Claimant's Vicious Habits

In yesterday's post, I mentioned the Civil War pension application for John N. Newman. He was a brother of Henry O. Newman, and rode with Captain John Thornhill of Company B, 9th Tennessee during the Civil War. Henry Newman was married to Nancy Ann Murry, a daughter of Catherine Jones Murry (sister of my 3rd-great-grandfather Joseph Jones). John's pension application was rejected, and it had been referred for Special Examination by the Pension Office.

From the Civil War pension application of John N. Newman

Deposition of O.B. Reese.

The file included a deposition of Orlando B. Reese, a doctor previously from Jefferson County, Tennessee, who submitted his letter from Brownsville, Oregon in 1895. Reese also served as a Lieutenant in the Confederate Army during the Civil War, so his opinions about Newman may have been shaped by more than his medical knowledge. Newman's case had been referred to special examination due determine whether his disabilities were caused by his "vicious habits" of "whiskey and women". Reese said Newman had "a very bad reputation and during the war was noted as a horse-thief and not as he alleges - a union scout."

According to the file, John Newman married Narcissa Frances Fielden in Jefferson County on 2 October 1851. The file includes statements that Newman had been captured by the Confederate Army in Jefferson County around 29 August 1864, and was sent to a POW camp in Richmond, Virginia. He said he was paroled at James River, Virginia in February 1865. Newman claimed he got sick while in the POW camps and that damaged his eyes. The pension office rejected his claim in 1896, stating that Newman had no military status.

Newman was to have been the Lieutenant in Company B to Captain Thornhill. When Thornhill had his falling out with Colonel Joseph Parsons in late 1863-early 1864, Newman chose to go with Thornhill. The two were part of a group of family connected soldiers and deserters, often referred as renegades and outlaws, who were active in Jefferson County during this time, stealing from both sides and causing problems for the armies in the area. This decision to join Thornhill cost him a chance at a pension later in life.

There's so much more to write about the Thornhill case, I have a slow-going writing project to document the various cases, news articles and military records involved. I looked up the Newman and Rankin pension files in the hopes of finding some gems mentioning Thornhill or perhaps members of my Jones side of the tree. I was not disappointed by the material.

It is very surprising Newman sought out affidavits of support from men who had earlier been involved in the shooting of Captain Thornhill or had testified on behalf of those who defended themselves in cases that went up to the Supreme Court.

The Newman file included a deposition from his sister Mary Ann Cynthia Newman. I'll save writing about this for another post.