Oliver H. Powell (1840–1863) is best known as the older brother of Lewis Thornton Powell.¹ His surviving records allow a somewhat fuller portrait.
Powell enlisted in 1861 and served as a private in Company C, 4th Florida Infantry.² During a period of illness and absence in Florida the following year, he married Hanna Marie Lucetta Campbell on September 17, 1862. The ceremony was performed by Oliver’s father, Rev. George Cader Powell.³
Soon afterward, Powell returned to military service. By January 1863 he was again with the 4th Florida near Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
No account survives of Powell’s personal experience at Stones River. His Compiled Military Service Record can, however, be read alongside the reports of his regimental and brigade commanders to establish the action in which his company and regiment were involved.
On the afternoon of January 2, 1863, Breckinridge’s division was ordered forward in an assault intended to drive Federal forces back across Stones River. Brigadier General William Preston commanded the brigade that included the 4th Florida Infantry, Colonel W. L. L. Bowen commanded the regiment, and Powell’s Company C was under First Lieutenant J. B. Parramore.⁴
The 4th Florida advanced in the second Confederate line. After the troops ahead of it withdrew through its position, the regiment engaged the Federal forces and remained in place for a time while the Confederate line around it began to break down. During the withdrawal, the 4th Florida rallied around Wright’s Tennessee Battery in an effort to help save the guns. Bowen placed the regiment’s greatest losses in this stage of the fighting.⁴
The casualty return for January 2 records 28 men killed, 79 wounded, and 30 missing from the 4th Florida, an aggregate loss of 137.⁵
Oliver Powell was among the missing. His Company C muster roll carried him as missing from January 2. At that point, the Confederate record effectively loses him as an individual soldier.
Federal records pick up the trail. Powell was captured at Stones River and entered Federal custody as a prisoner of war. He died at Murfreesboro on January 6, 1863, four days after the fighting, from a gunshot wound. One of the Federal records also refers to a Department of the Cumberland hospital roll, but the surviving material does not identify the specific place where he was treated.⁶
His CMSR contains a few complications. A casualty card associates Powell with the January 2 action and describes a slight wound to the leg. On that same card, however, the typed unit designation places him in Company E, 3rd Florida Regiment, while the rest of his service record consistently identifies him with Company C, 4th Florida Infantry.⁷
Beyond that, the trail stops. The surviving records do not tell us where on the battlefield Powell was wounded, at what point he became a prisoner, where precisely he was treated, or where he was buried.
During field research at Stones River in September 2026, I followed portions of the 4th Florida’s movements with a battlefield guide. Much of the battlefield has been lost to later development, but the river itself remains one of the most tangible features in a landscape described repeatedly in the contemporary reports.
Stones River, September 2026. Photo taken by me during the visit.
There is one final connection worth noting. Nearly twenty years after Oliver’s death, his widow Hanna M. L. Powell married William L. Carruth (1839–1915) on December 28, 1882, in Hillsborough County, Florida. The marriage record identifies her by the Powell name she had retained from her first marriage.⁸ Carruth had also served as a private in Company C of the 4th Florida, the same company in which Oliver had served.⁹
Notes
- Powell family Bible, reproduced in Betty J. Ownsbey, Alias “Paine”: Lewis Thornton Powell, the Mystery Man of the Lincoln Conspiracy, 2nd ed. (McFarland, 2015), 127.
- Compiled Military Service Record of Oliver H. Powell, private, Company C, 4th Florida Infantry, Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Florida, War Department Collection of Confederate Records, Record Group 109, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, DC.
- Florida, County Court (Madison County), marriage license and return for Oliver H. Powell and Hannah M. L. Campbell, license issued September 15, 1862, marriage solemnized September 17, 1862, image 212 of 1149, Image Group No. 007246400, digital image, “Madison, Florida, United States records,” FamilySearch, accessed September 23, 2026, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/...view=index. The marriage return bears the signature of G. C. Powell, M.G.
- William Preston, report, January 12, 1863, in U.S. War Department, The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, ser. I, vol. 20, pt. 1 (Government Printing Office, 1887), 812–13; W. L. L. Bowen, report, February 12, 1863, 816–17.
- U.S. War Department, “Return of Casualties in the Confederate Forces—Continued,” The War of the Rebellion, ser. I, vol. 20, pt. 1, 779.
- Powell CMSR, RG 109, NARA. The file includes the Company C muster-roll material, Federal prisoner-of-war records, a Federal record of his death at Murfreesboro, and the reference to the Department of the Cumberland hospital roll.
- Powell CMSR, casualty card, RG 109, NARA.
- Florida, County Court (Hillsborough County), marriage license and return for William L. Carruth and Hanna M. L. Powell, license issued December 23, 1882, marriage solemnized December 28, 1882, image 764 of 883, Image Group No. 007621823, digital image, “Tampa, Hillsborough, Florida, United States records,” FamilySearch, accessed September 23, 2026, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/...w=fullText.
- William L. Carruth grave marker, Sylvan Abbey Memorial Park, Clearwater, Pinellas County, Florida, photograph added by Christa Cadman, February 26, 2020, Find a Grave, Memorial ID 17123618.
Bibliography
Carruth, William L. Grave marker. Sylvan Abbey Memorial Park, Clearwater, Pinellas County, Florida. Photograph added by Christa Cadman, February 26, 2020. Find a Grave, Memorial ID 17123618.
Florida. County Court (Hillsborough County). Marriage license and return for William L. Carruth and Hanna M. L. Powell, December 1882. Digital image. “Tampa, Hillsborough, Florida, United States records.” FamilySearch. Image 764 of 883, Image Group No. 007621823. Accessed September 23, 2026.
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/...w=fullText.
Florida. County Court (Madison County). Marriage license and return for Oliver H. Powell and Hannah M. L. Campbell, September 1862. Digital image. “Madison, Florida, United States records.” FamilySearch. Image 212 of 1149, Image Group No. 007246400. Accessed September 23, 2026.
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/...view=index.
National Archives and Records Administration. Compiled Military Service Record of Oliver H. Powell, Private, Company C, 4th Florida Infantry.
Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Florida. War Department Collection of Confederate Records, Record Group 109. Washington, DC.
Ownsbey, Betty J.
Alias “Paine”: Lewis Thornton Powell, the Mystery Man of the Lincoln Conspiracy. 2nd ed. McFarland, 2015.
U.S. War Department.
The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Series I, vol. 20, pt. 1. Government Printing Office, 1887.
Oliver H Powell at Stones River
