My step-sister is a descendant of a James Floyd Faircloth, 1st Sergeant in Company G of the 57th Alabama Infantry (CS). I've recently gotten her a copy of her ancestor's service record. The nine (9) page file shows that he enlisted in the spring of 1863 and spent his first year in Mobile and Pollard, AL. His unit was transferred to North Georgia where it participated fully in the Atlanta Campaign and was mauled in the battle of Peachtree Creek. It moved north for the Franklin and Nashville Campaign where Faircloth was captured Dec. 16th, 1864. He was shipped off to Camp Chase, OH where he died in February of 1865. There is nothing very unusual about this man's service, but I was touched by the fact that he left four young children behind and a wife who never remarried. Please note the information in bold below. This is why we must never disrespect the memory of these men North or South. Their willingness to give their all for right, as they could see it, is worth honoring.

Jim

The Family
of
James Floyd Faircloth

This family of Faircloth migrated over several years from North Carolina, probably Sampson county. After the death and burial of its patriarch John Faircloth, Sr. about 1823 in Sumter County, South Carolina, his sons and their families moved on into Henry County, in southeast Alabama.

By 1830, Rayford Faircloth and his young family had moved northward into the newly formed Pike County. James Floyd Faircloth was born about 1829, either in Henry County before the move or in Pike County, the youngest son in the family of five children. In December 1832, this portion of Pike County was split off into the newly created Barbour County and, although they did not move, the 1840 census shows them in Barbour County.

By 1850, they had purchased land in Coffee County and moved there. Probably in late 1850 or 1851, James Floyd Faircloth married Temperance "Tempy" Lee, daughter of Timothy Lee and Elizabeth Murray Lee.

Tempy was born in the Williamsburg District of South Carolina and her family had moved to Georgia and later to Louisiana. The 1850 census shows Tempy in Union Parish, Louisiana with her mother and unmarried siblings. Later in 1850, she and her younger brother Joshua "Dock" Lee returned from living with her family in Louisiana to Coffee County, Alabama. Their youngest brother, John Lee, and sister, Nancy (Lee) Law were living in Coffee County at the time. The 1850 census for Coffee County shows Nancy and Isaiah Thomas Law living as neighbors to Rayford Faircloth, Jr., brother of James Floyd Faircloth. Perhaps Nancy told her sister about the eligible young James Floyd Faircloth, who was still living in the area with his parents. Tempy was a few years older than Floyd and was about 25 when they married. If they had not known each other before 1850, it must have been a whirlwind courtship.

In four deeds between December 1853 and December 1855, James Floyd acquired 280 acres in Coffee County for their homestead and farm. Their four children were born between December 1853 and about 1861 in Coffee County. They enjoyed the fruits of their labors on their family farm until the Civil War was into its second year. Then things began to go badly for the South, and the Confederacy began taking older family men into its armed forces.

James Floyd was mustered into the 57th Alabama Infantry from Coffee County, Alabama on the 10th of February, 1863 under command of Capt. Jesse O'Neal of Company G. His brother, Rayford Faircloth, Jr. was also taken and died in the war. Floyd was about 34 years of age, his baby daughter was about 2 years old, and the oldest son about 10 at the time. From that time on, Tempy was the head of the family. James Floyd never returned from the war.

On July 25, 1863, James Floyd was appointed from the ranks to 1st Sergeant of Company G, 57th Regiment. He served in that capacity until he was captured near Nashville by Union forces on December 16, 1864. He was transported to Louisville, Kentucky, thence to Camp Chase, Ohio, where he died of pneumonia on Feb. 14, 1865. James Floyd Faircloth is buried at Columbus, Ohio in the West Gate Park Confederate Cemetery, in grave no. 1234.

Sometime in 1872, after enduring the post-war era in Coffee County, Tempy moved her family to Jasper County, Texas, where her older brothers had gone from Louisiana in the early 1850's. The family set up their new home on 160 acres she bought from W. W. Monk in the L. N. Morris survey on December 3, 1872. She sold the Alabama land through an agent, her brother-in-law Isaiah T. Law, on February 3, 1873.

James Floyd's record shows that he was never paid during his service to the Confederacy. His widow, Tempy, died before pensions began for Confederate widows in Texas in 1899 and is buried at Magnolia Springs in Jasper county. Thus, no compensation was ever received for the faithful service and sacrifice of this family for the Confederacy.

No record that they ever owned slaves has been found.

One of their sons, Joshua Rayford Erastus Faircloth, married Susan Ida Parker in Tyler county, Texas in 1886. After living in Tyler and Jasper counties, they bought their final homestead in 1900 in Angelina county at Central, north of Lufkin, which they called home until their deaths. Both are buried in Gann Cemetery at Central. Some of their descendants still live in Angelina county, Texas and part of their land remains in the family today. This part of Texas looks very much like southeast Alabama.

Submitted by: Rayford A. Faircloth,

great grandson of James Floyd Faircloth

Page Created by Phyllis J. K. Owen on August 9th, 1999

for Mr. Rayford A. Faircloth

in Memory of the James Floyd Faircloth Family

in Recognition and Respect for the Ultimate Sacrifice

Paid by Mr. James Floyd Faircloth in Civil War