Following is the narrative on Martha Spence Cornwell, written by James F. Carver, a valued member of our group. You may contact James at: 610 Gay St., Box 214, Portsmouth, OH 45662-0214 or via e-mail at heritage@zoomnet.net. "A Widow's Plight" Martha Spence Cornwell Martha Spence was born 8 April 1837 in Tazewell Co. VA, a daughter of William and Jane (Tuttle) Spence. Martha was raised in a very large family, she had five brothers ( Alexander ; George ; William ; James ; and John ) and four sisters ( Rebecca ; Mary ; Rachel ; and Louisa ). It was in the mid 1840's when this Spence family first made contact with the Cornwell family. Martha's sister Mary married on 21 Oct 1847 there in Tazewell County, VA to William Cornwell. Eight years later, on 17 April 1855, sister Rachel would marry Reuben Cornwell, a brother to William. On 11 Feb 1857 Martha would marry Nathan Cornwell, who was also a brother to William and Reuben, Thus, there in Tazewell County, VA, one can see the merger of the Spence and Cornwell families with the marriages of three Spence sisters to three Cornwell brothers. Nathan Cornwell was born in 1833 in Smyth County, VA, he as well as brothers William and Reuben, was a son of Joseph and Mary (Baber) Cornwell. Martha and Nathan were not married long before our nation erupted into Civil War. Nathan had another brother, Jacob Cornwell, who first enlisted into the army of the Confederate States of America in May of 1861, this must have encouraged Nathan to follow suit. A year later Nathan Cornwell enlisted in May of 1862 into the same military unit as brother Jacob had done, he joined the 50th Virginia Infantry- Company E. ( The principal home counties of the 50th Virginia were: Nelson, Amherst, Patrick, Carroll, Pulaski, Grayson, Smyth, Tazewell and Washington. When this regiment became fully activitied in July of 1861 it had 10 companies with 3 companies of calvary temporarily attached. By September this regiment was free of the calvary before they marched in Feb. 1862 into Tennessee where they were captured at Fort Donelson. ( Jacob Cornwell had involvement here.) After being exchanged this regiment was reassigned to the Dept. of Western Virginia and fought at Carnifax Ferry. When the regiment was reorganized in May of 1862, when Nathan Cornwell enlisted, they went on to fight numerous conflicts from Chancellorsville to Cold Harbor. The Cornwell brothers involvement ended at Cold Harbor in 1864 but the 50th VA Regiment continued on until it was disbanded in April 1865. Field officers were: Col. Thomas Goage, Alexander Reynolds, and A.S. Vandeventer, Lt Col. William Finney, Logan H.N. Salyer, and Majors Lynville J. Perkins and C.E. Thorburn.) Both the Cornwell brothers, Nathan and Jacob, were fighting with their CSA unit in Spotsylvania County, Virginia when their luck took a nasty turn. Near Cold Harbor on 5 May 1864 Jacob Cornwell was captured by Union Troops, brother Nathan Cornwell was captured shortly thereafter on 12 May 1864. These Cornwell brothers were carried by the railroad along with other P.O.W.'s northward and were imprisoned together at the Elmira Prison Camp, in New York. ( Elmira, NY is located about 5 miles from the Pennsylvania state line. In 1864 existing barracks on the Chemung River at Elmira was set apart to house as many as 5000 Confederate Soldiers, within one month after this prison opened more than 10,000 Confederate prisoners were stuffed into very deplorable conditions. Many P.O.W.'s were forced to sleep out in the open without blankets, the camp was totally unsanitary and there was a lack of food. Colonel Seth Eastman was in charge of the camp. The first troops to serve guard at Elmira were Negroes who were lured North from the South and formed into companies and regiments to guard their former masters. This was but one reason why the P.O.W.'s were treated so harshly. The camp surgeon was Chief D. L. Sanger who was repeated overheard making the statement.... " I have killed more Rebs than any other soldier at the front." Sanger deliberately murdered many of the sick prisoners. Elmira Prison Camp was the worst prison camp on either side. The prisons of the Confederacy could not take care of prisoners of war well, due to not having the resources to do so. On the other hand the North had plenty of resources but their treatment of prisoners was harsh and cruel, but worst yet, it was intentional. The Cornwell brothers arrived with the first batch of 400 prisoners on 6 July 1864. At the end of July there were 4,400 prisoners there, by August 10,000 were imprisoned there. At the end of the War, 2963 out of 12,123 or 25 percent Confederate POW's died at Elmira Prison.... a death rate only 2 percent less than Andersonville. the Confederate nickname for this prison was "Hellmira".... go figure........ ) Pvt. Nathan Cornwell while imprisoned at Elmira Prison was vacinated in the right arm, probably by the camp surgeon, Chief D.L. Sanger, and surprise, his arm became infected and gangrene set in to cripple his arm. Nathan did not loose his arm but remained cripple for life. Nathan was paroled on 11 Oct. 1864 but not released until the Union Army made a prisoner exchange on 15 Nov. 1864 at Venus Point on the Savannah River in Virginia. Nathan's brother Jacob, would be released in June of 1865. At least both survived. Nathan returned home to Tazewell County, Virginia to be with his wife Martha, due to his crippled arm he was unfit for any military duty. After the Civil War ended and our nation slowly began recovering, Nathan and Martha (Spence) Cornwell would leave Tazewell County, VA to find peace and safety. In 1868 Nathan and Martha would begin rebuilding their lives in Durbin, Boyd County, Kentucky. After 31 years of peaceful living Nathan would pass away on 30 May 1899 at the age of 75, leaving Martha, then 62 years old, a widow. Martha and Nathan only had 2 children, a daughter and a son, their son also a cripple. Nathan and Martha were so poor at his death that Martha was forced to move in and live with her children for support. On 11 March 1912 the General Assembly of the U.S. government passed a law which permitted Indigent widows of Soldiers to obtain a small pension, this applied mainly to Confederate Soldiers widows. On 27 June 1912, Martha (Spence) Cornwell filed an application for a Widow's pension. She began her paperwork nightmare 23 May 1912 by filling out papers called "Questions for Applicants", she submitted a marriage license document from Tazewell County VA, proving her marriage to CSA Veteran Nathan Cornwell along with witness statements. One witness for Martha, Sam Turman, of Boyd County, KY made a statement regarding Martha and Nathan as being... " The poorest people I ever saw". Witness George Rouse stated about Martha's wealth simply saying... " she has not got anything". Her best witness was her brother-in-law Jacob R. Cornwell. Jacob gave first hand testimony about Nathan Cornwell's military activity, his hard time there in the filthy Union Prison, etc. Jacob, then 79 years old, was living at that time at Fort Gay, Wayne County, West Virginia, but traveled to Boyd County to swear testimony on Martha's behalf. The Adjutant General's office of the War Department verified that Nathan Cornwell was a POW at Elmira Prison on 29 June 1912. Officials at the State Pension Board recommended that widow Martha (Spence) Cornwell's pension be allowed. While the pension was approved it has not been proven yet that Martha was actually paid a pension to support her during her last remaining years. (During the early 1900's many years after the terrible War between the States our nation was still having trouble healing wounds of that conflict. While it was easy for Union Veterans to gain pension, free bounty land for themselves or the widows to obtain such benefits, it was very difficult for Confederates to receive such benefits. While laws were passed granting Confederate Veterans and widows the same benefits ( first laws of being "politically correct" ) history proves most were denied for unfounded reasons. The political officials maintained the poor attitude that the Union won, thus deserved benefits and the South lost, deserving nothing. Based upon the records and documents used to compile this story there are doubts that Martha Spence Cornwell actually received her approved pension.)