Civil War Veterans in Australia and New Zealand:

A Litany of Errors.

by Terry Foenander.

The numerous errors and assumptions included in a large number of biographies created by James Mason Gray, a member of the American Civil War Round Table of Queensland, include the names of persons, buried in Australia who had never served in the Civil War, who were in totally different units, and who were never in the specific service they are indicated to have been in.   Other biographies include incorrect data, altered information and geographical, as well as chronological errors.   I have found errors and assumptions in every biography at the web site, but will concentrate, for the present, on incorrect assumption of Civil War service, as well as persons shown as serving in the wrong unit, and the case of a second Veterans Administration grave marker. I will also include comments on a statement, by Mr. Gray, relating to the supposed murder of a brother of General Robert E. Lee.

The following pages include evidence gathered from various official and unofficial sources proving the inaccuracies in the biographies of the persons mentioned, especially that most of them were never in Civil War service, or were in a different unit altogether.

Charles Wells Banks, who is buried in the Cook Islands (and not in New Zealand, as claimed by Gray); there was impropriety involved in the application for a Veterans Administration grave marker.

Francis Marion Bates, buried in Melbourne; Bates was an actor and was in the Southern states during the war; information from his agent indicates that he may have continued his acting career right through the war, and was most certainly not in any Alabama unit.

Thomas Stuart Blythe. There was a Thomas Stuart Blythe who had served in the Confederate States Navy, and was married in Australia; however, there is absolutely no evidence, whatsoever, that Blythe is buried in Australia, if at all.

Alfred F. Bedwell, buried at Sydney, New South Wales. There is no possible way that this gentleman was in military or naval service during the Civil War - the evidence was clearly stated in newspaper obituaries, yet this evidence was totally ignored by the presumptious Mr. Gray.

Joseph Woodville Bolles, buried at the Townsville Cemetery in Queensland.

Michael Brennan, buried at the Yea Cemetery, in Victoria.

James Cawte, died and buried at Port Pirie, in South Australia. Indicated to have served in the Civil War, but no evidence exists, and no proof has been found, as yet.

James Coffey, buried at the Dunwich Cemetery on North Stradbroke Island, Queensland. Although there was more than ample evidence to show that this person could not have been the same person who served in the Confederate States Navy, this evidence was totally ignored, and a Veteran's Administration plaque was obtained for the gravesite of the person buried at Dunwich.

Bernard Cunningham, buried in an unmarked grave at the old Pentridge Prison graveyard, and not, as indicated in Mr. Gray’s biography, at the Old Melbourne Gaol, in Victoria.

John Joseph Davies - his service record shows that he was never in Confederate service at all, but served in the United States Cavalry; his full name is shown, in the official documentation, filled out by Davies himself, as Joshua John Joseph Patrick Netterville Davies, and he is buried on the east coast of Australia. He and his father had been, after the Civil War, in Fenian service, and were arrested, thus his move to Australia. Much new evidence has recently come to light, indicating that Davies had assumed several names (but held his surname, though in at least one other variation), and had served in the English army, United States Army, a couple of New South Wales military and government services, and then in Queensland government service. His rather confusing life is further complicated by the fact that persons buried in Western Australia, had also used his name, and obviously created fake medals to show battle service during the Civil War. The medals are known to be faked because the date of at least one battle mentioned, that of Antietam, is given as a few months before the actual battle was fought. Unravelling this entire mystery may take a lot more serious research than is currently possible.

Netterville Routledge/Rutledge Davies, buried in West Australia. If Mr. Gray had perused the photo of this individual's medal, and attempted to verify his service record, he would have noted that the photo shows several inconsistencies that suggest it was a fake, and that no service is recorded for a person of this name. Additionally, if facts had been verified, it would have been shown that no such medal was ever awarded during the Civil War. The diligent research of the late Roy Parker, during the 1980's, brought to light these very facts - facts which Mr. Gray, as usual, could not be bothered to check out.

John Fearn/Francis, who died at Mansfield, in the state of Louisiana, United States of America, was no more an "Australian" than was the famous Union general, Thomas Francis Meagher. Additionally, evidence has now come to light to show that both Fearn, and Ellen Malley, the mother of his children, may have left Australia under a cloud, and certainly not as man and wife.

Andrew Creelman Fulton, buried at Stawell, in Victoria. Once again, assumptions galore, with no evidence whatsoever of any service in the Civil War, even as a blockade runner.

Robert D. Fyffe; another person who was assumed, by James Mason Gray, to have served in the American Civil War, and is buried in Victoria.

John Henry Graydon, buried at Yarragon Cemetery, in Victoria.

Charles Henry Hill, buried at Williamstown Cemetery, in Victoria.

Richard Jones, buried at Rookwood Cemetery, in Sydney, New South Wales. No concrete evidence to show that this person had served in a Wisconsin Regiment.

Henry Lainson, buried at the Melbourne General Cemetery - an account of how, through sheer incompetence, a second headstone was ordered and received, from the Veteran's Administration, in Washinngton, D.C., more than a dozen years after the first one had been installed at the grave.

James Latimer, buried in Queensland. There is no doubt, indeed, that this person was a Civil War veteran. In his United States pension application, he claimed to have been involved in the killing of a brother of "General Lee," but the assumption that it was the brother of General Robert E. Lee was made by none other than Mr. Gray.

James McGuire: a proper examination of all the documentation would have shown that the person of this name, buried at Mittagong Cemetery in New South Wales was most definitely not the same person who served in the 5th California Infantry.

John McBride; how could a Civil War soldier, who was killed in action at Bull Run, in 1861, be buried in New Zealand? This could only be possible in the realm of fantasy that exists in the so called "research" work of James Mason Gray.

Theodore John Meredith, buried in New Zealand. A thorough check of complete Royal Navy records, as well as existing Union and Confederate Records, shows no service of any kind in these forces.

Edward Mosby, buried off far northern Queensland.

Patrick O'Leary, buried in the state of New South Wales; claimed by James Mason Gray to have served in the 47th Georgia, but several factors indicate that this was most certainly not the same person.

John Charles Pelham, buried in New Zealand. Family lore may state that Pelham had served aboard the USS KEARSARGE, but, like the well known "Gettysburg Syndrome", there is no evidence for such service at all.

Henry Sladek, an Austrian, inaccurately assumed to have been an Australian; when caught out, Mr. Gray chose to conveniently place the blame on someone else.

John Corneille Smith, buried at St. Arnaud Cemetery, Victoria.

William J. Smith, buried in the Northcote Cemetery, in Victoria.

Charles Flay Tapscott, died and buried in Victoria. Categorically stated by Mr. Gray to have served in two units of the Confederate States Army, despite the fact that Tapscott was a resident of the Northern states, throughout the war, and despite the fact that Tapscott's own great grand-daughter had proven that there was never any such Confederate service.

William Yeatman, buried in Colac Cemetery, in Victoria.

Additional names will be added as evidence and accurate data comes to hand.

Page Created, March, 2008 (updated July, 2008).