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Note: Note: Some sources indicate Lousintha Lowe's mother was Penelope McReight of South Carolina. Hello, Mr. Leamons,
I note on your posting, “The Abraham and Jemima Leamons Family,” that Mary E. Leamons “may have married Young McCreight and possibly he didn’t survive the war.” The Young McCreight who married Mary E. “Lemons” was actually William Young McCreight, and he did perish during the Civil War. William was born about 1838 in South Carolina, son of William A. McCreight and Jemima Jane (Baird) McCreight.*(1) He appears with his parent’s household in the 1860 Census for Smith TWP, Dallas County, Arkansas.*(2)William married 28 Jan 1862 in Dallas County to Mary E. Lemons,*(3) possibly the daughter of John and Isabella Lemons(sic, Leamons). William Y. McCreight enlisted 16 Jun 1862 at Tulip, Dallas County, in Company F, 26th Arkansas Infantry Regiment, and he died of disease on 02 Aug 1862 at Camp Texas, Pulaski County, Arkansas, burial place unknown. His widow Mary received back pay and clothing allowance of $92.23 on 06 Aug 1863.*(4) According to various contributed trees, Mary eventually married Thomas Jasper Franks in Union County, Arkansas, on 21 Jun 1866. The problem I have with connecting Mary (Leamons) McCreight to the one who married Jasper Franks is that she appears in that marriage record with her maiden name, “Miss” Mary “Lemmons. Everything else matches, though. Anyway, I thought I’d send the William Y. McCreight military information, all of which comes from his Compiled Service Records, National Archives Records Administration Microcopy 317, Roll 191, originals on file in Washington, DC. Good luck in your research.
Bob Meeks
Name: Young Leamons Residence: Batesville, Arkansas Age at Enlistment: 23 Enlistment Date: 10 Jun 1862 Rank at enlistment: Private Enlistment Place: Batesville, Arkansas State Served: Arkansas Survived the War?: No Service Record: Enlisted in Company B, Arkansas 1st Infantry Battalion on 10 Jun 1862.Mustered out on 19 Aug 1862 at Helena, AR. Birth Date: abt 1839 Sources: Index to Compiled Military Service Records1st Battalion Arkansas Union Infantry - Arkansas Research
P.S. I have no relation to Private McCreight. I am researching the 26th Arkansas Infantry Regiment with intent to publish a long overdue regimental history.
(1) “Binder Family Tree,” Ancestry.com; Private McCreight in his parent’s 1850 household: William A. McCreight Household, 1850 U.S. Census, Fairfield County, South Carolina Population Schedule, Page 220A, Lines 5-11, Dwelling 296, Family 296, National Archives Micropublication M432, Roll 852, Ancestry.com Image 41.
(2) Wm. A. McCright Household, 1860 U.S. Census, Smith TWP, Dallas County, Arkansas Population Schedule, Page 976, Lines 27-35, Dwelling 200, Family 200, National Archives Micropublication M652, Roll 40, Ancestry.com Image 2.
(3) Arkansas, County Marriages Index, 1837-1957 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.” Young McCreight, age 22, resident of Dallas County, married 28 Jan 1862 in Dallas County to Mary E. “Lemens,” age 20, resident of Dallas County.
(4) Compiled Service Records of William Y. McCreight, Company F, 26th Arkansas Infantry, CSA, NARA Microcopy 317, Roll 191.
First battalion Six Months Arkansas Infantry - USA
Company B
LEAMONS, YOUNG, PVT - age 23 - Died 19 Aug 1862 Helena, AR
Publication Number: M399
Publication Title: Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Union Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Arkansas
Content Source: NARA
State: Arkansas
Short Description: NARA M399. Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Union Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Arkansas.
Military Unit: First Battalion, Infantry, L-Y AND Second Infantry, A-Bo
Young Leamons was enrolled on the 10th day of June 1862 at Batesville, Arkansas in the Company B 1, Batt. of Ark. Infantry. Volunteers to serve 6 mos., or during the war, and mustered into service as a Private on the 20th day of July, 1862 at Helena, Ark. in the Comany B Batt. of Ark. Infty. Volunteers to serve 6 mos., or during the war. On the Muster Out Roll of Company B, of that Batt., he is reported a Private died October 19, 1862 at Helena, Ark.
"This Godforsaken Town": Death and Disease at Helena, Arkansas, 1862-63.
by Rhonda M. Kohl
From December 1861 through July 1862, the Army of the Southwest boasted numerous successful campaigns in Missouri and Arkansas, including the Battle of Pea Ridge, Missouri. Union officials considered the Army of the Southwest a powerful and dynamic force able to capture and hold Arkansas for the Union cause. However, when supply considerations necessitated the army's occupation of Helena, Arkansas, in July 1862, the army became an ineffective force in fighting not only the Confederates but also the disease-ridden Helena environment. The rapid attrition by disease caused regiments to lose strength quickly. By September 1862 the army, as a fighting force, was worthless. Sickness did not abate over the three and a half years of Federal occupation as Helena became known as one of the most insalubrious locations in the Union. By January 1865 Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck, once commander of the Union armies, even recommended the post's abandonment because of its unhealthiness and unimportance. (1)
Though it is widely accepted that disease caused more disability and death than wounds during the Civil War, few historians have examined this aspect of military history. Paul Steiner's Disease in the Civil War (1968) analyzed the influence of infectious diseases on selected military affairs including the Department of Arkansas, yet he neglected to take into account the effects disease treatments had on the health of armies. (2) Both aspects were examined for this study of the Army of the Southwest at Helena from July 1862 to January 1863, which focuses on the four main diseases that beset the soldiers: dysentery, malaria, typhoid, and typhus, in the context of modern-day medical knowledge. Nineteenth-century and modern medical knowledge and treatments are related to the experiences of the men who served at Helena, taking each of the four diseases in turn. The soldiers became unserviceable, and many died, because of the lack of understanding by medical authorities of the etiological cause of the disease, the relationship among sanitation, the environment and health, and the types of drugs used. Disease helps explain why the Army of the Southwest achieved little toward impeding the Confederate forces in Arkansas in 1862.
Medical records from one Helena hospital register (HHR) and the Indiana Sanitary Commission hospital register (ISCHR), army returns and reports from the Official Records, and medical data from Joseph K. Barnes's Medical and Surgical History of the Civil War indicate that the Army of the Southwest at Helena was devastated by epidemics of dysentery, typhoid, and malaria between July 1862 and January 1863. The hospital records provided information on the type and distribution of diseases among the soldiers and regiments at Helena. Rosters yielded information concerning the number of deaths by disease and disability discharges of each regiment. (3) Diaries and letters from men stationed at Helena during this period provide a picture of the soldiers' and medical officers' utter hopelessness in the face of so much disease. The men blamed their officers for the unhealthiness of the camps, especially Maj. Gen. Samuel R. Curtis, who was accused of having more interest in cotton speculation than in the welfare of his troops.
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