James Spruell Calloway (1826 - 1864)

Born 9 Jun 1826 in Conecuh County, Alabama

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 31 Aug 1864 at age 38 in Jonesboro, Clayton, Georgia

Biography

James Spruell Callaway was born in Conecuh County, Alabama. He may have been in the Stockton part of Baldwin County, Alabama for a while, but by the time he was married, he was living in Montrose, Baldwin County, Alabama. It is in Montrose that he and Eliza settled and had their family.

James Spruell Callaway and Eliza Rosetta Nelson were married by Eliza’s Uncle Thomas Nelson, a Baptist Minister.

James was a woodcutter by trade and he had come to Southern Alabama to cut timber. The 1850 census lists James Spruell Callaway as a ‘wood saw-yer’. He was in the Gulf Shores area (date unknown) clearing lumber on some property belonging to George W. Bright. James eventually cleared 40 acres or more for him. Some kind of deal was worked out afterwards between the two men where James traded his oxen and cart and all the work he had done in exchange for the 40 acres he had cleared. After his death in 1864, this 40 acres was divided equally between his eight children. Today this land is worth a fortune; in the mid 1980’s just eight of those acres sold for $2.5 million dollars. James, Eliza and their children moved from place to place in the Alabama area depending on where there was work for James. In the early 1850’s – 1860’s, they homesteaded a forty-acre tract which is today near the center of the town of Gulf Shores. This tract is unincorporated, known as the Shelby Homestead.

One year after the Civil War began, James enlisted in the Confederate Army. Two and a half years later, on the morning of August 31, 1864, the Battle of Jonesborough began, and when it was over, James Spruell Callaway was dead. Following is James Callaway’s service record for his part in the Civil War:

March 1, 1862 – Enlisted in Confederate Army. 4th Sergeant, Company C 32 Regiment, Alabama Infantry.

December 31, 1862 thru January 1863 – Appears on a report of casualties of Adams Brigade during the engagement at Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

January 10, 1863 – 3rd Sergeant

January 1863 – 2nd Sergeant

January 10, 1863 –Wounded seriously and admitted to hospital at Dalton, Georgia. Injury: Vulmus Sclopeticum

February 10, 1863 – On Furlough

August 31, 1864 – Killed, age 38 years. Battle of Jonesborough, Georgia. According to the family Bible, James died holding the surrender flag. He was first buried in a trench on the Battlefield of Jonesborough where he fell. In 1872, the Veterans were disinterred and moved to a spot which is now known as Pat Cleburne Cemetery and is cared for by the State of Georgia and local UDC chapter. There are markers but no names on the graves. The cemetery is in the heart of Jonesborough. There is also a grave marker at Miller Memorial Cemetery, Baldwin County, but he is not buried here.

Sources

• Find-a-grave #10544284