Marion A. Terrell

TERRELL, MARION A. (1833~1914) Marion A. Terrell, Confederate veteran, was born in December, 1838, to Richmond and Rachel Jenkins Terrell. He was the third of five children. The Terrell family moved to Alabama where they appear to have settled in Coosa County sometime after 1843. Marion Terrell married a woman named Agnes (b. 1843), an Alabama native, and had a son, Hiram, who was born in 1863. Hiram Terrell was born after his father's enlistment in the Confederate Army. He enlisted at Buyck, Alabama, in March of 1862.

Terrell was mustered into Company C of the 34th Alabama Infantry on April 15, 1862, in Loachapoka. Soon after, the 34th was sent to Tupelo, Mississippi, where it was brigaded with the 28th and 24th Alabama Infantries and 10th and 19th South Carolina Infantries and Water's Battery and was assigned to the command of Brigadier General Arthur Middleton Manigault's Brigade. Manigault's Brigade was assigned to General Braxton Bragg's Army of Mississippi and then traveled to Chattanooga, where they took part in the Kentucky campaign of 1862.

According to Terrell's military records from November, 1862, he was listed as being in the hospital since August 29. His date of release is not known, but it was before September 18, 1863, when he participated in the battle at Chickamauga, Georgia.

Terrell was taken as a prisoner-of-war on September 20, 1863 on the last day of the battle. On October 1, he was moved to Louisville, Kentucky, where he was held until October 10. He was transferred to Camp Douglas in Chicago, where he spent the remainder of the War. Camp Douglas, which was originally constructed to be a Union Army training post, became a prisoner-of-war camp in 1862. During the War, Camp Douglas housed some 26,000 Confederate prisoners and more than 4,000 died. Terrell was released on June 15, 1865, after signing an Oath of Amnesty. On his Oath, he was listed as living in Coosa County, Alabama and appeared to be five foot seven inches tall with brown hair, blue eyes, with a fair complexion.

After the War, Terrell returned to Alabama. By 1872, he had moved to Texas and had settled in Floresville, Wilson County. According to information provided by Don C. Terrill and the Terrell Society of America, Marion Terrell married a woman named of Annie. Terrell's first wife either died or they were divorced. Other than Annie's name, no other information is known about her or when she and Terrell married, except that she gave birth to a daughter, Annie, who was born in Texas in 1873.

After moving to Floresville in 1904, Terrell successfully applied for a Confederate Pension from the State of Texas. Sometime later, the Terrell family moved to San Antonio, where he worked as a saw sharpener until May 11, 1914, when he left his wife to move into the Texas Confederate Men's Home in Austin. Terrell died on June 23, 1914, and was buried in the Texas State Cemetery the next day.

Information taken from: Compiled Military Service Records; National Park Service website at http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss; Alabama State Archives webpage for the 34th Alabama Infantry webpage, http://www.archives.state.al.us/reference/alamilor/34thinf.html; Tarleton State University webpage for the 34th Alabama Infantry Regiment, http://www.tarleton.edu/~knones/alinf.html; History of the 28th Alabama Infantry Regiment webpage, http://home.houston.rr.com/heartofdixie/28thhis.html; Chicago Historical Societys webpage of Camp Douglas/Grand Boulevard, http://www.chicagohs.org/DGBPhotoEssay/DGB02.html; Confederate Pension Application # 12206; Confederate Home Roster; Death Certificate # 13452; and information provided by Don C. Terrill and the Terrell Society of America.