Henry County TN Archives Biographies.....Speight, Seth January 3, 1841 - October 7, 1937 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/tn/tnfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Daniel Speight dansp8@msn.com June 20, 2017, 10:39 pm Source: Personal Family Documents Author: Daniel John Speight, Great-Grandson THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SETH WESCOTT SPEIGHT (1841-1937) By Great-Grandson Daniel John Speight Seth Wescott Speight was born in Como, Henry County, Tennessee on 3 January 1841 to William Thomas Speight (1813-1899) and Frances (Fields) Speight (1809- 1871). William and Frances Speight moved to Como from Speights Bridge, North Carolina in 1833 and brought their tobacco growing skills with them. In 1839 William Speight was elected First Lieutenant in the Henry County, Tennessee Militia by his neighbors. Seth Speight was the fourth of eight children. Unlike most families in Western Tennessee, the Speights did not own any slaves prior to the Civil War. Lieut. Edwin H. Reynolds, Company “K”, Fifth Tennessee Infantry book “A History of the Henry County Commands Which Served in the Confederate States Army, Including Rosters of the Various Companies Enlisted in Henry County, Tenn.”, published in 1905, describes the events leading up to Seth Speight’s entry into the Civil War: The last state to secede, Tennessee decided by a large majority in February 1861 not to call a Secession Convention. When the State was called upon, against their wishes, to furnish troops against the Confederate States, Governor Isham G. Harris convened the Legislature to submit to a vote of the people the question of “separation” and to put the State in a defensive condition. Colonel William E. Travis was commissioned to raise an infantry regiment in Henry County. The PARIS SENTINEL called for men wishing to enlist to assemble in Paris, Tennessee on 20 April 1864. Many responded to the call. The assembled troops, accompanied by the Paris brass band, made a tour of the villages in the county and were met by large enthusiastic crowds. A man on horseback came into the village of Conyersville and relayed a rumor that “The Yankees have crossed the Ohio River below Paducah and are coming this way, killing men, women and children as the come”. Men turned pale, women screamed and children cried with fear. The next day it was learned the rumor was false. Regardless, on 20 May 1861 crowds from every district of the county poured into Paris by every road and by the end of the day the streets were filled with people. On that day 20-year old Seth Wescott Speight, his brother Francis Marion “Dock” Speight (1838-1902), and close to 2,500 other Henry County men enlisted in the Tennessee Army on the courthouse lawn in Paris, Tennessee. The Speight brothers were assigned as privates in Company “H” of the 5th Tennessee Infantry Regiment under Colonel Travis and Captain Dumas. On 8 June 1861, the Tennessee voters overwhelmingly decided to separate from the United States and join the Confederate States. The State troops, included Seth Speight, took the oath of allegiance to the new government. On 6 April 1862, Seth’s company fought with Stewart’s Brigade during the Battle of Shiloh, Tennessee. During the battle Seth was shot in the stomach but survived as the musket ball was defective. Seth said in an interview “Fortunately, the bullet was well spent and didn’t even break the skin” and that he “was never stung so hard by a wasp or bee”. In May 1862, during the “Siege of Corinth” in Mississippi after the retreat from Shiloh, Seth’s company was forced to drink scum-covered ditch water. Seth, brother Francis, and many other soldiers came down with Typhoid Fever and Dysentery. Colonel Travis’ health compelled him to retire from command of the regiment. The ill Speight brothers were captured in a hospital train by the advancing Union troops. Thought to be dying, they were paroled and sent home to Como, Tennessee. Unaware of their whereabouts, they were mistakenly reported as deserters by their regiment on 10 May 1863. In August 1863, General Nathan Bedford Forrest was near the Speight home in Cottage Grove, Tennessee seeking new enlistees for his Cavalry. He enlisted now recuperated Seth and Francis Speight into Company “K” of Colonel R. M. Russell’s regiment, the 20th Tennessee Cavalry on 1 September 1863. Company “K” was led by Captain H. F. Bowman, and like Seth, a former 5th Tennessee Infantryman. Seth was issued a Sorrell mare worth $1,100. On 12 April 1864, Seth took part in the Battle of Fort Pillow, Tennessee. It is here that he is positive of the first man he had ever killed. Seth said in an interview “We had just taken the fort from the Unionists when I ran into a negro and his officer who were fighting on the Yankee side of the battle. I jerked my gun up and without realizing it shot the negro dead. I then told the white man if he behaved I would not harm him, and he was certainly willing to be good under such terms as those.” Over the years, Seth, like Edwin Rennolds in his book, never used the term “massacre” when talking about Fort Pillow as it was commonly referred to by the Union, although giving his own account of his actions that day in an interview could mean he was aware of the controversy. On 23 May 1864, after General Forrest and the 20th Cavalry were ordered by the Army to return hundreds of their men, many reported as deserters, back to their original infantry units. Seth and Francis returned to the 5th Tennessee Infantry, now in Company “E”. Their desertion charges were dropped. The Speight brothers returned in time for 3 months of continuous fighting against General Tecumseh Sherman’s troops for the control of Atlanta, beginning with the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain. On or about 5 July 1864, page 85 of Edwin Rennolds’ book states Seth Speight and Private Allen were wounded and Lazarus Johnson was killed by a shell from negro Union troops while bathing near the Chattahoochee River Bridge. Seth refused discharge and stayed on to continue fighting. On 18 July 1864, troops at dress parade were informed General Joe E. Johnston had been relieved by General John B. Hood. The troops were downcast, realizing the cautious policy which General Johnson pursued against overwhelming numbers would be exchanged to one of aggressiveness of which they were totally unprepared. The excellent morale of the soldiers was destroyed and dread of disaster settled in. In late July 1864, Seth Speight and the 5th Tennessee Infantry fought the Battle of Atlanta and then the Battle of Jonesboro in August 1864 before the Tennessee Army retreated to Tennessee in September 1864. Seth always told family members the Atlanta Campaign was the worst 3 months of his life because of the constant shelling and almost daily skirmishes. Then came the hardest “day” of his life. On 30 November 1864, Seth Speight and the 5th Tennessee Infantry fought in one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War, the “Battle of Franklin”, commonly referred to as the “Gettysburg of the West”. Page 106 of Lieutenant Rennolds’ chapter on the Battle of Franklin mentions Seth as follows “W. D. Street, Seth Speight, Jeff Olive and a few others of the bravest spirits crossed the entrenchment and advanced a few yards, but finding themselves almost surrounded by Federals and facing a deadly hail of minie balls they retired behind the entrenchment, but kept up a fire on the enemy.” Seth Speight described his other actions of that day: “Yankee soldiers were lying all about as were the Confederates, making it impossible to determine friend from foe in the melee. I was lying there enjoying the fight as best I could when I happened to glance at a man lying in front of me. I saw he was wearing the blue of the Yankee so I pushed by rifle into his side and told him to just lay his gun aside and roll over to me. We crawled on a little farther and I saw another blue uniform. I repeated the stick-up set again and another victim was added to my life of captures.” “This went on until I had gathered about nine Yankees. They were crawling along in front of me without their rifles and I was bringing up the rear, herding them toward our lines when the most burning and searing agony I have ever known tore through my shoulder, barely missing vital spots. The agony was caused by a minie ball about the size of the end of a man’s thumb. It had passed through my shoulder, not quite coming out the back.” “As for the Yanks I had captured, I don’t suppose I shall ever know what became of them. My major worry at the time had no place for the Yank at all. I was simply interested in doing something to stop the severe pain that was shooting through my whole upper body. One of my comrades came along about that time and applied a tourniquet, which is probably the one thing that prevented my bleeding to death right there on the field of battle.” On 15 December 1864, Seth Speight was captured by Union troops returning after the Battle of Nashville in the makeshift hospital in the Franklin Courthouse. After a stop in the Nashville hospital he was transferred to Louisville, Kentucky for further transfer to Camp Chase, the Union’s POW camp in Columbus, Ohio. Seth Speight was interred in Camp Chase until his transfer to Point Lookout, Maryland on 17 February 1865 for exchange. He was finally paroled on 17 July 1865. He took the Oath of Allegiance and returned to his home in Como, Tennessee. In September 1865, Seth joined the Masonic Lodge in Cottage Grove, Tennessee, receiving his Master’s Degree. On 11 January 1866, Seth married Virginia Albertine Carter (1844-1911) in Cottage Grove, Tennessee. They would have seven children, all born in Como, Tennessee. In 1879 Seth joined his wife’s Methodist Church in Cottage Grove, Tennessee. In 1882, Seth, Virginia and most of his children moved to Round Rock, Texas and then to McGregor, Texas where they became ranchers. In 1899, Seth and Virginia Speight and his daughter Virginia Patterson and her family moved to Eldorado, Oklahoma during the Land Rush. After his wife’s death in 1911 Seth moved in with his daughter Virginia. On 29 September 1920, Seth was certified a Master Mason in the Eldorado Masonic Lodge after 55 years in the organization. On 12 May 1925, Seth Speight, designated “Captain” of Eldorado’s United Confederate Veterans Camp 1709, was elected delegate to the 35th Annual Reunion and Convention of United Confederate Veterans in Dallas, Texas. On 19 July 1929, Seth Speight, age 88, applied for the just approved State of Oklahoma Confederate Veteran Pension. Because the charge of desertion against him was never expunged from his service record it took Seth almost 2 years to clear his record. He finally started receiving his pension at age 90. On 13 December 1934, the ALTUS TIMES-DEMOCRAT celebrated Seth’s 70th year as a Mason. At age 93, he was the oldest Mason in Oklahoma and one of the oldest in the country. On 25 August 1935, 94-year old Seth Speight was interviewed by the ALTUS TIMES-DEMOCRAT about his exploits in the Civil War. Seth Wescott Speight died on 7 October 1937, at the age of 96. He was buried in the Eldorado Cemetery next to his late wife Virginia. Photo: http://www.usgwarchives.net/tn/henry/photos/bios/speight23bs.jpg File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/tn/henry/bios/speight23bs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/tnfiles/ File size: 11.7 Kb