Lewis Millard was taken a political prisoner during the Civil War. He was arrested by Confederate soldiers on November 1, 1862. The men with Lewis Millard that day were Lark Cross and a man by the name of Vanover. The three men were taken into custody at Buffalo Creek in Scott County, Tennessee. They were charged with disloyalty and tried at a summary court martial. Many say that Cross and Vanover were hanged on an apple tree. On that same day in Campbell County, Tennessee, two other men were arrested. They were Alfred Rowe and Thomas Smith. These men were also charged with disloyalty and were imprisoned in Confederate prisons. While Lewis Millard eventually ended up in Salisbury Prison, located at Salisbury, North Carolina, he first was imprisoned at the Confederate Military Prison Castle Thunder, in Virginia. Based on the date of his arrest and an article appearing in a Nashville newspaper, he spent at least one year in Castle Thunder Prison. When and why he was transported from Castle Thunder to Salisbury Prison is not known. It is known that in addition to the many thousands of military prisoners incarcerated at Salisbury there were 131 political prisoners. Eight were from Campbell County, Tennessee.
Lewis Millard did not survive his incarceration at Salisbury. Records of the prison detail his death on May 11, 1864. The history of the prison indicates that many who died during that period of time were not buried in individual graves. Many individuals were buried in common graves. Records of the National Cemetery at Salisbury indicate 11, 700 individuals were buried in 18 trenches, each 240 feet long, dug in an abandoned cornfield outside the Confederate Prison stockade. Lewis Millard was buried in one of these common graves. Seventy-nine of the 131 civilian prisoners at Salisbury died during incarceration. Alfred Rowe and Thomas Smith were not among those who died in prison.
Lewis Millard was eleven days short of his sixty-ninth birthday when he died in prison. And it is reported he had been hospitalized in April of 1864 and enlisted the aid of one of his fellow prisoners to write a letter to his family.
Salisbury, N.C
April 29, 1864
TO THE SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF LEWIS M. BAIRD
I, as a comrade of your father, in prison, deem it my duty to write to you at this time, to let you know his present condition. He is in the Hospital and to all human appearances must soon be numbered with those who have been taken from the evils of this world. There is no particular disease apparent, but old age, and confinement has done its work. Having become acquainted with him soon after his arrest and been with him ever since, he now seems like a Father to me. I can truly sympathize with you. We have slept together and I have been able to obtain many little necessaries for him. He has stood it very well until lately. I have often heard him say that he would love to know how you all were and let you know how he was, but he never got to hear from any of you at home. I have often talked to the old man upon the subject of religion. He always expressed himself as being prepared, which is a great consolation. I assure you that all that is possible for me to do will be done for your father. Pray that God in his great mercies may spare him yet to return home. He wishes for me to say if he does not live to see you in this world that you will strive to so live as to meet him above where parting and sorrow are no more.
Yours very truly,
Thomas Caton
The man who befriended Lewis Millard was a blacksmith from Cocke County, Tennessee. He was arrested on April 13, 1862, for aiding the enemy. Like Lewis Millard he had been imprisoned for a considerable time. Unlike Lewis Millard, Thomas did not die in prison. Lewis Millard did not serve in the organized military. And by all accounts he did not engage in any act against his fellow man or The Confederacy. He was the father of sons who supported the cause of maintaining the Union of States intact. His determination to support the Union cause as well as maintain loyalty to his sons, who were serving in various units of the United States military, was demonstrated by his loss of personal freedom. He gave his life to demonstrate this loyalty to country and his convictions. He was just as much a Patriot as anyone who served and fought in the Civil War.
Lewis Millard did not survive his incarceration at Salisbury. Records of the prison detail his death on May 11, 1864. The history of the prison indicates that many who died during that period of time were not buried in individual graves. Many individuals were buried in common graves. Records of the National Cemetery at Salisbury indicate 11, 700 individuals were buried in 18 trenches, each 240 feet long, dug in an abandoned cornfield outside the Confederate Prison stockade. Lewis Millard was buried in one of these common graves. Seventy-nine of the 131 civilian prisoners at Salisbury died during incarceration. Alfred Rowe and Thomas Smith were not among those who died in prison.
Lewis Millard was eleven days short of his sixty-ninth birthday when he died in prison. And it is reported he had been hospitalized in April of 1864 and enlisted the aid of one of his fellow prisoners to write a letter to his family.
Salisbury, N.C
April 29, 1864
TO THE SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF LEWIS M. BAIRD
I, as a comrade of your father, in prison, deem it my duty to write to you at this time, to let you know his present condition. He is in the Hospital and to all human appearances must soon be numbered with those who have been taken from the evils of this world. There is no particular disease apparent, but old age, and confinement has done its work. Having become acquainted with him soon after his arrest and been with him ever since, he now seems like a Father to me. I can truly sympathize with you. We have slept together and I have been able to obtain many little necessaries for him. He has stood it very well until lately. I have often heard him say that he would love to know how you all were and let you know how he was, but he never got to hear from any of you at home. I have often talked to the old man upon the subject of religion. He always expressed himself as being prepared, which is a great consolation. I assure you that all that is possible for me to do will be done for your father. Pray that God in his great mercies may spare him yet to return home. He wishes for me to say if he does not live to see you in this world that you will strive to so live as to meet him above where parting and sorrow are no more.
Yours very truly,
Thomas Caton
The man who befriended Lewis Millard was a blacksmith from Cocke County, Tennessee. He was arrested on April 13, 1862, for aiding the enemy. Like Lewis Millard he had been imprisoned for a considerable time. Unlike Lewis Millard, Thomas did not die in prison. Lewis Millard did not serve in the organized military. And by all accounts he did not engage in any act against his fellow man or The Confederacy. He was the father of sons who supported the cause of maintaining the Union of States intact. His determination to support the Union cause as well as maintain loyalty to his sons, who were serving in various units of the United States military, was demonstrated by his loss of personal freedom. He gave his life to demonstrate this loyalty to country and his convictions. He was just as much a Patriot as anyone who served and fought in the Civil War.
Lewis Millard was taken a political prisoner during the Civil War. He was arrested by Confederate soldiers on November 1, 1862. The men with Lewis Millard that day were Lark Cross and a man by the name of Vanover. The three men were taken into custody at Buffalo Creek in Scott County, Tennessee. They were charged with disloyalty and tried at a summary court martial. Many say that Cross and Vanover were hanged on an apple tree. On that same day in Campbell County, Tennessee, two other men were arrested. They were Alfred Rowe and Thomas Smith. These men were also charged with disloyalty and were imprisoned in Confederate prisons. While Lewis Millard eventually ended up in Salisbury Prison, located at Salisbury, North Carolina, he first was imprisoned at the Confederate Military Prison Castle Thunder, in Virginia. Based on the date of his arrest and an article appearing in a Nashville newspaper, he spent at least one year in Castle Thunder Prison. When and why he was transported from Castle Thunder to Salisbury Prison is not known. It is known that in addition to the many thousands of military prisoners incarcerated at Salisbury there were 131 political prisoners. Eight were from Campbell County, Tennessee.
Lewis Millard did not survive his incarceration at Salisbury. Records of the prison detail his death on May 11, 1864. The history of the prison indicates that many who died during that period of time were not buried in individual graves. Many individuals were buried in common graves. Records of the National Cemetery at Salisbury indicate 11, 700 individuals were buried in 18 trenches, each 240 feet long, dug in an abandoned cornfield outside the Confederate Prison stockade. Lewis Millard was buried in one of these common graves. Seventy-nine of the 131 civilian prisoners at Salisbury died during incarceration. Alfred Rowe and Thomas Smith were not among those who died in prison.
Lewis Millard was eleven days short of his sixty-ninth birthday when he died in prison. And it is reported he had been hospitalized in April of 1864 and enlisted the aid of one of his fellow prisoners to write a letter to his family.
Salisbury, N.C
April 29, 1864
TO THE SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF LEWIS M. BAIRD
I, as a comrade of your father, in prison, deem it my duty to write to you at this time, to let you know his present condition. He is in the Hospital and to all human appearances must soon be numbered with those who have been taken from the evils of this world. There is no particular disease apparent, but old age, and confinement has done its work. Having become acquainted with him soon after his arrest and been with him ever since, he now seems like a Father to me. I can truly sympathize with you. We have slept together and I have been able to obtain many little necessaries for him. He has stood it very well until lately. I have often heard him say that he would love to know how you all were and let you know how he was, but he never got to hear from any of you at home. I have often talked to the old man upon the subject of religion. He always expressed himself as being prepared, which is a great consolation. I assure you that all that is possible for me to do will be done for your father. Pray that God in his great mercies may spare him yet to return home. He wishes for me to say if he does not live to see you in this world that you will strive to so live as to meet him above where parting and sorrow are no more.
Yours very truly,
Thomas Caton
The man who befriended Lewis Millard was a blacksmith from Cocke County, Tennessee. He was arrested on April 13, 1862, for aiding the enemy. Like Lewis Millard he had been imprisoned for a considerable time. Unlike Lewis Millard, Thomas did not die in prison. Lewis Millard did not serve in the organized military. And by all accounts he did not engage in any act against his fellow man or The Confederacy. He was the father of sons who supported the cause of maintaining the Union of States intact. His determination to support the Union cause as well as maintain loyalty to his sons, who were serving in various units of the United States military, was demonstrated by his loss of personal freedom. He gave his life to demonstrate this loyalty to country and his convictions. He was just as much a Patriot as anyone who served and fought in the Civil War.
Lewis Millard did not survive his incarceration at Salisbury. Records of the prison detail his death on May 11, 1864. The history of the prison indicates that many who died during that period of time were not buried in individual graves. Many individuals were buried in common graves. Records of the National Cemetery at Salisbury indicate 11, 700 individuals were buried in 18 trenches, each 240 feet long, dug in an abandoned cornfield outside the Confederate Prison stockade. Lewis Millard was buried in one of these common graves. Seventy-nine of the 131 civilian prisoners at Salisbury died during incarceration. Alfred Rowe and Thomas Smith were not among those who died in prison.
Lewis Millard was eleven days short of his sixty-ninth birthday when he died in prison. And it is reported he had been hospitalized in April of 1864 and enlisted the aid of one of his fellow prisoners to write a letter to his family.
Salisbury, N.C
April 29, 1864
TO THE SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF LEWIS M. BAIRD
I, as a comrade of your father, in prison, deem it my duty to write to you at this time, to let you know his present condition. He is in the Hospital and to all human appearances must soon be numbered with those who have been taken from the evils of this world. There is no particular disease apparent, but old age, and confinement has done its work. Having become acquainted with him soon after his arrest and been with him ever since, he now seems like a Father to me. I can truly sympathize with you. We have slept together and I have been able to obtain many little necessaries for him. He has stood it very well until lately. I have often heard him say that he would love to know how you all were and let you know how he was, but he never got to hear from any of you at home. I have often talked to the old man upon the subject of religion. He always expressed himself as being prepared, which is a great consolation. I assure you that all that is possible for me to do will be done for your father. Pray that God in his great mercies may spare him yet to return home. He wishes for me to say if he does not live to see you in this world that you will strive to so live as to meet him above where parting and sorrow are no more.
Yours very truly,
Thomas Caton
The man who befriended Lewis Millard was a blacksmith from Cocke County, Tennessee. He was arrested on April 13, 1862, for aiding the enemy. Like Lewis Millard he had been imprisoned for a considerable time. Unlike Lewis Millard, Thomas did not die in prison. Lewis Millard did not serve in the organized military. And by all accounts he did not engage in any act against his fellow man or The Confederacy. He was the father of sons who supported the cause of maintaining the Union of States intact. His determination to support the Union cause as well as maintain loyalty to his sons, who were serving in various units of the United States military, was demonstrated by his loss of personal freedom. He gave his life to demonstrate this loyalty to country and his convictions. He was just as much a Patriot as anyone who served and fought in the Civil War.
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