To war no more
He was just a boy when he first went off to war. Just 18 years old when he enlisted as a private in Company G of the 25th Regiment of North Carolina State Troops.
Camp Douglas, Chicago IL
Then on 10 March 1862, Sidney Sherman Davenport was discharged at Grahamville, South Carolina.4
The reason given in his discharge papers, dated that 10th of March, was physical disability, but what kind of disability wasn’t stated. In the papers, there’s a wonderfully detailed description:
Sidney S. Davenport a private of Captain W. Grady’s Company (“G”) of the 25 Regiment of NC Vols, born in Cherokee Co in the State of No Car-, aged 18 years, 5 feet, 11 inches high, sallow complexion, Dark eyes, Dark hair, and by occupation a Farmer …5
Sidney was my first cousin four times removed and my second cousin five times removed — our Baker and Davenport lines intertwine more than once. His mother, Dorothy (Baker) Davenport was my third great grand-aunt, younger sister of my third great grandfather Martin Baker. She was born 11 August 1799 in Burke County to David Baker (whose mother was a Davenport) and his second wife Dorothy Wiseman (another Davenport descendant).6
Dorothy married her cousin David Davenport (both a first cousin once removed and a second cousin) sometime around 1817, and records support a conclusion that they had 14 children — 11 sons and three daughters.7
Sidney was the youngest, and you know it must have gladdened his mother’s heart when that youngest boy was sent home from the war that March of 1862. She had to know she couldn’t protect all of her sons with war raging in the land… but she had to have thought, at that moment, that perhaps she could keep that one home.
It was not to be.
Four months to the day after he was mustered out of the 25th North Carolina Regiment for physical disability, Sidney Sherman Davenport joined his older brother Charles and other men from Clay and nearby counties in forming the 62nd North Carolina Infantry Regiment. His rank was recorded as second sergeant, his age as 20.8
And he was off to war once more.
The unit history is mostly unremarkable for more than a year. The men were sent to Johnson City, Tennessee, for training, joined the Army of Kentucky at the end of October 1862, and then sent to guard the railroads until early 1863.9
It must have been a source of some comment within Company B, where Sidney was sergeant over his much older brother Charles. Charles was 16 years older than his baby brother; he was married, and had eight children in his household on the 1860 census.10 Sidney wasn’t much older than Charles’ oldest son. But it must also have been a comfort for Sidney to have his older brother near.
And then came disaster. In August 1863 the 62nd North Carolina was one of the units sent to the defense of the Cumberland Gap in Tennessee. There, they were overwhelmed and on 10 September 1863 taken prisoner when they and the other Confederate troops at the Gap were surrendered by Brig. Gen. John W. Frazier.11
Some 442 soldiers from the 62nd North Carolina — among them both the Davenport brothers — were transferred to what became known as Eighty Acres of Hell — Camp Douglas, the Union prison camp at Chicago, Illinois.12
Charles didn’t make it two months past his arrival at Camp Douglas. His name appears on a list of prisoners forwarded to Camp Douglas from Louisville, Kentucky, dated 24 September 1863. His name is also on an undated roll taken at Camp Douglas in 1863. And it is on the list of those who died between the first and 15th of November 1863.13
Charles died 11 November 1863, of “billious fever” — a generic term used at the time for any illness with fever, vomiting and diarrhea.14 He was buried in grave number 825 at the City Cemetery in Chicago.15
Sidney’s name is also on that September 1863 list of transferred prisoners from Louisville. And records show that he was received at Camp Douglas on 26 September 1863.16
It’s impossible even to imagine how this 20- or 21-year-old boy felt when his older brother died at that prison camp. The conditions there were horrific: twice, public health officials said the camp should be shut down. A year before Sidney found himself at the camp, the president of the U.S. Sanitary Commission — a non-governmental charity — said conditions were so bad that “nothing but fire” could cleanse the camp.17
When the transferred troops arrived in September 1863, more than 4,000 prisoners were at Camp Douglas. By October, there were more than 6,000. There wasn’t enough food, water, clothing or shelter. There wasn’t medicine or medical care to begin to care for all the sick. They were overcrowded, food supplied by subcontractors was poor quality, discipline was harsh.18
But Sidney held on.
He held on through the winter of 1863-64. Through the confiscation of warm coats. Through the blizzard of January 1, 1864 with its -18F temperatures. Through the food shortages that had men eating anything they could find including, reportedly, even rats. Through the overcrowding, the filth, the vermin, the disease.19
He held on through the spring of 1864. Through the summer. Into the fall.20
Maybe he even started believing he would make it home.
It was not to be. On 14 October 1864 — 148 years ago tomorrow — Sidney Sherman Davenport died at Camp Douglas. The cause was listed as inflammation of the lungs. He was just 22 years old when he was buried in grave 81, block 2, of the City Cemetery in Chicago.21
All told, David and Dorothy (Baker) Davenport sent six sons into the Confederate Army (Charles, Abner, Josiah, Robert, John and Sidney). Half of them never made it home. When and where Abner died and where he was buried, that remains to be determined.
But Sidney and Charles lie together today with 194 others from the 62nd North Carolina — and with thousands of other Confederates who died at Camp Douglas and whose bodies were later moved to a single mass grave. A pillar stands on Confederate Mound in Oak Woods Cemetery above the grave and the names of those known to have died are inscribed there.
Davenport, C.E., Co. B, 62nd N.C.
Davenport, S.S., Sgt., Co. B, 62nd N.C.22
Rest in peace, cousins. And go to war no more.
SOURCES
- Sidney S. Davenport, Pvt., Co. G, 25th North Carolina Infantry; Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of North Carolina, microfilm publication M270, roll 315 of 580 rolls (Washington, D.C. : National Archives and Records Service, 1960); digital images, Fold3 (http://www.Fold3.com : accessed 12 Oct 2012), Sidney S. Davenport file, p. 2. ↩
- See 1860 U.S. census, Cherokee County, North Carolina, Shooting Creek, population schedule, p. 168 (penned), dwelling/family 1098, Sidney Debenport in David Debenport household; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 10 Apr 2007); citing National Archive microfilm publication M653, roll 892. Shooting Creek was part of the new Clay County formed in 1861. ↩
- Compiled Service Record, Sidney S. Davenport, Co. G, 25th North Carolina Infantry, Fold3 file pp. 2-6. ↩
- Ibid., p. 7. ↩
- Ibid., p. 10. ↩
- Josiah and Julia (McGimsey) Baker Family Bible Records 1749-1912, The New Testament of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (New York : American Bible Society, 1867), “Births”; privately held by Louise (Baker) Ferguson, Bakersville, NC; photographed for JG Russell, Feb 2003. Mrs. Ferguson, a great granddaughter of Josiah and Julia, inherited the Bible; the earliest entries are believed to be in the handwriting of Josiah or Julia Baker. ↩
- See 1860 U.S. census, Cherokee Co., N.C., Shooting Creek, pop. sched., p. 168 (penned), dwell./fam. 1098, David Debenport household. Also 1850 U.S. census, Cherokee County, North Carolina, population schedule, p. 25 (back) (stamped), dwelling/family 324, David Davenport household; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 21 Mar 2007); citing National Archive microfilm publication M432, roll 625. Also 1840 U.S. census, Cherokee County, North Carolina, p. 239 (stamped), David Davenport household; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 9 Dec 2002); citing National Archive microfilm publication M704, roll 357. ↩
- Sidney S. Davenport, Sgt., Co. B, 62nd North Carolina Infantry; Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of North Carolina, microfilm publication M270, roll 551 of 580 rolls (Washington, D.C. : National Archives and Records Service, 1960); digital images, Fold3 (http://www.Fold3.com : accessed 12 Oct 2012), Sidney S. Davenport file. ↩
- Marshall Styles, “POW Deaths, 62nd NC Inf Reg, CSA,” USGenWeb (http://files.usgwarchives.net/nc : accessed 12 Oct 2012. ↩
- 1860 U.S. census, Towns County, Georgia, Hiwassee, population schedule, p. 43 (penned), dwelling/family 295, Charles Davenport household; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 12 Apr 2007); citing National Archive microfilm publication M653, roll 138. ↩
- Styles, “POW Deaths, 62nd NC Inf Reg, CSA.” ↩
- Ibid. ↩
- Chas E. Davenport, Pvt., Co. B, 62nd North Carolina Infantry; Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of North Carolina, microfilm publication M270, roll 551 of 580 rolls (Washington, D.C. : National Archives and Records Service, 1960); digital images, Fold3 (http://www.Fold3.com : accessed 12 Oct 2012), Chas E. Davenport file. ↩
- Wikipedia (http://www.wikipedia.com), “bilious fever,” rev. 28 Feb 2012. ↩
- Fold3 Chas E. Davenport file, p. 7. ↩
- Sidney S. Davenport, Sgt., Co. B, 62nd North Carolina Infantry; Fold3 file pp. 10-11. ↩
- Wikipedia (http://www.wikipedia.com), “Camp Douglas (Chicago),” rev. 12 Sep 2012. ↩
- Ibid. ↩
- Ibid. ↩
- Sidney S. Davenport, Sgt., Co. B, 62nd North Carolina Infantry; Fold3 file pp. 10-11. ↩
- Ibid., p.13. ↩
- Camp Douglas memorial, photographed 2008 by Angela Groenhout (digital copy in possession of jgrussell). ↩
My great grandfather, John Thomas Barker, and his brother, William, both served with the 29th Georgia Infantry and were both captured during the battle of Franklin, TN. They were also sent to Camp Douglas. Both survived – released in August 1865 to walk back to Georgia. John Thomas had promised a dying prisoner, Mr. Gray, that once he got back to Georgia he would tell Mr. Gray’s fiancée what had happened. As it turned out, John Thomas later married the fiancée, Miss Linnie Blake.
That’s a wonderful story, Denise!
What a heart-breaking story, Judy. You’ve told it so well that I found myself rooting for Sidney right to the bitter end. And his poor parents! I appreciate all the research that went into this story, and think it’s wonderful that you’ve preserved it for generations to come.
Thanks for the kind words, Shelley. Hard to believe that so many, on both sides, went into those camps and never made it home.
Judy,
Due to the huge carnage of the Civil War I think that many of us have similar stories.
My own 2nd great grandfather L.P. Wall [1834-1920] and his brother Milton Wall [ca 1839 – 1864] joined GA confederate troops, although they were not in the same units. L.P. survived Point Lookout MD prison camp, unfortunately his brother, Milton, died at Elmira NY prison camp, at the young age of 25.
While the South’s treatment of prisoners was deplorable, they did have real problems supplying their own troops with food and supplies. The North had no such problem. Their treatment of prisoners was not my country’s finest hour, it was a program of retribution.
In 2003 I traveled to Chicago to visit a friend and fellow Civil War enthusiast. We visited a number of Civil war sites including Oak Woods Cemetery. What surprised me was that the citizens of Chicago did not support the harsh treatment of Confederate prisoners. They tried many ways of helping them, but were rebuffed by the prison authorities. Many locals resorted to throwing food over the fence. The City of Chicago built the monument at the mass Confederate grave to honor those who died in their city.
I couldn’t agree with you more that it was a black mark on our history on both sides, Keith.
Charles E. Davenport was my 3rd Great Grandfather he was my Grandmother Lucille Davenport’s Great Grandfather. Thank you for adding to the history and knowledge of my family.