Garrison Boswell Medlin (1839 - 1864)

Born 23 Oct 1839 in Monroe, North Carolina, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Mary Emily Broom — married 21 Aug 1858 in Union, Union, North Carolina, United States

Descendants

Died 29 Dec 1864 at age 25 in Maryland, United States

Biography

Event

Event:

Type: Anecdote

Date: 2009

Note: At age 21, was listed on the "Roll of Honor," and at age 23 stood 5 ft. 9 inches tall, had black hair and grey eyes. His complexion was dark. He enlisted in Company D, 37th North Carolina Regiment, CSA on March 5, 1862. He was listed as missing at the battle of The Wilderness on May 6, 1862, for ten months. On December 14, 1862, was listed on the "Parole of Prisoners of War;" was captured on December 13, 1862, at Fredericksburg, VA, because he had been sent into enemy lines. On December 17, 1862, subject to the conditions of transfer as arranged by Maj. Gen. Park's Chief of Staff on

behalf of the US and Lt. Gen. James Longstreet (to which the 27th NC Reg. was assigned) on behalf of the enemy, he was released. However, he returned to service, fought at the battle of "The Craters" in Petersburg, and the battle of Fredericksburg, VA, and was re-captured. He was incarcerated at Pt. Lookout, Maryland on May 13, 1863, where he contracted typhoid fever and died on December 29, 1864.

Pt. Lookout prison does not exist any longer, since it is located on a spit of land where the Potomac River meets the Bay. The land has been slowly eaten away during the passage of time. One supposed prison building, thought to be the photographer's office still remains. The area is maintained by the Maryland Department of Forests and Parks, where a Ranger Station has a small office and store where books and other artifacts may be purchased. Time and the ravages of the weather and the Bay have eaten away at the land, so that very little remains. Hammond General Hospital was first erected there, which quickly became a Northern military hospital. One of this prison's more famous inmates was Sidney Lanier, who was the Poet Laureate of the State of Georgia.

Garrison's brothers, Martin Fletcher and Milas W. would also be captured and imprisoned here, but both were released after Appomattox to return home. Garrison's brother, William Monroe was wounded at the battle of Spotsylvania, was taken to a hospital where he died of his wounds in 1864.

The monument and cemetery which had first been erected at the gravesite of those men who had died as prison inmates, and whose families could not afford to have them brought home, had to be abandoned, because the Chesapeake Bay was encroaching on it and the bodies therein buried. Therefore, the State of Maryland erected a monument in the 1930s inland from the site of the camp, to honor the 3,384 men who perished there. Garrison Medlin's name is listed on the base of the monument, although Garrison is misspelled with only one "r."

In 1979, Garrison's great granddaughter stumbled on this park and former prison to find Garrison's name. Since that event, several visits have been made to the site of the prison and to the park, whereby other family members names have been noted as having died while imprisoned there.

Sources

• "United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M4B2-921 : 24 December 2020), Garrison Medlin in household of Willis Medlin, Union, Union, North Carolina, United States; citing family , NARA microfilm publication (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

• "North Carolina, County Marriages, 1762-1979 ," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QP9L-XJC2 : 9 March 2021), Garrison Medlin and Mary E Broom, 21 Aug 1858; citing Union, Union, North Carolina, United States, p. , North Carolina State Archives Division of Archives and History; FHL microfilm .

• "United States Census, 1860", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MDD5-GST : 18 February 2021), Garrison Medlin, 1860.

Acknowledgements

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