174Thomas B. Logue
Key Facts
Snapshot:owned slaves; Confederate soldier; killed in action
Parents:348James Logue
349Frances Hunter
Born:circa 1817
Georgia
Died:30 July 1864
in or near the Crater, Petersburg, Virginia
Buried:very likely buried in an unmarked mass grave on a hill in the Confederate section of Blandford Cemetery, Petersburg, Virginia
Coordinates of the hill: N37.228 W77.384

174Thomas B. Logue was born in Georgia circa 1817.1,2 His parents are 348James Logue and 349Frances Hunter, as explained below.

Problem: Resolved
Who are 174Thomas' parents?

174Thomas' parentage is proven chiefly by DNA evidence, but the DNA should be considered in the context of traditional, paper-trail evidence. Both are described below.

Paper-trail evidence

The 1850 census shows only two Logue households in militia district 113 (map), Hancock County, Georgia: 174Thomas',1 and 348James Logue's.3 Thomas was age 33, and James was 64—i.e., a generation apart.

348James had married 349Frances Hunter in 1811,4 and they were still married in 1850.3 Thus, they plausibly could be the parents of 174Thomas, who was born circa 1817.1,2



1811: 348James Logue's and 349Frances Hunter's marriage record. Full page.4

In 1820 348James had three boys under age 10 (i.e., 174Thomas' age range) living in his home.5


1820: 348James Logue's household. The numbers represent: 3 males 0-9, 1 male 26-44, 2 females 0-9, 1 female 16-25, 1 person engaged in agriculture. Full page.5

DNA evidence

An Ancestry.com autosomal DNA sample from my father shares 14 cM on two segments with a sample from Avis Linda Weeks (née Logue),6 a descendant of 348James Logue and 349Frances Hunter with an easier, more straightforward line of descent. I've prepared a sketch of Linda's lineage, including links to some relevant evidence.

Numerous relationships could explain 14 cM of shared autosomal DNA. According to DNA Painter's Shared cM Project tool v4.0, there's a 15% probability that the two samples are from 3rd cousins twice removed (i.e., the relationship between Linda and my father if he is indeed a descendant of 348James Logue and 379Frances Hunter, as proposed) or a similar relationship. Although the probability of a more distant relationship is actually higher (61%), I'm confident in my conclusion due to the paper-trail evidence presented above.

He married 175Sarah Melton on 19 December 1837 in Hancock County, Georgia.7 Their marriage record is the oldest record I've found pertaining to 174Thomas.


1837: 174Thomas' and 175Sarah Melton's marriage record. Full page.7

By 1840 they had a baby boy. Also living in the house were two older women, perhaps a mother and grandmother, but their identities are unknown.8


1840: 174Thomas' family in militia district 118 (map), Hancock County, Georgia. Full page.8

They were probably living modestly, since an 1840 tax digest shows that 174Thomas owned no taxable property.9


1840: 174Thomas owns no taxable property in Hancock County.9

His wife 175Sarah presumably died a few years later, since he remarried to Martha Ann Blount on 11 August 1846.10


1846: 174Thomas' and Martha Blount's marriage record. Full page.10


1850: 174Thomas' family in militia district 113 (map), Hancock County, Georgia. Full page.1

By 1860 they had relocated to Johnson County. 174Thomas had had at least two children with his second wife.2


1860: 174Thomas's family in Johnson County, Georgia. Full page.2

His farm is described in the 1860 agriculture schedule. The first page is copied below. The numbers represent: 55 improved acres, 71 unimproved acres, $350 value of farm, $30 of farming tools/machines, 1 horse, 1 milk cow, 2 work oxen, 1 other cattle, 26 pigs, $130 value of livestock, 25 bushels of wheat produced in the past year, and 100 bushels of Indian corn. The second page shows that he also produced sweet potatoes and beeswax and slaughtered animals, although the quantities are unclear.11


1860: 174Thomas' farm schedule entry.11

The American Civil War began the following year. Officially, 174Thomas enlisted on 3 September 1861 into company B of the 22nd Georgia Infantry,12 but this company actually began as the Glascock Independent Guards, and 174Thomas might (or might not) have been present at a rally on 4 July 1861:13

The photograph below—taken early in the war, probably late summer 1861—shows four soldiers from company K of the 22nd Georgia. 174Thomas was in company B, but he probably had a similar appearance.


Four soldiers in the same regiment (albeit a different company) as 174Thomas. Image source (Warning: This link directs to Facebook).

After enlisting, his regiment trained at Camp McDonald in Kennesaw, Georgia (as it is now known) until about 1 November 1861.14 The regiment's travel to Virginia and its activities during the winter of 1861-1862 are described in the memoirs of Private William B. Judkins of company K. (In the excerpts below, I've adjusted some paragraph breaks from their original positions.)

We were ordered to Richmond, Va. We got on the train, I think, one morning. We stopped in Atlanta part of one day, and went where we pleased in the city. We left Atlanta in the evening, and traveled all night, got to Augusta over the Georgia R. R. early in the morning, and were treated to a good breakfast by the good ladies of Augusta. We left soon after breakfast over the Charleston and Augusta R. R., and went on that road to Branchville, S. C., and then changed to the Charleston and Charlotte railroad and went by way of Raleigh, N. C. We stopped there all night; next morning we got on the Raleigh & Weldon R. R. in North Carolina, got there about 12 noon, there they closed all the bar-rooms and eating houses against us, and doors of every sort; we could get nothing to eat or drink, and no place to stay. They would not furnish cars for us to get away from there. [...] Col. Jones and everybody else got mad. Col. Jones told the people who controlled the cars that if they did not furnish him cars to get away from there that he would turn his regiment loose on the place and tear it up. They were not long in getting cars ready for us to get away from there to go to Petersburg. Weldon was a sorry little town anyway, every one called it the most God-forsaken town there was to be found anywhere. [...] We left Weldon in the evening in some old box-cars and flats; stopping in Petersburg next morning, sta[ye]d there but a little while and left the same day for Richmond. We marched out to the Fair grounds outside the city north, we soon got our tents that we used at Big Shanty [i.e., Kennesaw], Ga., and put them up, and made ourselves as comfortable as we could.

The weather was getting cold. We had to have our fires out in the camp street to do our cooking, the wind would blow pretty hard, and we had nothing to burn but dry pine wood, so we dug pits the in ground about a foot deep, about three feet wide and five feet long, and had to cook our grub in the pits to keep the wind from blowing our fire away. When it rained we could not cook anything, as the pits would fill with water, but they gave us, part of the time, baker's bread when we could not cook, instead of flour, but we had to cook our beef as best we could, always boiling it in camp kettles made of sheet-iron; they would hold about four gallons. They had some paroled yankee prisoners who did the baking of the bread. Some of the men had a fuss, and tried to fight each other with their big knives, they were all ordered taken away from them, but they did not get them all as some of us hid our knives.

We were only at Richmond a short while, some two or three weeks, and were then ordered to Norfolk, Va. about Dec. 1st, went there by railroad, arriving there in the night, we were placed in the Norfolk armory building, and were put under guard on account of some of the men in the regiment getting drunk and cutting up. Col. Jones [the regiment's commander] was very strict, too strict for his own good, for he made many enemies among his men. We remained at Norfolk one day and night, and were then placed aboard a steamboat named Wm. Seldon, and were ferried across the river (the western branch of Elizabeth river which was between Norfolk and Portsmouth) to the navy yard, there we were placed in the mast house. We were on the Portsmouth side of the river. The mast house was a large two-story brick building, 400 (four hundred) feet long, for the purpose of building ship masts. We remained there for several days, ha[d] the privilege of going over the navy yards at will. [...]

From Portsmouth we moved out some three miles from the city into an old field grown up in pine trees and saplings, right at the head of the Dismal Swamp; it was rather a very muddy place, [...]14

The regiment participated in numerous campaigns in and around northern Virginia. Some of the battles that 174Thomas probably participated in are listed below, and described in more detail further down.

 1 July 1862: Battle of Malvern Hill — in Wright's Brigade, Huger's Division
 29-30 August 1862: Second Manassas (a.k.a Second Bull Run) — in Wright's Brigade, R. H. Anderson's Division, under Longstreet
 17 September 1862: Sharpsburg/Antietam — in Wright's Brigade, Anderson's Division, under Longstreet
 13 December 1862: Fredericksburg — in Wright's Brigade, Anderson's Division, under Longstreet
 30 April 1863: Chancellorsville — in Wright's Brigade, Anderson's Division, under Lee
 1-3 July 1863: Gettysburg — in Wright's Brigade, Anderson's Division, under Lee

174Thomas' regiment was part of the Peninsula campaign from March through July 1862. In March at least part of the regiment witnessed (but did not participate in) the Battle of Hampton Roads. Private William B. Stanley, another soldier in the 22nd regiment, wrote a letter home on 6 June 1862, a few days after the Battle of Seven Pines; an excerpt is below.

[...] I am in hop[e]s that it will git better when I git rested from my march that we tack [took] last satday & sunday thrue the mud & warter & lying out in too without eny tents in the rane [rain] sevle [several] nits too. it has mad[e] sevle of our comp[an]y sick. I dont think that I will ever be eny a count heare for I cant stand such trips as we tuck [took] thru the battle f[i]eld last sunday for we waded thru the mud & warter from shoue mouth deap to nee deap. all thru the battle feld tha [they] fou[gh]t ther[e] one sat[ur]day & a bout too our one sunday & we got ther[e] in a short time after the fite. I & jest tel you that I seed a meny de[a]d one on bouth sides & our men worse [were] a burying our de[a]d. the yankey had not come back to bary the[i]r de[a]d. It warse [was] a vary hard fite thoe we ga[i]n[e]d the day but we have to stay ther to ceap [keep] them back in the swamp. we lay in the swamp sunday nite [...] We muste put our truste in god for we [k]no[w] that he is all the one to look to for helpe an I do hope if it is the will of god to sipperate any of us before we have the pleasure of meating againe I hope that he will stande by us in death an prepare us to Meate in heaven whare we can see him in pease an be pleasing in his sight whare thare is no troubles nor trials thare. Deare an beloved wife my fingers cante talke to you half like my toung could talke if I only coulde see your beautiful face an here your loveing voice. I cante tell you by riting how bad I wante to see you an them deare little children [...] 15

In another letter about a week later (15 June 1862), Stanley expresses some frustration about the progress of the war and about a lack of supplies.

[...] I am in hop[e]s that the wore [war] will sun [soon] com[e] to a end for the genrel opinion of the pepele that it will com[e] to a close by the first of septtember or by the first of occtaber & I am in hop[e]s that it will for I am a gitting very tard of it. [...] I am sorry to say to you that I lost my suet of close in that box for I need them vary bad now [...] we are a gitting vary sick are we hant got but a bout 50 gun in ranks in our compy." 15

Stanley's letter of 22 June 1862 describes illness due to filthy drinking water:

[...] there is a grat dele of sickness here in our ridgment [regiment] & it is all a turning to the fevor & I think we will all be sick if we sta[y] hear much longer for we dont have no warter to drink that is fit for a hog. it is not no better than hog mud hole ther. we just did a hole a bout 2 or 3 feat deap & put a barel in it & git our warter out of it & it a bout the collour of milk & sider [...] 15

The regiment participated in its first skirmishes in the last few days of June 1862. Judkins describes the regiment's experience at the Battle of Malvern Hill:

On the 1st day of July, about 8 o' clock P.M., We made a charge to try and take a battery on Malvern Hill; it was some 800 yards from where we were, but we could do nothing with it; the company and regiment going about 400 yards under a tremendous artillery fire, and had to fall back to the starting point in the hollow, [...] The enemy had a very strong position on the hill, with forty cannon, and one gatling gun. No army could have taken their position by charging, for their batteries were upon a high hill, [...] The roar of the bursting shells was deafening, and they were cutting off the tops of trees and limbs.

[We] went back that night some two miles, and came across Gen. Bob Toombs. He was giving rations to all of the Georgia soldiers that he could find, but a soldier from any other State he would not give anything. We got a supply of hard-tack and bacon, which we were greatly in need of, we had had little to eat for several days. General Toombs cut off the meat himself, and gave it out. After eating what we wanted of the raw bacon and hardtack we lay down in a pine thicket and went to sleep. It rained very hard that evening and all night. It seemed that it always rained a big rain just after a big battle.

[...] our Generals had too much whiskey aboard. It was said that General McGruder was drunk the day of the battle, before Stonewall Jackson got in position in the rear or flank, therefore defeat, and I know that General Armistead was drinking, for I was behind the same poplar tree that he was behind, when he took out a brandy bottle and took a long pull at it [...] The shelling was terrific at Malvern Hill; you could not hear a man talk ten steps away from the bursting of shells. [...] General Wright rallied the brigade, especially the 3rd Georgia, and started into another charge, saying that battery must be taken, but it was never taken. I started with them, but knowing how it was I came back. The fighting went on until after dark. I went up on the hill to look; the musketry looked like lightening bugs. 14

After Malvern Hill, the regiment marched for several weeks before the next battle. Judkins' memoirs for late August 1862:

We were then near Warrenton Springs on the Rappahanock river, had had no bread or any rations for fourteen days, we lived on green corn and green apples all of that time. I offered a man a dollar for one biscuit, and he would not let me have it. It got so we could not get green corn or apples, as they had all been eaten. It rained a good deal and we were all hungry. We would eat or try to eat anything we could get. I got hold of some beef lights and broiled them on the coals of fire, and tried to eat them, but it was no go, for they were so tough that I could not chew them. Well about 2 o' clock A.M. we got some flour, as the commissary had just brought in at that time, I got some of it and wet it up in a pint tin cup, without salt soda or lard, and put it in the hot ashes and cooked it; I thought it was the best bread I had ever eaten, after having none for fourteen days.

While at Brandy Station we discarded our tents and all of our surplus clothing, throwing away clothes that we could not carry,(winter clothes) on the march, for we did not have wagons to carry them. I do not know what became of the tents, that was the last we saw of them. We threw away good clothes that we needed afterwards. This was in August 1862. This was our first hard marching. We threw away everything but a change of underwear; we hated to do it, but could not help it.14

At the Battle of Second Manassas, Anderson's division was held back so that it could be used as "fresh" reinforcements and therefore didn't fight until the evening of the last day (30 August 1862), around the time the Union forces began to retreat. Wright's brigade's position as of 5:00 PM is marked on the master map. An excerpt from Judkins' account of the battle:

[...] we rushed right on, not expecting to find the enemy so soon until we were in thirty yards of them. They were in line formed at bayonet charge, and fired a volley into us before we knew they were there, as it was late in the evening, and in a thick woods too.14


A house destroyed during the Battle of Second Manassas. 174Thomas was positioned roughly a mile south of here. Image information.

In the following weeks, the regiment spent some time marching through Maryland, as Judkins describes:

We marched through several little towns in Maryland, names now forgotten, and through fine farms, and stopped at Frederick City, Md., on the Monocacy river, remained there one day and washed our clothes in the river, and put them on wet. We were trying to drown some of the lice of which we had plenty. We had not washed our clothes for about a month, and the bugs were getting unbearable. We blew up the railroad bridge at Frederick City [...] We dropped the center of bridge down into the river.

Like at Manassas, Anderson's division was again used as reinforcements during the Battle of Sharpsburg/Antietam on 17 September 1862, this time to reinforce A. P. Hill's division, which was under intense attack. Unfortunately, Anderson himself was soon wounded and had to leave the battlefield, and the resulting confusion left his division unable to provide much support for Hill. Regardless, Anderson's men were present for several hours of the brutal fighting that gave "Bloody Lane" its name. The division's general location is marked on the master map.


Dead Confederates lie in Bloody Lane after the battle. This photo was taken from the south side, which is the side 174Thomas was on. Image information.

Although present at the Battle of Fredericksburg in December 1862, the 22nd regiment was guarding a nearby ford and didn't have to fight.14


Fredericksburg soon after the battle. The men in the photo are Confederates, and this is the only time a Union-embedded photographer ever took a photo of living Confederates. Image information.

After Fredericksburg, the regiment suffered through a cold winter, as Judkins describes:

The city was badly torn to pieces with shot and shells. Many of the boys were bare-footed that Winter. They took green cow hides and wrapped them around their feet. We had to stand picket above the city, going at 10 o' clock P. M., and staying until 10 o' clock P. M. the next night. It rained, sleeted and snowed and we had but little fire. We wrapped our blankets around us to keep from freezing and getting wet. When we got back to camp, wet and cold, and no fire hardly, we raked away the snow, spread down wet blankets on the frozen ground, covered with wet blankets and went to sleep. I awoke before day nearly frozen; taking my blanket by the edge it would stand up like a plank, it was frozen so hard and stiff. Some of the boys had made a little fire, and we got over and around it trying to get warm, which we did after awhile. [...]

We had no permanent winter quarters all of that winter, 62., but was on the march nearly all the time. [...] When near U. S. Ford it snowed to the depth of about a foot; we dug away the snow, and put up temporary tents of pine bushes covered with a blanket on top the bushes put up in wagoners style, and it snowed again that night on the snow to the depth of three feet. We had a rough time in the snow, no one had shelter [...]

The whole regiment was buried under the snow; Had to cut and carry wood about 200 yards through the snow. But we enjoyed ourselves having snow-ball battles, several got hurt, having arms broken and noses mashed. Some would throw lumps of ice. We had to dig breastworks at night, and it was very cold going to and from work, which was about two miles from our camp. [...]

We suffered badly with cold feet. We had a hard time all that winter, as we were on the march nearly all the time from place to place, and had to lay out just any old way, like a parcel of cows or hogs.14

At the Battle of Chancellorsville, Wright's Brigade played a fairly important role early in the battle. The brigade detached from the rest of Anderson's division and was sent to flank a nearby Union regiment soon after the initial attack on the morning of 1 May 1863. Judkin's memoir describes watching a hotel that had been converted into a Union hospital catch fire, and many injured Union soldiers were burned alive.14 The division saw little action on 2 May, but launched an attack in the early morning of 3 May against a mostly surrounded yet large and well-fortified group of Union soldiers. Ultimately the Confederates prevailed, but after the battle seemed to be more or less over, they learned that Union reinforcements were on the way and had already pushed through Confederate defenses in nearby Fredericksburg. By noon of 4 May, Anderson's division reached the Fredericksburg area to help confront the invaders, but it took several hours for Anderson to arrange his men into proper positions. The Confederates finally attacked at 6:00 PM. They did force the Union back, although Anderson's division itself was of limited benefit during this stage of the battle.


The Union soldiers were positioned here when Anderson's division attacked them on the evening of 4 May 1863. Image information.

Over the next two months, among other events the regiment passed by the aftermath of the Battle of Salem Church and lost some men when a transport boat sank while crossing the Potomac at Shepherdstown.


The Potomac River passes through Shepherdstown, circa 1861-1865.
Image information.

174Thomas indisputably participated in the Battle of Gettysburg since he was captured as a POW, probably on 2 July.16 (A different record states that 174Thomas was captured on 1 July,17 but this is probably wrong since Anderson's division didn't even arrive until late on the 1st and saw little or no combat that day. Likewise for yet another record that shows 3 July as his capture date.18) On 2 July, Wright's brigade—acting alone and against heavy artillery fire—made a dramatic charge through Union lines. Their attack is briefly summarized in the first video below, and the second video is a much more detailed walking tour of the battlefield.

Now a prisoner of war, 174Thomas arrived to Fort McHenry on 5 July17 but was transferred out the very next day to Fort Delaware.16 His name appears on a seemingly never-ending list of POW's who were captured and transferred in the same manner.19


174Thomas' name on a list of POW's captured and sent to Fort McHenry in July 1863. Full page.19


While imprisoned at Fort Delaware, 174Thomas probably slept in barracks similar to this reconstruction. Image information.

After just two weeks at Fort Delaware, 174Thomas was transferred out on 19 July,16 and on 25 July he arrived at the U.S.A. General Hospital in Chester, Pennsylvania to be treated for "scorbutus" (scurvy).20 The hospital was located on what is now the medical campus of Crozer-Keystone Health System. Two local newspapers commented on the arrival of Confederate soldiers around this time:

Delaware County Republican, 24 July 1863: 'REBS.' Since our last issue, a large number of wounded rebel prisoners have arrived at the United States Army Hospital near this place, and the institution, we are told, is literally crowded with these people. A train of cars brought a lot on Friday, and several transport steamers have since landed their living freight at our wharves. One of these vessels, which reached here on Sunday, had on board seven hundred, only two or three hundred of whom found accommodations at the hospital. The remainder was taken to New York to be placed in a similar institution there. Language fails to describe the personal appearance of the genus rebel. Let the reader who has never seen a specimen of the tribe, imagine a crowd of miserable rag pickers or dock loafers, such as were, at one time, to be found, in small numbers, along the wharves of our seaport cities - dirty, filthy, ragged and infested with vermin - looking as devoid of animation as brutes, and he may form a faint idea of a gang of secesh, able to walk, as they appeared on their march through our streets to their destination. They are all of a dirty, clay color, and no two of them are dressed alike - some even being clad in the faded and torn cast off blouse of the Union soldier. The badly wounded are truly objects of compassion. Some of them are without legs, others minus an arm, while many are injured in the head and breast. A few - generally those who have been forced into the service - say they are tired of the war, assert their regard for the old flag, and declare they will never again fight for Jeff Davis, while others express a determination to go back to the rebel army as soon as they are exchanged. The officers, of whom there are a goodly number, are as respectable looking as the privates, and can only be distinguished by some mark, such as a chevron on their coat collars, or a tassel on their shocking bad hats. The prisoners are placed in the bath at the hospital, as soon as they arrive, cleansed as far as soap and water will cleanse them, and then dressed in Uncle Sam's clothing. A few days will transform them into some decency of appearance at least. Arrangements are being made to accommodate fifteen hundred of them at the institution.21

Delaware County American, 5 August 1863: DYING OFF. - The rebels, who number some thirteen hundred, at the Upland Hospital, are dying off at the rate of ten to thirteen a day, and the deaths are said to be on the increase, from the fact that the diarrhea, which is of an inveterate character, has broken out among them. The hospital is in a crowded condition, and none but the worst cases having been brought there, the mortality among them may be expected to be great. Many of the worst are placed in tents in the adjoining lots, where they can have plenty of air, and where they will be removed somewhat from the influence of the obnoxious mass of putridity which exists in the wards. Those who die are placed in pine coffins, and buried in the RURAL CEMETERY, near Chester, where a lot has been set apart for them at so much per head. They are treated precisely as the Union soldiers. This is right. They are the victims of bad men, and while they are at our mercy as prisoners of war, it would be cowardly, and beneath the spirit and dignity of our people to use them indifferently or barbarously. We do not however, suppose our citizens are going to tax themselves to an infringement on the wants of the Union soldiers, nor that our ladies who on other occasions even vied with each other in their attentions at this Hospital, only to be insulted or treated with the coldest indifference, are now going to sacrifice their health, or endanger their lives among so much disease and filth which now exists there.22

On 17 September 1863 he was sent to City Point, Virginia20 for a prisoner exchange, and he was "at home on (paroled) furlough" from 28 September to 18 October 1863.23

While home on parole, 174Thomas purchased 100 acres in Johnson County.24


Excerpt from a deed by which 174Thomas bought 100 acres in 1863. Full page: 1, 2.24

Johnson County's 1864 tax digest describes 174Thomas as a soldier. Unlike earlier records, the tax digest also shows that he owned slaves.25


1864: 174Thomas' tax record.25

Although he had returned to Virginia by 2 November 1863,23 he wrote his will on 17 March 1864.26

State of Georgia    } In the Name of God Amen
Johnson County   } I Thomas Logue of said
being of Sound mind and memory and having a few worldly
goods that God has blessed me with to make disposition
of them while I am blest with a Sound mind and memory
to do So and[?] I dispose of them in the following manner
to wit as follows Item the 1st I give and bequeath to my
beloved wife Marthaann Logue Two hundred and Twenty six
acre of land and also two head of horses and Seven head of Stock cattle
and all any stock of hogs containing thirty head and all the farming
tools and plantation utensils and all the household furniture and
also one Slave a black woman by the name of Mariah and her
two children The children one boy and one girl and named as follows
the girl name Gracy and the boy name Moses, the above Stated
property to be kept together and for the purpose of raising the
Children and to make all the growth of the income of all the Stock
all kinds for her own use as She thinks best for the term of
of her natural life and of any of the girls to wit Shonar[?]
Marry I wish them to have a bed and at the death of my
wife I leave my negro girl Gracy to my son Thomas B
Logue and I bequeath to my daughter Sarah E Logue after
the death of my wife the negro boy named Moses and I also bequeath
to my Daughter Liddy A Logue at the death of my wife the negro
woman by the name of Mariah But will not be Entitled to none
of the increase from this time and the increase of the Said negro from
this date and all the rest of my real property and personal Estate at
the death of my wife to be Sold or divided as they think best eaqually[?]
among all my children to wit William E Logue and Mary F
Logue Sarah E Logue Liddy A Logue Thomas B Logue
and I give
my beloved wife the full power and control of all my property
Stated in this will to manage as She thinks best enduring[?] her
natural life and at her death I hereby appoint my two
Sons my Executors after her death to Execute this my last
will and testament in witness I have hereunto Set my hand
and fixed my Seal this the 17 day of March 1864

[signatures, etc.]

As previously noted, 174Thomas had returned to Virginia by 2 November 1863.23 One may presume that he was present for the battles of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, and Cold Harbor, although his regiment seems to have played comparatively lesser roles in these engagements (so far as I can tell).

174Thomas died on 30 July 1864,27 almost certainly during the Battle of the Crater. Although I'll describe the role of Hall's Georgia brigade (the brigade 174Thomas was in) with more detail below, the 2003 film Cold Mountain includes a brief but good summary of the battle. The protagonist, played by Jude Law, is a Confederate.

Although the movie implies that the explosion occurred after sunrise, it actually occurred at 4:44 AM when many Confederate defenders were still asleep. The explosion woke up the men in Hall's brigade.28 Below is a photo of nearby Confederate defenses (albeit photographed about eight months after the battle); the photo was taken roughly half a mile south of 174Thomas' location the night before the battle and facing in his direction.


Confederate defenses near the Crater battlefield. Image information. Related images and analysis thereof.

Another problem with the Cold Mountain scene is that although it briefly shows U. S. Colored Troops, it doesn't convey how strongly their presence enraged and energized the Confederates. The Crater was the first battle in which Lee's infantry fought U.S.C.T. in large numbers. While waiting for Hall's brigade to get into position, Mahone told the rest of his division that they would be fighting negroes and to take no prisoners, along with other words of more general encouragement.29

Although the circumstances that day were mostly favorable to the Confederates, the attack by Hall's brigade ended in failure, and 174Thomas probably died sometime during this attack. Below are a few excerpts about Hall's attack, copied from Earl Hess' outstanding book Into the Crater: The Mine Attack at Petersburg:

[...] Mahone made his way back to the shallow ravine where Hall's Georgia brigade was gathering. The division leader relayed his instructions for the coming attack. Matthew Robert Hall was a twenty-seven-year-old officer [...] Relatively new to brigade command, he readied his 370 men and moved out of the ravine about 10 A.M.

The Virginians opened fire from the reclaimed works north of the crater to support Hall's advance. This did not prevent the Federals, who were protected by the lip of the crater, from laying down a withering fire at the Georgians. The infantry lined the rim; some of them had stockpiled several loaded weapons nearby for rapid firing. [...]

The effect of this fire was decisive. Hall's men wavered, broke ranks, managed to close them again, but in the end veered north to escape the hail of gunfire. Instead of heading directly for the crater, Hall's troops duplicated the line of attack by Weisiger's brigade, crowding into the reclaimed works north of the hole. Some Georgians turned and retired to the shallow ravine, while others on Hall's extreme right flank entered the cavalier behind the crater and gave themselves up to the few Federals who occupied that trench. Some of Hall's men cowered at the foot of the cavalier. [...]

Hall's attack was nearly a complete failure. It is possible that he occupied some of the forty yards or so of Confederate works immediately north of the crater that Weisiger's men had not taken, but that was far from a decisive close of the battle. [...]

[...] William Etheredge of the 41st Virginia claimed Hall's men stopped during their advance to fire a volley and re-form their ranks, neutralizing the momentum of their advance. Lee and Beauregard witnessed the attack from the Gee House and thought it was a sudden, snap movement that was ill prepared. After witnessing its result, the two commanders grew very worried because they knew how few reserves were available to try another attack.30

In a separate book, Hess describes the burial of the dead:

The first task for the Confederates after the fightning ended was to clear out the works. This was a gruesome job, for the crater, the trenches north and south, and the maze of bombproofs were littered with bodies. One observer noted a spot in the crater where the dead were eight deep. The bottom was layered with mangled men," recalled William H. Stewart; "the dead trimmed the sides. ... It was a veritable inferno filled with sounds of suffering and paved with the rigid dead."

Lt. Thomas Smith of the 16th Virginia superintended the burial of the dead inside the crater. He counted 177 bodies; about 20 percent were blacks, and the rest were equally divided between white Unionists and Confederates. The Confederates rolled the dead down the sides to the bottom and shoveled dirt onto them from the walls. When those who died in the mine explosion were added, estimates of the number of men buried in the crater varied from 200 to 300. Black prisoners were forced to dig a burial trench just to the rear of the crater to inter the dead lying in the rest of the recaptured works.

[...] Officers arranged [a truce] for 5:00 AM of August 1 [...] They established a picket line down the middle of no-man's-land. The Confederates moved dead and wounded Yankees up to that line and delivered them into Union hands, while the Federals ranged freely on their side of the line. [...] The Federals recovered only about twenty wounded who were still alive, and they buried at least 220 dead by 11:00 AM. Many of the latter were so mangled by artillery fire that they literally lay in fragments. The burning sun had turned other bodies into "a swollen and putrifying mass, unrecognizable." Blacks were buried with whites, and the Confederates found twelve of their comrades lying dead between the lines, probably prisoners who had been caught in the crossfire while trying to reach Union lines.31

After the war, tens of thousands of the dead from the Petersburg campaign—including from the Crater area—were exhumed and reinterred elsewhere. Confederates were almost always reburied in unmarked, unidentified graves in a special section of nearby Blandford Cemetery. The entrance to Blandford's Confederate section is at N37.22690 W77.38475 and is marked by an impressive arch, shown below.32 174Thomas is very likely buried somewhere on the hill past the arch.

Sources Cited:

1: 1850 U.S. Federal Census (Population Schedule). Militia district 113, Hancock County, Georgia. Page 60 or 31A, dwelling 454, family 461, Thomas B. Logue household. NARA microfilm publication M432, roll 77. Internet Archive, <https://archive.org/details/7thcensus0058unit/page/n712/mode/1up>.

2: 1860 U.S. Federal Census (Population Schedule). Johnson County, Georgia. Pages 38-39 or 482-483, dwellings 259-260, family 244, Thos. B. Loge household. NARA microfilm publication M653, roll 128. Internet Archive, <https://archive.org/details/populationschedu128unit/page/n481/mode/2up>. The enumerator assigned the 7 year-old son Thomas B. Logue with his own dwelling number (#260), which means that the son did not live in the same building as his parents, but this is surely a mistake.

3: 1850 U.S. Federal Census (Population Schedule). Militia district 113, Hancock County, Georgia. Page 66 or 33B, dwelling 494, family 503, James Logue household. NARA microfilm publication M432, roll 77. Internet Archive, <https://archive.org/details/7thcensus0058unit/page/n712/mode/1up>, accessed 4 March 2022.

4: Hancock County, Georgia. Marriage book for the years 1808-1879, page 11, marriage of James Logue and Francis Hunter, executed 16 July 1811. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9BZ6-235?cc=1927197&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AKXJ2-4LJ>.

5: 1820 U.S. Federal Census. Capt. Litcus'[?] district, Hancock County, Georgia. Page 104, James Logue household. NARA microfilm publication M33, roll 7. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9YBC-WN1?i=10&cc=1803955&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AXHLW-33P>. Since the 1820 census often lacks column headers, you may find this template helpful.

6: For privacy reasons, I won't share further details of the DNA match here. This PGP-encrypted file contains those details.

7: Hancock County, Georgia. Marriage book for the years 1808-1879, page 63, marriage of Thomas B. Logue and Sarah Melton, dated 19 December 1837. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9BZ6-235?cc=1927197&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AKXJ2-4LJ>.

8: 1840 U.S. Federal Census. Militia district 118, Hancock County, Georgia. Page 232, Thomas Logue household. NARA microfilm publication M704, roll 46. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9YTL-7Z7?i=4&wc=31SJ-FQ3%3A1588665920%2C1588666164%2C1588668695&cc=1786457>, accessed 23 February 2020.

9: Hancock County, Georgia. Tax digest for 1840, page 66, entry for Thomas Logue. Ancestry.com (“Georgia Property Tax Digests, 1793-1892” / Hancock / 1840 / image 71 of 78), accessed 28 October 2021.

10: Hancock County, Georgia. Marriage book for the years 1808-1879, page 73, marriage of Thomas Logue and Miss Martha Ann Blount, dated 11 August 1846. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-LBZ6-LSC?cc=1927197&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AKXJ2-4H8>, accessed 23 February 2020.

11: 1860 U.S. Federal Census (Agriculture Schedule). Johnson County, Georgia. Pages 9-10, entry 39 (and perhaps 40), T. B. Loge farm. NARA microfilm publication T1137, roll 5. On page 9, Thomas B. Logue is line #39, and line #40 is blank, yet on page 10, there are entries on both lines 39 and 40. I looked over the nearby pages to see if I could find some pattern that might explain this discrepancy, but I couldn't discern anything. As a result, I can't be sure which line on the second page actually pertains to 174Thomas' farm. In any case, the NARA provides a helpful template. If you'd like to see the second page, click here; I copied the last several lines. Some of the numbers are difficult to read on my copy, but were more clear on the original microfilm; those numbers are: column 22, line 39 is blank, line 40 is 25; column 24, #39 = 30[?], #40 = 60; column 30, #39 = 25, #40 = 100; column 44, #39 = blank, #40 = 25; column 45, #39 = 25, #40 = 75; and column 48, #39 = 40, #40 = 80.

12: Compiled Confederate service record of Private Thomas B. Logue of Company B, 22nd Georgia Infantry, page 3. NARA microfilm publication M266, roll 343. National Archives Catalog, <https://catalog.archives.gov/id/163561249>, accessed 24 February 2020. Hereafter abbreviated as "Service record."

13: "Flag Presentation in Glascock," Weekly Chronicle & Sentinel (Augusta, Georgia), 17 July 1861, page 1, column 3, about halfway down the page. Georgia Historic Newspapers, <https://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/lccn/sn82014777/1861-07-17/ed-1/seq-1/>, accessed 26 February 2020.

14: Private William B. Judkins, "Memoirs of a Soldier of the 22nd Georgia," Special Collections, Rome/Floyd County Library, Rome, Georgia. I used an anonymously written online transcription: Internet Archive, <https://web.archive.org/web/20060617045926/http://www.mindspring.com/~jcherepy/memoir/judkins.txt>.

15: Transcription of letters by William B. Stanley, company K, 22nd Georgia Infantry. Georgia Archives microfilm 283/40.

16: Service record, op. cit., page 6.

17: ibid., page 5.

18: ibid., page 8.

19: List titled "Register 5, Fort McHenry, captures July _ 1863, transf'd to Ft. Del. July _ 1863," entry for T. B. Logue of 22nd Ala. Co B. NARA microfilm publication M598, roll 96. Internet Archive, <https://archive.org/details/selectedrecordso0096unit/page/n463/mode/1up>, accessed 23 February 2020. 174Thomas is the next-to-last name on the page. The "remarks" column erroneously describes him as "22d Ala. Co B," but he was actually in 22nd Georgia company B. The register's title sheet is on image #416.

20: Service record, op. cit., page 13.

21: "Rebs," Delaware County Republican (Chester, Pennsylvania), 24 July 1863.

22: "Dying Off," Delaware County American (Media, Pennsylvania), 5 August 1863.

23: Service record, op. cit., page 15.

24: Johnson County, Georgia. Deed Book D (1885-1886), pages 469 and 470. Land deed from Noah Tison Sr. to Thomas B. Logue, dated 14 October 1863. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C3QP-PS42-5?i=277&cat=260087> et seq., accessed 23 February 2020.

25: Johnson County, Georgia. Tax Digest for 1864, section for militia district 56, sheet set 2 of 3 (Each set consists of two pages.), entry for T. B. Loge. Ancestry.com (“Georgia Property Tax Digests, 1793-1892” / Johnson / 1864 / images 20 and 21 of 37). The corresponding microfilm at the Georgia Archives microfilm 61/60.

26: Johnson County, Georgia. Wills book A (1859-1923), page 52. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L93B-T6DM?i=57&cc=1999178&cat=265890>.

27: Service record, op. cit., page 10.

28: Earl J. Hess, Into the Crater: The Mine Attack at Petersburg (University of South Carolina Press, 2010), page 144.

29: ibid., page 149.

30: ibid., pages 173-174.

31: Earl J. Hess, In the Trenches at Petersburg: Field Fortifications and Confederate Defeat (University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, NC, 2011), pages 103-105.

32: Bill Coughlin, "Blandford Cemetery Confederate Section" (23 April 2007). Photograph. HMdb.org, <https://www.hmdb.org/PhotoFullSize.asp?PhotoID=19512>, accessed 8 March 2020.