John Henry MARSHALL

Notes:

!Marshall 0118B, p. 7
!Marshall 0144, p. 18
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See the document in the email folder titled "Cvwrjohn" for more information.

JOHN H. MARSHALL, CONFEDERATE SEAMAN
OF THE C.S. DIXIE

John Henry Marshall was the 7th son of Fountain and Anna (Clark) Marshall. It is not known (at this writing) if he was married or not. He was born in 1835 at his fathers farm on Belews Creek, Belews Creek District, Stokes Co., North Carolina.

There is some confusion about how exactly John Marshall a farmer from N.Central North Carolina, found his way to being crew on a Confederate "pirate" vessel. There was apparently some confusion in the family also at that time, because we have a copy of a "Request For Information About Prisoners" form, filed by his father Fountain and listing John H. Marshall as being a member of K Co., 21st Regiment N.C. but no such person is in the roster of that company. The records show that John H. Marshall was a prisoner at Fort Lafayette, New York Harbor from August to October 1861 and that he was "Sent to the Tombs" which at first lead us to believe he died. He did, later, but not at Fort Lafayette nor at *"The Tombs". (The New York City Main Jail is still referred to as "The Tombs" and is now used for records storage. )

The schooner DIXIE, built in Baltimore in 1855 as the H & J NEILD, was sold to Captain Thomas J. Moore in 1860. Moore was, by all accounts, something of a "wheeler-dealer". At the commencement of the war, Moore changed the ships name to DIXIE, and ran the blockade into Charleston. There he organized a stock company, sold the schooner to said stock company for $5,500 and then the company applied for and received a *"Letter of Marque'" from the Confederate Government on June 26th. The application stated that the armament would consist of 3 guns, and a ships company of 35, with Captain Moore commanding.

(Letters of Marque) (Mark) were used by countries to encourage private ship owners to become "privateers" and raid enemy commercial shipping which they were then allowed to sell with the sponsoring government generally taking a share of the proceeds. Thus benefiting in two ways. The gain in funds and the augmentation of a small Navy. )

On 23 July 1861, four days at sea, the DIXIE took (captured) the bark GLEN out of Portland Maine with a load of coal which netted the owners and crew of the DIXIE more than $10,000 in "prize" money when it was sold. Two days later at Lat. 29o N., Long. 77o 10', the DIXIE took the schooner MARY ALICE with a cargo of sugar bound for New York. Not wishing to return to port yet, Capt. Moore placed a "prize crew" aboard the MARY ALICE and continued on his way. However.... The MARY ALICE was retaken by the U.S.Navy Frigate WABASH later that same day and the prize crew from the DIXIE were sent to Fort Lafayette and charged with piracy along with crews of other Southern privateer vessels. This is how John H. Marshall became a prisoner of war.

The documents below (copied from originals) show an outline of the imprisonment of John H. Marshall. But, there is more to events than that. The Union Government fully intended to charge and try all the Confederate sailors as pirates which always meant a sentence of hanging. But far from discouraging Southern ship owners from applying for Letters of Marque', it merely added to the numbers (300 reported at the time). In fact a proposal was made from Liverpool England to outfit an iron clad and use it to set fire to New York City.

President Jefferson Davis had written a fiery letter of protest to President Lincoln on July 6, 1861, stating that for every Confederate sailor charged and executed as a pirate, a Union prisoner of war would be dealt "the same treatment and the same fate as shall be experienced by those captured on the Savannah". He soon had to repeat this threat of retaliation for the crews of the Dixie, York and others. An equal number of high ranking Union officers, held as prisoners by the South, were selected by lottery to be executed should any privateers be executed. This raised a great deal of outcry in both the North and the South, but it worked. Not one Confederate privateer was executed and all were removed to military prisons from the common jails they had been held in and received better treatment, eventually were exchanged as POWs. Thus John Henry Marshall was repatriated back to North Carolina.

The Marshall family branch in Illinois has no oral history about anyone other than Johns older brother Emanuel being lost in the War Between the States. We can only assume that John did eventually return home. Finding information on this son of Fountain and Anna has been a great deal of fun but it has also left some questions. Was John Elias Marshall named after this Great uncle by his father Elias Yancy? How did John wind up on the ship when he was supposed to have been in the Infantry? And....

How many families can actually be claim and prove (well, sort of) they have a pirate in the family?

The following letters and orders give a small look into the military during the Civil War. They are all the more interesting because they relate directly to a family member.

War of the Rebellion, Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 2, Vol. III. Prisoners of War, etc.

Page 28

US Steamer Minnesota
Hampton Roads
August 23, 1861

Lt. Col. Martin Burke, Commanding
Fort Hamilton, New York Harbor

Sir;

By dispatch from the Navy Department dated August 21, 1861, I am informed the War Department has consented to take charge of prisoners coming into the possession of naval authorities and I am directed to send any I may have, to Lt. Col. Martin Burke, Commanding as above.
In conformity therewith, I send to New York in charge of Acting Master R.O. Patterson, U.S. Navy, nine prisoners, vis; five, George C. Gladden, John H. Marshall, J.P.M. Calvo, Charles Forrester and John Gonzales, who belong to the Southern Pirate Dixie. And four;, Patrick McCarthy, John Williams, Archibald Wilson and James Riley. He (they, ed note) belonged to the Southern Pirate York. The last, J. Riley, is a deserter from the U.S. Marine Corps. He was a sergeant and deserted at Norfolk some year or so past.

Respectfully your Ob't Ser't

S.H. Stringham
Flag Officer
(ed note: Commander Atlantic Blockading Squadron. Also note his use of the word "Pirate". Bold print is mine.)

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Lt. Col. M. Burke

I have received the above named prisoners.

Charles O. Wood, 2nd Lt. Ninth Inf.
Commanding Post

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Page no. 48, Previously named vol. and source
_________________________________________________________________

Fort Hamilton
October 4, 1861

Hon. William H. Seward
Secretary of State

Sir;

Pursuant to your orders handed to me by the U.S. Marshal, New York, I have the honor to report that the following named persons confined at Fort LaFayette as privateersmen now, were turned over to the care of U.S. Marshal Murray, vis; John H. Marshall, P. McCarthy, Charles Forrester, George C. Gladden, J.P.M. Calvo, John Gonzales, James Riley, John Williams, Archibald Wilson.
One of the above named was left sick at the fort by Marshal Murray who promised to come down this day and remove him to the quarantine hospital.

Very respectfully, yr. Ob't Serv't
Martin Burke, Lt. Col.
Commanding

_________________________________________________________________

Page no. 611, Previously named vol. and source.
_________________________________________________________________

Fort Hamilton
May 30, 1862

Adjutant General Thomas

Discharging 24 prisoners from Fort LaFayette by order of the Secretary of the Navy. Please send to Fort LaFayette, the 36 political prisoners from Fort Warren as soon as you please.
The guard has arrived and I expect to send off in the morning the 58 privateer prisoners by the steamer S.R. Spaulding.

M. Burke, Lt. Col., 3rd Artillery
Commanding

(ed. Note; There followed a list of officers and enlisted men held at Fort LaFayette, New York Harbor, who were the crews of the Confederate Privateers Savannah, York, Sumter, Jeff Davis, Dixie and Petrel. John H. Marshall was listed as being a seaman on the C.S. Dixie.)

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Page 618, previously named vol. and source
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Headquarters, EDpt. Of Virginia
Fort Monroe, Va.
June 1, 1862

Major General B. Hugger
Commanding, Petersburg Va.

General,

I send on parole, to be exchanged according to the cartel agreed upon between the United States and Great Britain in 1813, the privateersmen prisoners of war, the names and rank of whom will be found in the rolls herewith transmitted, vis; 2 Captains, 3 1st Lieutenants, 2 2nd Lieutenants, 1 Midshipman, 2 Pursers, 1 Gunner, 1 Carpenter, 1 Sail Maker, 2 Sailing Masters, 1 Steward, 69 Seamen, in all 85. Also 5 Seamen taken from merchant vessels while attempting to run the blockade. All of whom will be delivered on your delivering to Lt. Col. Whimple Aide-De-Camp and Chief of my staff, the hostages remaining in confinement in the south on account of the said privateersmen now ready for delivery.

Respectfully,
John E. Wool, Major General
Commanding, etc.,etc.

Notes:

!Marshall 0117, p. 1; Marshall 0118B, p. 7
!A GEDCON file from Gordon Marshall.
!Marshall 0144, p. 17 - This source has his birth year as 1799.
!Marshall 0244 - Gives birth and death years. (1801 - 1827)
!Marshall 0341 - Gives different birth and death years. (1802 - 1874) - From Gordon Marshall) This one seems more likely according to the birth dates of his children.

Fountain married Anna CLARK on 23 Nov 1822 in Sauratown, Stokes County, North Carolina. Anna (daughter of Samuel CLARK and Nancy REDDICK) was born in 1802 in Sauratown, Stokes County, North Carolina; died in Oct 1850 in Sauratown, Stokes County, North Carolina; was buried in Oct 1850 in Sauratown, Stokes County, North Carolina. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

!Marshall 0117, p. 1, Marshall 0118B, p. 7
!A GEDCOM file from Gordon Marshall.
!Marshall 0244 - Gives birth year.

Notes:

!Marshall 0117, p. 1; Marshall 0118B, p. 5
!A GEDCOM file from Gordon Marshall.

Richard married Mary (Polly) FOUNTAIN in 1796 in Stokes County, North Carolina. Mary (daughter of Stephen FOUNTAIN and Jane ROPER) was born about 1782 in Surry County, North Carolina; died about 1820 in Stokes County, North Carolina; was buried in Stokes County, North Carolina. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

!Marshall 0117, p. 1
!A GEDCOM file from Gordon Marshall.
!Marshall 0144, p. 1 - This source gives her marriage date as 1799.

Notes:

!From Gordon Marshall - Additional data files he sent along with the GEDCOM
file.

Samuel married Nancy REDDICK. Nancy was born in 1777; died in 1845. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

!From Gordon Marshall - Additional data files he sent along with the GEDCOM
file.

Notes:

!Marshall 0056, pg. 27 & 48 - This source, "Some Notes on the Marshalls of
Calvert County, Maryland and Their Descendants" by Michael Marshall of
Mechanicsville, Virginia, June 1992 contains research that attempts to define
the relationships of various Marshalls in Calvert County. The relationships
are not proved, but represent his effort to make the connections.

!Marshall 0129, P. 1

William married Eleanor AUSTIN. Eleanor (daughter of Samuel AUSTIN and Elizabeth MARSHALL) was born in 1745 in Carroll County, Virginia; died about 1830 in Albemarle County, Virginia. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

!Marshall 0129, p. 1

Notes:

!Marshall 0144, p. 41

Stephen married Jane ROPER about 1772. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

!Marshall 0144, p. 41