James Avery Whitehead

by: Billy Whitehead

Co D, 35th Mississippi Infantry

CSA

September 12, 2009

An Introduction to the Family of Joshua Alexander Whitehead

As a young man Joshua Alexander Whitehead is said to have headed to Texas.
Likely he was headed to family there in East Texas. He had no horse as all
horses and mules were needed on the farm so he headed out by foot.

Perhaps he crossed the Tombigbee river around Possum town later to become
Columbus. Or maybe he crossed at the better known crossing of Memphis.
Ferry's were plentiful and the river was wider than a young may might risk.


His westward trek would carry him more or less toward the town of Macon on
the Noxubee River. The westward road followed the hills and hollows into
Winston County. The hills were rather easy travel and a meal could be had
for a little work such as chopping wood for a cooking fire. Or perhaps
chopping a garden and maybe feeding the cattle at milk time.


When he reached Winston County rain had swollen the creeks so travel was
difficult. Josh decided to settle in until the travel was better. He found
work there in the Ellison Ridge community with the Henry Avery family. It is
debatable who caught the eye of the other but very soon Joshua Whitehead and
Sarah Avery were thinking of getting hitched. They were married about 1824.
Soon after, they settled in the Coopwood Community where Joshua established
a family. Joshua is listed on all the census rolls from 1830 and had a hand
in building the first courthouse for Winston County carving his signature in
one of one of the seals as Josh Whitehead.


Joshua and Sarah had 8 children. After she died he married Mary Kemp and
they had three more. Charlie Weaver is the last child of Joshua Whitehead
and Mary Kemp Whitehead.

When his second child Mary Ellen died, March 08, 1867 he established the
Whitehead Cemetery because the frozen roads made travel to Ellson Ridge a
dangerous travel. Joshua selected the highest area on his property to bury
his daughter. It is here that most of the immediate family of Joshua
Alexander Whitehead rest.

James Avery Whitehead

Fourth child of 11 of Joshua Alexander Whitehead and Sarah Avery Whitehead..
James was the fourth child after Nancy Ann, Mary Elizabeth and Gracy, James
being the first son to Joshua and Sarah born 1842. He was followed by Samuel
Rip, Sarah Rufine, Lucinda Catherine, Eta Linda. He then married Sarah Duran
with no children. He then married Mary Kemp. There were then the children,
Harriet Docia, Crombie W. and Charlie Weaver

Military

James A. Whitehead was enlisted to the Winston Rifles, 5th Regiment
Mississippi Volunteers on August29, 1861 under Captain James A. Comfort but
later enlisted to the 36th Mississippi May 15, 1862 by William S. Berry for
a period of three years. They were transported on the M&O Railroad to West
Point after stopping in Macon for the Noxubee Rifles.

At West Point they went through a type of orientation then orders were
dispensed and the 35th was sent to Tupelo Mississippi. At Tupelo they were
ordered to the defense of Corinth. The 35th was active at Baldwyn, Iuka,
Pocahontas, and Tennessee then back to Corinth where they were engaged in a
three day fight sustaining heavy looses.

The 35th was under General J. C. Moore at Corinth. Losses were 32 killed 110
wounded and 347 missing. The 35th, Co. D then retreated to Holly Springs
where they reorganized and were ordered to Vicksburg.

It seems that between Holly Springs and Granada they were in a skirmish at
Water Valley. This would have been between October and December 1962. It was
at Coffeeville that James Whitehead was captured as a prisoner of war.

Muster roll for November - December 1962 show James Whitehead AOL.

Muster roll for January-February 1863 show him AOL, last paid September 1 by
W.E. Gibbs

He is then found at the Provost at Holly Springs where he is designated to
Alton Illinois Federal Prison.

POW card show that he was received at Alton Ill June 10 1862. He is shown
captured March 15, 1862 at Coffeeville, Mississippi.

Muster roll, March - June 30 1863 with the reporting note Died Mar 15, 1863

The next record shows, Captured December 5, 1862 and died March 16, 1863

Alton Isle Confederate Prison

Alton Prison was opened in 1833 as the first penitentiary with 24 cells. It
quickly grew to 296 cells. By 1855 the 296 cells held 332 inmates and was
credited with deplorable conditions. It was infamous as a disease ridden
pest-house. In 1859 a new prison was opened in Juliet and by 1860 Alton was
closed.

In 1862 the St Louis Federal prison was overcrowded so Alton was opened as a
federal prison. Some of the prisoners from St. Louis were moved to Alton but
Confederate POW, insurgents, Southern Sympathizers and those considered to
be assisting the Rebel Cause were held there. Very soon the prison was
suffering with overcrowding and unsanitary conditions. Soon the prison was
holding 1,200 with disease and dysentery, measles and pneumonia being
rampant. It was observed by some that St. Louis wasn't determined as
overcrowded until Small Pox broke out there.

Small Pox quickly spread in spite of efforts to immunize the population.
They soon made a quarantine effort by moving small pox victims to Sunflower
Island near the Missouri shore in the Mississippi River in 1863. Sunflower
Island was soon to be called Small Pox Island. During it's operating period
280 died and were buried on what had come to be called Smallpox Island.

All totaled there were 1,354 Confederate Soldiers, 250 Union Soldiers and
215 civilians who died at Alton Federal Prison. Among these was one woman.

In the early 1900s the Sam Davis Chapter of the Daughters of the American
Revolution petitioned the federal government to construct a monument. In
1909 the government erected a 40-foot stone obelisk with bronze plaques
honoring the dead. A year the same DAR added an ornamental gate with pillars
at the edge of the monument.

My first contact with Alton Isle Prison yielded false information that the
confederate graves and been relocated for a flood control program then
re-located again.
Lately I was contacted with more believable information that the Small Pox
Cemetery was indeed destroyed by the building of a dam. However the North
Alton Cemetery is still well kept today.

The final resting place for James Avery Whitehead is at Alton Illinois but a
memorial marker now stands at the Whitehead Cemetery in Winston County