The Facts Unravel #8 In Jefferson County MS last Wednesday, November 19th, Rev. T. C. Brown married Jeff Liddell and Olive Hackler. Well, actually 141 years ago last Wednesday (in 1862 that day was a Wednesday too.) Shortly after the American Civil War 1861-1865 began at Fort Sumter, Cicero Jefferson Liddell, born near Fayette 18 years before, dropped out of college to enlist in the Southern Army. (�Jeff� or �Cicero [SIS-uh-roe] Jeff� to his contemporaries, �Uncle Jeff� to my admiring grandfather.) Just over a year later, Friday 27-Jun-1862, Sergeant Jeff Liddell lost his left arm at the Battle of Gaines Mills or Beaver Dam Creek VA, midway through the Seven Days� Battles by which Lee saved Richmond. Four days after that, Tuesday 01-Jul-1862 Jeff�s stepfather Dr. Thomas C. Brown arrived in Richmond to supervise Jeff�s medical care, and assist with some of the thousands of other broken boys deposited in the Chimborazo hospital complex. By August Jeff was well enough to travel, and returned to Fayette and family with Dr. Brown. Since Thomas Brown left no descendants, the pleasant duty of telling his story has fallen to me. My records of Thomas Calliham Brown are fragmentary, but the fragments show a most remarkable man. Born in 1800 GA within a fortnight (!) of Jimerson Liddell in NYC, a sprig of the MS pioneer Calliham family, Brown endured more than his share of tragedy. He buried his first wife, and later buried their only child, an adult namesake Thomas Jr. At age 58 he married Martha Ann Baldridge 43, the well-to-do widow of Jimerson Liddell. Their only child, another Thomas Jr., died at five months. Thomas Brown wore several hats during his fifteen years among the Liddells. On the 1860 Jefferson census Brown was a planter, in 1870 a farmer. On 18-Nov-1862 Doctor Thomas Brown certified Jeff�s medical discharge from the army and the next day Methodist Reverend Thomas Brown solemnized Jeff�s marriage to Olive Irene Hackler, 17, daughter of William A. Hackler and Sarah Scott of Jefferson. (This is a cue for someone to tell us more about the Hackler and Scott families.) Brown�s qualifications as an M.D. are uncertain. State licensure came along after the Civil War. Before the war most medicos earned their black bag by apprenticeship, and only a small minority attended medical college. However, Methodist ordination required study and examination, proving Brown�s high intelligence and talent for book-learning (or Book-learning.). Perhaps Thomas Brown planned to spend his remaining years in comparative comfort and leisure, leading the life of an educated Southern planter. If so, the Civil War altered his plans, as it did the plans of many other Americans. The spring and summer of 1862 must have sorely tried the 62-year-old Brown. (Yeah, I know, some 62-year-olds run marathons every weekend, but ain�t none of that foolishness in my family. We believe the Good Lord created comfortable chairs for a reason.) The first weekend in April 1862 the Battle of Shiloh TN stunned MS and the South. To gain perspective, recall that MORE Americans were killed or wounded in two days at Shiloh, than in ALL the battles of ALL the wars Americans had fought to that time. Thousands of wounded men survived the retreat to Corinth MS, from which place authorities distributed them all along the state�s spinal railroad through Jackson. The call went out for volunteer doctors. Records don�t show whether Thomas Brown went to Jackson or some other makeshift hospital site. (Do you remember old Dr. Meade at the train shed hospital in �Gone with the Wind�? The only horror lacking in that scene was the overwhelming stench of bodies and body parts.) If he did not go away, he was very likely the only doctor left in Jefferson for several weeks. Either way, his patient load increased exhaustingly. On Friday or Saturday a telegram arrived in Jefferson announcing Jeff Liddell�s injury. Thomas Brown immediately boarded the train to Richmond, arriving after three or four wretched miserable days of travel. (I cannot emphasize this too much. Railroad trains left their victims bruised and punch-drunk and half-asphyxiated, and most folks wanted a day or two of bed rest after a day on the train. Another essay is in the works, discussing this exhausting train ride.) By Tuesday Dr. Brown was in Richmond. If he arrived before nightfall, he heard the distant cannons disputing Malvern Hill on the last of the Seven Days. He examined Jeff�s wound and condition, and arranged Jeff�s general care. When the two men left the hospital six weeks later, Brown paid a Mrs. Mathias (ward matron?) $40 and one Jacob Wertheimer (male nurse?) $25 for looking after Jeff and feeding him well. Presumably Thomas Brown rested before giving his attention and skills to some of the other 30,000 casualties from that bloody week. For most of that hot humid Richmond summer, all of July and half of August, Rev. Brown M.D. wandered the wards of Howard�s Grove General Hospital seeing to the physical health and spiritual well-being of his young charges. If his patients fit the average, one man out of four sank and died, but the other three rallied and recovered. By mid-August Jeff Liddell had recovered sufficiently to travel. He and Thomas Brown departed for Jefferson and home, the former to complete his recuperation and the latter, one hopes, to enjoy a well-deserved rest. Bruce D. Liddell, BDLiddell@yahoo.com Birmingham AL, 22-Nov-2003 __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? 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