**Update, I recently participated in the Battle of Franklin Trust's official Podcast "Tenn in 20". It was a great experience to be able to share some of these stories in a new format. Since I recently broke my collar bone and needed surgery necessitating a sling, I chose to share Granville Scales' story - for reasons which will become obvious. I thought you might enjoy hearing - as opposed to reading - his story. Here's a link to the podcast - click on the episode entitled "Fighting to be Free".
Granville Scales was born in January 1845 in Williamson County, Tennessee. His parents were Elinora and Jack Scales. I believe they were enslaved by the Scales family in the College Grove area of eastern Williamson County. When the Civil War began, the Joseph Henry Scales plantation was attacked by federal troops and - according to this newspaper article - the "palatial residence" was burned. The Confederate cavalry "enabled Mr. Scales to get away his negroes."
Enlistment in the 44th US Colored Infantry. Granville Scales enlisted on March 25, 1864 in the 44th US Colored Infantry, Company B in Chattanooga. It seems possible that when the people enslaved by Joseph Henry Scales were taken by him away from the federal forces in Nashville, that they may have headed south, to Georgia, as many other Nashvillians did. It could be that during the chaos of this time, Granville made his escape. His enlistment papers he is described as a 17-year-old farmer.
Pvt. Scales was very fortunate to be under the command of Lt. Col. Thomas Jefferson Morgan. Morgan had previously organized the 14th US Colored Infantry in Gallatin, TN and he was dedicated to his men and interested in their welfare - going so far as providing each company with a school for teaching reading and writing. I have written about him in a previous blog post here.
In a memoir that Col. Morgan wrote after the war, he stated that:
It is easy to imagine Granville Scales out on picket duty studying his books with a cup of coffee. Col Morgan was not satisfied to just educate his men, however. He also wanted them to be combat soldiers, rather than just laborers.
In addition to Morgan, the Rev. Lycurgus Railsback was chaplain of the regiment and he was also interested in their education. He used hymns to teach the men to read and write. In fact, he was so enthusiastic about his efforts that the 44th became known as the "singing regiment." Railsback was also a dedicated teacher - so much so that early in his enlistment he requested a leave of absence to travel to Ohio and Indiana for the purpose of visiting friends to collect school books for the 44th USCI.
While I haven't found any photographs of Granville it is not hard to imagine that his clothes may have been similar to Hubbard's and his uniform would have likely been identical.
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| Natchez Daily Courier, May 7, 1863 |
Enlistment in the 44th US Colored Infantry. Granville Scales enlisted on March 25, 1864 in the 44th US Colored Infantry, Company B in Chattanooga. It seems possible that when the people enslaved by Joseph Henry Scales were taken by him away from the federal forces in Nashville, that they may have headed south, to Georgia, as many other Nashvillians did. It could be that during the chaos of this time, Granville made his escape. His enlistment papers he is described as a 17-year-old farmer. Pvt. Scales was very fortunate to be under the command of Lt. Col. Thomas Jefferson Morgan. Morgan had previously organized the 14th US Colored Infantry in Gallatin, TN and he was dedicated to his men and interested in their welfare - going so far as providing each company with a school for teaching reading and writing. I have written about him in a previous blog post here.
In a memoir that Col. Morgan wrote after the war, he stated that:
It is easy to imagine Granville Scales out on picket duty studying his books with a cup of coffee. Col Morgan was not satisfied to just educate his men, however. He also wanted them to be combat soldiers, rather than just laborers.
In addition to Morgan, the Rev. Lycurgus Railsback was chaplain of the regiment and he was also interested in their education. He used hymns to teach the men to read and write. In fact, he was so enthusiastic about his efforts that the 44th became known as the "singing regiment." Railsback was also a dedicated teacher - so much so that early in his enlistment he requested a leave of absence to travel to Ohio and Indiana for the purpose of visiting friends to collect school books for the 44th USCI.
Photographs of Granville Scales' Comrade - Hubbard Pryor. The 44th USCI is famous not only for their singing and military engagements, which I will describe below, but also for two photographs of one of its members. Hubbard Pryor was an escaped slave from Georgia who enlisted on March 7, 1864 in Chattanooga - just a few days before Granville - and a photographer took these "before and after" photographs of him.
This primary source comes from the Records of the Adjutant General's Office. National Archives Identifier: 849136
Full Citation: Photograph of Private Hubbard Pryor After Enlistment in 44th U.S. Colored Troops; 10/10/1864;
Records of the Adjutant General's Office, Record Group 94. [Online Version, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/photograph-of-private-hubbard-pryor-after-enlistment-in-44th-us-colored-troops, August 20, 2016]
Records of the Adjutant General's Office, Record Group 94. [Online Version, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/photograph-of-private-hubbard-pryor-after-enlistment-in-44th-us-colored-troops, August 20, 2016]
While I haven't found any photographs of Granville it is not hard to imagine that his clothes may have been similar to Hubbard's and his uniform would have likely been identical.
Capture at Dalton, Georgia by Gen. John Bell Hood. Col. Lewis Johnson was appointed to command the 44th in the early fall of 1864and a few companies - including Company B - of the Regiment became the permanent garrison of Dalton, Georgia. On the morning of October 13, 1864, advance units of the 40,000 man Confederate Army of Tennessee, commanded by General John Bell Hood, converged unexpectedly upon the little town, cutting off all avenues of retreat for the 600 enlisted African-American soldiers and 150 white officers of the 44th .
Hood had previously vowed to take no prisoners when confronting black soldiers and later added that he "could not restrain his men and would not if he could." [Note: This was after the April, 1864 massacre at Fort Pillow, so you can imagine the anxiety and anger that these soldiers were feeling.]
Hood had previously vowed to take no prisoners when confronting black soldiers and later added that he "could not restrain his men and would not if he could." [Note: This was after the April, 1864 massacre at Fort Pillow, so you can imagine the anxiety and anger that these soldiers were feeling.]
Although the 44th's USCI's Colonel Johnson claimed that his black troops displayed the "greatest anxiety to fight," he surrendered to Hood and secured paroles for himself and the 150 or so other white troops. The regiment's 600 African-American enlisted men suffered a harsh fate. Some were re-enslaved, while others were sent to work on Confederate fortification projects in Alabama and Mississippi. Many ended the war as prisoners in Columbus and Griffin, Georgia, where they were released during May 1865 in what one of them described as a "sick, broken down, naked, and starved" condition. Here is Col. Johnson's report of what happened to his soldiers that day:
In a strange coincidence - one of the Confederate cavalry officers who helped capture Granville Scales and his comrades was Corporal Newton Cannon from back home in Franklin in Williamson County. In a memoir Cannon wrote late in life about the day and his interaction with Col. Johnson:
It is not clear from Private Scales' military records exactly what happened to him but we do know that he was captured by the Confederates at Dalton and that he escaped and rejoined his Company. No other information is in his files. Our imagination will have to fill in the blanks - but you can only imagine the horrors that he experienced that day and in the ensuing days and how brave he must have been to go back and rejoin his Company.
According to several accounts, 250 members of the 44th found themselves re-enslaved with their former masters. Another 350 of the men were put to work rebuilding railroads for the Confederates in Mississippi as POWs. By the end of the year, only 125 of these men were still alive but in desperate circumstances. They subsisted on only one pint of corn meal per man per day and a small portion of fresh beef once or twice per week.
Col. Thomas Jefferson Morgan, who had commanded the 44th upon its initiation, and was in Nashville awaiting their arrival, recalled the night this way in his memoir Reminiscences of service with colored troops in the Army of the Cumberland, 1863-65: "I had become very anxious over the delay in the arrival of these troops, and when I heard the roar of cannon, thought it must be aimed at them. I never shall forget the intensity of my suffering as hour after hour passed by bringing me no tidings. Were they all captured? Who could answer? No one. What was to be done? Nothing. I could only wait and suffer."
What all three accounts do not include is that when the Union army "withdrew and marched" to Nashville and "most of the troops made their escape" they left behind their wounded - including Pvt. Granville Scales who was hit by a shell in the arm in the fighting and whom the Confederates captured along with the surgeon J.T. Strong and chaplain Lycurgus Railsback
who had stayed to care for them.
The Directory and Soldiers' Registry of Wayne County, Indiana in 1865 - where Chaplain Railsback was from - included a detailed description of his actions at Block House No. 2 that night and in the days that followed. It described how Chaplain Railsback arrived with the 44th USCI just after their ambush at Dalton and just before their departure for Nashville by train.
The account states that - due to the railroad track being on a high bridge - some of the men of the 44th fell a great distance when the railroad cars were attacked. Despite this, "the firm pluck of the colored soldiers saved us from immediate death."
This account is consistent with others in stating that about one-third of the men of the 44th were killed or injured in the attack and their ammunition nearly exhausted. After the able-bodied men had left in their successful attempt to sneak through the Confederate lines and get to Nashville (early on the morning of December 3rd), Chaplain Railsback and Surgeon Strong were left to take care of the wounded. It adds this additional detail: "As soon as daybreak came, the two walked out and surrendered, and the 'whole face of the earth seemed to swarm with rebels in a short time.' Then trading commenced. They would trade for anything we had, but it was all their own way. They took every good article of clothing.I had even took my hat and boots, and then stripped our poor wounded." Presumably this included Private Scales. The account continues that, "Mr. Railsback carried the wounded out of the blockhouse, over a high breast-work, the mud being very deep, the rain falling rapidly and he suffering with hunger, having had nothing to eat since the previous morning. . . .
While engaged in this toilsome but benevolent service, the rebel chivalry remained seated on their horses taunting him with curses. It was not until Sabbath morning December 4th, two days after the fighting that he [Chaplain Railsback] was enabled to find a few pieces of hard bread affording some relief to himself and the wounded men from the gnawings of hunger. The attempt Hood made to take Nashville required all the rebel soldiers, so that but little attention was paid to their prisoners; and as soon as the rebels began their retreat, Messrs. Strong and Railsback made their way to Nashville, and procured assistance for their wounded men."
According to his pension application (filed after the War had ended) Scales "could not run to [the blockhouse] as Infantry was on one side of them & cavalry on other[.] At night Regiment slipped out, left its wounded, his arm slivered all to pieces was attended to by a C.S. [Confederate States] Surgeon who kindly cut it off for him near the shoulder and cared for him as kindly as if he were white & of his own command." It sounds as though the amputation must have happened right at or near the Block House.
He then stated, "The wounded were put in a little house near stockade [for] 3 days after he was cared for by his own surgeon & as Hood was repulsed and he was brought to Nashville & put in No. 16 Hospital as it was called after which he requested not to be discharged and was let go back to his Regiment at Chattanooga where quite young he was promoted to Drum Major’s place and remained with Regiment til discharged in Nashville in year 1866. . . . “ In another affidavit he again repeats that he was held POW for three days and operated on by a confederate surgeon.
In yet another pension account, it is described that he was operated on "near Murfreesboro."
The account of Block House No. 2 is included in the book, "Freedom by the Sword” - and in that description the author believes that Granville Scales was taken to Franklin where there were many Confederate hospitals in operation as a result of the Battle of Franklin. But I'm not so sure - although I do think some of his less-injured comrades were taken as POWs and marched barefoot perhaps to Franklin or Columbia and then south.
Scales was back within Union lines and in a hospital at Nashville along with other wounded prisoners from the 44th by Dec. 18, 1864.
It is interesting to note that Chaplain Lycurgus Railsback was granted permission to take four men of the 44th and return to Blockhouse No. 2 several weeks later (on January 21, 1865) for the purposes of "collecting and properly interring" those who died there. According to the notes in Chaplain Railsback's military file, "These dead were hastily and incompletely buried by the enemy and some of them are even now exposed."
The above photograph shows the band from the 17th US Colored Infantry. The man on the left appears to be the holding a staff - perhaps his job was similar to Granville Scales' position.
Upon return from his furlough, its not clear what his duties would have been as the Principal Musician but his regiment provided post and garrison duty in Chattanooga and in the Dept. of Georgia in Huntsville until April 1866. In his pension application he mentions having to "whirl his staff" - which caused him a great deal of pain. On April 30, 1866 the 44th USCI mustered out in Nashville and Granville's service in the military came to an end.
Life as a Freedman. On July 6, 1866 he filed for and was subsequently granted an invalid pension while he was living in the Eagleville area of Williamson County. This was how I learned that Granville lost his arm "so near the shoulder joint" that it prevented the use of an artificial limb. In his application, he described that his only good arm had become very inflamed at the shoulder joint due to overuse and raising it over his head constantly as a drummer. He told that pension examiner that he "went to his old home in Rutherford Co, where he had the shoulder lanced . . . by Doctor Thomas Richardson" but that this only helped for 3 months so went to Dr. Owen of College Grove who also lanced it but that too was not entirely successful. According to an affidavit by Dr. Owen, given in 1879, he said that after Granville Scales was mustered out of the Army, "he came to this neighborhood [College Grove] to the home of his parents and tried to work on the farm but his remaining arm became diseased and it soon became so diseased that he could not work for a living."
On February 3, 1877 Granville's wife Eliza died in Nashville. In her death record I learned that she (probably the family) was living in the 7th Ward and that she was originally from South Carolina. No cause of death was listed. She was only 30 years old.
Second Chances. In November of 1877 Granville and Elenora Brown were married in Nashville. According to Elenora's widow's pension she stated that they were married by Luke Bryan, a "colored preacher" - a primitive baptist preacher. In December of 1878 Granville applied for an increase in his pension because his good shoulder had become so inflamed that he could not use his arm. He told the pension examiner that, "he is quite young yet [he was 33 years old] and full of spirit" but that he was unable to raise his arm above his head and was in constant pain and in fear of losing that arm.
In 1879 Granville appeared in the Nashville City Directory as a farmer - the family was still living on Cannon Street "near Leigh". The next year he was described as a laborer and the family was still on Cannon Street this time "near Lewis." Perhaps this is the same residence but the description has changed - it is hard to know. During this period, Granville was working on David Childs' thoroughbred horse farm two miles outside of Nashville. In an affidavit that Childs gave in support of Granville Scales' pension application he stated that Granville was a "sober upright citizen, for a man of color, upright in all his dealings, and who tires to work but should not as he may lose his left arm at any time. I remember 3 years ago this year he agreed with me to farm on Shares and to become equal as a hand he put in two boys, besides himself, some fifteen years old each of the boys, and I saw and I know he did all he could to work but in first place he had a left hand and then his arm would give out and must every now and then stop as it pained him so in the shoulder."
The first Census that I can find the family in is the 1880 Census. It states that Granville, 34, was a laborer in Nashville. He and Nora 34 were living at 13 Cannon St and raising their nine children John 16 and Andrew 15 (Elenora's sons from a previous marriage), Ewell 12, William 10, Jane 9, Evie 6, Mary 5, Granville Jr 2, & Cornelius 2m. The youngest two children are Granville and Elenora's children.
In 1881 the Nashville City Directory listed Granville as a laborer again "living Cannon Street near Lewis", and in 1882 it contains a listing for Granville Scales, a farmer, this time - specifically living at 61 Cannon Street.
Exodusters. Sometime that year the family joined the movement that so many Williamson County African Americans took - to go west as part of the Exoduster movement -and they left for Kansas. In 1883, Granville Scales is listed in the Topeka, Kansas directory as an expressman (working for the railroad) living at 161 West Avenue.
The family appeared again in the 1885 Kansas State Census still living in Topeka. Granville, now 38 years old, was again working as an expressman on the railroad. He and Elenora 37 were raising their four daughters Willie 14, Mary Jane 12, Evie Lena 10, Martha E 9, and two sons Granville Jr 6, and Cornelius 4. Also living with them was Elenora Smith - perhaps a relative.
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The Reminiscences Of Newton Cannon, First Sergeant, 11th Tennessee Cavalry, CSA by Sergeant Newton Cannon |
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| Granville Scales' Company Descriptive Book Card |
According to several accounts, 250 members of the 44th found themselves re-enslaved with their former masters. Another 350 of the men were put to work rebuilding railroads for the Confederates in Mississippi as POWs. By the end of the year, only 125 of these men were still alive but in desperate circumstances. They subsisted on only one pint of corn meal per man per day and a small portion of fresh beef once or twice per week.
Injured at Blockhouse No. 2. Luckily for Granville he must not have been prisoner for very long because he managed to escape and rejoin the 44th. With the members of the 44th who had not been in Dalton, those who escaped (such as Granville) and new recruits, Col. Johnson quickly created a new, smaller, 300 man 44th US Colored Infantry Regiment. The 44th- along with the 14th United States Colored Troops - were soon called to Nashville to help fortify the city in preparation for the expected attack from John Bell Hood's army following the Battle of Franklin on November 30, 1864. They left Chattanooga on train cars and were coming into Nashville on December 2, 1864 (about 6 weeks after the Dalton attack). As they arrived at Blockhouse No. 2, located 5 miles from Nashville on the railroad line, they were attacked by Confederate cavalry. This picture gives you some idea what Blockhouse No. 2 probably looked like - this was a blockhouse along the same railroad line but closer to Chattanooga.
As they arrived they found Blockhouse No. 2 garrisoned by Lieutenant George D. Harter and a small detachment of the 115th Ohio Infantry already being surrounded by the Confederates. This is a description from the perspective of the Ohio soldiers:
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Digital ID: (digital file from original neg. of right half) cwpb 02150 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cwpb.02150
Reproduction Number: LC-DIG-cwpb-02149 (digital file from original neg. of left half) LC-DIG-cwpb-02150 (digital file from original neg. of right half)
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
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On the morning of the 2nd the enemy, most of whom wore the Federal uniform [as disguises], began surrounding the stockade. Before the movement was completed a train came up from Murfreesboro, having on board the 44th US Colored Infantry [including Private Granville Scales] and part of the 14th US Colored Infantry. While the train was still on the Mill Creek trestle, it was fired upon by the Confederate battery, disabling the locomotive and injuring several men. Col. Lewis Johnson, commanding the colored troops, hurried his men to the blockhouse where they received ammunition from Harter and joined in defense of the post. From 10 am until dark an incessant fire of artillery was kept up by the enemy, nearly 500 rounds of solid shot from 10 and 20 pounders being discharged against the garrison. Several times the fire from the blockhouse compelled the enemy to change the position of his guns, but at dark the building was in a state of wreck. The north wing was destroyed, the west wing badly damaged, the main support of the roof had been shot away and the other supports were much weakened. Under the circumstances, Harter decided to evaluate the blockade; and accordingly at 3 am on the 3rd quietly withdrew and marched with his own detachment and the colored troops to Nashville, where they arrived safely about daylight. The Union loss in this action was 12 killed, 46 wounded, and 57 missing. [The Union Army: Cyclopedia of battles, p. 633]Confederate Major General Nathan B. Forrest who led the attack made this note in his official report of that day:
On the 3d of December stockade No. 2 surrendered, with 80 prisoners, 10 men killed, and 20 wounded in the attack by Morton's battery. On the day previous, while assaulting stockade No. 2, a train of cars came from Chattanooga loaded with negro troops. The train was captured, but most of the troops made their escape.
Col. Thomas Jefferson Morgan, who had commanded the 44th upon its initiation, and was in Nashville awaiting their arrival, recalled the night this way in his memoir Reminiscences of service with colored troops in the Army of the Cumberland, 1863-65: "I had become very anxious over the delay in the arrival of these troops, and when I heard the roar of cannon, thought it must be aimed at them. I never shall forget the intensity of my suffering as hour after hour passed by bringing me no tidings. Were they all captured? Who could answer? No one. What was to be done? Nothing. I could only wait and suffer."
who had stayed to care for them.
The Directory and Soldiers' Registry of Wayne County, Indiana in 1865 - where Chaplain Railsback was from - included a detailed description of his actions at Block House No. 2 that night and in the days that followed. It described how Chaplain Railsback arrived with the 44th USCI just after their ambush at Dalton and just before their departure for Nashville by train.
The account states that - due to the railroad track being on a high bridge - some of the men of the 44th fell a great distance when the railroad cars were attacked. Despite this, "the firm pluck of the colored soldiers saved us from immediate death."
This account is consistent with others in stating that about one-third of the men of the 44th were killed or injured in the attack and their ammunition nearly exhausted. After the able-bodied men had left in their successful attempt to sneak through the Confederate lines and get to Nashville (early on the morning of December 3rd), Chaplain Railsback and Surgeon Strong were left to take care of the wounded. It adds this additional detail: "As soon as daybreak came, the two walked out and surrendered, and the 'whole face of the earth seemed to swarm with rebels in a short time.' Then trading commenced. They would trade for anything we had, but it was all their own way. They took every good article of clothing.I had even took my hat and boots, and then stripped our poor wounded." Presumably this included Private Scales. The account continues that, "Mr. Railsback carried the wounded out of the blockhouse, over a high breast-work, the mud being very deep, the rain falling rapidly and he suffering with hunger, having had nothing to eat since the previous morning. . . .
According to his pension application (filed after the War had ended) Scales "could not run to [the blockhouse] as Infantry was on one side of them & cavalry on other[.] At night Regiment slipped out, left its wounded, his arm slivered all to pieces was attended to by a C.S. [Confederate States] Surgeon who kindly cut it off for him near the shoulder and cared for him as kindly as if he were white & of his own command." It sounds as though the amputation must have happened right at or near the Block House.He then stated, "The wounded were put in a little house near stockade [for] 3 days after he was cared for by his own surgeon & as Hood was repulsed and he was brought to Nashville & put in No. 16 Hospital as it was called after which he requested not to be discharged and was let go back to his Regiment at Chattanooga where quite young he was promoted to Drum Major’s place and remained with Regiment til discharged in Nashville in year 1866. . . . “ In another affidavit he again repeats that he was held POW for three days and operated on by a confederate surgeon.
In yet another pension account, it is described that he was operated on "near Murfreesboro."The account of Block House No. 2 is included in the book, "Freedom by the Sword” - and in that description the author believes that Granville Scales was taken to Franklin where there were many Confederate hospitals in operation as a result of the Battle of Franklin. But I'm not so sure - although I do think some of his less-injured comrades were taken as POWs and marched barefoot perhaps to Franklin or Columbia and then south.
Scales was back within Union lines and in a hospital at Nashville along with other wounded prisoners from the 44th by Dec. 18, 1864.
It is interesting to note that Chaplain Lycurgus Railsback was granted permission to take four men of the 44th and return to Blockhouse No. 2 several weeks later (on January 21, 1865) for the purposes of "collecting and properly interring" those who died there. According to the notes in Chaplain Railsback's military file, "These dead were hastily and incompletely buried by the enemy and some of them are even now exposed."
Recovery in Nashville Hospital.
Meanwhile, as a result of his injuries, Granville wound up missing the fighting of his unit in the Battle of Nashville and their pursuit of Confederate General Hood's troops to the Tennessee River. Instead he was recuperating from the amputation of his arm in the hospital in Nashville. However, he must have healed very quickly and impressed his surgeons because rather than being discharged for his disability he was reassigned to be a musician and by January 12, 1865 - little more than a month after losing his arm - he was on daily duty as drum major. By April 1, 1865 he was appointed the principal musician of his regiment which was stationed in Chattanooga. The primary Confederate surrender occurred about a week later on April 9, 1865. In support of his pension application later in life, his comrade Richard Ware from Nashville wrote that Granville Scales (who he described as small of statute and of "ginger cake color") was "liked by all for his brave conduct" in returning to his regiment and "stick[ing it] out till discharged."
Marriage to Eliza Scales. On Aug. 30, 1865 he was granted furlough and his transportation shows that he was taken to Huntsville, Alabama. According to his pension, his Regiment was in camp there for a period, so perhaps he was being returned to his unit. However, soon afterwards, on October 6, 1865 Granville married Eliza Scales in Chattanooga. Given that Eliza was also a Scales - it is possible that they had both been enslaved on the same farm and he brought her back to Chattanooga with him to marry her.
Meanwhile, as a result of his injuries, Granville wound up missing the fighting of his unit in the Battle of Nashville and their pursuit of Confederate General Hood's troops to the Tennessee River. Instead he was recuperating from the amputation of his arm in the hospital in Nashville. However, he must have healed very quickly and impressed his surgeons because rather than being discharged for his disability he was reassigned to be a musician and by January 12, 1865 - little more than a month after losing his arm - he was on daily duty as drum major. By April 1, 1865 he was appointed the principal musician of his regiment which was stationed in Chattanooga. The primary Confederate surrender occurred about a week later on April 9, 1865. In support of his pension application later in life, his comrade Richard Ware from Nashville wrote that Granville Scales (who he described as small of statute and of "ginger cake color") was "liked by all for his brave conduct" in returning to his regiment and "stick[ing it] out till discharged."
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| 17th US Colored Infantry Band, https://civilwartalk.com/attachments/17thusct-jpg.38844/ |
Upon return from his furlough, its not clear what his duties would have been as the Principal Musician but his regiment provided post and garrison duty in Chattanooga and in the Dept. of Georgia in Huntsville until April 1866. In his pension application he mentions having to "whirl his staff" - which caused him a great deal of pain. On April 30, 1866 the 44th USCI mustered out in Nashville and Granville's service in the military came to an end.
Life as a Freedman. On July 6, 1866 he filed for and was subsequently granted an invalid pension while he was living in the Eagleville area of Williamson County. This was how I learned that Granville lost his arm "so near the shoulder joint" that it prevented the use of an artificial limb. In his application, he described that his only good arm had become very inflamed at the shoulder joint due to overuse and raising it over his head constantly as a drummer. He told that pension examiner that he "went to his old home in Rutherford Co, where he had the shoulder lanced . . . by Doctor Thomas Richardson" but that this only helped for 3 months so went to Dr. Owen of College Grove who also lanced it but that too was not entirely successful. According to an affidavit by Dr. Owen, given in 1879, he said that after Granville Scales was mustered out of the Army, "he came to this neighborhood [College Grove] to the home of his parents and tried to work on the farm but his remaining arm became diseased and it soon became so diseased that he could not work for a living."
Starting a Family. Granville and Eliza had five children during this period - a son Ewell in 1868, daughter Willie in 1870, Jane in 1871, Evie Lena in 1874, Martha in 1875. They also seem to have moved to Nashville - perhaps where it would be easier for Granville to get less physically demanding work.
Moving to Nashville. The next record I can find of Granville is on February 26, 1875 where he was issued a building permit for a frame building on Cannon Street in Nashville for $250. His sister-in-law later stated that he lived in a house on Cannon Street near Leigh- so perhaps the permit was to build his family a home. Cannon Street is close to Fort Negley and is in the area where many of the formerly enslaved settled during and after the War. This section of a "Map of the City of Nashville and vicinity (1879)" shows the area around where Cannon Streets and Leigh Streets are circled in red and - you can see St. Cloud Hill - the site of Fort Negley - on the map on the bottom left hand corner.
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Courtesy of Tennessee Historical Society and the Tennessee State Library and Archives |
Moving to Nashville. The next record I can find of Granville is on February 26, 1875 where he was issued a building permit for a frame building on Cannon Street in Nashville for $250. His sister-in-law later stated that he lived in a house on Cannon Street near Leigh- so perhaps the permit was to build his family a home. Cannon Street is close to Fort Negley and is in the area where many of the formerly enslaved settled during and after the War. This section of a "Map of the City of Nashville and vicinity (1879)" shows the area around where Cannon Streets and Leigh Streets are circled in red and - you can see St. Cloud Hill - the site of Fort Negley - on the map on the bottom left hand corner.
Second Chances. In November of 1877 Granville and Elenora Brown were married in Nashville. According to Elenora's widow's pension she stated that they were married by Luke Bryan, a "colored preacher" - a primitive baptist preacher. In December of 1878 Granville applied for an increase in his pension because his good shoulder had become so inflamed that he could not use his arm. He told the pension examiner that, "he is quite young yet [he was 33 years old] and full of spirit" but that he was unable to raise his arm above his head and was in constant pain and in fear of losing that arm.
In 1879 Granville appeared in the Nashville City Directory as a farmer - the family was still living on Cannon Street "near Leigh". The next year he was described as a laborer and the family was still on Cannon Street this time "near Lewis." Perhaps this is the same residence but the description has changed - it is hard to know. During this period, Granville was working on David Childs' thoroughbred horse farm two miles outside of Nashville. In an affidavit that Childs gave in support of Granville Scales' pension application he stated that Granville was a "sober upright citizen, for a man of color, upright in all his dealings, and who tires to work but should not as he may lose his left arm at any time. I remember 3 years ago this year he agreed with me to farm on Shares and to become equal as a hand he put in two boys, besides himself, some fifteen years old each of the boys, and I saw and I know he did all he could to work but in first place he had a left hand and then his arm would give out and must every now and then stop as it pained him so in the shoulder."
The first Census that I can find the family in is the 1880 Census. It states that Granville, 34, was a laborer in Nashville. He and Nora 34 were living at 13 Cannon St and raising their nine children John 16 and Andrew 15 (Elenora's sons from a previous marriage), Ewell 12, William 10, Jane 9, Evie 6, Mary 5, Granville Jr 2, & Cornelius 2m. The youngest two children are Granville and Elenora's children.
In 1881 the Nashville City Directory listed Granville as a laborer again "living Cannon Street near Lewis", and in 1882 it contains a listing for Granville Scales, a farmer, this time - specifically living at 61 Cannon Street.
Exodusters. Sometime that year the family joined the movement that so many Williamson County African Americans took - to go west as part of the Exoduster movement -and they left for Kansas. In 1883, Granville Scales is listed in the Topeka, Kansas directory as an expressman (working for the railroad) living at 161 West Avenue.
In June of 1887 Granville Scales appears as an officer in the No. 321 Fort Pillow Post of the Kansas Grand Army of the Republic in Topeka - this was a veteran's organization for Union soldiers after the Civil War. The group was very influential in lobbying for pensions for veterans. For the next several years, he was an officer of this Post.
Oklahoma '89ers Next the family headed to Oklahoma. On March 15, 1889, the couple bought Lot 6 in block 34 in South Oklahoma addition to Oklahoma City for a $100 mortgage to Robert Williams.
This made Granville and his family 89ers. 89ers is a term applied to those who participated in the Land Run of April 22, 1889, into the Unassigned Lands such as Oklahoma. However, they did not need to go looking to homestead. Instead the Scales bought their home with a mortgage - they appear to have been doing quite well and been fairly financially stable.
Granville took on a leadership role in Oklahoma City just as he had in Topeka - he was a charter member of the Elite Club of Oklahoma City, an educational, literary and scientific society.
In the 1900 Census the family appears in the Oklahoma City, Oklahoma census. Granville 55 and Elenora 51 were living with their second-youngest son Cornelius Scales 20. They were living at 231 Washington St, Oklahoma City. Eleanor says only 3 of her 5 children are alive. Granville was a day laborer and Cornelius was going to school. They were living next to their youngest son Granville Jr (a porter in a hotel) and his wife Ella (a nurse). In 1903, Granville Sr was still in the same house and still working as a day laborer, according to the City Directory.
By 1910, Granville Sr had moved to Mustang, Oklahoma - just southwest of Oklahoma City. He was farming on his own account. Granville was now in his 60s. He and Eleonora were living with several grandchildren Alberta Scales17, Louis Scales 17, Ines Mathews 15, and Atha Mathews 13. In this Census we confirm that Granville had been married before and learn that Eleanora had also had a previous marriage - these may not have been legal marriages, but rather relationships under slavery times. Perhaps John and Andrew who were born while Granville was in the military were the product of Eleanora's first marriage and are not Granville's biological children. We also learn that Elenora reports that of her six children, only two are living - presumably Cornelius and Granville who moved to Oklahoma with them.
Back to OKC. On November 12, 1912 Granville and Elenora Scales purchased "Lot numbered seventeen (17) block numbered three (3) in South Oklahoma Addition to Oklahoma City" for $2,500 from Patrick Roden and Frank Farmer under a warranty deed 332. They entered into a mortgage for $1,500 of that amount. When Granville and Elenora moved back to the city they they seem to have started a grocery with their son Granville Jr. They may have lived in the same building as the grocery store.
By 1915 Granville was working as an expressmen on the railroad in Oklahoma City and living at 632 Kelham Ave. The following year he was still an Expressman on the railroad but living at the same address as the grocery store had been. In the next year their sons Granville Jr and Cornelius and their families have moved in with them and they are all living at the same address.
While Oklahoma City was not an all-black town, this video about those towns may give you an interesting insight into the setting in Oklahoma just prior to this period in the Scales' family history.
In April 19, 1918 this item appeared in the local newspaper in Oklahoma City - apparently Granville's health had started to fail at the age of 73. His doctor, W. H. Slaughter had attended to him for more than 20 years, according to his pension application, and was well-known and successful in the African American community in Oklahoma City. Dr. Slaughter owned and built many buildings in the all-black business district of Oklahoma City centered around 2nd Avenue Northeast (referred to as NE2 or Deep Deuce). When Granville and Elenora moved back to the city in 1912 they moved to this neighborhood and their son Granville Jr started a grocery store and later ran a restaurant that was in one of Dr. Slaughter's buildings - which still stands today. It was called the Ruby Grill.
The NE2 area of Oklahoma City was instrumental in shaping the development of one of American's great writers - Ralph Ellison grew up in this neighborhood. This article describes how the closeness of the families and businesses helped shaped him and his works such as Invisible Man. Here's another article about the Deep Deuce area.
On June 30, 1918 Granville Scales passed away. As you can see from his obituary he was clearly a well-respected member of the community in Oklahoma City. Plaque Number C-58 of the African American Civil War Memorial in Washington, DC bears his name.
He is buried in the Fairlawn Cemetery in Oklahoma City.
Oklahoma '89ers Next the family headed to Oklahoma. On March 15, 1889, the couple bought Lot 6 in block 34 in South Oklahoma addition to Oklahoma City for a $100 mortgage to Robert Williams.
Granville took on a leadership role in Oklahoma City just as he had in Topeka - he was a charter member of the Elite Club of Oklahoma City, an educational, literary and scientific society.
By 1910, Granville Sr had moved to Mustang, Oklahoma - just southwest of Oklahoma City. He was farming on his own account. Granville was now in his 60s. He and Eleonora were living with several grandchildren Alberta Scales17, Louis Scales 17, Ines Mathews 15, and Atha Mathews 13. In this Census we confirm that Granville had been married before and learn that Eleanora had also had a previous marriage - these may not have been legal marriages, but rather relationships under slavery times. Perhaps John and Andrew who were born while Granville was in the military were the product of Eleanora's first marriage and are not Granville's biological children. We also learn that Elenora reports that of her six children, only two are living - presumably Cornelius and Granville who moved to Oklahoma with them.
Back to OKC. On November 12, 1912 Granville and Elenora Scales purchased "Lot numbered seventeen (17) block numbered three (3) in South Oklahoma Addition to Oklahoma City" for $2,500 from Patrick Roden and Frank Farmer under a warranty deed 332. They entered into a mortgage for $1,500 of that amount. When Granville and Elenora moved back to the city they they seem to have started a grocery with their son Granville Jr. They may have lived in the same building as the grocery store.
By 1915 Granville was working as an expressmen on the railroad in Oklahoma City and living at 632 Kelham Ave. The following year he was still an Expressman on the railroad but living at the same address as the grocery store had been. In the next year their sons Granville Jr and Cornelius and their families have moved in with them and they are all living at the same address.
While Oklahoma City was not an all-black town, this video about those towns may give you an interesting insight into the setting in Oklahoma just prior to this period in the Scales' family history.
In April 19, 1918 this item appeared in the local newspaper in Oklahoma City - apparently Granville's health had started to fail at the age of 73. His doctor, W. H. Slaughter had attended to him for more than 20 years, according to his pension application, and was well-known and successful in the African American community in Oklahoma City. Dr. Slaughter owned and built many buildings in the all-black business district of Oklahoma City centered around 2nd Avenue Northeast (referred to as NE2 or Deep Deuce). When Granville and Elenora moved back to the city in 1912 they moved to this neighborhood and their son Granville Jr started a grocery store and later ran a restaurant that was in one of Dr. Slaughter's buildings - which still stands today. It was called the Ruby Grill. |
| This photograph shows the Ruby Grill building as it looks today. Image from Wikipedia |
The NE2 area of Oklahoma City was instrumental in shaping the development of one of American's great writers - Ralph Ellison grew up in this neighborhood. This article describes how the closeness of the families and businesses helped shaped him and his works such as Invisible Man. Here's another article about the Deep Deuce area.
Hello! Thank you for posting this. My 3rd great grand Uncle, George Burton, also served in the 44th, he enlisted only 3 days before Mr. Scales. He was also captured at the Battle of Dalton and was able to escape. His records show he later surfaced at a hospital in Ohio, then transferred to the hospital in Chattanooga where he finally succombed from his injuries about a year after the battle. I am curious as to how he made it to Ohio and what may have happened during that time. Also, he too was from a plantation in TN, The White Plains Plantation. His family went to Emporia, KS and then eventually to Oklahoma as well. I would love to know more about the resources you used to compile some of the missing pieces of Mr. Scales journey, I think it could help me put together some of my own missing pieces. My email is chakiraj@bellsouth.net
ReplyDeleteThank you for this post and all of your research!
Chakira
Tina Cahalan Jones...Outstanding Work...Hoorah!!! One Correction: contrary to your Blog Info, The American Civil War did not "Officially End" on April 9, 1865. On that particular date only General Robert E. Lee, Commander - Army Of Northern Virginia, CSA surrendered at Appomattox Court House Va. U. S. President Andrew Johnson did not "Officially End" the American Civil War until approximately a year and a half later, i.e., in August 1866. Between April 1865 and August 1866 a substantial amount of fighting continued in the Western U.S.A..
ReplyDeleteMichael James Morton - pmx648@gmail.com
(aka, Bill James & USCT Cemetery Mgr.)
could be kin
ReplyDeleteAm reading this on Juneteenth, 2020. My great grandfather was Rev. Lycurgus Railsback. His widow lived until 106, and told my dad many stories of civil war days. And all those years, she kept a well worn copy of a local newspaper's description of the Fort Pillow trials. The 44th had the blockhouse incident that was eerily similar to Fort Pillow. So glad they survived.
ReplyDeleteI am so glad you commented - I have to admit, your great grandfather's name is one of my all time favorites! He sounds like an incredible person and you should be very proud of his legacy. Thank you for taking the time to comment.
DeleteFollowing the war, Lycurgus and his bride, Elizabeth Binford, started the first tutoring program for immigrant Chinese cigarmakers at Five Points House of Industry in New York. Subsequently, in his ministry, he asked to be placed "where he was needed most", and he again had an opportunity to work with black people and other poor people in Kansas City area. An immensely interesting, compelling person. And sorry, I have neither a google account nor a URL.
ReplyDeleteHi Tina, Railsback descendant here again. Just read of the unveiling of a US Colored Troop statue in Franklin, TN. Are you part of that effort? https://www.newschannel5.com/news/united-states-colored-troops-statue-to-be-unveiled-in-downtown-franklin
ReplyDeleteAre you aware of this good news? Or part of effort? https://www.newschannel5.com/news/united-states-colored-troops-statue-to-be-unveiled-in-downtown-franklin
ReplyDeleteHi - yes! It is wonderful. I was not directly involved in that effort, but of course assisted and was very supportive. You can read more about it over on my other website - scroll down to the question about the Fuller Story - https://www.slavestosoldiers.org/home/frequently-asked-questions -- thanks for stopping by my blog!
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