James Dalton Jr. (abt. 1819 - aft. 1883)

Born about 1819 in Tazewell, Virginia, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Jane (Workman) Dalton — married about 1846 in Logan, Virginia, United States

Descendants

Died after 9 Oct 1883 after about age 64 in Logan County, West Virginia, USA

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Biography

JAMES DALTON was born about 1819 in or near Burkes Garden, in Tazewell County, Virginia.

By the latter half of the 1830's, the Dalton family, along with the Workmans, Tomblins, Thompsons, and others, all resettled in the vicinity of Harts Creek, in Logan County.

About the year 1846, he married Jane Workman, daughter of Moses and Sarah Marrs-Workman, in Logan County.^[1] Their first child being a boy, they named him Moses to honor Jane’s father. Not long after this, Jane's father, Moses Workman, died intestate. In late 1846, Moses’ heirs, James and Jane Dalton included, sold their interests in his estate and land on Main Harts Creek to Jane's brother, Abijah Workman.^[2]

James had a survey of land made out for him October 26, 1853, being 25 acres on waters of Parker's Creek and the Witcher Camp branch of Hezekiah's Fork of the Left Fork of Twelvepole Creek in Wayne County. This tract, bordering a survey made for one Solomon Mead, was approved by Gov. Joseph Johnson, who issued the grant to James August 1, 1855.^[3]

By the late summer of 1861, word had reached the Guyandotte Valley of the Unionist march. Logan County responded by forming the 129th Regiment Virginia Militia, commanded by Col. John DeJarnett, a carpenter and resident of Aracoma, and captained by Barnett “Barney” Carter. The Regiment consisted primarily of men from the vicinity of Carter’s home of Harts Creek, all of whom, including James Dalton and his brother Martin, enlisted August 27 at the Logan Courthouse in Aracoma. A few days later, on September 1, 1861, the men of DeJarnett’s 129th, including Carter’s Company, reinforced Col. Ezekiel S. Miller’s pro-Confederate 187th, alone a force of some 220 self-armed men, as the alliance skirmished with the Kentucky Unionists near Boone Court House or “Boonetown.” Each side boasted to exaggerate the other’s losses, but the militia withdrew. The victorious Kentuckians set fire to the courthouse and the homes of known secessionists. The path of ashes that would wind through the South and into Pennsylvania had begun.

On September 25, 1861, Col. Piatt’s Zouaves of the 34th Ohio, a force of about 700 men, marched on Confederate positions around Chapmanville. The Logan militia, numbering about 220 men with only an estimated 80 of them involved, under Col. James W. Davis had harassed Piatt in the hours previously. Piatt's Zouaves encountered Davis' militiamen in a low gap between Guyandotte river and Big Creek, where the latter were engaged in raising a temporary breastwork. Unionist casualties, by their own confession, amounted to some 40 killed and a number wounded. Only two of Davis' men were killed, with perhaps three or four wounded. Col. Davis himself fell severely wounded in the arm and breast, after which his men retreated in panicked disarray. Had the militiamen of Logan stood their ground, it was reported by the commanding officer of the Lincoln County troops that several of the Zouaves were retreating too, and that "one more round would have completely dispersed them" as well. Col. Davis, badly, but not mortally, wounded, was then captured and taken prisoner. This engagement subsequently became known as the Battle of Kanawha Gap.

A few months later, January 15, 1862, Logan County’s courthouse felt the torch. This time, Cox had sent the German-born soldiers of the 37th Ohio Volunteer Infantry to squelch Southern irregulars called the Black Stripers. All male inhabitants of the town of Aracoma evacuated and took up positions along the hill beyond to fight the bluecoats. “Sharp skirmishing” occurred, but heavy rains had swollen the Guyandotte, and the Federal commander, Colonel Edward Siber, late of the Prussian army, decided to fall back lest the rising river cut off his force. Before withdrawing in the morning darkness of January 15, he had his men burn the courthouse and several buildings that reportedly had been used as barracks for Rebel cavalry. Of the thousands of documents destroyed in the burning of Logan Courthouse, the marriage record of James and Jane was lost.

No further war service is found for James, but the losses he continued to sustain were heavy. His younger brother, Martin, who is last found rejoining the service of Vincent Witcher's Battalion in 1862, disappears from record. May 7, 1864 his older brother Allen, who had sided with the Union in Kentucky, was lost to disease.

The last significant battles raged around the ten-month Siege of Petersburg, gateway to the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia. The Confederates abandoned Richmond, and on April 9, 1865, Lee surrendered to Grant following the Battle of Appomattox Court House, setting in motion the end of the war.

A wave of Confederate surrenders followed. On April 14, just five days after Lee's surrender, Lincoln was assassinated. As a practical matter, the war ended with the May 26 surrender of the Department of the Trans-Mississippi but the conclusion of the American Civil War lacks a clear and precise historical end date. Confederate ground forces continued surrendering past the May 26 surrender date until June 23. By the end of the war, much of the South's infrastructure was destroyed, especially its railroads. The Confederacy collapsed, slavery was abolished, and four million enslaved black people were freed. The war-torn nation then entered the Reconstruction era in an attempt to rebuild the country, bring the former Confederate states back into the United States, and grant civil rights to freed slaves.

On October 9, 1883, James sold to his sons, Moses and Peter, all four of his tracts of land in Logan County, totaling 131 acres, in exchange for $100. James signed his mark, sealed, and acknowledged the deed to R. N. French, a Notary Public for Logan County. John Chafin, Clerk of the Logan County Court, recorded the deed November 8, 1883.^[4]

He died around 1886, presumably at his home at the mouth of the Henderson Branch of Harts.

Sources

1. ↑ Because the earliest surviving marriage records in Logan County, West Virginia, begin in 1853, the marriage record for James Dalton and Jane Workman is lost.
2. ↑ Logan County, West Virginia Deed Book C, pp. 108.
3. ↑ Wayne County, West Virginia Surveyors books, 1842-1875, pp. 382; Grants No. 111, p. 615.
4. ↑ Logan County, West Virginia Deed Book H, pp. 292-294.

• Census records.