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James Harleston Golden’s
Civil War Pension Records

In the summer of 2003 James H. Golden’s great-grandaughter Rose Golden Schlatter visited the State of Alabama Archives, Montgomery, AL, where she obtained copies of his Alabama Civil War pension records.

James Harleston Golden:

·  Born 8 Sep 1843, Cleburne County, AL

·  Died 17 Feb 1918, Golden Springs, Calhoun County, AL

·  Married Nancy Mariah Harrison, 16 Mar 1865, Oxford, Calhoun County, AL 

§         She was born 18 Jul 1845, Spartanburg, SC; D. 12 April 1923, Oxford, Calhoun County, AL

·  Interred with his wife in Congregational Methodist Church cemetery, Golden Springs, Calhoun County, AL 

In February 1867 the Alabama legislature passed a law “for the relief of maimed” Confederate officers and soldiers.  Over the years, this law was amended to add widows of Confederate soldiers.  In 1899 a new law was passed that incorporated provisions of previous laws.

The records obtained from the Alabama State Archives contain copies of documents signed by James Harleston Golden or his wife.  The earliest documents are dated May 1885 and the last date is November 1920.  Under the Alabama state law, applications for pension were made either to the County Probate Court, or, after 1899, to a special commission set up in each county.  The following paragraphs provide the details from these documents; the bold date is the date of the document.  There is no indication in these documents as to whether or not he received a Civil War pension. 

26 May 1885 

·  J. H. Golden

·  Private, Company A, 8^th Regiment of Confederate Volunteers

·  Wounded April 1863 at Middleton, TN.  Middleton is in west Tennessee, about 35 miles west of Shiloh (Pittsburgh Landing), where a decisive battle had been fought a year earlier, April 1862.

·  He resides in “Precinct 13, Calhoun County” and is a farmer. 

30 July 1887 

Information on this application is similar to that on the May 1885 application.  He adds on this application that he was “shot in the left leg.”

31 July 1891 

Information on this application is similar to that on previous applications.  According to the application, his “taxable property does no exceed four hundred dollars in value, and  his Salary and Gross Income does not amount to four hundred dollars per year.” 

25 May 1892 

Information in this application is similar to that in previous applications.   

24 April 1893 

Information in this application is similar to that in previous applications.   

29 April 1896 

Two new pieces of information appear on this document.

·   He was “shot in the leg and the wound has never healed.”  This is in 1893, he was wounded 30 years earlier, April 1863.

·   He is engaged in “ farming” and lists his taxable property as: “40 acres of land & 1 mule and (illegible – possibly ‘household goods’). . . “ 

22 April 1897 

Taxable property is listed as “40 acres & a mule.”

28 June 1900 

·   Application filed on 28 June 1900, acted upon by reviewers and, on 11 (21 ?) July 1900,  he was assigned to “class 4 under the act of Feb. 10^th, 1899.  Under the Alabama Civil War pension act of February 1899, classes 1, 2, and 3 were for soldiers who had lost one or more limbs, foot, or hand; all other wounds were class 4. 

·   In the application he states he is “unable to make a living by manual labor on account of a gun shot wound.” 

·  Attached to his pension application are statements from two witnesses – J. A. Orr and J. W. Cunningham – who state they know James H. Golden and he did serve and did not desert. 

·   A note on the bottom of one witness statement reads:  “This man has rather bad leg – diseased (illegible) resulting from wound.” 

·   Attached to the application is an inventory of his assets. 

 8 January 1914 

·  Information regarding his enlistment, unit, and wound is similar to previous applications. 

·   In his handwriting is a description of his wound:  “Wounded in the battle of Middleton, Tennessee, about April or May 1863 in left leg and have suffered from the unhealed wound ever since.” 

·  Attached to the application is an inventory of his assets. 

 24 August 1914 

No copy of his application is with this document.  This document indicates he was awarded a pension in “class 2.”  The Alabama Civil War pension law passed in 1899 listed class 2 as being “those who have lost a leg above the knee, or an arm above the elbow . . .”  In previous documents as late as the June 1900 document, he was listed as class 4, all other wounds.  We cannot determine if the change from class 4 to class 2 means that he lost his leg between June 1900 and August 1914, or, if the description of the class of wound was changed in the law. 

2 April 1918 

This application was filed by James H. Golden’s wife, Nancy Mariah Harrison Golden.  He died 17 February 1918 and she is applying for his pension.  She is placed in “class 3.”  In the 1899 law, class 3 is for those who have “lost a foot or hand, or the entire use thereof.”  It is possible that between 1899 – when the law was passed – and 1918 the class definitions were changed; we do not know the meaning of “class 3” at this point. 

19 November 1920

 ·  This is an application by James H. Golden’s widow, Nancy Mariah Harrison.  In this application she lists the following assets: 

 ·   She also states:

§          She is now living with “my daughter Miss Jennie Golden.”

§          She was born 18 July 1845 in Spartanburg, SC; her father was James M. Harrison, who “died in Calhoun County 30 years ago.” 

·   She identifies the unit in which James H. Golden enlisted as the “8^th Confederate Cavalry,” Company A, and the captain was “Captain Miller, of Talladega Ala.” 

·   She states that James H. Golden was “wounded in left leg at Middleton, Tenn, 11^th day of June, 1862 wounded in left arm at Blackland, Miss July 1863.”

§         An Internet search found five battles at Middleton, TN:  5 January 1862; 31 January 1863; 22 May 1863; 24 June 1863; and, 14 January 1864.  None of these correspond to June 1862 when she says he was wounded.

§         An Internet search found a description of a battle at Blackland, MS, on 4 June 1862, in a history of the 8^th Cavalry. http://ehistory.osu.edu/uscw/features/regimental/kjones/8csahist.cfm

·         On June 4th the cavalry, infantry and town pieces of artillery were attacked at a village called Blackland. The pickets were turned in and hardly had the cavalrymen time to "saddle up" when the enemy rushed upon them in strong force. The 8th Confederate in the lead, the charge was ordered. The enemy were repulsed but not without loss to the Confederates. The Southern war-whoop, the weird song known as "rebel yell" to the enemy, rang through the swamp and the foe was put to full flight.

§          In his pension applications, James H. Golden states he was wounded in the leg at Middleton, Tennessee.  He gives various dates for this wound:  April 1863; April or May 1863; and, spring, 1863.  He does not mention being wounded at Blackland, Mississippi.  His wife lists two wounds, he lists only one.  We have no explanation for these discrepancies.   She is making this application in 1920, two years after his death and 55 years after the end of the Civil War.  It is doubtful that he had copies of official records of his service or his wounds, if he ever had any such records.  Discrepancies such as these likely are the result of the passage of time and fading of memory.

 ·   The final line of this document reads:  “Has no real estate – lives with her daughter on 40 acre farm the property of Jennie Golden and B. F. Presley.”

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•   Golden Family introductory page

•   James Harleston Golden and Nancy Mariah Harrison page