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Archiver > FL-OLUSTEE-BATTLE-KIN > 2006-10 > 1161585559


From: Richard White <>
Subject: Re: [FL-OLUSTEE-BATTLE-KIN] 48th NY infantry Co C - Thomas Parrott
Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2006 02:39:31 -0400
References: <148kJwaQi1200S29.1161564245@cmsweb29.cms.usa.net>
In-Reply-To: <148kJwaQi1200S29.1161564245@cmsweb29.cms.usa.net>


Mary (and anyone else in a similar situation)..

In the 1860s and long after that, Florida was about the tail end of
nowhere. There are very few marked individual Confederate graves in
Florida and there was also a general dearth of record-keeping in the
area. With Florida battles such as Olustee, Marianna and Natural
Bridge, Union units that might be thought of as generally having better
records, were hampered by campaigns a considerable distance from any
really secure Federal area and rapid retrograde operations after the
battles. In spite of any intentions that Union forces may have had of
occupying areas they moved into during these campaigns, that just didn't
happen. So, the Confederates held the fields after the battles and they
had little capacity to record their own burials much less of any Union
casualties left on the field. They didn't even necessarily remain in
the battle areas in significant force for very long. They were
defending large areas of territory and considerable mobility was often
involved. But specifically as to Olustee, it is a matter of record that
the Union casualties buried by the Confederates were not identified, not
even one of the field grade Union officers. Further, it is recorded
that the Union graves at Olustee were shallow and that the bodies were
rooted out by hogs, which was not a situation unique to Olustee. After
the war a detail of the 7th U.S. Infantry gathered up and re-interred
what bones they could find, and there is a single monument because there
was a single burial site (this is not unique to Olustee either, and
example of mass graves of Confederates... not battle casualties but
deaths during imprisonment... include those at Chicago, IL, and Point
Lookout, MD). More unclear (to me at least) is what happened to
Confederate burials at the battlefield. Lt. Hoffman of the 7th U.S.
Infantry mentioned Confederate graves (undisturbed as of that time) on
the other side of the railroad in his report about the re-interrment of
the Union casualties. There seems to be a belief that those
Confederates were later reinterred at Lake City, but I have seen no
historical documentation of that as fact. If anyone has, I would love
to see a citation of the source.

Richard White
Tallahassee, Florida

middletownpair wrote:

>Hi,
>
>My relative was Denis (Dennis, Dinis) Monks who was born in Ireland in 1844
>and records from the National Archives show he enlisted as a private in Co. E,
>Enfans Perdus Infantry Regiment, New York, in June 1862. That Regiment was
>merged with the 47th and 48th New York Regiments 30 January 1864. Research
>shows that Dennie was not among the muster lists for the 48th so he must have
>been joined with the 47th. However, I have not located a history of the 47th.
>Subsequent information indicated he died in the Battle of Olustee, Florida on
>Feb. 20 1864.
>
>I have visited the Battle site and was disappointed becasue there are no grave
>markers and only a monument to all who died there. I have a copy of a letter
>he wrote to his mother from Richmond VA. shortly before his death.
>
>Mary-Deirdre Coraggio
>
>
>------ Original Message ------
>Received: Fri, 20 Oct 2006 01:34:51 PM EDT
>From: S&P Darcey <>
>To:
>Subject: [FL-OLUSTEE-BATTLE-KIN] 48th NY infantry Co C - Thomas Parrott
>
>
>
>>I am reposting my original query with a new subject line as I figured
>>the old one did not draw any attention to my question. I did have a
>>response from Richard White with a lot of great information. My thanks
>>to him.
>>I joined this list 2 year ago when I learned that a relative of
>>my husband was killed at the battle of Olustee. I happened to go and
>>search the archives of this list and it appears that there has not been
>>very much activity. I'm surprised also when you consider the size of the
>>battle and its casualties.
>>My husbands relative was Thomas Parrott who was born in Canada. In
>>1862, when he was 18 years old he was living in Brooklyn
>>and he joined the 48th NY infantry. He was killed at age 20 at the
>>Battle of Olustee in 1864. I have been trying to find his burial site
>>and it is beginning to look like he is probably in a mass grave
>>somewhere if it was even recovered at all. His name is mentioned in
>>the booklet of the "Union Casualities" from the friends of Olustee but
>>it simply says "killed" so I don't know if he lived very long after the
>>battle or was dead on the field. Copies of the roll call from NARA
>>showed he was missing for a couple of days and then a final roll call
>>remarked that he "died of wounds received in the battle of Olustee Fla
>>Feb 20, 1864". But again it did not say if he had lived after the
>>battle. Too much information to hope for, I guess.
>>Washington information was very informative and not too expensive. They
>>supplied
>>me with copies of some interesting documents regarding his enlistment.
>>
>>If anyone ever sees the name Thomas Parrott on any grave site I would
>>appreciate hearing about it.
>>
>>Sharon in London Ontario Canada
>>

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