Body

Two Young Sailors.

by Ed Milligan

The Whitehurst name came to my attention when Australian Civil War researcher Terry Foenander copied me on a message to Prof. Jay Hoar. Jay is the expert on young and old persons in the Civil War. Three very young lads of this name were mentioned in the ORN. The report stated that the father John A., apparently a staunch Union man, had died of wounds inflicted by Confederate sympathizers. The dying father had asked the captain of the USS Tahoma to enlist his soon to be orphaned sons.

The situation begged for some clarification. Were any Whitehursts enlisted ? If yes , what were their ages ? The muster rolls of the Tahoma showed that Christopher Columbus (CC) and Winfield Scott (WS) Whitehurst had indeed been enlisted on the Tahoma on 4 Oct 1862. CC signed as a 1 Class Boy. He was 4'4",blue eyed, with light brown hair and a light complexion. He said he was 16. WS was 4'3" blue eyed ,with light brown hair and a light complexion. He admitted to being 12. My first search was for pensions. I found a pension for WS. There was no entry for CC. WS claimed 10 Oct 1849 as his birth date in Brooksville, Benton County. The county name was changed to Hernando in 1850. The file shows lots of correspondence with the Pension Bureau. Unfortunately WS could not provide proof of this date. However, the following letter is from the Civil War USN pension file C 2461468 for Winfield S Whitehurst. I have presented it as written. The writer was not much for punctuation or capitalization.

Tampa Fla, Oct 2 1912

Mr. J. L. Davenport

Dear Sir

I have answered your questions as instructed to the best of my ability the marriage certificates of all my previous wives were lost with my discharge papers when my wife was lost at sea in a boat I owned that turned turtle all records and about everything I owned was lost at the same time now in regard to my being on the northern side while being a southerner boy I will try and explain. my father was a republican, which made it rather hard for him to stay home so he went to Egmont Key where the Barque Ethan Allan was Blockading this Harbor. Captain Eaton would not trust my father at first on account of being a southerner but after my father had proven himself he then used him in scout duty to good advantage After the Steamer Tahoma relieved the Ethan Allan Capt Howell of the Tahoma kept my Father doing scout work as before until he (my father) was killed at st Johns pass while endeavoring to get some boats. After my Fathers death Capt Howell advised my mother to let my Brother and I enlist which she finally agreed too and we duly enlisted on the Tahoma at Edgemont Key we went to Cedar Key from there when the sagamore relieved us and we sailed about the Gulf ports for some time I was transferred 3 different times 1st to the schooner Wanderer 2nd to the Sloop of War san Jacinto and 3d Ariel. I was discharged on the ship Ino. my Brother who had shipped with me was killed before Richmond so you can see that though we were in the south our hearts were with the north hoping this will prove satisfactory

I remain Respectfully yours

/s/ Winfield S Whitehurst

Ultimately, WS got a pension .The statement about CC being "…killed before Richmond…." created problems. It set me off to search anew. I rechecked the pension index for spelling variants. I also checked the USN list of men killed or injured during the War. There was no hint of anyone like CC. This led me back to the muster rolls for Tahoma, Both lads were there for a time. Then they were transferred to San Jacinto. The question was resolved by the remark in the muster rolls. CC had "run, 24 Sep 1864". CC was "lost" to USN but not by death. This explains the absence of an entry in the casualty book or a pension.

With the service question resolved, I looked at ages. The 1850 Census for Benton County shows a John A. and wife Elizabeth from Ga. CC was 1 year old and born in Fla. The 1860 census has the family living in the Tampa area in Hillsborough County. Parents were still John A. and Elizabeth. CC was shown as a 13-year-old. He was listed with 8-year-old WS and 6-year-old Harney. The 1870 Census for Hillsborough show Elizabeth as head of household. WS is 18 and Harney is 16. If we assume the census dates are basically accurate, we see that the 10 Oct 1849 birth date likely belonged to CC. That would have made CC 13 years old in Oct 1862 not the 16 in the books. The same census records show WS would have been 10 not 12 at time of enlistment. Little brother Harney would have been 8 when his two brothers enlisted. Apparently that was too young for a social project even in trying times.

The front end of this tale is in ORN Series 1, Volume 17, page 309 [1].

Note:

[1] The report dated at Tampa Bay, Florida, September 3, 1862, sent by Lieutenant J.C. Howell, commanding the USS Tahoma, to the Secretary of the Navy, at Washington, D.C., states:

"I have the honor to report that on the 26th August, ultimo, while three of the refugees who have been for some months at the light-house on Egmont Key under the protection of the United States were on the main land endeavoring to procure potatoes, beef, etc., from their own farms near Old Tampa for the support of themselves and families, two of them, John and Scott Whitehurst, while shoving from the shore in their boat were barbarously set upon by guerrillas, and Scott Whitehurst was immediately killed and John Whitehurst mortally wounded. The latter had strength enough to pull the boat out of fire, then fell and laid two days in the boat exposed to the rays of an August sun, and was at last discovered by another refugee named Clay and brought to this place. The third man, named Arnold, is supposed to have been murdered during the day.

All these men were Union men, and only a short time ago John Whitehurst offered to raise a company of loyal Floridians if he could be assured it would be accepted.

I sent a boat and recovered the body of Scott Whitehurst and buried it. John Whitehurst died last night, and was decently interred by us this morning. His dying request was that his three little sons should be received into the United States naval service. I have no vacancies for them, but will take them on board and ration them (which I shall be obliged to do under any circumstances) until I receive permission to ship them, which I am confident will be granted. The boys are quite young - the eldest, I should think, about 12 years of age, the youngest about 7 or 8.

These guerrillas are scouring the woods, looking after deserters and conscripts; they rob, murder, and steal indiscriminately, if the reports of the refugees are to be credited; Union men they threaten to hang, and do shoot, as we have lamentable proof.

It is said that every man capable of bearing arms has been forced to join the rebels in this part of Florida.

Additional Note: Mr. John E. Whitehurst is mentioned further in the same volume of the ORN, as residing near Old Tampa, and had sought Union protection against Confederate sympathizers in the region. He had assisted the Union navy commanders operating in the area around Old Tampa, providing information and directions.

February, 2001.