Sergeant Walter J. COLEMAN - Inscription on tombstone #1759 reads “GEO. T. COLEMAN CO. B 17 ALA. He was taken prisoner during the Atlanta Campaign. (May 7 – September 2, 1864) REG. C.S.A.”
Sergeant Walter J. Coleman’s approximate age of death at Camp Chase was 27 years old.
Although this is not the first time a soldier at Camp Chase took another soldiers identity and tried to make his road to freedom this may be the first time a soldier got away undetected that the compiler has run across at Camp Chase. The other soldiers who tried were caught.
Sometimes the biographies at Camp Chase take on a story of their own as with this one. If George Thomas Coleman’s story is to be believed then prison records should verify his story and they did. Because of the complexity the compiler will list both of the soldier’s census records and information. The two soldiers were Sergeant Walter J. Coleman of Company K of the 17th Alabama Infantry and Private George T. Coleman of Company B of the 17th Alabama Infantry.
The 1850 United States census listed George Coleman, born about 1843 in Alabama and living in the household of Richard Coleman, born about 1803 in Mississippi and his wife Rachael Coleman, born about 1805 in Alabama. Other family household members were: Jesse Coleman, born about 1832 in Alabama (The compiler notes Jesse Coleman also enlisted in Company B of the 17th Alabama Infantry and was taken prisoner at the Battle of Nashville, Tennessee however after taken to Louisville, Kentucky he was transferred to Camp Douglas, Illinois and released on June 18, 1865 and it was noted he was from Butler County, Alabama) and Caroline Coleman, born about 1834 in Alabama and Charles Coleman, born about 1836 in Alabama (The compiler notes Charles Coleman also was a member of Company B of the 17th Alabama Infantry and survived the war) and Melissa Coleman, born about 1837 in Alabama and (Spelled as) Almeda (A female) Coleman, born about 1840 in Alabama and Julia Coleman, born about 1842 in Alabama and Richard Coleman, born about 1845 in Alabama and Sarah Coleman, born about 1847 in Alabama and Phillips Coleman, born about 1850 in Alabama and noted as six months old. The family household was living in Beat number 7 in Butler County, Alabama and the census was enumerated on November 22, 1850.
The compiler notes the head of the household in the 1850 United States census, Richard Coleman died in 1853 and that no census records could be located for George T. Coleman in the 1860 United States census.
Company B of the 17th Alabama Infantry had many soldiers from Butler County, Alabama.
Compiled Military Service Records reported the following for George T. Coleman.
Company muster rolls dated for July and August 1862 stated Private G. T. Coleman Company B 17th Regiment Alabama Infantry enlisted on September 14, 1861 at Montgomery, Alabama for the duration of the war and was last paid on February 28, 1862 and was noted as present for duty.
Company muster rolls dated for September and October 1862 stated Private George T. Coleman Company B 17th Regiment Alabama Infantry enlisted on September 14, 1861 at Montgomery, Alabama for the duration of the war and was last paid on August 31, 1862 and was noted as present for duty.
Company muster rolls dated for November and December 1862 stated Private G. T. Coleman Company B 17th Regiment Alabama Infantry enlisted on September 14, 1861 at Montgomery, Alabama for the duration of the war and was last paid on October 31, 1862 and was noted as present for duty.
When Private George T. Coleman of Company B of the 17th Alabama Infantry was taken prisoner at the Battle of Nashville, Tennessee on December 16, 1864 he had been in Cantey’s Brigade in Walthall’s Division in Stewart’s Corps with John Bell Hood as Commanding General of the Army of Tennessee.
Federal POW Records reported the following for Private George T. Coleman.
Federal POW Records stated Private Geo. T. Coleman Company B 17th Alabama Infantry was captured at the Battle of Nashville, Tennessee on December 16, 1864.
Federal POW Records stated Private Geo. T. Coleman Company B 17th Alabama Infantry was captured at the Battle of Nashville, Tennessee on December 16, 1864 was received at the prison at Louisville, Kentucky on January 2, 1865 and was scheduled to be sent to Camp Douglas, Illinois.
Federal POW Records stated Private Geo. T. Coleman Company B 17th Alabama Infantry was captured at the Battle of Nashville, Tennessee on December 16, 1864 was received at the prison at Louisville, Kentucky on January 2, 1865 and discharged on the same day and although scheduled for Camp Douglas, Illinois instead was sent to Camp Chase, Ohio.
Federal POW Records stated Private Geo. T. Coleman Company B 17th Alabama Infantry was captured at the Battle of Nashville, Tennessee on December 16, 1864 was received at Camp Chase on January 4, 1865 from Louisville, Kentucky.
The compiler notes it was usually a two day journey from the Louisville Prison to Camp Chase, Ohio.
Federal POW Records stated Private G. T. Coleman Company B 17th Alabama Infantry died at Camp Chase on March 26, 1865 due to pneumonia and buried in grave number 1759.
The compiler will now note Walter J. Coleman.
The 1850 United States census listed Walter Coleman, born about 1837 in Alabama and living in the household of Hannah Coleman, born about 1815 in North Carolina. Other family household members were: Manning (A female) and corrected by an ancestry transcriber to Mourning Coleman, born about 1839 in Alabama and Philander (A male) Coleman, born about 1843 in Alabama and (Spelled as) Benjamine (A male) Coleman, born about 1839 in Alabama (The compiler notes Benjamin A. Coleman was also in Company K of the 17th Alabama Infantry [Spelled as Colman on his Compiled Military Service Records] and taken prisoner at the Battle of Nashville, Tennessee on December 16, 1864 and taken to Camp Douglas, Illinois from Louisville, Kentucky and sent for parole and exchange from Camp Douglas on February 20, 1865 and did survive the war) and Louisa Coleman, born about 1835 in Alabama. The family household was living in Beat 1 in Butler County, Alabama and the census was enumerated on September 19, 1850.
The compiler notes according to information from the Daughters of the American Revolution; Daniel W. Coleman was married Hannah Pickett in 1834 and that Daniel W. Coleman died in 1847. Also stated Hannah years of life were 1816-1880.
The compiler notes just as George T. Coleman, Walter J. Coleman cannot be located on the 1860 United States census.
Company K of the 17th Alabama Infantry was known as the “Butler True Blues” and many soldiers came from Butler County, Alabama.
The inference for this being the correct soldier is that he enlisted at age 24 in 1861 thus confirming his 1850 United States census records as being born in 1843.
Compiled Military Service Records reported the following for Walter J. Coleman:
Company muster-in roll dated September 9, 1861 stated Private W. J. Coleman of Company K 17th Alabama Infantry enlisted at Montgomery, Alabama for the duration of the war at age 24.
Company muster roll dated for July and August 1862 stated Private Walter J. Coleman of Company K of the 17th Alabama Infantry and noted he was absent and sick in interior hospital and appointed 5th sergeant on July 27, 1862 by order of Lieutenant Colonel Halcomb and relieved from duty as sergeant on August 28, 1862.
The compiler notes a Confederate company needed its sergeants and being sick left a vacancy which had to be filled and that was the reason he was relieved in the compilers opinion.
Company muster rolls dated for September and October 1862 stated 4th Sergeant Walter J. Coleman of Company K of the 17th Alabama Infantry had enlisted on September 9, 1861 in Montgomery, Alabama for the duration of the war and last paid on August 31, 1862 and under remarks it was noted he was present and appointed from the ranks a 4th sergeant on September 4, 1862.
The compiler notes a 4th sergeant had more authority than a 5th sergeant.
Company muster rolls dated for November and Decemeber1862 stated 4th Sergeant Walter J. Coleman of Company K of the 17th Alabama Infantry had enlisted on September 9, 1861 in Montgomery, Alabama for the duration of the war and last paid on October 31, 1862 and was present for duty.
Company muster rolls dated for May and June 1863 stated 3th Sergeant Walter J. Coleman of Company K of the 17th Alabama Infantry had enlisted on September 9, 1861 in Montgomery, Alabama for the duration of the war and was last paid on February 28, 1863 and was present for duty.
Federal POW Records reported the following for Sergeant Walter J. Coleman.
Federal POW Records stated Sergeant W. J. Coleman of Company K of the 17th Alabama Infantry was taken prisoner by the 15th United States Army Corps on July 28, 1864 near Atlanta, Georgia and forwarded on July 31, 1864 to the Provost Marshall.
The compiler notes on July 28, 1864 the Battle of Ezra Church took place in which the 17th Alabama Infantry lost approximately 180 killed and wounded.
Federal POW Records stated Sergeant Walter J. Coleman of Company K of the 17th Alabama Infantry name appeared on a roll of prisoners of war at Nashville, Tennessee, captured by forces under Major General Sherman dated August 8, 1864 and noted his capture date of July 28, 1864 near Atlanta.
Federal POW Records stated Sergeant Walter Coleman of Company K of the 17th Alabama Infantry was forwarded to the Federal Prison at Louisville, Kentucky and arrived there on August 9, 1864 from Nashville, Tennessee and noted he was taken prisoner on July 28, 1864 near Atlanta, Georgia.
Federal POW Records stated Sergeant Walter Coleman of Company K of the 17th Alabama Infantry was discharged from Louisville, Kentucky on August 10, 1864 and forwarded to Camp Chase, Ohio and mentioned his capture date as July 28, 1864 near Atlanta, Georgia.
Federal POW Records stated Sergeant Walter Coleman of Company K of the 17th Alabama Infantry arrived at Camp Chase Prison on August 11, 1864 from Louisville, Kentucky and mentioned he was taken prisoner on July 28, 1864 near Atlanta, Georgia and further noted he was transferred to City Point, Virginia on March 4, 1865.
Federal POW Records stated Sergeant Walter J. Coleman of Company K of the 17th Alabama Infantry name appeared on a roll of prisoners of war paroled at Camp Chase, Ohio and transferred to City Point, Virginia on March 4, 1865 for exchange. Roll dated Headquarters Camp Chase, Ohio March 4, 1865 and noted he was captured on July 28, 1864 near Atlanta, Georgia.
The compiler will now return to George T. Coleman who was reported as died at Camp Chase on March 26, 1865 and buried in grave number 1579 at the Camp Chase Cemetery. However in 1931 George T. Coleman of Company B of the 17th Alabama filed for a Confederate pension.
Find A Grave Memorial number 77263092 is of George Thomas Coleman of the 17th Alabama who died in January 1932 in Texas.
The War Department had this to say about George T. Coleman:
“The Adjutant General’s Office August 21, 1931. Honorable John McDuffie, Representative in Congress, Grove Hill, Alabama.
My Dear Mr. McDuffie:
I have your letter of August 17, 1931, in which you request to be furnished the record of George T. Coleman, who is said to have served in Company B 17th Alabama Volunteers, Murphy’s Brigade Canty’s Division, Army of Tennessee.
The records show that George T. Coleman enlisted September 14, 1861 at Montgomery, as a private in Company B 17th Alabama Infantry, Confederate States Army. The company muster roll for November and December, 1862, the last roll on file, shows him present.
The Union Prisoner of War records show that he was captured December 18, 1864, at Nashville; was received at Louisville, Kentucky, December 22, 1864, and was transferred to Camp Chase, Ohio January 2, 1865, where he died of pneumonia, March 16, 1865. The above-named organization served in Cantey’s Divison.”
George T. Coleman applied for a Confederate pension in Texas and this is what he stated:
“The State of Texas, County of Bandera. Before me the undersigned authority in and for Bandera County, Texas, on this day personally appeared George T. Coleman, who being by me first duly sworn upon his oath deposes and says; “”That my name is George T. Coleman, that I am 88 years, and eight months of age. That I am the same George T. Coleman that enlisted in the Confederate Army on September 14th 1861 at Montgomery, Alabama and that I was in Prison at Camp Chase Ohio, in 1865. I was given a bunk adjoining the bunk of another man name Coleman who belonged to a different Company from mine. This Coleman was desperately ill of pneumonia. It happened that this Coleman was one of the men, who was to be exchanged and a date that I do not know exactly I suppose it is on the prison’s record but sometime between the 2nd day of January 1865 and the 16th day of March 1865. This sick Coleman told me that if he tried to go out of prison it would mean certain death to him and asked me to change places with him and go out in his place and let him stay and take my place. I did this and when the sick man’s name was called I walked out. The guard did not challenge me, not one noticed that I was not the right man, although they had threatened to shoot anyone who tried to pass out of turn. I was carried to Richmond, Virginia with other prisoners and there exchanged. I stayed there several days and was paid in Confederate money, of course then given a furlough and went home to Greenville, Alabama, where later on, I took the Oath of Allegiance to the United States.”” Subscribed and sworn to before me this 28th day of October, 1931 by George T. Coleman, of Bandera Texas, Signed Granville Wright County Judge Bandera County, Texas”
The compiler notes for this story to be accurate than another soldier named Coleman had to also occupy the same mess and barracks at Camp Chase as George T. Coleman had sworn to in his affidavit.
According to Federal POW Records located at ancestry (23491) both W. J. Coleman and G. T. Coleman were in Barracks number 15 at the Camp Chase prison number three.
If the story is true then Walter J. Coleman born about 1837 should not be on post war census records and the compiler did not find any.
Confederate pension records did show that George T. Coleman did finally receive a Confederate pension on January 5, 1932 however he died on January 22, 1932 and although he was approved his first payment would not have been made until February 1932 and he received nothing.
Juxtaposition:
On March 26, 1865 at General Grant’s headquarters President Lincoln at 9 a.m. telegraphs Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton: “I approve your Fort-Sumter commemoration program, I am on the boat, and have no later war news than went to you last night”
And on Sunday, March 26, 1865 at far away Camp Chase, Ohio Federal POW records reported the death of Private G. T. Coleman of Company B of the 17th Alabama Infantry but who was really Sergeant Walter J. Coleman of Company K of the 17th Alabama Infantry due to pneumonia.
On January 22, 1932 at Detroit, Michigan future actress Piper Laurie (real name Rosetta Jacobs) was born. Her breakout role was in Louisa, with Ronald Regan whom she dated a few times before his marriage to Nancy Davis, and claimed in her autobiography to have taken her virginity.
And on Friday, January 22, 1932 in Bandera County, Texas George Thomas Coleman a former member of Company B of the 17th Alabama Infantry died.
According to the 1850 and 1860 United State slave schedules neither Walter Coleman nor George T. Coleman owned slaves in Butler County, Alabama.
If the compiler were making the tombstone it would read: “SGT. W. J. COLEMAN CO. K 17 ALA. INF. C.S.A.”