My great-great-grandparents, Samuel and Margaret (nee Watson) Harwell, lived by very modest means for more than a quarter century on Champs Branch in western Giles County, Tennessee. In the 1860 federal census they are listed, with 9 of their children and their eldest son Moses Daniel Boone Harwell, single, living in the house to one side of them and their daughter Mariah, who married William L. Mitchell, living in the house to the other side. Sam appears on the 1861 tax records of Izard County, Arkansas, being taxed for 160 acres of land. This may to be the first real property that they managed to acquire since their marriage in Pulaski on October 29, 1833. The family had a fresh start in a new land, at last the future was looking up.

Alas, it was not to be. With the firing on Fort Sumter on January 9, 1861, civil war broke out across the country. Arkansas and Missouri were deeply divided between the unionists and the new confederates. Samuel was very much in the union camp being a part of the 'nest of Republicans over there on Weakley Creek,' as a contemporary friend of mine has referred to that area of Giles County.

The war came home to the new Arkansans in November of '61 when Sam's eldest son, Moses Daniel Boone Harvell (sic - as listed on roster; the family would soon adopt this spelling of the name), joined the local company known as 'Clayton's Company 30 day Volunteers, C.S.A.' This volunteer unit was called up in Ash Flat, Izard County, Arkansas, on November 5, 1861, and was mustered into the Confederate service on November 9, 1861. It was a short-lived experience between Daniel and the Confederacy. The unit was discharged on December 9, 1861, at Pitman's Ferry, Arkansas. This would be the extent of Daniel’s service to the southern cause.

The enlistment of my great-grandfather, James Henry, seems to have had more to do with personal conflicts than with political ones. It had been a matter of practice for many years that Sam put his children to work outside the home, some as young as 9 or 10 years old, to provide badly needed income for the family. According to the parental pension applications of Sam and Margaret, 'William T. Harvel Son of the Said Margret M. Harvel was worth a bout Eighty Dollars per annum as a laborer.' James Henry was engaged in this activity in 1862 when he had words with his employer. According to grandfather Harvell, Sam insisted that his son apologize to his employer and return to work. But James Henry refused and ran away from home and enlisted in the rebel army at 17. How ironic that the son of the old unionist, the son that bore the name of the 'Great Compromiser', Henry Clay, would be the one to remain for the duration of the war in the Southern Cause.

James Henry Clay Harvell enlisted on March 16, 1862, in Pocahontas, Randolph County, Arkansas, in Captain (Overton W.) Barret's Missouri Light Artillery, also known as the 10Sup>th Missouri Artillery, CSA. This was only 10 days after Captain Barret's troops had been involved in the battle of Elkhorn Tavern, or Pea Ridge, in northwest Arkansas. In less than a month, April 6, 1862, James Henry and Barret's Battery would be under the command of Brigadier General Lucius M. Walker's Brigade in the thick of it at the Battle of Shiloh Church in Tennessee.

Meanwhile, Moses Daniel Boone apparently had second thoughts about his association with the Confederacy and enlisted in Company E, 3^rd Missouri Calvary, U. S. Volunteers, USA, at West Plains, Missouri, on August 1, 1862.

At some point in the summer or fall of '62 their brother William T. was conscripted into the Confederate army. An excerpt from an affidavit filed by William's sister, Lucinda Dean, in the parental applications for William's pension: '...and A great eal(sic) depended on the eforts of his Wife for the Support of the Family the suport depended partly on the labor of her son William T. Harvell before he was conscripted by the Rebles. he runaway from the rebels and joined the Fedrals...' William enlisted on October 6, 1862, in Company I, 27^th Regiment, Missouri Volunteers, USA, at Springfield, Mo.

Simeon Richardson, the husband of the boys' older sister, Sarah Serina, enlisted in Company F, Freeman's Regiment, CSA. This was a unit composed of many Izard County boys including my maternal grandfather, Christopher Greenleaf Titsworth Walker.

Thus, the family was split right down the middle by the conflict. While James Henry and Simeon were fighting for the South and Daniel and William were fighting for the North, Sarah was living at home, in the South, with her unionist family. One can imagine the emotional turmoil and stress to family and friends, but according to oral history the family bonds remained. From a 1978 article by Dad, Owen Harvell, in the Izard County Historian, '...Because of this division in the family, the mother was worried when the boys were all at home on furlough. Her fears were needless, for the boys often slept in the same bed and never quarreled with each other...'

From December 31, 1862, to January 3, 1863, Barret's Battery of Missouri Light Artillery was at Stone's River in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. In February of 1863 there was a huge battle at Springfield, Missouri, and afterward Daniel's unit was reorganized. In the confusion of reorganization Daniel left without discharge and apparently returned to Izard County. Daniel's daughter, Mary, told her son, Frank White, of an adventure into Missouri involving Samuel, William and Daniel that I suspect happened when William deserted to the North in October of '62, but it may have occurred when Daniel was making his way home following the mix-up at Springfield. {This is a direct excerpt from a letter containing the tale.}

'Samuel(their father) went looking for the boys, Daniel & William- someone told him where they were- and they were running and Daniel fell on a plow & cut his knee real bad & there was a Gen. there & Samuel & Daniel & William, told the Gen. there was a Gen. Green they would take him to Gen. Green-Frank said Gen. Green ment the (woods or timber) was what Samuel, Daniel & William had made it up- and William was rolling a cigerette out of bull durm-So William blew it in the Gen. eyes-& Daniel & Samuel went in the woods to take care of Daniel's knee.- & William ran toward and old hog that was rooting & making nosie & would take the Jay Hawkers' away from Daniel moaning & suffering- and he said they were at Benton Baraks, in Ark. I guess.'

William became ill with dysentery on November 2, 1863. In November of 1863 Barret's Battery, with James Henry, was under the command of Lieutenant Colonel James Henry Hallonquist at Missionary Ridge.

Artillery Reserve: Lieutenant Colonel J.H. Hallonquist
Palmer's Battalion:
Lumsden's Alabama Battery- 4-12pdr Napoleons
Anderson's Georgia Battery-
Havis' Georgia Battery- 1-20pdr Parrot and 2-12 pdr Howitzers
Waddell's Battalion:
Alabama Battery
Bellamy's Alabama Battery
Barret's Missouri Battery- 2-6pdrs and 2-12pdr Howitzers
William's Battalion:
Jefferson Mississippi Battery- 4-12pdr Napoleons
Jeffress' Virginia Battery- 4-10pdr Parrotts
Barbour Alabama Battery- 2-6pdrs and 2-12pdr Howitzers

Dad wrote in his memoirs that James Henry was in ear-shot of the 'Battle of the Clouds', but was not involved in that fight. An excerpt from Dad's writings:

'...Two of the war stories that I can remember him (James Henry) telling are as follows: In one battle a captain whose men had learned to hate, undertook to stop a cannon ball that was bounding across the field. When he stuck his foot out to stop it, the ball clipped off his foot and bounded on. His men were delighted that he was no longer their commander. During one battle the water boy came up missing. After the battle while looking for him, someone found the top of a skull. When they found the water boy he was sitting with his back against a tree. A cannon ball had passed through the tree and had torn the top off his skull. In another battle Grandfather saw a Federal trooper aiming at him, and jumped behind his team. The mini ball killed both horses, but Grandfather escaped. While in the artillery Grandfather was a teamster whose horses were pulling a caisson or cart on which a cannon was mounted...'

Among the men and officers listed on the roster of Barret's Battery, with James Henry, is Second Lieutenant Isaac Lightner. Lt. Lightner receives specific mention in Brigadier General Cleburne's account of the battle of Missionary Ridge. From the O.R. Series I, Volume XXXI/2: '...A section of Barret's battery, under command of Lieut. Isaiah Lightner, in position where the road crosses the hill, did much toward driving back the right of the enemy's line in its attempted advance across the open fields...' I do not know if James Henry was with this 'section of Barret's battery.'

During the Atlanta Campaign, Barret's Battery, under the command of Colonel Hallonquist was assigned to the Army of Tennessee under General Joseph E. Johnston. D. W. Johnson of Izard County stated in a sworn affidavit, 'I saw him (James Henry) in the army with his command at Missionary Ridge, Ga., in November, 1863, or it was in 1863, and I think it was in November. I don't think he ever deserted. He seemed to be too well satisfied in the army.' James Henry never received a discharge and testimony was being taken to prove his service so that he might receive a invalid pension. This is about all that is known of great-grandfather’s service. He was reported present at the last recorded unit roll call in December of 1864.

On January 26, 1864, Samuel and Margaret's son-in-law Simeon Richardson and Freeman's Regiment were assigned to General Shelby's Division for the purpose of the invasion and capture of St. Louis, Mo. The adventure known as 'Price's Raid' began in September of 1864 with the regiment assigned to General Marmaduke's Division. The fates were kind to the family in that Daniel's old unit, the 3^rd Missouri Calvary, was a part of the Union opposition. Had Daniel still been in the 3^rd, he would have been facing his sister's husband (and the man who was to become my grandfather) across the battle field. Most of what I know of Price's Raid comes from my mother, Sybil Walker Harvell, telling me about Grandfather Walker's experience. Company F of which both Grandfather and Simeon were members was involved in fighting at the Little Blue River just outside of Kansas City. It was here that Grandfather Walker's brother-in-law, Solomon Smith, was badly wounded and captured (Grandfather told Mom that he was standing beside him when he had his leg blown off by an artillery blast). On October 24, 1864, Grandfather's brother, Robert T. Walker, was captured at Mound City, Kansas, as they were retreating to Arkansas (Both Robert Walker and Solomon Smith survived the war and returned to Izard County, Arkansas. And yes, at 54 years old in 2003, my grandfather Walker fought in the Civil War. Grandfather was quite elderly when Mom was born and in fact was 10 years older than his father-in-law!)

The family lost track of William after he became ill in November of '63. A local man named Dodd told them that his son had seen him at the hospital in Benton Barracks in St. Louis. I suspect it was an effort on Daniel's part to find William that led him to join the war for the third time. He enlisted in Company H, 50^th Missouri Volunteer Infantry on January 14, 1865, at Cape Girardeau, Mo.

The family was unaware of William's fate until after the war. After being sick for 5 months, poor William died of chronic diarrhea on March 29, 1864, in Cairo, Illinois, and was buried at Louisville, Kentucky. He was 22 years old.

Daniel was discharged, honorably, on August 5, 1865, at Benton Barracks in St. Louis.

John Henry Richardson was only 4 years old when his father, Simeon, went to war. He told his granddaughter, Margie Lacy, of helping his mother Sarah and his grandmother Harvell bury meat in the back yard to hide it from the Yankees.

Margie tells me that John Henry didn't recognize the stranger who rode up to his grandparent's farmhouse in Izard County in 1865. The man asked him where his father was and John, now 8, would have nothing to do with him. The stranger persisted and John Henry became angry and cursed him. The man started laughing and told him that he was his father.

James Henry Clay Harvell returned home where he and his father almost came to blows again because Samuel still insisted he owed an apology to his former employer.

Simeon Richardson moved his family to Kentucky and later to Texas after the war.

Daniel married Julia Ann 'Sis' Vickery on June 17, 1866 in Izard County where they raised seven children. Fellow researcher, Irene Moore, is their great-granddaughter.

James Henry married Isabell Campbell in Izard County and they raised six children including my grandfather Samuel Henry 'Little Sam' Harvell.

View Pension Record of James Henry Clay Harvell
View Pension Record of Moses Daniel Boone Harvell
View Pension Record of William Thomas Harvell

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Take Care, Judy Tate