Private REUBEN H. NATIONS volunteered for Confederate
service in the summer of 1861 and enrolled at Camp Moore, Louisiana with the
Farmer Guards from Union Parish on August 13, 1861 in the 12th Louisiana
Infantry. These men went off to war
as 12-month volunteers. This
company was designated Company I at the May 1862 re-organization for three years
or the duration of the war. I have
presumed that he was resident of Union Parish when the war broke out and have
expected that information on him could be found in the 1860 Federal Census for
Union Parish. Whether he came there
with his parents or was on his own perhaps with wife and children exploring the
Louisiana farming frontier looking for land of his own family might be gleaned
from this record if it exists. If
you don't find him in the 1860
I purchased a set of the microfilmed Compiled Military
Service Records for the 12th Louisiana Infantry from the National Archives a few
years back and created a substantial database with service highlights on each of
more than 1,735 Confederate soldiers who served in this regiment during the war.
Using simple spreadsheet technology, I was able to re-create the company
rosters.
REUBEN H. NATIONS was present with his company from August
1861 through late November 1862. He
was sent sick to the General Hospital at Enterprise, Mississippi on November
20th and remained there until the end of February 1863. He rejoined the regiment only to be left sick again at
Jackson, Mississippi on April 13, 1863. The
rolls for May through December 1863 show that he had rejoined the company by the
end of May and was present for duty until he was detached on December 13, 1863
and sent "home" for clothing for himself and others.
He returned and was present through the summer and fall of 1864 during
the fight for Atlanta.
Following the loss of Atlanta, General Hood marched his
army north and eventually launched his ill-fated campaign to drive the Federals
out of Tennessee. One of the stops
en route to Tennessee was at Decatur, Alabama where Hood surrounded a small
Federal garrison and attempted unsuccessfully to bluff them out of their
position. Considerable skirmishing
took place here during which the Federals made extensive use of their artillery.
Three men of the 12th Louisiana were killed in action and a fourth badly
wounded. According to a letter sent
home by John A. Graham in November to his brother George B. Graham in Union
Parish, "NATIONS of Company I had both legs amputated and [was] struck by a
piece of shell." A week later he wrote to George again stating that
"NATIONS had both legs shot off and was left in the hands of the
Yanks" at Decatur. The date of
this skirmishing and shelling was October 28, 1864.
REUBEN H. NATIONS was treated at a Confederate field hospital and could not be moved
when Hood withdrew his army on October 29th and marched westwards towards
Tuscumbia, Alabama. The Confederate
field hospital fell into Federal hands. Even
though the Grahams had enrolled in the other Union Parish company in the 12th
Louisiana [Company E], they obviously thought well enough of Reuben to comment
on his unfortunate battle wounding. The
fact that he was detached to go home in December 1863 and obtain clothing and
came back probably raised the esteem in which his fellow soldiers held him.
This detachment occurred at the close of a period of heavy desertions
from the regiment.
Somehow a photo of REUBEN H. NATIONS made its way into the
Georgia State Archives' "Vanishing Georgia" Collection.
Time-Life Books picked up a copy at random and published it recently in
their book Echoes of Glory: Arms
and Equipment of the Confederacy [Time-Life, 1996].
His photo was used on page 196 under the section Soldier's Gear because
he appears to be particularly well uniformed and well armed.
I obtained a copy from the Georgia State Archives for use with my
manuscript on the 12th Louisiana Infantry.
This appears to be a photo taken at Camp Moore in 1861 as the uniform
seems to have been professionally made and he has both a knife and pistol in his
belt. They never looked quite that
nice again! If you haven't seen
this, I can send you a digitized copy via e-mail if you have Adobe Photoshop or
similar software for viewing photographic images.
This is all that I know about REUBEN H. NATIONS and I hope you
can help me with learning a little bit more about him.
R. Hugh Simmons
1676 Valley Greene Road
Paoli, PA 19301-1042
TEL: (610) 647-0798
FAX: (610) 647-7424
E-Mail: hsimmons@voicenet.com
http://www.voicenet.com/~hsimmons/12LA%20WEB%20Site/12LAHomePage.htm