Civil War Veteran Questionnaire


 



William Henry Harrison Carlton

The chief purpose of the following questions is to bring out facts that will be of service in writing a true history of the Old South.  Such a history has yet been written.  By answering these questions you will make it valuable contribution to the history of your State. In case that space following any question is not sufficient for your answer, you may write you answer on a separate piece of paper.  But when this is done, be sure to put the number of the question on the paper on which the answer is written, and number the pages of the paper on which you write your answer. Read all the questions before you answer any of them.  After answering the questions here given, if you desire to make additional statements, I would be glad for
you to add just as much as you desire. 

1.  State your full name and present postoffice address.......W. H. Carlton, Gleason,Tenn 

2. State your age now .......83 yrs. 

3. In what State and county were you born?......Weakley County, Tenn. 

4. Were you a Confederate or Federal Soldier?.......Confederate 

5.  A. Name of your company  Co......D      
     B.  Number of Regiment....12th Tenn. 

 6. What was the occupation of your father? ......Farmer 

7. Give full name of your father........  Wade H. Carlton    Born at:  Rutherford County Tenn. 
He lived at; Gibson County at the time of his death. 
Give also particulars concerning him, as official position, war services etc. books written by , etc....... He was Trustee or tax collector, for two terms in Weakley Co. 

8. Maiden name in full your mother.......Sallie Putman  She was the daughter of  Don't know  and his wife, don't know who lived in middle Tenn. 

9.  Remarks on Ancestry. Give here any and all facts possible in reference to your  parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, etc.not included in the foregoing, as where they lived, offices held, Revolutionary or other war service; what country the family came from to America; where first settled, county and state; always giving full names (if possible), and never referring to an ancestor simply as such without giving the name. It is desirable to include every fact possible, and To that end the full and exact record from old Bibles should be appended on separate sheets of this size, thus preserving the facts from loss. 

10. If you owned land or other property at the opening of the war, state what kind of property you owned and state the value of your property as near as you can ......I did not, lived with my father. 

11.  Did your parents own slaves? If so how many?.......No 

12.  If your parents owned land, state about how many acres:......Yes about 160 acres 

13.  State as near as you can the value of all the property owned by your  parents, including land, when the war opened:..... About $1600.00 

14.  What kind of house did your parents occupy? State whether is was a log house or frame house or built of other material, and state the number of rooms it had:......   Double log house weatherboared and cieled. (sealed).

15. As a boy and young man, state what kind of work you did. If you worked on a farm, state to what extent you plowed, worked with a hoe and did other kinds of similar work. (Certain historians claim that white men wouldn't do work of this sort before the war.)..... Worked on farm general farm work. 

16. State clearly what kind of work your father did, and what the duties of your mother were. State all the kinds of work done in the house as well as you can remember- that is, cooking, spinning, weaving, etc......   My father worked on the farm part of the time, and was also deputy sheriff which fact took him away from home some.  My mother looked after the house, work did spinning and weaving to make clothing for the family. 

17. Did your parents keep any servants? If so how many.....  No 

18. How was honest toil-as plowing, hauling and other sorts of honest work of this class- regarded in your community? Was such work considered  respectable and honorable?.....       Yes 

19. Did the white men in your community generally engage in such work?......Yes 

20. To what extent were there white men in your community leading lives of  idleness and having others so their work for them;......   Very little of that done.  Most of the slave owners did more work than the negroes did. 

21. Did the men who owned slaves mingle freely with those who did not own slaves, or did slaveholders in any way show by their actions that they felt themselves better than respectable, honorable men who did not own slaves?....... No difference shown that I could tell. 

22. At the churches, at the schools, at public gatherings in general, did slave-holders and non-slaveholders mingle on a footing of equality?......Yes 

23. Was there a friendly feeling between slaveholders and non-slaveholders in your community, or were they antagonistic to each other?....Yes 

24. In a political contest in which one candidate owned slaves and the other did not, did the fact that one candidate owned slaves help him any in winning the contest?......   No 

25. Were the opportunities good in your community for a poor young man, honest and industrious, to save up enough to buy a small farm or to go in business for himself?...... Yes as good as any other place that I know of. 

26. Were poor, honest, industrious young men, who were ambitious to make something of themselves, encouraged or discouraged by slaveholders; .......They were encouraged 

27. What kind of school or schools did you attend? ........Common subscription school in the country. 

28. About how long did you go to school altogether?......    About 12 or 18 months 

29. How far was it to the nearest school? ........yearhalf miles 

30. What school or schools were in operation in your neighborhood? ....None but subscription schools 

31. Was the school in your community private or public? ......   Private or subscription 

32. About how many months in the year did it run?........ About 3 months of the year. 

33. Did the boys and girls in your community attend school pretty regularly?.....Yes 

34. Was the teacher of the school you attended a man or a woman?.....Both 

35. Inwhat year and month and at what place did you enlist in the service of the Confederacy or of the Federal Government; .......August 1861 

36. After enlistment, where was your company sent first? ........Went to Union City, Tenn 

37. How long after your enlistment before your company engaged in battle?......About nine months. 

38. What was the first battle you engaged in?......Belmont. 

39. State in your own way your experience in the war from this time on to the close. State where you went after the first battle-what you did, what other battles you engaged in, how long they lasted, what the results were;state how you lived in camp, how you were clothed, how you slept, what you had to eat, how you were exposed to cold, hunger and disease. If you were in hospital or in prison, state your experiences here:.......... I was engaged in the following battles, Belmont, Shiloh, Richland, Ky, Murfreesboro, Lavern.  I was in hospital about eight weeks for a wound I received between Corinth and Shiloh, on picket duty. 

40. Where were you discharged: ........At Shelbyville Tenn. in Feb. 1863. 

41. Tell something of your trip home:........I came home horseback, no trouble. 

42. What kind of work did you take up when you came back home?......Farming 

43. Give a sketch of your life since the close of the Civil War, stating what kind of business you have engaged in, where you have lived, your church relations, etc. If you have held any office or offices, state what it was.You may state here any other facts connected with your life and experience which has not been brought out by other questions. ..........Since the close of the war I have farmed all the time as long as I was able in Weakley county Tenn.  I have been constable of my district one term and tax assessor one term. 

44. On a separate sheet give the names of some of the great men you have known or met in your time, and tell some of the circumstances of the meeting or incidents in their lives.  Also add any further personal reminiscences. (Use all the space you want.) 

45.  Give the names of all the members of your company you can remember. If you know where the Roster is to be had, please make a special note of this. 

Jack Hill, Capt. 
S. Wolefent, Ft. Lt. 
Newt Pierce, Sargent 
V. O. Carlton
Tom Carlton 
John Carlton 
Wm. Carlton 
 Mat Davis 
Henry Blakemore 
Jim Fielder 
Bob Crawley 
Robt. Walls 
Jim Walls 
Dick Gardner 
Sug Gardner 
Jackson Allen 
Marcu Dickerson 
Canady Dickerson 
John Dance 
Bill Bullard 
Jim Cawthorn 
Rom McCaleb 
Steward McCaleb 
Bill McCaleb 

46. Give here the NAME and POST OFFICE ADDRESS of living Veterans of the Civil War, whether members of your Company or not; Whether Tennesseans or from other states: 

J.T. Haley  -Gleason,Tenn. 
D.A. Browning - Gleason, Tenn 
J.F. Summers - Gleason, Tenn 
John Brawner  Gleason, Tenn. 
J.H Malone -  Gleason, Tenn. 
Bob Dunlap -  McKenzie, Tenn. 
S. Dunlap - McKenzie, Tenn. 
Albert Montgomery - McKenzie, Tenn 
Frank Black - Gleason, Tenn 
Silas Todd - Gleason, Tenn

Submitted by his Great Grandson
Joe William Stout
 


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