BEFORE THE WAR

My grandfather Hillary Montgomery born about 1776 in Union District, South Carolina. He married Mary Eleanor Moreland of Union District, South Carolina. There they raised a large family of children of which my father Jacob Erwin Montgomery was one. He was born February 10th 1813. When about 1838 he came to Caledonia, Lowndes County, Miss. My great grandfathers name was David Tanner, his name was John Tanner, born January 8th, 1768. He Married Miss Catherine Grippen who was born October 18th 1767. They were born in Zanesville, Ohio. They raised a large family of which Catherine was my mother. She was the youngest of the children. She was born January 12th 1814. About 1838 my father Jacon Ervin Montgomery and Miss Catherine Tanner married Nov 21st, 1838. They settled on a farm near Caledonia, Lowndes County, Miss. I, William Davis Montgomery was the oldest of a large family of children. I was born July 30th, 1840. All the other children names as follows: Joseph Tanner, James Minor, Mary Eleanor, America Isabella, Hillary Thomas, Margaret Vernon, George Washington, Isom Walker & Elias Ervin. I was raised on a farm in Lowndes County, Mississippi until I was fifteen years old. My father in 1855 moved into the South Western portion of Oktibbeha County, Miss, Whitefield P.O.. I had very little schooling. I had very little schooling, When about twenty years of age the Civil War broke out.

(transcribed by Cole Coonce)

THE 1861 CIVIL WAR EXPLOITS OF WILLIAM DAVIS MONTGOMERY

I enlisted in a Company that organized in March 1861 in the western portion of Oktibbeha County, Miss. The name of the company was the Oktibbeha Plow Boys. We camped and drilled near home until about the last of May. The Company as follows: J.M. Watson, Capt, Ramsey Smith 1st Liut, Isacc M. Stanton 3rd Liut. Ordered to Corinth Miss, there the Company was put into the 15th Miss. Regiment and lettered Company K. The Regiment was commanded by Colonel L.C. Statham. We drilled and done guard duty until sometime in the latter part of the summer. About that time the Regiment was taken with the measles, then with Typhoid Fever. I was one of the number to take the measles. After I had them about three weeks, I had taken the Tyfoid fever of which I came near dying. I think there was 36 of our company that died. There was not enough well ones to wait on the sick as I was sick so bad and long I don’t what time that fall the Company was disbanded on account of sickness and sent home. I was so low I did not remember when I got home. I remained sick until late in the winter. Our Company never reorganized afterwards. In the following May the 12th there was another company organized in Starkville, Miss with the following officers: Joel P. Rogers, Capt. Frank H. Duquereron 1st. Liut. T.G. Sellers 2nd Lieut. I. Glen Bell 3rd Lieut. We went into Camps in West Point, Miss. Was mustered into the Confederate Service May 15th 1862. The Company staid there a few weeks then went to Columbus, Miss. There we done guard duty guarding Comisary and Ordinance Dept. Some where about the first of August we was ordered to Virginia. We left Columbus, Miss over the Mobile and Ohio RR, went to Mobile, Ala. There we took a Steam Boat up the Alabama River to Montgomery, Ala. We was on the boat about three days and nights. At Montgomery we took the rail road to West Point, Ga, from there on to Atlanta Ga, from there to Augusta Ga, from there to Wilmington N.C.. Staid one day there then we went to Petersburg Va, on to Richmond, Va. There I was taken with the mumps. I was sent to Hospital. The company left the next day for Manasses Va. There the company joined the 2nd Miss. Battalion Inf as Company L., which letter we kept the remainder of the war.

(transcribed by Cole Coonce)

THE 1862 CIVIL WAR EXPLOITS OF WILLIAM DAVIS MONTGOMERY

The company joined the batallion in time to go into the 2nd Mannesses Battle. Our Company had two killed whick was Sam Masters and Holley Warick. With several wounded. I remained in the hospital about two weeks then myself and three others started to our Company which was near Harpers Ferry Va. We had to travel on foot through the country about 150 miles or more. We had to wade the Potomac River which is very wide and swift. We joined our Battalion in time to get into the battle of Sharpseburg and Antietain Md. After the battle our army recrossed the Potomac River by waiding it. We then went into camps near Fredericksburg Va. We was fighting Gen. George B. Mc Clellan at the above places. Our nest battle was fought by Burnside at Fredericksburg on the Union side. Our Confederate Army before I joined it was commanded by Robert E. Lee until the surrender in 65. We camped around Fredericksburg until the next spring.

(transcribed by Cole Coonce)

THE 1863 CIVIL WAR EXPLOITS OF WILLIAM DAVIS MONTGOMERY

Gen Joe Hooker then taken command of the Union Army. We fought hin at Chancellorsville Va in May 1, 63. This was the Battle that Stonewall Jackson was wounded in. He died about five days after. We still held our ground. About two weeks after this battle myself with 26 other of our Company was captured about three miles down the Rapahannock River below Fredericksburg. We was on picket. We was taken to Washington D.C. and put in the old Capitol as a prison. We remained there a short time after this we exchanged. We took a steamer down the Potomac River crossed the Chesapeake Bay, thence up the James River by old James Town on up the River to City Point below Richmond. There we taken the train for Petersburg. Stayed there a day or two then took train for Richmond from there we started to our Command which was near Fredericksburg. We got to them in time to get into Maryland and Pennsylvania Campaign. On the Campaign we went through Culpepper O H. across the Blue Ridge mountains through Winchester then to Harpers Ferry. There we waded the Potomac River again. We before we started on this campaign we only had 8 companies in our Battalion about this time there was two more Companys sent to our Battalion which made it 10 Companys which was a Regiment. We was formed into a Regiments and numbered 48th Miss. Regiment Commanded by Colonel Joseph M. Jayne until the surrender in Apr 65. After we crossed the River we went through the battle fields of Sharpsburg and Antietam Md. On through Hagerstown on through several small towns. We went through Chambersburg Pa. There we turned East along the Pike Road through several small towns. We met the enemy about three miles west of Gettysburg where General Reynolds of the Union side was killed and Gen. Buford Commanding the Union Batteries was wounded. This was the first days fight. We drove the enemy back through to town of Gettysburg. Then our Army lines run North & South with the Union army facing us. We had the hard fighting that is Pickets Charge the third about 3:30 in the evening. The 4th there was very little firing on the lines. I was put on picket that day and remained until about 8 oclock next morning. The 5th both armies commenced moving about the same time, late in the evening of the 4th, this was the 4th of July 1863. The morning of the 5th when we was called in off picket there was not a man in our front to be seen. The union army at this Battle was Commanded by General Meade. The Union Army moved off in a North Eastern direction, the Confedereated moved South West. After was called in off picket we all followed along our army. We caught up with them in a little town Frogtown. Our pickets was in Comd of Col. Groner of Va. We staid in Frogtown all the next day. We had been without something to eat now nearly three days and nights. We killed two sheep and one Hog for each Company. We put the meat on in our camp kettles without any salt. Before it would get any ways near cooked we could shave off and eat it without any bread. After eating a hearty meal we put all of our meat into our kettles and then made a good fire around our kettle and lay down to sleep. The next morning our meat was thoroughly cooked without any salt. We ate a hearty meal of our fresh meat without any bread. After dark the next day we started on our march again. We stoped the next day in a wheat field. We staid there two or three days. We then came back through Hagerstown crossed the Potomac River at Williamsport on a Pontoon Bridge. When I went back to Gettysburg last July 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5, 1918, I went about all over the ground that we fought over which was 50 year before. I even drank water out of the same springs. I brought some of the bullets that we shot at each other. There is monuments and markers put up there to show where we fought. The battlefield now is owned by the National Government. It is beautifully laid out with nice Cemetery and Pike Roads through it. It is one of the most historic places now known of the Civil War. After we came back into Va. we camped near Orange O.H.. After staying there a while we crossed the Rapidan River and marched through Culpepper O.H. on north. We met the enemy at Bristow Station. There is where our Brigadier General Posey was wounded. He commanded our Brigade. After we drive the enemy back we went into camp around Clarke Mountain for the winter.

(transcribed by Cole Coonce)

WILLIAM DAVIS MONTGOMERY CIVIL WAR EXPLOITS 1864-1865

After the battle of Bristow Station, General U.S. Grant was put in Command of the Union Army. He brought all the troops that could be spared from Vicksburg Miss with him. He organized his army all fall and winter until he had bout five to our one. When the next spring campaign opened he crossed the Rapidan River and attacked us at the Wilderness. There his army was defeated with heavy loss. He was driven back across the River. He then moved to our right. Several miles below on the river, crossed again at Golden Run, there he was driven back again. He then moved still further to our right, met us near Spottsylvania C.H. on the 11th of May. I was sent out into a very thick swamp to find out how far back they were. I was by myself on this scout. After I had gone quite a distance in the swamp I came across three of the enemy on post. They did not see me until I was very near them. I raised my gun & presented it at them, at the same time commanding them to surrender, which they done, throwing their guns down and coming toward me. I carried them back into our lines safe. Early the next, the 12th, the enemy surprised a portion of our lines and men. About 8 oclock that we was ordered to retake the works which we did by engaging in one of the bloodiest bayonet charges that year. They would fall back about two hundred yeards under cover of a ridge then charge us every time to be driven back. They formed & charged over and again until about 4 oClock the next morning. This is the place where the oak tree 21 inches was shot down with minnie balls. There was a sheet of fire on both sides all day and all night. As they did not dirve us away they still moved again to our right here and we had a race to see who would get possession of the breast works around Cole Harbor. We beat them over an hour. I begin to believe we was foot cavelry. Sure enough here they would charge us thinking that we had only a thin line but they found out better after getting a great many of their best soldiers killed and wounded. They tried hard to drive us off so they might get possession of a Pike Road that led across a very muddy wet bottom which was over one mile across. In this they failed. They loss was several thousand killed that was never to come against us any more. We was so near them we could throw a lack brick over among them. Every time a man would show his head above the breast works he would be shot at. They finally withdrew from in our front. They moved up the Potomac River loaded their troops on transport took them around up the James River up in front of Petersburg. Here our army again met them. They circled around east of Petersburg. They got there about the last of May 1864. Here both armies lay facing each other until a short while before the surrender. A long about the first of July the enemy found out that they count drive us back. They commenced to dig a tunnell under us to blow us up. One of largest cannons was placed in such a position as to damage their forts and fortifications. Our cannon was placed on the top of a high ridge sloping down to a small creek where their line of battle was placed with a steep bluff at the bottom of a ridge. Here at this bluff they commenced to dig the tunnell by pulling the dirt back behing the bluff so that we could not see them at work. The distance from our battery to where they commenced digging the tunnell under us was near one quarter of a mile. They would work day and night. When they got near our lines we could hear them digging under the ground. They missed their distance and dug a little too far. When they completed the tunnel they put 20,000 pounds of powder in it. The day they fired it off was July 30th 1864 being my birthday which will be long remembered by me. My company was not in the flow up. We was xxxx to our right nearly one mile. When they had everything ready to fire if off they had one Regiment of whites and one Regiment of Negroes in line ready to Charge us. Our officers knew when they was going to blow us up. They gave orders to get into out breast works which we obeyed promptly. A few minutes after we fell in, which was about sun rise when the explosion occured. All the cannon on both sides commenced firing at once. It looked as though they had all the canon on both sides loaded. When the explosion occured the two Regiments above mentioned charges us up the ridge to the crater. Our lines was in a circle, the battery was in the center. History says the crater was 50ft deep and 200ft across. We lost 55 men smothered with the dirt. Our men cross fired on the two Regiments so that they had to take shelter in the Crater and behing a low embankment. They was massed together like sardines in a box. Our soldiers cross fired on them from both was so heavy that It would have been certain death had they tried to advance of fall back. Our soldiers kept them huddled in this position until about 10 or 11 oclock that day. Then our officers taken three or four regiments from near us. Did not take our gegiment, it was left to fill out where the other regiments had left out to xxxx keep the enemy from coming through there. They took the Regiments around down a little valley of timber out of sight of the enemy. They came away around in front the crater, the men was ordered not to make any noise until the order to charge. Which was within a few steps of the Crater. The order was given to charge, it was said you never heard of such a killing as took place there. Our soldiers had a line placed about one hundred and fifty yards on the rear of our lines to catch those that might get through to the rear. They caught about twenty negroes that got through. Some of the negroes fought very well, others did not fight at all. We did not leave a man in the fight except the twenty negroes. We made the negroes drag the dead negroes into the crater and bury them. We made them bury the white soldiers. They enemy could see all that was going on but it would have been instant death to attempt to help their own comrades. This was a very dear undertaking to lose two good Regiments and only blow up one cannon. Our soldiers made the negroes replace our breast works and fix our canon where it belonged. Our soldiers almost worked the life out of the negroes, it being the first of August and very hot weather. They did not like to fight the negroes anyway. A short time later after this I was taken with cronic Diarear, was sent to the Field Hospital near Petersburg. It was about the last of August. I remained there some time after which I was sent to Howards Grove Hospital in Richmond Va. There was orders to furlow everyone that could travel to make room for the wounded that they were looking for some very heavy battles soon. I was sent before the Medical Board, they examined me thoroughly, they gave me ninety days furlow home with orders to report at the end of that time to the Medical Board of Miss, located at Lauderdale Springs, Miss. At the end of that I was so low that my friend Henry Walker had to haul me and go with me to Lauderdale Springs to go before the Medical Board there. The board carefully examined me and extended my furlough 60 days with orders to report at the end of that time for examination again. At the end of that time I was very little better. My father went with me this time, it being the second time. The same Board examined me that examined me before. They extended my furlow 60 days more with instructions as before. This last extension lasted until after the surrender. About the first or middle of the next May I went to Columbus, Miss and was parolled there by a U. S. Parolling officer. This ended my millitary life.

(transcribed by Cole Coonce)

GENEALOGY AND POST-WAR CAREER

In the month of January 1865, I took the entered Apprentice Degree of Masonry, in February I took the fellow craft Degree, in March I took the Master Degree of Masonry. I took side degrees after this. On the 2nd day of February 1865 I married Miss Annie Elizabeth Cooper a daughter of Lorton and Mrs. Sarah A. Cooper of Oktibbeha County, Miss. We lived with the family that year. The next year we lived to our selves. My daughter Loula Augusta was born Feb 1, 1866. The next year we lived and farmed with my wife’s father. In the fall of this year, November 14th, 1867, my mother Catherine Montgomery died. She was 53 years old. The next year we moved to our selves, then our second daughter, Sarah Anna was born March 7th, 1868. In the May, after the 15th, my wife Annie Elisabeth died. After that year I went into Starkville as a clerk for Rosenfield & Lichtenstadler. I remained with them several years. In the year 1869, Dec 23rd, I was married to Miss Elisabeth Florence Cooper. She was a daughter of Dr. Samuel and Mrs. Rachael Cooper near Double Springs, Oktibbeha County, Miss.

My first wife was born in Social Circle in Covington County, Georgia. My second wife was born near Shuqlak, Miss Jan 10, 1852.

Will now five the names of all my children:

by my first wife: 1, Loula Augusta

2. Sarah Annie Catherine

By 2nd 1. Lena Rivers

2. Minnie

3. Cora

4. Sammie

5. Frank Denton

6. Sallis Freeman

(transcribed by Cole Coonce)

AFTER THE WAR (Reconstruction)

Now I will return to about the death of my mother which was November 14, 1867.  My father Jacob E rvin Montgomery in the next year married Mrs. Frances A. Davis, the widow of Robert A. Davis.  After their marriage, they had two children, the first was Laura and the second Wirt Henry.  In about 1884 my father died.  A long about 1873 or 1874 I went to farming.  Continued farming until 1879.  A fter which I moved to starkville Miss.  Weighed cotton as public cotton weigher after which I clerked for JohnS. Worley one year.  After that I clerked 3 years for Blumenfeld & Fried.  After this I went to rail roading.  Helped to build the New Orleans & North Eastern R. R. from Meridian, Miss to New Oeleans.  After that I was employed as Brakesman on the M & O R. R. from Okolona, Miss to Mibile, Ala.  Sometime while I was on the Road I had my hand mashed while coupling cars in Whistler Yards, Ala.  After that I never worked any more for the Road.  After my hand got so that I could use it I was employed with my brother Joseph in putting up and running a steam saw mill on the Canton, Aberdeen & Nashville RR in the western portion of Oktibbeha Co. Miss.  There I staid with him about 8 or 9 years after which I moved to West Point, Clay Co. Miss.  There I went to night watching at the Compress for one year after that year was out I hiered myself to the Mississippi Cotton oil Co. as a night watchman.  After I quit the Oil Mill I did not work any more for about 2 years.  I went to Columbus, Miss in March 1914, I bought me a house and lot for a home which I now (Sept. 22, 1915) own.

(transcribed by Cole Coonce)