I knew that my 3x great-grandparents' names were Sarah Ann Pitner and James M. Carroll based on, well... long story, but I was about as certain as you can get in genealogy. I had found marriage records, death certificates, census records, etc. proving it. And I found that Sarah had remarried in 1868 to William McAllister and moved to Greene County, Missouri with him and the 2 kids she had with James. But I couldn't prove what happened to James. Of course, death was more likely than divorce, but when? where? how?
I found out Sarah's dad, James Pitner, was in the Civil War. So I was checking out his documents on Fold3 when I noticed this little gem...
Of course, I was excited but wanted to thoroughly check it out before jumping for joy. I went to look through the rolls for Company D of the 52nd Georgia Infantry of the Confederate States of America, and... bam! Found him!
There are several pages for him on Fold3. And my main problem for finding information on him (and knowing it's him) is that there were a few different James M. Carroll's running around Georgia at that time. I'll post the three pages from his file that clinched it that I found my 3x great-grandfather.
So now that I knew I had the right guy... what happened to him?
He died 6th of June 1862 in Big Creek Gap, Tennessee of fever.
Why was he in Big Creek Gap?
Big Creek Gap is one of the few natural openings through the Cumberland Mountains in the region. During the Civil War, this corridor was much narrower and steeper, and even lightly loaded wagons found travel extremely hazardous. Cumberland Gap, one the main migration route from the eastern states to the west and a strategic gateway during the Civil War, is about thirty miles northeast of here.
Early in the conflict, Confederate military engineers ringed Cumberland Gap with defensive works and considered the pass impregnable from the north and east. East Tennessee citizens who supported the Union alerted Federal commanders to the possibility of flanking the fortifications via Big Creep Gap. After a rigorous march, a detachment of Union soldiers, including a company of Campbell County men under Capt. Joseph A. Cooper, first penetrated the narrow passage here in March 1862 and routed the Confederate cavalry posted nearby. A more substantial offensive effort under U.S. Gen. George W. Morgan occurred in June, producing a bloodless Confederate withdrawal from Cumberland Gap. Subsequently, control of the Gap changed hands several times.
Found @ Historic Markers across Tennessee
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