Gilliam-Chason Family Letters (Z/2316)

Dates: 1860-1864; 1918; n.d.

Biography:

William Gilliam was born on September 14, 1837, the third of six children and oldest son of Henry Gilliam and Elizabeth Wilson Gilliam. His older sisters were Mary Caroline and Susan E. Gilliam. The Gilliams lived near Emory, Mississippi, on the border of Holmes and Carroll Counties. Henry Gilliam was a farmer with $5,500 worth of real estate in 1860.

William Gilliam graduated from the Medical Department of the University of Louisiana (now Tulane University School of Medicine) in New Orleans in 1861. On November 11, 1861, he enlisted in the Red Invincibles, Company C, Fourth Regiment, Mississippi Infantry. The regiment was taken prisoner at the Battle of Fort Donelson, Tennessee, in February 1862, and exchanged in October of that year at Ponchatoula, Louisiana. Apparently, Gilliam was either not taken captive or he escaped, because on April 30, 1862, he enlisted in the McAfee Hussars, Company A, Twenty-eighth Regiment, Mississippi Cavalry. While with this regiment, Gilliam was wounded and died from his wounds on September 25, 1862, at Bovina, Warren County, Mississippi. He was buried at Mount Albin Baptist Cemetery in Warren County.

Thompson Wilson Gilliam, the fourth child of Henry and Elizabeth Gilliam, was born on May 15, 1841. On April 30, 1862, he enlisted in the McAfee Hussars alongside his older brother William. In late 1862 and 1863, he was detached from his company and stationed with a separate special detail of troops. In early 1864 he was promoted to corporal. However, he spent most of 1864 on furlough due to illness. By the war’s end, Gilliam had rejoined the regiment and was taken prisoner along with the rest of his company upon their surrender at Citronelle, Mobile County, Alabama, on May 4, 1865. The company was paroled eight days later and Gilliam was discharged on May 22, 1865.

Gilliam married Minerva Lucrecia Hunter, with whom he had seven children. He worked as a farmer and merchant, living variously in the Holmes County communities of Lexington, West, and Tchula. Sometime after 1874, he and his family moved to Dallas County, Texas, where they lived with Minerva Gilliam’s sister and her family. By 1883, they had returned to Mississippi. Minerva Hunter Gilliam died in 1913, and Thompson Wilson Gilliam died on February 6, 1918, at Tchula. He was buried at West Cemetery in West.

Henry Augustus Gilliam, the fifth child of Henry and Elizabeth Gilliam, was born on May 13, 1843. He enlisted in the Red Invincibles as a corporal on August 24, 1861. He escaped from Fort Donelson when the regiment was taken prisoner and subsequently enlisted in the Neill Guards, Company A, Thirtieth Regiment, Mississippi Infantry, on March 29, 1862.

However, later in the year Gilliam re-joined the Red Invincibles, with whom he would serve until the end of the war. In late 1862, he was demoted to private. From 1862 to 1864, he was absent from the regiment due to illness for multiple periods of several months each, and he was absent without leave for five months in 1863. On January 12, 1865, Gilliam was furloughed and admitted to Way Hospital in Meridian, Lauderdale County, Mississippi, after being wounded. He was at home recovering at the end of the war three months later.

After the war, Gilliam became a farmer in Carroll County. He married Susan Ella Rogers on November 20, 1867. They had two children, but only their son, Hal Anderson Gilliam, survived to adulthood. In 1934, Hal A. Gilliam married Mary Alice Chason, younger sister of Carson B. Chason.

By 1900, Henry A. Gilliam and his family had moved to Lexington, where he was employed as a teacher. Susan Rogers Gilliam died in 1925, and Henry Augustus Gilliam died of heart disease at Lexington on January 30, 1927. They were buried in Lexington Cemetery.

Carson Britt Chason was born on August 14, 1895, in Lumber Bridge, Robeson County, North Carolina, the oldest of seven children of Archie Frank Chason, a farmer, and Annie Jane Carter Chason.

When he registered for the draft in June 1917, Carson B. Chason lived in Lumber Bridge and worked as a farmer. During World War I, he served as a private in the Depot Section, First Corps Artillery Park, American Expeditionary Forces. He received training at Camp Jackson, South Carolina, and Camp Merritt, New Jersey, before being sent overseas sometime between April and June 1918. Carson Britt Chason died of battle wounds in August 1918.

Scope and Content Note:

This collection contains letters written by Dr. William Gilliam, Thompson Wilson Gilliam, and Henry Augustus Gilliam to their sisters Mary Caroline Gilliam and Susan E. Gilliam during the brothers’ service in the Confederate States Army during the Civil War; and letters written by Carson Britt Chason to his sister, Mary Alice Chason, during his service in the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I. Of particular interest are the Civil War letters, which contain descriptions of the bombardments of Fort Henry, Tennessee, and Vicksburg, Warren County, Mississippi; camp life and conditions; troop movements and rumors of future movements; and soldier morale and daily activities.

Series Identification:

Series 1: Civil War Letters, 1860-1864; n.d.

This series contains letters written by the three Gilliam brothers to their sisters during the brothers’ service in the Confederate States Army during the Civil War. There is also one letter from M. C. Gilliam to S. E. Gilliam, as well as some loose envelopes. The first letter from William Gilliam was written before the war, while he was still attending medical school, and one of his letters was written to his father, Henry Gilliam.

The four letters by William Gilliam (folder 1) discuss his work as a physician treating soldiers, dispel rumors about the progress of the war, and express gratitude for goods sent by family members. He also discusses in some detail the bombardment of Fort Henry and the initial bombardment of Vicksburg in 1862. Like those of his brothers, his letters also note rumors about possible future troop movements or current Union troop movements.

In his five letters (folder 2), T. W. Gilliam provides less information than his brothers do about actual battles or engagements of the war, though he discusses camp life and conflicts among soldiers. Gilliam’s letters show cynicism about the war and Confederate prospects of winning it. Especially as the war continued and conditions worsened for the Confederacy, Gilliam expressed anger at what he considered the ineptness of Confederate leadership, and frustration at the loss of life incurred for a cause he viewed as increasingly hopeless.

Henry A. Gilliam’s seven letters (folder 3) discuss a wide range of topics, including the defense of Fort Henry, conditions in camp and while on picket duty, and his frequently poor health. His letters contain significant discussion of the behavior of other soldiers, including Gilliam’s dissatisfaction with their frequent drunkenness, disorderliness, and selfishness. He also discusses the plight of sick soldiers under medical care, as well as members of his unit who died from illness. While serving in the Thirtieth Regiment in 1862, Gilliam expressed frustration at his officers’ inefficiency; after rejoining the Fourth Regiment, he expressed a desire for a transfer to a cavalry unit. One letter also contains discussion of his grandfather’s recent death.

Box 1, folders 1-5

Series 2: World War I Letters, 1918; n.d.

This series contains seven letters written by Carson B. Chason to his then twelve-year-old sister, Mary Alice Chason, while he was serving in the United States Army during World War I. The series also includes a newsclipping about Mary Alice Chason Gilliam, produced after her 1934 marriage.

The letters, four of which were sent while Carson B. Chason was still in training in the United States, contain very little discussion of military activities. They contain mostly thanks for items his sister sent him, talk of activities at home, discussion of the weather, and reassurances of his continued good health.

Box 1, folders 6-7