternate name under which the soldier was also known'. Ergo, I believe the person who died of measles at Clarksville Female Academy is the 16.5 years old, lad named Leonard S. Williams; the son of Mary Elizabeth [nee Davis] and Thomas 'Tomas' Williams; my maternal 2nd cousin 3 times removed. Note_02: Thomas 'Tomas' Williams Thomas 'Tomas' Williams, Leonard S. Williams' father, has the distinguish of being believed by some to be the first child of European-American parents to be born in the present-day State of Texas; albeit, his mother, Nancy Isaac/Isaak, was half Cherokee. Nancy Timmons Samuels wrote in Gateway to the West: Eastland County History, Volume 1, Eastland County Historical Book Committee: 'History books state that Mary James Long, daughter of Jane Long ['the Mother of Texas', was the first white child born in Texas, on 21 December 1821. However, there is conclusive evidence that Thomas Williams, who is buried in the Merriman Cemetery, in Eastland County, deserves the honor of such a claim, if indeed such claims should be made. Thomas Williams was born 01 March 1821, in the Williams Settlement, on the Angelina River, in that part of the Mexican Municipality of Nacogdoches which is now Rusk County. He was the eldest son of Leonard H. and Nancy Isaacks Williams, and the grandson of Thomas and Priscilla Williams. This Williams clan came from Tennessee and were in Texas as early as 1819, first in Red River County, then in Nacogdoches County. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Every census indicates that Thomas Williams was born in 1821. His tombstone states that he was born in Texas on 01 March 1821'. |
| Sources |
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Ref_01: 7th Texas Infantry Regiment; Lars Gjertveit website. Ref_02: 7th Texas Volunteer Infantry Regiment, A Brief History by Stephen L. Davison on Lars Gjertveit's website. Ref_03: 7th Texas Volunteer Infantry Regiment, Muster Roll, on Lars Gjertveit's website. Ref_04: Lone Star Regiments in Gray, Wooster, Ralph A., Eakin Press, Austin, Texas, 2002. Ref_05: This Band of Heroes, Granbury's Texas Brigade, CSA, McCaffrey, James M., Texas A&M University Press, College Station, Texas,1996 Ref_06: Manifold email exchanges with Randy Rubel; President of the Montgomery County Historical Society; President of Company A, 50th Tennessee Reenactment Organization; past Historian and Commander of SCV Camp #225, Clarksville; past President of the Montgomery County Civil War Preservation Society; volunteer researcher of the Confederate soldiers buried in Greenwood Cemetery and Riverview Cemetery, Clarksville, Montgomery County, Tennessee. Ref_07: Confederate Soldiers In My Family webpages on Lisa Kight's website. Ref_08: Family Of Thomas Williams And Mary Elizabeth Davis webpages on Lisa Kight's website. Ref_09: Historic family manuscript [letter], dated 13 January 1862, from Edward Burleson Estes, Pvt., Co. A, 7th Texas Infantry in Hopkinsville, KY, to Aaron R. Estes, Sgt., Co. B, 10th Texas Infantry. The originals are in The Texas Collection at the Carroll Library at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. The original letters were contributed by Dan Williams. Ref_10: Historic family manuscript [letter], dated 10 March 1862, from Leonard Houston Williams, Jr., in Hill County, State of Texas, to Aaron R. Estes, Sgt., Co. B, 10th Texas Infantry. The originals are in The Texas Collection at the Carroll Library at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. The original letters were contributed by Dan Williams. |
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