Wallace E. H. Powleson
Residence East Saginaw MI; 18 years old.
Enlisted on 8/4/1862 at East Saginaw, MI as a Musician [Drummer]
On 9/11/1862 he mustered into "B" Co. MI 23rd Infantry
He was Mustered Out on 6/28/1865 at Salisbury, NC
He was listed as:
* POW 12/11/1863 Buffalo Creek, TN (Escaped, Augusta GA)
* Returned 5/16/1865 Regiment
(Middle initials: E. H.)
After the War he lived in Mayville, MI
Sources used by Historical Data Systems, Inc.:
- Record of Service of Michigan Volunteers 1861-65
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Wallace C. H. Powelson, Company B, 23rd Mischigan Infantry, filed for Invalid Class Pension March 21, 1888, Application No. 646,508, Certificate No. 430,851, his widow filed Jun/Jan?, 1929, Application No. 1,159,887, Certificate No, 817,991
He died Jan/Jun? 5,1920, Los Angeles, California
T289: Organization Index to Pension Files of Veterans Who Served Between 1861 and 1900.
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Wallace Powelson - Andersonville Prison File
POW► Introduction - Jun 1, 2015 - This U.S. Civil War Union POW record for Private Powelson, first name Wallace is just one of 35,055 found in our historical archive of prisoners of war who were held captive by the Confederacy at Andersonville prison camp.
Name
Wallace Powelson
Alt Name
Unknown
Side
Union
State
Michigan
Rank
Private
Unit
23 Michigan
Regiment
23
Company
B
Capture Date
Unknown
Capture Site
Unknown
Status
Held at Andersonville and survived
Remarks
TURNED OVER COL O'NEIL: JAN 23, 1865. (SEE CODE 4835 IN CONFEDERATE DATA BASE)
http://www.andersonvillepowcamp.com/index.php?page=directory&rec=22752
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10th Tennessee
In October 1864 John G. O'Neill, colonel of the 10th Tennessee Regiment (Irish Volunteers), was authorized to recruit Union prisoners at Andersonville and Millen, Georgia, to replenish the depleted ranks of the regiment. O'Neill, recovering from wounds received at the Battle of Resaca, appears to have delegated part of the task to a former officer of his company, Michael Burke. In October and November 1864 O'Neill and Burke enlisted more than 250 soldiers of a number of Union regiments. Efforts were made at first to recruit Irish immigrants in compliance with Seddon's original instructions, but when few complied, native-born Union soldiers were enlisted. The recruits were required to take an oath of allegiance to the Confederacy, and were not issued arms or ammunition until the night before their first engagement.
Held under strict camp guard, they were sent to Mobile, Alabama while the remainder of the 10th Tennessee advanced to the Battle of Franklin. Organized as Burke's Battalion, 10th Tennessee, they were made part of an ad hoc defense force assembled by Col. William W. Wier and sent by train towards Tupelo, Mississippi, to repel a raid along the Mobile and Ohio Railroad by two brigades of Union cavalry under the command of Brig. Gen. Benjamin Grierson. The Union cavalry force had already captured a substantial number of Brig. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest's dismounted cavalry encamped at Verona on Christmas Day. Burke's Battalion and the 17th Arkansas were sent with a battery of artillery aboard the first train to block the tracks at Egypt Station, a mile west of Aberdeen, Mississippi.
On the evening of December 27, 1864, six members of Burke's Battalion deserted and made their way into the Union lines, where they reported the presence of the former prisoners and the likelihood that they would not resist any Union attack. The next morning Grierson's 1st Brigade advanced and came under fire from Confederate skirmishers. The 2nd New Jersey Cavalry responded with a charge in which it lost 74 casualties and 80 horses, but captured more than 500 prisoners, among whom were 253 former Union soldiers from Burke's Battalion of the 10th Tennessee.
Grierson's prisoners were shipped by steamer to the Union prison camp at Alton, Illinois, where the claims of the "galvanized Yankees" that they desired restoration to their original units were investigated. Major General Dodge recommended on March 5, 1865 that all the former Union soldiers as well as a number of Confederate troops be enlisted in the U.S. Volunteers for service in the West. The recommendation for clemency was resisted by the Judge Advocate General's Office in Washington, D.C., which advocated that the former Union soldiers be tried for desertion, citing disputed testimony over the degree of their participation in the battle at Egypt Station. Dodge's recommendation was accepted, however, and the prisoners were permitted to enlist in the 5th and 6th U.S. Volunteers.
O'Neill returned to Andersonville and recruited 150 more prisoners for the 10th Tennessee in January 1865, and approximately 165 more in March.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galvanized_Yankees
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See also:
The Galvanized Yankees, Dee Brown, U. of Nebraska Press, 1963, p. 215
Official Records, Ser. II, Vol. 8, pp. 124-26