Tidwell revisited

[McCastle]

(11-26-2020 01:05 AM)Steve Wrote:  

(11-25-2020 10:36 AM)McCastle Wrote:  

(11-25-2020 06:06 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  Many thanks to Steve for sending this. Steve writes, "The National Archives actually has a copy of Augustus Howell's discharge from the Confederate Army from July 1862 (which is kind of unusual for an enlisted Confederate soldier)."

Thank you Steve, and to Roger for posting these documents.

They are kind of unusual. These have obviously been altered and duplicated. The last two handwritten lines on the bottom of the page seem to have been added at a later date. Snowden applied for Howell's discharge on July 14, but the last lines on the document show... "Discharge 11th July, 1867", with a type written #7. Also, the name of the Post Commander at the bottom looks like Jn. H Winder. If so, why would the head of Richmond's prisons need to sign off on the discharge of a private in the Maryland Artillery?

Emack, according to Tidwell, was a student of John H. Winder

The bottom reads "Discharged this 11th day of July 1862 at Richmond" with "11th", "July", "2" (of 1862), and "Richmond" handwritten on a preprinted form. The bottom of the form was written out first at Richmond while the top would presumably have been written three days later by his unit commander confirming the discharge.

Steve,
Thank you for the clarification of the dates. Here is what Gen. William Tidwell wrote on the subject of Emack and Winder.

On October 22, 1861, Emack was ordered to a special school near Richmond which operated under the command of General John W. Winder of Maryland. General Winder was the Provost Marshal General and Inspector of Military Prisons. Winder's activity was heavily involved with intelligence work. He employed a number of Marylanders as detectives charged with combatting penetration by Union agents. The prisoners of war were also important intelligence targets. Not only do prisoners know useful information which may be revealed through interrogation, but it is also possible to recruit potential agents from among prisoners of war.

There is no indication of the subjects taught at Winder's school, but in view of George Emack's later assignment at Libby prison, it is probable that his subjects included control and interrogation of prisoners of war.

Looking through the examples, it appears that John H. Winder had a unique signature which stayed relatively the same for many years. His signature is written as Mr H Winder with his rank below his name. Also found on nearly every Winder signature is a break between the letter n and d in the last name.

I could be wrong, but I think Howell's discharge was signed by Brig. Gen. John H. Winder.

https://www.historyforsale.com/brigadier...3/dc265798

https://www.historyforsale.com/brigadier...2/dc283555

https://www.flickr.com/photos/littlejohn...713700935/