Cass County GaArchives Biographies.....Bradford, William J. 1840's - 1880's
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Henry Coker hcker@mitchellgrocery.com August 15, 2018, 9:36 am

Source: Personal Research
Author: Henry Coker

Muster Roll, 18th Regiment, Company F
Georgia Volunteer Infantry, Army Northern Virginia C.S.A. Bartow County, 
Georgia
"Davis Guards"
 
Date of enlistment of this company given as June 13, 1861

NAME	RANK	DATE ENLISTED	REMARKS
Bradford, W. J.	private	April 1861 Appointed 4th Corporal. Wounded at 
Chancellorsville, Va. May 3, 1863. Captured at Burkeville, Va. April 6,1865. 
Released at Newport News, Va. June 25, 1865.

W J Bradford listed above here was my grandmothers, grandfather. He enlisted 
in the confederate army in Cass county Georgia in April of 1861 in the same 
month that the first shot was fired at fort Sumter. He went in as a private 
and out as a Sargent. He was captured a few miles north of Appomattox April 6 
1865 only 3 days before Lee surrendered to Grant. William was released from 
Newport News Virginia June 25, 1865. In the census of 1870 William, his wife 
Emma and their oldest daughter Gettysburg were living in Pine Log Georgia just 
outside of Cartersville Georgia, but by 1880 the family consisting of William, 
wife Emma and 4 children were living in Cherokee or Etowah county of Alabama, 
the youngest Claude being only 2 years old. Cherokee county split into two 
counties after the war and Etowah county was created. William and his wife 
Emma were living in the Brocks community right on the division of the 2 
counties. William was wounded at Chancellorsville and this was the same battle 
that Stonewall Jackson suffered a wound from friendly fire and died 8 days 
later. I have seen pictures of a makeshift hospital that was set up under a 
tree at Chancellorsville and I have often wondered if maybe William and 
Stonewall actually spent time under the same roof there in Chancellorsville. 
After the census in 1880, W J Bradford seemingly just disappeared. In 1882 his 
wife Emma died.  Their children were put out in the community and raised by 
other families. The Youngest Claude was only 4 years old and I’m not sure 
about the other siblings but I do know that Claude kept her last name of 
Bradford. Claude was raised by William and Mary Henley as their only child as 
William and Mary Henley never had a child of their own but in that 1880 census 
William and Mary Henley were living in the next house past the Bradford’s. 
With W J Bradford seeing all he did and surviving the whole war you want to 
have a lot of respect for him or at least I did,  if for nothing else his 
having to handle and cope with what all he must have endured in this war. I 
had a battle within when struggling to find out what happened to him and why 
his kids became abandoned. Of the 632 regulars that they had at Gettysburg at 
the end of the war only 52 regulars and 1 officer were surrendered in April of 
1865. Could this man just walk away from his children?  He must have had some 
profound experience or maybe even promised God something at the Battle of 
Gettysburg as he named his first daughter Gettysburg and no doubt had become 
hard with all he had seen during this bloody war and all the battles that the 
18'th Georgia had been involved in. But there was no grave, no marker, no one 
buried beside his wife and no information. For years I searched but finally 
around 2015, I found a lone post by someone I’m thinking a grandchild of one 
of his daughters who said that his grandmother told him that W J was teaching 
school and Several of the teachers in the area had went to some type of 
regional meeting. On the way back home, they ran through some heavy summer 
rains. Creeks were swollen and the party was unable to cross.  William found a 
log fallen over the creek and decided to walk it to the other side and go on 
home. He fell off the log into raging water and drowned. His body was lost for 
a time in the water and summer heat. When found rather than trying to get it 
home he was buried on the creek bank, thus no Marker or Headstone. His 
youngest daughter Claude was my great grandmother. She Married Dennis Phillips 
and they lived and died in Dekalb County Alabama. Claude had twins Tessie and 
Jessie.  One of Claude's sisters name was Tessie. Claude Died of breast cancer 
around 1928 and is buried at Lusk Chapel Cemetery in Dekalb County Alabama. 
Claude’s mother Emma is buried at Black Creek Cemetery in Cherokee county 
Alabama.  Claudes Three siblings were Raised by the Blackwells, Adams and 
Bradford Families in Cherokee or Etowah counties of Alabama. The Bradford’s 
that Raised the Bradford child were not Relatives of W J Bradford that any of 
us can tell.  The Bradford name from this line ended as there were no boys. It 
would be an interesting read for me to be able to see some follow up history 
on some of the brave men that W J Bradford fought beside of in this war.         
Henry Coker; Great, Great Grandson of William J Bradford.        

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/cass/bios/williamj1054gbs.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/gafiles/

File size: 5.5 Kb