Pvt. (CSA), Thomas Joseph Turner

Civil War Veteran

Affiliation: Confederacy

Enlisted: 1861, 30 day enlisment in Capt. Perrys Co., Arkansas

Rank: Pvt.

Discharged Dec. 1861

Re-enlisted: May 2, 1862 at Lawrence co.,.Arkansas

Rank: Pvt.

Co.: F

Brigade: 2nd Missouri

Regt.: 10th Missouri Infantry

Length of enlistment: Until end of the war

Additional Service: Desha Rangers (independant cavalry unit,attached to 8th Arkansas Calvary)

Enlisted: June 15,1863

Rank: Pvt:

Links:

https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search-soldiers-detail.htm?soldierId=5...

http://www.couchgenweb.com/civilwar/deshargr.html

http://www.missouridivision-scv.org/mounits/10mo-infantry.htm

From: McLaughlin ,Jarrell , Looney,Turner/ Message Board

In 1861 Thomas Joseph TURNER enlisted in Captain Perry Clayton's Company, a thirty-day volunteer muster for the Arkansas C.S.A. He served as a private. This company was raised in response to Colonel Borland's call of November 5, 1861, mustered into the Confederate service on November 9, 1861, for 30 days, and discharged on December 9, 1861, at Pitman's Ferry, Arkansas. This information obtained from Bryan R. Howerton, found at ww.couchgenweb.com/civilwar/clayton.html. Also on this roster were Isaac W. Armstrong, First Lieutenant; Richard DeKalb Armstrong; Robert G. and William T. Richey (sic); William B. Leverton and Bailey R. Leverton; Samuel B. Sandiford (sic); David, Greer, and Matthew Spurlock; and George H. Turner (is this Tom's missing brother?). The Ritchie, Armstrong and Leverton lines all intermarried with Tom Turner's descendants. Samuel Butner Sandefer is the brother of Tom's future bride, Cerilda. And David Spurlock will eventually become kin to Tom via his mother's third marriage.

After this muster was completed, Tom Turner re-enlisted 2 May 1862 in Lawrence Co., Arkansas, serving as a private in Co. F, 2nd Missouri Brigade, 10 Missouri Infantry Regiment. According to his pension application, Tom Turner was in this unit until the end of the war, when the army of General Price surrendered at Shreveport, Louisiana, and Thomas was paroled. He was awarded a Confederate pension from Texas in 1913 for his Confederate service. However, it appears possible that he was also in an independent cavalry unit called the Desha Rangers. A T.J. Turner as a private on the roster of the Desha Rangers, enlisting in Arkansas County on 15 June 1863. The Desha Rangers are often included as part of the 8th Arkansas Cavalry, which contained a larger number of Sharp County men, including Tom's neighbors and future in-laws. The Desha Rangers was an independent cavalry troop, organized by Captain William S. Malcomb in rural Desha county, Arkansas, December 13, 1862. The Rangers continued to recruit (and conscript) heavily in Desha and Arkansas counties throughout the first half of 1863. A large number of the Rangers had previously served in the Desha County Militia in late 1861. Though the Desha Rangers were enlisted as an independent company, they were often temporarily attached to various cavalry regiments, depending upon the needs of the army. For a time they were attached to the 5th Arkansas Cavalry Regiment as Company M; and later were attached to Carlton's Arkansas Cavalry Regiment as Company H. When operating as an independent troop, the Rangers were usually detailed on scouts. They sometimes served as provost guard, and occasionally were assigned as the commanding general's escort troop. The records of the Trans-Mississippi Army are very sketchy from late 1864 to the surrender in 1865; therefore it is difficult to track the activities of the Desha Rangers with any degree of certainty during this period. It appears that they ended the war still attached to Carlton's Cavalry Regiment.

After Tom and Cerilda married, they lived in Richwoods Township, Sharp Co., AR near both Tom's mother's family and the Sandefers. These families continued to live in close proximity through 1880, as the Federal Census for that year shows: 1880, Sharp Co., AR, ED 188, p. 92-B, Matilda Nance, age 53, widowed, Farmer, b. AL, f.b. AL, m.b. AL; James A. Nance, age 18, single, Farmer, b. AL, f.b. AL (sic), m.b. AL [living next door to Thomas Joseph Turner and his family -- no William C. Nance found, and son William C. Nance, who would be ca. 17 in 1880, is also not found and is presumed dead by this time] 1880, Sharp Co., AR, ED 188, p. 20, household #169, family #174, Thomas J. Turner, age 38, married, farmer, born TN, f.b. England, m.b. TN; wife Cerilda A., age 36, keeping house, b. IN, f.b. VA, m.b. IN; son William L., age 12, farmer, b. AR; daughter Matilda, age 10, going to school, suffering from rheumatism, b. IN; son Samuel M., age 8, b. AR; son James F., age 6, b. AR. Also living with them is Cerilda's mother Ellen Sandefer, age 62, widowed, b. IN, f.b. KY, m.b. KY, living with them.

Link:

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~cgaunt/etc/v98i8.txt