1864

For Freedom and HumanityThe Civil War Memorandum of Owen Thomas Wright, 14th Indiana Volunteers

1864: Escape to the Swamp Wars

1864 Stories

Hard fighting to pleasant living: New York draft riot becomes race war | Coming: New York Draft Riots to Battle of Wilderness | Coming: Of all of the horrors of the Civil War, prison life is the most terrible | Escape into the Swamp War

Tell Owen's story through Civil War history Understand the Civil War through Owen's story

The recently discovered Journals of Owen Thomas Wright, 14th Indiana Volunteers, provide a fresh perspective on the Civil War through the pen of a young soldier who experienced almost the entire war. You can read the complete summary of Owen's story here:

I volunteered to fight for the sacred rights of Freedom and Humanity

While I build Owen's site, you are welcome to browse and comment. I especially appreciate your insights that will help me tell Owen's story through the context of history, as I hope that we can gain a better understanding of history through Owen's story.

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1864: Swamp War

Details: © 2020 by Brent A. Duncan, PhD

In the National Tribune, Owen corrects General Grant's recollections about the Cross Roads at the Battle of Wilderness. Owen writes about his promotion to sergeant, his capture, and taunting his rebel captors. He summarizes his time at Andersonville and Florence prisons, his escape through the swamps, recapture, rescue by Sherman's Bummers, and his return to a new unit at Appomatox--seven days after the end of the war. This part of Owen's Civil War Memorandum was printed in the National Tribune on 25 February 1897 and is featured in John Michael Priest's book, Victory without Triumph, The Wilderness.

Details: © 2020 by Brent A. Duncan, PhD

Slogging north through the swamps of Whitesville North Carolina on a starlit February night, Owen Thomas Wright and three companions needed to put distance between themselves and the prison transport train. Owen hoped they were wading toward freedom from the horrors of the Confederate stockades in Florence. Instead, he was about to be snared as a catalyst for a guerilla war that would terrorize Robeson County, North Carolina, for seven years after Lee surrendered at Appomattox.

Different histories would use the name of Owen Thomas Wright in scorn or praise: guerilla leader of Indians and escaped slaves against the rising Ku Klux, a terrorist of wealthy plantation owners, a champion of freedom and humanity, a notorious criminal, an informant, or any combination of the above. Owen’s journal offers a more straightforward picture: a sick soldier left behind to take the blame for a series of dramatic events that occurred while he was imprisoned, unconscious, or delirious. Adding his voice to history changes the understanding of events that triggered a protracted guerilla war between swamp outlaws and Confederate loyalists during the closing days of the Civil War.

Synthesizing Owen's recently discovered journal with the pages of history provides an intimate look into the homes of Southerners as Sherman’s approaching army heralded the end of the war and offers a clearer understanding of the role four escaped Yankees played in triggering the Lowry War.