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Author: ub4meib4u
Surnames:
Classification: queries
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http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.castleberry/46.48.108.2.1.2.1/mb.ashx
Message Board Post:
Jeremiah Jerry M Castleberry 1833-1915 was my gg-grandfather and I know a fair amount
about him. The Civil War story is mostly true, but see facts we have confirmed below. He
did NOT shoot or kill the officer nor did he serve any time in prison* as far as I or my
sister could find. We researched the county criminal records in Coosa, AL and we reviewed
his Confederate Service records. Here's what we know about the story:
This is the family story as told by several sources:
Jeremiah and his brother Joseph fought together at Battle of Chickamauga GA. They were
marching along in a line and Joseph got hit. Jeremiah stopped to render aid to his
brother, but their officer told him to keep moving. After the war Jeremiah went back and
shot the officer and had to serve 20 years in prison.
This is the story that Jeremiah shared with his family:
He and Joseph were marching along side by side and Joseph was shot. Jeremiah was not able
to help Joseph because his officer commanded him to keep moving. Joseph died on the field.
Jeremiah remained bitter and angry about this until his dying day because he felt Joseph
might have lived if he had received immediate attention. This was the story relayed to me
by Jeremiah's granddaughter Lela Miller Shoup. She and her family lived with Jeremiah
and Martha from ~1901-1915 [when Jeremiah died]. This same story was relayed to our family
by Myrtie Smith Ables, another granddaughter of Jeremiah's who also lived with
Jeremiah from ~1903-1910 [Castleberry's, Millers and Smiths all lived in same
household for a few years].
Confederate Service records confirm that both Jeremiah and Joseph enlisted together and
served together in same units. Records confirm that Joseph died on the field during the
Battle of Chickamauga on 9-21-1863. The same day Jeremiah was admitted to the hospital for
"sickness" per his CSA records.
We found in 1871 Coosa County criminal records Case No. 549, Jeremiah was charged with
"AWIK" / "AWIM" [Assault With Intent to Kill / Murder]. The case was
tried in Fall Term 1872, Jeremiah pled guilty to A&B ["Assault &
Battery"] and he was fined $5.00. Witnesses for the Prosecution were: "J.D.
Parker, Gran? Hardy, S.C. Thomas, Dr. W.J. Peddy, T.S. McDonald, M.M. Thomas, Jno A.
Sears". Witnesses for the Defense were: "Robt R King, Wm Rape, Charles Rape (in
Shelby Co), James Hall, James Smith (the younger), Dr. Cameron, Sanders Jones (dismissed
by Castleberry), Geo W Hatchett, A.G. Wilson". The minutes of the trial were lost in
a courthouse fire.
It is known that Jeremiah was the Administrator for the estate of Abel Lewis, his
father-in-law, which he began handling in 1870 after Abel's widow Elizabeth died,
before Abel Lewis' probate was completed. Therefore it is possible that this case
against Jeremiah pertained to arguments among his in-laws, etc regarding his handling of
the probate of Abel Lewis. There are other criminal records for some of the
Castleberry's in Coosa files, but this is the only case for AWIK. The
Castleberry's were charged with A&B and/or an Affray [a public brawl] on 2 or 3
occasions between 1850 and 1900.
*Jeremiah was a POW during the CW at Elmira Prison in NY after he was captured at
Petersburg in June 1864, released at end of war in Spring of 1865.
No evidence that Jeremiah shot and/or killed an officer but obviously he severely beat
someone up and my assumption is that it was the first named witness for the prosecution,
J.D. Parker [John dial Parker, who was the brother of Jeremiah's bro-in-law Martin
Parker.
Incidentally, Joseph Castleberry's widow, Priscilla DuPriest remarried to Columbus
Lewis, brother of Martha Lewis Castleberry [i.e. she was first married to Jeremiah's
brother, then she remarried to Martha's brother and thus remained a sister-in-law to
Jeremiah and Martha Lewis Castleberry via both of her marriages.]
Since my grandmother lived with Jeremiah and Martha, we oftem heard about them. However,
we never heard about him being a POW - we got that from his CSA records.
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