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Drake Family History

Part Seven

Samuel C. Drake (About 1824 - 1 July 1862)

    Samuel C. Drake was born circa 1824, probably in Carter County, Tennessee.  He was the son of Ephraim Drake and Abigail (maiden name unknown).  Samuel died on 1 July 1862 in Newsome Hospital, Columbus, Mississippi of chronic diarrhea while in service with the 22^nd Alabama Volunteer Infantry, Confederate States of America.  He married Sarah Brown on 22 April 1844 in Tallapoosa County, Alabama.  The marriage bond was sealed by Samuel C. Drake and William Bullington.  I have no clue who William Bullington was, nor do I know what connection he had to Samuel and Sarah.  I did find a BLM land patent for William Bullington and James Youngblood, Jr. for land in Tallapoosa County.

    On 01 May 1845, Samuel received 160.8 acres of land as the assignee of Ephraim Drake. 

    Samuel and his family first appear on the 1850 Cherokee County, Alabama Census, Page 55A.  At that time, Samuel is 26 years old and Sarah is 24.  They have three sons, Thomas aged 4 years,  Taylor aged 3 years and John age 1.  Sarah's birth place is given as Cherokee Nation.  

    We next find Samuel and Sarah on the 1860 Randolph County, Alabama census . . . twice.   First, they appear on Volume M653 #22, Page 585 and then on Volume M653 #22, Page 602.  The entries vary so widely, it almost appears as if we are looking at two completely different families.  I include a transcript of both pages below for comparison.

    We have no way of knowing what Samuel's personal activities were between the 1860 census and his death in July of 1862. However, we can get a glimpse into his final days by studying the records of the 22nd Alabama Infantry Regiment.

    Sometime before 05 November 1861, Samuel enlisted with the 22nd Alabama Infantry Regiment.  At that time, the regiment was ordered to Mobile, Alabama in anticipation of a U.S. Naval assault on the Confederate Gulf Coast.    In February of 1862, by order of Major-General Bragg, the 22nd traveled by rail to Corinth, Mississippi to strengthen those forces under the command of General P. G. T. Beauregard.  On Sunday, 6 April 1862, Confederate forces caught the U.S. Army off guard in a surprise attack near Shiloh Church.  After twelve hours of intense combat, General U.S. Grant and the Army of the Tennessee were pushed back towards the banks of the Tennessee river.  

    Late in the evening of 6 April, General Buell's forces arrived at Pittsburg Landing and Union forces bombarded the Confederate camps every 15 minutes with gunboat fire all through the night and into the morning.  By dawn on the 7th, Beauregard's men were exhausted from the constant shelling and endless rainfall.  In this condition, they were no match for Buell's fresh troops.  The Union army began its attack about 6:00 am on 7 April and the fighting continued until about 3:00 pm when the Confederate lines in advance received the orders to retire.  At 3:30 that afternoon, The Army of the Mississippi began an orderly retreat back to Corinth.

    Sometime during the month of April, 1862, Samuel's wife, Sarah, gave birth to their last son, Samuel E. Drake.

    On 10 May 1862, between 2:00 pm and 4:00 pm, Colonel Joseph Wheeler gathered a portion of the 19th Alabama, under Lieutenant-Colonel Tracy, and about 20 volunteers from the 22nd Alabama, under Lieutenant-Colonel Marrast and set out to drive back a force of Union infantry and cavalry.  Wheeler reported that a point on his outpost had been continuously attacked during the previous four days, but until the arrival of Colonel Buck's men at 2:00 pm on the 10th, he didn't have sufficient strength to make a drive towards the enemy.  Wheeler's skirmishers attacked a group of 100 infantry and 25 cavalry, killing 2 men, wounding a third (probably mortally), and capturing 4 horses and their equipments.  No one from Wheeler's group was injured.  

    Sarah's 1893 Widows' Pension Application, states that Samuel was a soldier in Company E of Wheeler's Alabama Cavalry.  This application is the only reference I have found linking Samuel to any of Colonel Joseph Wheeler's commands.  It is possible that Samuel was one of the 20 volunteers from the 22nd Alabama mentioned in the previous paragraph.

    Following the Battle of Shiloh, under General Halleck, the Union army concentrated its forces and began a slow, seven week advance toward Corinth.   After a month of minor engagements with Union skirmishers and widespread illnesses due to bad water and food, General Beauregard determined to evacuate the city.  On 29 May 1862, under the cover of darkness, the Confederates left Corinth and moved toward Tupelo, Mississippi.  Prior to the evacuation, a field return  reported that 11,019 enlisted men were absent with leave.  Upon arrival at Tupelo, about 9 June 1862, the number of enlisted men absent with leave had fallen to 7,572.  During the Confederate occupation of Shiloh, many of the wounded were given furloughs of 30 to 60 days, depending on the seriousness of their wounds.  These furloughs were probably the reason for the huge numbers of absent men reported on the field returns.

          On the 31 May, Colonel Deas' regiment was stationed by the Tuscumbia River, on the Shunpike Road as a rear guard.  During the retreat from Corinth, the Confederates destroyed bridges along the way, obstructing Union passage over the rivers. Deas' unit was positioned to keep Union troops from rebuilding those bridges.  In a message to Major George G. Garner, dated 31 May - 4:30 p.m., Deas reported that at 2:00 p.m. they were attacked by Union skirmishers and a small piece of artillery.  The struggle continued for two hours, when Deas' pickets and their reserves were driven back through a swamp.  Five minutes later, the skirmishers were pushed back until Deas' men regained their previous positions.  At 6:00 p.m., Deas sent another message to Major Garner acknowledging orders to hold his position until after dark on 01 June in which he reported that his men had not had any bread since the morning of 30 May and that salt and meal were scarce in the area.  Deas also reported information gathered from a "countryman" that the enemy were moving up the river and were flanking him on his right.  During the engagement, Deas had 4 men wounded, one mortally.

    On 01 June, Colonels Deas and Hunt received word that the Federals were rebuilding the bridge at Danville and determined to march south to avoid being cut off.  Word was sent to Colonel John Savage requesting his co-operation and the brigades converged after midnight on 02 June near Baldwin, Mississippi.

    I have not yet found anything regarding the 22nd Alabama between 02 June 1862 and 01 July 1862 when Samuel died except for an order placing Withers' division in reserve.

    A more detailed history of the 22nd Alabama can be found on page eight in the Drake Family History Table of Contents or by clicking here.

    The 1870 Census, pages 211B and 212A, finds Sarah and her family living in Tallapoosa County, Alabama.  Children in the household are: Taylor, age 21; John, age 19; twins, Solomon and Mary, age 16; Lina, age 14; James, age 13; Susan, age 10; Samuel, age 8; and Frances, age 7. I knew that Samuel, Sr. died 01 July 1862,  and, from the 1900 Census, that Samuel, Jr. was born in April of 1862.  That didn't give much time for Frances to be conceived, especially since her father was in Mississippi!  If Samuel C. Drake and Pvt. S.C. Drake were indeed the same individual, then Pvt. Drake had to find time between the Battle of Shiloh and his death on July 1 to visit his wife in Alabama.  That time could only be during the months of May and June of 1862.  A quick calculation determined that Frances had to be born in February or March of 1863 if all of this was going to work out.

    I found a marriage license, dated 04 November 1883, for Frances Drake and George W. Sellars.  As luck would have it, a search of the 1900 Census located them on the same page as Sarah A. Drake and her family.  Frances' birth month on that census was March.  The birth year is 1862, which presents a problem, but that could be an error on the census taker's part or possibly an attempt to cover up the real date.  I guess we do need to consider the possibility that Samuel was not the father; however, three factors seem to support the theory that Samuel returned home sometime in May or June.  First, soon after the battle of Shiloh many of the wounded were issued furloughs of 30 to 60 days, depending on the seriousness of their wounds.  Given the casualty rate for the 22nd, its seems reasonable that Samuel was issued a medical furlough.  Second, During the Confederate occupation of Corinth, the quality of the water and beef was so poor that scurvy, diarrhea and typhoid affected nearly the entire camp, explaining how Samuel may have contracted the diarrhea that killed him.  Finally, during this time period, General Jones M. Withers' division (which included the 22nd) was placed in reserve and saw very little, if any, action.  This reserve status would have made Samuel more expendable.

    In 1997, the General William Barksdale, Camp 1220, Sons of Confederate Veterans published a book entitled Gone, But Not Forgotten! "Casualties in the aftermath of the Battle of Shiloh."  The book lists the names, unit of service, cause of death, date of death and the hospital where death occurred for 1009 soldiers.  Most of these men died between April and September of 1862.  Many of them died of disease.

        The following table lists all of the known children of Samuel and Sarah Drake and where they were located in the1880 Census records.

Notes regarding Sarah Brown Drake (Born about 1826, Died after 1900)

    In an attempt to locate Sarah's parents,  I searched all of the Native American records I could find.  I made a trip to Cherokee, North Carolina to look through Tribal records and talked with the author of Cherokee Roots.  I found a Brown on one of the early Cherokee Rolls who had a daughter that fit Sarah's age but I have no way of knowing who she was.  There is also a Brown family in the general area of Cherokee County who had two notable children, David and Catherine.  David Brown is said to have served as scribe for Sequoyah while the latter was creating the Cherokee alphabet.  David later translated the New Testament into Cherokee.  Catherine Brown is considered the first Cherokee convert to Christianity.  I have no evidence to support any connection between Sarah Brown Drake and either of these two families.

   I heard from someone who thought they remembered hearing about a man named William Brown who operated a ferry on the Georgia side of the state line near Tallapoosa County, Alabama.  However, I have found no documentation for this either.  I heard one family story which was related to me by a cousin in Alabama.  She recalls hearing from somewhere that Sarah and a twin sister where hidden in the home of some friends just before the remainder of the Brown family was relocated to Oklahoma.

   Here is what I do know about Sarah.  According to the 1850 census referenced above, she was born sometime around 1826 in the Cherokee Nation.  She married Samuel C. Drake in Tallapoosa County, Alabama.  The marriage bond was sealed by Samuel C. Drake and William Bullington.  She appears on the 1860 census in Randolph County, Alabama with Samuel and their children.  Sometime after Samuel's death in 1862, she returns to Daviston Township in Tallapoosa County where she remains until her death, sometime after the 1900 census.

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