Lowndes-Montgomery County AlArchives Military Records.....Hugh William Caffey, M.D. 
Civilwar - Letters Company G, Forty-fourth Alabama
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/al/alfiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Betty Beard rlbeard@cox.net May 22, 2004, 11:40 am

     A few months later he enlisted in the Confederate Army, Company G, Forty-
Fourth Alabama and left the children in the care of his mother and his sister, 
Irene.  Hugh William served as a doctor in base hospitals and with the Surgeon 
General's department throughout the War.   He enlisted in April 1862 and was 
stationed in Selma, Alabama, at the induction camp.  His work was with 
soldiers who were desperately ill with measles, many of whom relapsed to "die 
from pneumonia or Typhoid fever."  However, he, by numerous letters, kept 
close reign on his home affairs and on the rearing of his children.  Of the 
War, Hugh William reported that rumors had them moving from Selma to help 
fight at Corinth, Mississippi.  Of the family in Selma (Uncle Hance's family), 
he reported:  "John's [John Thomas Dunklin] child has been very sick, but is 
better this morning."  For himself, he wanted "Clayton to bring my black 
pants, blue coat and comfort."  He had a problem--a pig had been sent to him 
as payment for a medical bill.  He added at the end of his letter, "Kiss the 
children for me.  Tell them not to forget to say their prayers.  Carrie [the 
future Mrs. Frank Gordon Dudley] must attend to her books so that she can read 
for Papa when he gets back. . . and remember me to the Negroes."
     Hugh William's regiment did not go to Corinth; in July he found himself 
on the way to Richmond, Virginia.  On arrival he wrote:  "Tedious and 
fatiguing trip, via Atlanta, Augusta, Columbia, Charlotte, Raleigh, Weldon and 
Petersburg. . . cars were very crowded and in connection with the heat and 
dust rendered the journey exceedingly disagreeable."
     From his new position, first in Anderson's division hospital at Drewry's 
Bluff and then with the Surgeon General in Camp Hinder near Richmond, Hugh 
William was able to keep tab on the Collirene boys.  All were with units of 
the Army of Northern Virginia and were quartered nearby.  Whether they were 
wounded or just sick, Hugh William would see them or have report of them.
     The next preserved letter of Hugh William's was written in July 1862, 
after the fighting at Malvern Hill.  In it he reported that Willie Dunklin had 
been wounded in two places--left shoulder and right thigh, "but was doing 
well," with Robert Hardy and John Hrabowski in attendance.  Hooper Caffey, his 
brother; Clayton Dunklin and Dunklin Pierce, his cousins, were stationed 
nearby in the camp.  Herb Dunklin, Dr. James W. Dunklin's son, had been at the 
hospital with a slight wound but had returned to camp.  Of others of the 
Collirene community, he reported that "Nathan May died last night" and of Hugh 
Hardy, son of J.W. Hardy:  "I think will die also."  Bill Stanley was shot in 
the face and had had his leg removed.  John (Stanley?) was wounded also, but 
Thomas, Hugh William's brother, was in the same battle and escaped unhurt.
     On Christmas coming, 1862, in a letter home, Hugh William mused:  "The 
prospect for a Merry Christmas is rather gloomy.  What momentus [sic] changes 
have occurred in the homes of many a happy family since the 25th of December 
last.  How many hearts have bled--how many hearthstones been rendered 
desolate. Eternity alone can reheal the anguish and unspeakable misery which 
has resulted from this [letter torn] and wicked war. . . let us thank God with 
devout gratitude that as yet our family circle remains unbroken and invoke His 
continuous care for preservation from every peril and speedy reunion around 
our fire sides at home."
     Shortly after Christmas Hugh William [Caffey] was notified that Dr. 
Blevius, the Assistant Surgeon of the Forty-Fourth Alabama Regiment, had 
resigned and that he, Hugh William, stood to be appointed to that position.  
He was very tempted to go back with his old unit, but he felt that by 
remaining in the Surgeon General's department he could reach a surgeon's 
position in six months.  "Besides, the exposure is far less."
     So, Hugh William chose to remain where he was, and wrote this in early 
January [1863]:  "On Tuesday last I went before the Army Medical Board & stood 
my examination successfully for Assistant Surgeon, & today have received 
orders to repair to Camp Holmes, near Raleigh, N.C. for the purpose of 
examining Conscripts. . . .  The news recently is quite cheering, both East & 
West--the clouds appear to be breaking away from our horizon, & the auguries 
for peace at no distant day seem more hopeful. . . .  The fortune which has 
crowned our armys at Fredericksburg & Murfreesboro will doubtless intensify 
these feelings.  Confidence is fast forsaking our enemies, & despair taking 
its place in their hearts--a thousand hearthstones have been desolated by 
these battles, & they begin to ask for what purpose?. . ."
     Unfortunately, there were also those in the Southern armies asking, "to 
what purpose." 

     The next of Hugh William Caffey's letters is the last of the preserved 
ones.  He had a great insight into the military situation and foresaw the 
coming events very clearly as history now proves.  On July 18, 1864, he wrote:
     "Dear Sis,
          "I have heard nothing from home for more than two weeks past, & am 
beginning to entertain some anxiety.  I am aware of the confusion existing in 
the mail arrangements all over the Country, & think the failure is probably 
attributed to this cause--The proximity of the enemy to Atlanta, & tax upon 
the rail road transportation in that region to supply demands of Johnston's 
Army I presume, interferes seriously with the carrying of mail.
     "It appears Johnston has fallen back upon the last defensible point of 
any strength between the enemy and Atlanta.  If he is flanked again. or loses 
the fight with Sherman, Atlanta will pass into Yankee hands, & the Confederacy 
again be bi-sected, & our own State subjected to the ruthless ravages of a 
merciless foe.  Should this misfortune occur this may be the last letter you 
will receive from me for a long time.
     "I sincerely hope & pray we may be spared this additional misfortune, but 
should it occur we must rely upon a merciful God to shelter & defend, & bring 
us together under happier auspices.  I shall try to come home this fall if it 
is possible to get there.
     "I have heard nothing from Tho's since writing you last.  The Yankees are 
between us and Petersburg, & keep the R. Road cut so that no mail passes & 
very little news.  Grant must be dislodged from his present position or the 
fall of Richmond is only a question of time.  This is a disagreeable 
admission, but sadly too true.  His base rests upon the James River, defended 
by gunboats & communications free & uninterrupted to Washington City & Fort 
Monroe.  His line has doubtless fortified it to the utmost.  Occupying such a 
stand point his object will be, not to assault any further our entrenchments 
around Petersburg, but to preserve intact his own, & through raiding parties 
harass the Country around by destroying crops, driving off stock, mules, 
Negroes etc., & keeping communications with Richmond & the South cut off by 
destroying portions of the only two roads connecting them.  In this manner The 
Capitol will be besieged, & no provisions can be carried in, & when the 
supplies already accumulated there are exhausted.  Lee must either abandon 
Richmond & Virginia to their fate or capitulate.  To my mind, this is clearly 
Grant's design, & it cannot be denied it looks feasible, & the situation is 
full of peril to us.  What Lee's & Beauregard's plans are cannot be divined.  
The people confide in their military sagacity---pure patriotism, & the heroic 
valor of the Army.  They command, & feel assured that no efforts will be 
spared within the limits of human power, to baffle the designs of our enemy.  
     "The crisis through which we are now passing is graver than any we have 
been called upon to face since the war began:  the next thirty days in all 
probability will decide whether triumph & the prospects of a speedy peace are 
to gladden the hearts of our people, or by witnessing the downfall of Richmond 
& Atlanta insure the prolongation of this bloody and heartbreaking struggle.  
May God give us the victory!
     "Please write soon.  Best love to Ma, Irene & Grandma.  Kiss the 
Children, & remember me to the Negroes."
    									
		Yr Bro H

     Failing to be assigned again to service with his regiment, Hugh William 
served as a captain until the end of the War in the Surgeon General's 
department.  He was "paroled" at Salisbury, North Carolina, after the 
surrender of Joseph E. Johnston's Army.
     Hugh William Caffey was paroled in Salisbury, North Carolina, and 
traveled to Alabama.  He arrived in Montgomery with fifty cents in his pockets 
and was lent a horse and carriage by his Caffey cousins in which to drive the 
final long miles to home and to his children.

     In a memorial tribute to Dr. Hugh William Caffey, printed in the 
CONFEDERATE VETERAN, February 1920, Joe H. Bowman of Franklin, Tennessee, 
wrote about the Collirene Hospital.  He had been one of the patients there and 
reminisced:
     "I first became acquainted with Dr. Caffey in the winter of 1864, when he 
came home on furlough.  I was at that time an inmate of his home in Alabama, 
being one of a number of soldiers who were wounded on the 22nd of June, 1864 
near Marietta, Ga., and sent to Montgomery.  Finding all hospitals in that 
city full, we were sent out to a field hospital on the banks of the Alabama 
River.  The good people of Collirene in Lowndes County, sent Robert Rives to 
get some of the wounded for them to take care of.  The last night in June 
about twenty-five of us were put on a boat, and when we reached Benton the 
next morning we were met with carriages and other pleasure vehicles and taken 
ten miles through the country to one of the prettiest hamlets one would wish 
to see.  A great round hill with a level top was where the Dunklins and 
Pierces lived, while Dr. Caffey's mother, two sisters, and his three children 
lived on the north side of the hill, and Mr. Robert Rives on the south side.  
Mrs. Lizzie (Ann Elizabeth) Pierce gave the use of her handsome home as a 
hospital, each and all of the good citizens contributed toward the deeping up 
of the home, for such in truth it was.  The elderly ladies took week about as 
matrons.  Some of the wounded boys went out in the neighborhood, but most of 
us stayed at the home, so Dr. Clay [Clayton] Dunklin, who gave his services as 
surgeon, would not have to ride so much.  It was an ideal home.  Close by were 
the schoolhouse and the Baptist Church, and such an elegant and cultured 
citizenship!  Is it any wonder, then, that a man growing up with such 
surroundings should be a model Christian gentleman?"

This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/alfiles/

File size: 11.3 Kb