Old Soldiers Home

I've written several times about my great uncle William Burgess Fulford. The Florida Archives recently put some records from the Old Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Home in Jacksonville online.

The Old Soldiers Home was opened in 1893 and provided a place to live for aged Confederate veterans until the last one died in 1938. The home was run by the State but the money to build it was donated by the United Confederate Veterans (a group of CW veterans) and two descendant groups, Sons of Confederate veterans and Daughters of the Confederacy.

During the years it was open the home had a resident population that ranged from forty seven to three. After it closed the home was sold and the money donated to the State of Florida to endow scholarships at Florida State College for Women and the University of Florida.

William Fulford enlisted June 3, 1861 in the 2nd North Carolina Infantry. He was wounded and taken prisoner on November 7, 1863 at Kelly's Ford, Virginia. He was sent to the POW camp at Point Lookout Maryland and held there for a year and a half.

He moved to Florida in 1888 about the same time his nephews settled the fishing village of Cortez, Florida. I found him listed in several articles in the Tampa, Florida newspaper. Once in 1909 said he was charged with selling goods out of a wagon on the street without a license. The Judge ruled that as a War Veteran he didn't need a license but told him to get a permit from the Mayor so the Police wouldn't bother him again.

He was living in Tampa, listed as a Sewing Machine Repairman on the 1910 census. At 70 years of age on June 21, 1912 he sent in this Application for Membership with the Florida Confederates Home so he could live there.

His application said that during the war he had received gunshot wounds to the abdomen and testicles and that his arm was broken and never set. A physician documented his injuries and said he was unable to work. The application was approved on July 12, 1912.

He lived in the Old Soldiers Home until December 25, 1924 when he passed away. He is buried in the Confederate Plot of the Old Jacksonville City Cemetery.

Parole of Honor

These papers are from the Confederate Army file of my wife's great great grandfather, David Glenn.

 

The first one came from the enlistment ledger of the 22nd Alabama Infantry Company K. It shows he was 5 foot 11 inches tall, had dark completion, grey eyes and had dark hair.

 

22nd Alabama Infantry Regiment Company K

David Glenn was born on April 17, 1828 in Morgan County, Georgia and died October 18, 1908 in School Hill, Texas. He is buried in the School Hill Cemetery.



  

This document shows on July 17, 1863 he was given a Furlough of 45 days to go home based on General Orders number 69. I don't know what was wrong with him, there isn't any other mention of it in his file.

 

Confederate Army General Order number 69 was issued on May 28, 1863 to allow soldiers who were in Confederate hospitals either sick or wounded to go home and recover. They had to be certified by a physician as having a serious medical problem.

 

Later in the war this order was blamed for a shortage of troops because so many failed to return once they were allowed to leave. 

 



 


On May 24, 1865, a month after Lee surrendered at Appomattox, David Glenn signed this Parole of Honor, saying he would not give aid, support or information to the enemies or opposers of the United States until I am duly and properly exchanged.

 



Don't Expect a Card on Father's Day

David Jasper Mimbs was the husband of my great aunt, Laura Matilda Wilson. He was born in 1868 and died on August 29, 1927.

He died of natural causes but folks had planned another end for him. Jasper was convicted of the 1916 murder of Allan Dallas Buey in Polk County, Florida. He almost went to the gallows in Bartow like his son but with a slick defense got a life sentence instead.

Allan Buey was going to marry Jasper's step daughter Lula Mae, Laura's daughter from her first marriage. The trial report showed that Jasper talked his son into shooting Buey because he had a crush on her himself and then he testified against his son. He also claimed his son signed a confession that he alone had been involved and his father was innocent. The only problem is the son couldn't read or write.

Somehow Jasper got a pardon after his son's hanging and was sent to the State Prison in Raiford. On the 1920 census he is listed there as a farmer. He died seven years later and was buried in the prison cemetery.

The newspaper articles tell the story.

The Lake Wales Highlander

April 5, 1917

Father And Son Are Convicted

Ed and Jasper Mimbs Found Guilty of Murder in First Degree After a Lengthy Trial

After a trial which lasted for five days, Ed. Mimbs, charged with the murder of A. D. Buey  on the 17th of December, and his father, Jasper, indicted as an accessory in the crime, were both found guilty of murder in the first degree, the jury bringing in a verdict  at about three o'clock Tuesday afternoon, after being out about three hours.

On account of the publicity which the murder had received and the large number of people  acquainted with the defendants in the east end of the county, considerable difficulty was  experienced in obtaining a jury, it taking nearly all of last Thursday to secure men satisfactory  to the attorneys. The evidence showed that while Ed. Mimbs had actually fired the shots from  ambush which had killed Mr. Buey, he was aided and abetted in the planning of the murder by his father.

The State prosecuting attorney Burton had a strong case of circumstantial evidence against the  accused and handled the proceedings in a masterly way. He was greatly assisted it the conduct  of the case by J. T. Parker, of Lake Wales. The courtroom was crowded with interested  spectators nearly the entire time the trial was in progress, and when the verdict of guilty of murder in the first degree was brought in by the jury, it was the  universal opinion that the verdict was a most just one. Sentence has not yet been passed.

Many Lake Wales people were in attendance  at the trial, as both the murdered man and the defendants were well known here.

The Lake Wales Highlander

April 25, 1918

Father And Son To Hang

Governor Catts on last Friday signed the death warrants of Ed and Jasper Mimbs who were  convicted last March for the murder of E. F. Boewe at Peace Valley, and they will be executed  at Bartow on May 17th. Boewe was waylaid and shot on Sunday morning, December 16, 1916.




Evening Post May 17, 1918



Augusta Chronicle Saturday, June 1, 1918




Tampa Tribune April 8, 1919

Sent Home to Die

Richard Whitehurst Fulford was the brother of my gg grandfather David. He was born on May 11, 1843 and died December 17, 1904. He lived his entire life (except for his war years) on the Straits in Carteret County, North Carolina.



Carolina Observer May 19, 1862

I've made contact over the years with several of his descendants who are also doing family history research.

During the Civil War, Richard enlisted as a Sergeant on June 1, 1861 in Company D, 5th North Carolina Infantry Regiment.


His enlistment papers show he was 26 years old, Eyes - Blue; Hair - Dark; Complexion - Fair; Height - 6' 0"; Occupation - Ship Carpenter.


So he was a boat builder! That would fit nicely with him living on the Straits across from Harker's Island.


A year after he enlisted he was wounded and captured as a POW on May 5, 1862 in the Battle of Williamsburg, VA.


He had a serious gunshot wound to his left thigh and was taken to the US Army General Hospital on Camden Street in Baltimore, MD on May 14, 1862.


I found these newspaper articles that tell about the Battle of Williamsburg and the first one from May 19, 1863 said he was killed. (it is difficult to read but his name is the first one listed as killed at the bottom)

The 2nd article several months later reported he was wounded and still alive.


He remained in the hospital which was fortunate because so many of the POWs died in the prison camps.

I have a letter written by his brother William Burgess Fulford to my grandfather. William was being held as a POW at Point Lookout in Maryland and mentions that he had heard Richard was still in the hospital.


Because of his wounds Richard was sent to Fort Monroe, VA and exchanged (released to go home) on December 31, 1862.

The family story is the Yankees sent him home to die, but he didn't accommodate them.

Carolina Observer July 14, 1862

He remained in the Confederate Army, although unable to return to combat. He went back on active duty on March 10, 1964 and was shown as a Mechanic on the muster role.


On a January 1865 muster roll he was assigned to the Quartermasters Department in Goldsboro, NC. By the end of the war he had been promoted to Captain.


After the war he went home to the Straits and married Maria Jane Gaskill on February 1, 1866. They had six children.


Richard was listed as a Farmer on later census records, living next door to his brother David.

The first time we visited the area, about ten years ago, I found his grave marker in the Fulford - Pigott Cemetery on Sleepy Point Road in Carteret County.



This property had been settled by the Fulford family in the 1600s.


Richard's youngest son, Alvin Willis Fulford never married and when he died at age 96 on May 20, 1976, he was the last Fulford living on the Straits.



Subbing In

Daniel Nixon Cox was the husband of my great aunt, Keziah Blanchard. He was born on April 27, 1827 in Onslow County North Carolina and died on March 5, 1910 in Mayo, Florida.


Daniel and Keziah Cox

He moved to Taylor County Florida in 1859. After his wife Beneter died, he married Keziah Blanchard on June 16, 1874 in Taylor County Florida. She had been married before to William James Smart who died around 1870.


Daniel Cox was a farmer and was listed as the Taylor County Judge on the 1880 census. The records in Perry, Florida show him as the County Judge from 1878 to 1881.




During the Civil War he enlisted as a Private in Company E, 5th Florida Infantry Regiment on March 3, 1862. He then did what men with money had done since the Revolutionary War, found someone else to serve in his place.



Daniel Cox Record

His service record shows he hired a man named David Vickory as a substitute and on July 16, 1862 Cox was discharged.

David Vickory served for over two years but was wounded in The Battle of the Wilderness in Orange County Virginia and died on August 1, 1864. I couldn't find him on the 1860 census so don't know if he had a family.


David Vickory Record

Hiring a sub to avoid going to war was not new and was popular during the Revolutionary war also. When the Federal draft law was enacted after the start of the Civil War men up north avoided the Union army by paying a fee of $300 to another who would then enlist on their behalf. John D. Rockefeller, founder of Standard Oil, Grover Cleveland who later served as President and many others took advantage of this to avoid serving in the war. If you remember all the bad press about Clinton and Bush and the way they dodged going to Viet Nam, can you imagine what would have been said if they had just hired someone to go for them?



Daniel Cox originally filed for a Confederate pension in 1901 and it was approved on January 11, 1902. He was paid $120 per year.



In 1909 the State of Florida passed a new Confederate pension law so he was required to reapply and this time he was denied. They said because he had hired a substitute after just a couple months of service, he was not entitled to a pension.



Daniel's son, Edward William Cox, appealed the decision. Edward had married Keziah Blanchard's daughter from her first marriage, Columbia Smart so there are several family connections here. Edward sent a five page handwritten letter to the pension board. He also had a local attorney write a letter but both were turned down. 

Letter from Governor

Edward didn't stop at that, he wrote another five page letter to Governor Albert Waller Gilchrist on November 16, 1909. Just three days later the Governor wrote back, saying Daniel Cox was not entitled to the pension because he had not served the minimum time required in the new law of one year in Confederate Army service.



Daniel and Keziah are buried in the Corinth Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery in Madison County Florida.







With all the applications appeals and letters, Daniel Cox's Civil War pension file is one of the largest I have found. The last thing in it was from 1969 when his great grandson Ernest Cox wrote to the State for copies of his grandfather's service records.