Info about Thomas Jacob Plemons
– by Jack Brumlow, Dayton, Tennessee
On Thomas Jacob Plemons’ tombstone at Laurel Bluff Cemetery in Roane County, Tennessee, it shows his date of birth as April 23, 1838. From Janet Webb, I received an e-mail showing his date of birth as April 23 1846. On his discharge from the union army, it states his age at discharge was 21 years. If this is true, he would have been born in 1844. He was discharged on 10 June 1865, so I am not sure of his exact date of birth. I have no further information on his younger life. Through documents I received from the National Archives, Washington, DC, where he applied for a pension, I have obtained the following Information.
In 1862, Thomas was conscripted into the rebel army, Company E. 42 Infantry, at Sweetwater, Tennessee. He only stayed with the rebel army less than a month when he escaped or deserted. He made his way to Maryville, Tennessee, where he enlisted in the union army as a Wagoneer in Co. A, 3rd Regiment, Tennessee Calvary Volunteers. On 10 Nov. 1862, while with the 3rd Tennessee Calvary at Murfreesboro, Tennessee, he was sent to the hospital with measles and they settled in his eyes. I do not know anything else until about 24 Sept 1864. He was then captured by the rebel army under General Forrest around Athens, Alabama and sent to Castle Morgan, an unfinished cotton shed in Cahaba, Alabama. This is just downstream from Selma, Alabama. Castle Morgan had been turned into a POW carnp on 17 Feb. 1864 and consisted of an area about 200 by 300 feet.
Before long, thousands of POW'S were housed here. On 24 April 1864, all prisoners at Cahaba were transported to Andersonville, Georgia, and Castle Morgan was then shut down. Although Cahaba had been intended to remain closed, with the overflow of prisoners at Andersonville, Cahaba once again became the unwelcome home for 3,000 prisoners. Union soldiers on March 1, following a long period of rain, the Alabama River began to rise and flood the entire prison compound. The POW'S were forced to lay in mud and water for three days and nights and live on 1/3 rations.
Thomas was at Cahaba on 6 March 1865 when they were informed to get ready to leave. By 20 or 21 March the majority of the prisoners had left Cahaba, but some did not leave until April 12 The prisoners were loaded on a steamboat and sent up the Alabama River to Selma, Al. At Selma they were loaded on dirty boxcars and headed toward Meridian, Mississippi. After confinement at Meridian for a night or two they were placed back on the boxcars and sent to Jackson, Mississippi, the end of the rail line. The rail line between Jackson and Vicksburg was destroyed and the undernourished prisoners were forced to travel the last 40 miles by foot to Camp Fish, about 4 miles north of Vicksburg, Mississippi. Thomas stayed at Camp Fish until 24 April 1865, at which time he was put on a steamboat, the Sultana.
The Sultana had been built to hold about 450 passengers. When the boat departed Vicksburg, it was carrying about 2,400 soldiers, 100 civilian passengers, and a crew of 80 men and women, for a total of over 2,500 people. On 26 April 1865 the Sultana stopped at Memphis, Tennessee at 7:00 PM to offload passengers and cargo. At about 1:00 AM, 27 April 1865, the Sultana left the Memphis area for Cairo, Illinois. At about 2:00 AM on 27 April 1865, the boilers on the Sultana exploded about 7 miles north of Memphis, Tennessee. It is not known when Thomas went into the river, but in a deposition for a pension he estimated that he was in the river from about 12:00 AM until 10:00 AM on 27 April 1865. However, since the steamboat blew up at 2:00 AM, he was in the Mississippi River from about 2 AM until around 10 AM. He was rescued by a boat on the Arkansas side of the river and taken to Memphis. After their rescue the ones only slightly injured were put back on another boat and taken to Cairo, Illinois, and on to Camp Chase, in Ohio, arriving there 7 May 1865. He stayed there until 17 May 1865 at which time he was sent to Nashville, Tennessee. He was discharged from the union army on 10 June 1865. The burning and sinking of the Steamboat Sultana clamed over 1,700 lives.
On affidavits submitted for a pension the following information was taken. He started his pension on or about 11 Oct. 1886 at $2 per month, 15 May 1889 at $8 per month, 27 Jan. 1892 at $12. 14 May 1903 at $72, 8 April 1904 at $ 100 per month. He was paid this amount until his death in 1906. At the time of his death, he was living with his son, Jacob (Jake) Plemons.
On a document dated 27 Dec 1897, he stated that he was married to Mary E. Little on 21 September 1865 by Esq. Richard Hudson in Monroe Co. Tennessee, and that she died on 9 July 1879. He also stated that he had married Many Ann Davis on 29 August 1879 by Parson James Sawell in Loudon County, Tennessee. Many Ann may have also been knows as Polly.
This information was taken from documents received from the National Archives, in Washington, DC. And a book titled Disaster on the Mississippi.
NOTE: The above
information was sent to me by Jack Brumlow, of Dayton, Tennessee. Jack provided photos of documents proving the
truth of the information. I had heard of
the Sultana disaster, but I had no idea that one of our family was so closely
involved. The Confederate prison camp at
Andersonville, Georgia was well know to have been a death sentence for
thousands of Union soldiers. It appears that Thomas Jacob narrowly missed death
on several occasions. - Warren