Reverend Benjamin M. Devault and Wife, Mattie Hyath, of East Tennessee

United States Census, 1910, Civil District 2, Knox, Tennessee, ED 103, Sheet 4 B, House no. 613, Dwelling 86, Family 87, Line 98: Benjamin Devault, aged 51, married white head. Birth: 1859, Tennessee. Both parents born in Tennessee. Occupation: Minister. Married once (M1). Married 14 years (est. 1896). Wife is Mattie DeVault (mother of 4 children, 2 living). Children in the household are John Devault, born 1898 in Kentucky; and Frank DeVault, born 1900 in Missouri.

The Reverend Benjamin M. DeVault was born about 1860 in Sullivan County, Tennessee, and is probably related to other DeVaults there. He married Mattie Hyath, of Campbell County, Tennessee (though no marriage record has yet been found; the couple may have married in Kentucky). Mattie had four children. Two of them died. The ones who lived were John DeVault, born 1898 in Kentucky; and Frank DeVault, born 1900 in Missouri. Reverend Devault and his family apparently moved, at least temporarily, from Tennessee to Kentucky, to Missouri; then to Knox County, Tennessee (where they are found in census in 1910). About 1910, apparently after census, they moved to Asheville, Buncombe County, North Carolina, where their son, John, died that year. They probably lived there until at least 1918, when son, Frank, register for the World War I Draft, and listed Benjamin (of the same address) as his nearest relative. In 1923, Benjamin and his wife, Mattie, moved to Winter Park, Orange County, Florida. This move may have been made for Mattie's health, for she died in Orlando about five days later, according to her death record. Benjamin continued to live in Winter Park, dying there in 1925. He and his wife are buried at Palm Cemetery in Winter Park, Orange County, Florida. Both husband and wife are exceedingly hard to find in census, though another Benjamin DeVault, of the same age, is sometimes found in Sullivan County, Tennessee (but he has a different wife and children). There may have been name changes; or it may be that Benjamin, as a minister, travelled from town to town or went on missions. Little else is known about this East Tennessee family.

Alfred Babb, born 1821, Private, Co. H, 8th East Tennessee Infantry (Enlisted 1863). Deserted Jan. 1864.

Alfred Babb, aged 42, enlisted as a Private in Company H, 8th East Tennessee Infantry, at Camp Nelson, Kentucky, on 11 August 1863.

Joined for duty and enrolled on 25 July 1853, Greene County, Tennessee, for 3 years.

Muster rolls: Present for July-Aug 1863; Sept-Oct 1863; Nov-Dec 1863.

He deserted on 20 Jan. 1864. The following remarks were on the Muster Rolls after that: 

Jan-Feb 1864: Deserted on March from Strawberry Plains to Knoxville Tenn July 20/64.

Mar-Apr 1864: Deserted on March from Srawberry Plains to Knoxville Jan. 20, 1864. Stop Per one Enfield Rifle Musket, appendages & accoutrements complete.

Muster Out Roll (at) Company Shops, N.C., 30 June 1865 (age 43): Last paid to Oct 31, 1863. Am't for cloth'g in kind or money adv'd $25.03. Bounty paid $___; Due $100. Remarks: Deserted June 25/64 at Strawberry Plains Ga with Enfield Rifle & accoutrements complete.

[Next card]: War Dept., Book Mark 4215 D 1887. Washington, 17 Aug. 1887. [Pre-printed]: "Application for removal of the charge of desertion and for an honorable discharge has been denied." [No remarks].


Surname: Babb.
State: Tennessee
Military Unit: Eighth Infantry
Full Name: Babb, Alfred

Card numbers: 9055545, 9055603, 9055661, 9055719, 9055823, 9055919, 9056282, 10794-6-1883.

Citation: Tennessee, Civil War Service Records of Union Soldiers, 1861-1865, Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Union Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Tennessee, Record group 94, Records of the Adjutant General's Office; citing military unit Eighth Infantry, NARA microfilm publication M395 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, General Services Administration, 1963), roll 179.

Obituary of Thomas H. Calloway (Thomas H. Callaway), Sweetwater Enterprise, 1870 (via TNGenWeb)

Obituary of Thomas H. Calloway

(Alternate Surname Spelling: Callaway)
Sept. 1, 1870, |Sweetwater Enterprise|, Sweetwater, Monroe Co., Tenn.

Courtesy of TNGenWeb. Please read and comply with copyright notice below obituary!

Death of President Calloway---This estimable Christian gentleman and valued citizen breathed his last at half past two o'clock Monday morning at White Cliff Springs in this county. His many friends had been for some time prepared for the sad event, although they hoped to the last that kind and skillful attention might prolong his life for several years. Colonel Calloway was born in Knox County on the 15th day of January, 1812. About the year 1821 he removed with his father, Joseph Calloway, to this county. In 1838, having been appointed one of the surveyors of the Ocoee District, he removed to Cleveland. Shortly after this he married a daughter of Hon. Luke Lea, then Entry Taker of the Ocoee District. On the 5th of February, 1852, he was elected President of the East Tennessee and Georgia Railroad, but resigned in September, 1853. On the 25th of July, 1865, he was re-elected to the same position, and on the 27th of November, 1868, he was elected President of the East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad. On the 29th of November, 1869, the East Tennessee and Georgia and East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad Companies having been consolidated, he wa elected the first President of the consolidated companies, and was holding this position at the time of his death.

Colonel Calloway was an active and consistent member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and in all the relations of life set a bright example to those who would win respect and love. We know of no other man in East Tennessee whose loss would be so generally and sincerely deplored.

His remains were taken to Cleveland on Tuesday and buried with Masonic honors. The number in attendance at the funeral was very large, comprising delegations from along the line of the East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia Railroad.

____________________________________________

Important Copyright Notice: TNGenWeb allows for free use, sharing, and printing of files, but users must comply with the following conditions: sharing and publication of this obituary is not permitted for commercial use. To ignore this is a copyright violation. Please provide citation when sharing this file, to credit its original contributor:

Citation: Glenn Teffeteller (ed., transcriber, contrib.), "Death of President Calloway" (Sept. 1, 1870, Obituary of Thomas H. Callaway, president of the East Tennessee and Georgia Railroad), in File 3 (FILE3.TXT), Sweetwater Enterprise, (Sweetwater, Monroe Co., Tenn.), 11/18/1869 - 4/7/1876, Monroe Co., TN, Early Newspaper Abstracts 1868 – 1908, Newspaper Index for Monroe County, Tennessee, Monroe County in Tennessee GenWeb (tngenweb.org), accessed 8 Feb. 2018. URL: http://‌tngenweb.org/‌monroe/‌newspaper/‌FILE3.TXT.

My own additional research note: Thomas H. Calloway or Thomas H. Callaway, was president of East Tennessee and Georgia Railroad before and after the Civil War. He resigned during the War, when the Confederacy took over the railroad company. Callaway, a very wealthy man even by today's standards, lived in, and was strongly associated with these counties in Tennessee: Bradley County, Monroe County, Polk County. He also briefly lived in, and owned property in, northern Murray County, Georgia.

Lt. Louis Alden Simmons, 84th Illinois Infantry (prob. at Cleveland, Tenn., Spring 1864)

Identity of Lt. Simmons in the Myra Inman Diary

Myra Inman was a young lady who lived in Cleveland, Tennessee, during the Civil War. She was very Southern in her sympathies, empathizing with the Confederates. Her family ran a boarding house in Cleveland, so during the northern occupation, officers would sometimes stay at the house, and often came for meals. The Inman diary has been published as Myra Inman: A Diary of the Civil War in East Tennessee.

The Myra Inman diary mentions Lt. Simmons, also known as A. Simmons, who courts her in the Spring of 1864 while he is stationed at Cleveland, Tennessee. She is Southern and says that she dislikes him (though there were signs that she liked him, at times). This Lt. Simmons has his 31st birthday on March 16, 1864 (Inman Diary pg. 254). After he leaves Cleveland, he gets married. On December 27, 1865, she learns the news about Mr. Simmons from a friend, Lizzie Lea, who received a letter. Myra hears "that he was married to a woman from Lynchfield, Mass. (Inman Diary 333)."

William R. Snell, ed. Myra Inman: A Diary of the Civil War in East Tennessee, (1859-1866), (Macon: Mercer University Press, 2000), 254, 333.

Bibliog. info on Myra Inman: A Diary of the Civil War in East Tennessee
http://musescivilwar.blogspot.com/2016/08/myra-inman-diary-bibliographic.html

My identification, based on genealogy profiles and sources, is that he is:

Louis Alden Simmons, 1st Lieutenant and 2nd Major, 84th Illinois Infantry, and author of the regimental history of that regiment. He is the son of Hezekiah and Zoa (Daily) Simmons, who married in North Bridgewater, Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1830. Louis Simmons was born in Massachusetts on March 16, 1833 (which would make him 31 in 1864). He married (1) Maria Theresa Harwood on November 20, 1865, in Fitchburg, Worcester, Massachusetts (not Lynchfield, as Myra recalled the town. The marriage occurred about a month before Myra heard the news). Simmons moved to Illinois by about 1850, eventually settling in Macomb, McDonough, Illinois. Simmons died December 6, 1888, and is buried at Prairie Lawn Cemetery, Wellington, Sumner, Kansas, US.

I attached some notes about the Inman diary to this soldier's profile on FamilySearch.org.

Current Individual ID:

Louis Alden Simmons  •  L8HQ-W3W
16 March 1833 – 6 December 1888

URL (requires account and log-in):
https://familysearch.org/tree/#view=ancestor&section=details&person=L8HQ-W3W


BOOK BY L.A. SIMMONS:
The History of the 84th Reg't Ill. Vols
https://archive.org/details/historyof84threg00simmo
L.A. Simmons, (Macomb: Hampton Brothers, Publishers, 1866). Archive.org

U.S. Census References (index and images):

1850: Warren county, Warren, Illinois, pg. 476: Lewis A Simmons, age 17, white, male. Birth: 1833, Massachusetts; listed in the household of Hezekiah Simmons.

1860: Macomb 4th Ward, McDonough, Illinois, pg. 205: L A Simmons, age 27, male, apparent head. Birth: 1833, Ills. Occupation: Atty at Law.

1870: Ward in city of Macomb, McDonough, Illinois, pg. 9: S A Simmons [as indexed; should be 'L A.' Compare 'L' in 'Louisa']. Male, age 37, born Massachusetts. Occupation: Attorney-at-Law.

1880: Macomb, McDonough, Illinois, pg. 462 B: Louis A Simmons, age 47, male, self (head). Birth: 1833, Massachusetts.

Various NARA microfilm publications (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); as indexed at FamilySearch.org (with viewable document images).

84th Regiment Illinois Infantry

84th Illinois Infantry was attached to Oliver O. Howard's 4th Army Corps from October 1863 to June 1865. It was one of the regiments of Col. William Grose's Third Brigade, in Maj Gen. David S. Stanley's First Division. Note that even though this was an infantry regiment, it was placed in a cavalry brigade. This is not so unusual in the Civil War.  General Oliver O. Howard's Fourth Army Corps was headquartered at Blue Springs, five miles in advance of Cleveland, Tennessee, in February 1864.

The following extract is courtesy of 
Illinois in the Civil War:
That website cited A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion, vol. III, Regimental Histories
by Frederick H. Dyer [1908]

84th Illinois Infantry

• Organized at Quincy, Ill., and
• mustered in September 1, 1862.
• Left State for Louisville, Ky., September 23.

• Attached to 10th Brigade, 4th Division, 2nd Army Corps, Army of the Ohio, to November, 1862.
• 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, Left Wing 14th Army Corps, Army of the Cumberland, to January, 1863.
• 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, 21st Army Corps, Army of the Cumberland, to October, 1863.
• 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, 4th Army Corps, to May, 1865.
• 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, 4th Army Corps, to June, 1865.

• Passage of Cumberland Mountains and Tennessee River and Chickamauga (Ga.) Campaign August 16-September 22.
  • Reconnoissance from Rossville September 17.
  • Ringgold, Ga., September 17.
  • Battle of Chickamauga, Ga., September 19-20.
• Siege of Chattanooga, Tenn., September 24-November 23.
• Chattanooga-Ringgold Campaign November 23-27.
  • Lookout Mountain November 23-24.
  • Mission Ridge November 25.
  • Pursuit to Ringgold, Ga., November 26-27.
  • Ringgold Gap, Taylor's Ridge, November 27.
• March to relief of Knoxville November 28-December 17.
• At Whiteside, Tyner's Station and Blue Springs till May, 1864.
• Demonstration on Dalton, Ga. February 22-27, 1864.
  • Near Dalton February 23.
  • Tunnel Hill, Buzzard's Roost Gap, and Rocky Faced Ridge February 23-25.
• Atlanta (Ga.) Campaign May to September.
• Tunnel Hill May 6-7.
• Demonstration on Rocky Faced Ridge May 8-11.
• Buzzard's Roost Gap May 8-9.
• Demonstration on Dalton May 9-13.
• Battle of Resaca May 14-15.
• Kingston May 18-19.
• Near Cassville May 19.

Reference for the location of the 84th Infantry as part of Oliver O. Howard's First Division: O.R., Ser. 1, Vol. 32, Pt. 3, p.551. Link to page 551.

Related, Muse's Civil War blog: Oliver O. Howard HQ at Blue Springs, Tennessee ; Location and Description of Blue Springs, Tennessee   

NOTE: THIS WAS ALSO PUBLISHED ON MY CIVIL WAR BLOG.