Martin Civil War History

We discovered one of the more interesting facts about our ancestry over the Holidays.

My son Jon married a southern bell, our own Krystel Lathan. Krystel and Jon (and little Karlee) stayed with us for a few days over the holidays and we took the time to research her ancestry. We discovered the following.

Krystal has a GG Grandfather named Robert Fell Hancock. Robert was born in the year 1844 in South Carolina. Like many young men his age (17), he joined the army of the Confederate States of America shortly after Fort Sumter was shelled in Charleston harbor. Some of his history is kept by his family:

“Robert enlisted in the CSA in Florence, SC April 13, 1861 as a Corporal in Company B, 8th SC Infantry. He was shot in the eye and also in the stomach and was captured at Opequan Creek, VA on September 13, 1864. He was detailed as a nurse by the Union Army at Camp Chase, OH. He signed oath and was released on June 11, 1865. According to family lore, it took him 8 months to get home from Ohio. He supposedly helped clear roads and worked on the railroad to earn money for food to get home. His complete War Record including his pension is on file at the Department of Archives in Columbia, SC.
…

Robert's grandchildren called him 'Grandpa Whistle' because he whistled all the time.”

The SC 8^th was one of the most active in the war. They saw action from the first battle (Manassas 1) all the way through the resistance against Sherman’s March. This included horrific battles such as Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Chickamauga, the Wilderness campaign, and most importantly for our purposes; Cold Harbor.

You may have read in one of my previous mailings that the Martin’s also had ancestor at Cold Harbor: George M. Martin. George M Martin was our (the 4 Martin brothers) GG grandfather (Laurance Harold Martin 1919 > Harold George Martin 1897> Harry P Martin 1871 > George M Martin 1843). George was a member of the Union army under Smith at Cold Harbor (NY 118^th Infantry Regiment -The “Adirondack” Regiment). Research on the “order of battle” reveals that our GG grandfather and Krystel’s GG grandfather were on opposite sides of the same battlefield. In this diagram of the first day of battle, Robert Fell Hancock was with Henagan under Kershaw, while George M Martin was with Burnham under Smith. They were almost exactly opposite each other in this battle.

Happily for us, neither were killed or wounded in this action.

Krystel and Jon’s newborn daughter Karlee will have a very interesting story to share with her mates once she gets to school. Granddads crossing swords in the Civil War!