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- !Listed in the 1860 census of Mercer County, VA. Liste d i n the 1880 census of Wilson County, Tallyrand Twp., K S (1880 KS Soundex, ED-179 , Sheet-11)
!He enlisted at White Sulphur, VA on 10 Aug 1861 in Co . I , 60th Reg't of VA Vol., CSA. He was discharged on a s urgeons certificate 1 M ar 1862 after receiving treatment i n an army hospital at McPhersonville , SC. Confederate mili tary records reveal that James also served as Capt. an d Ma jor in Co. K, 34th Battalion of VA Cavalry, at least, fro m 1 Feb 1864 thr ough the end of the Civil War. He was par oled by the Union Army at Charleston , WV on 3 Jun 1865. O f particular interest is that all four of the sons of Mar t in and Nancy (Meador) Swinney served in the Confederate A rmy and they al l survived the war. Three of the brothers m arried Peters sisters. An older bro ther of James nameed G reen Meador Swinney also served in Co. K, 34 VA Cav . Gree n was on a list of prisoners of war in May 1865 and was als o paroled f rom Charleston on 6 May 1865 with the rank of S gt. Green also moved to Wilso n County, KS after the Civi l War, then later moved to Oregon. The two younger Swi nne y brothers, Martin Newton, Jr. and William Johnson Swinne y both enliste d, from Mercer County, VA on 30 July 1862 i n Capt. Gore's Co. D, 17th VA C av. for "three years or th e war." Martin was discharged "for disability" on 1 4 Ma y 1863, but William Johnson served through Dec 1864 and par ticipated i n several battles. They both remained in Mercer , now Summers County, after th e war. Both the 17th and 34 th VA Cav. were in many battles and skirmishes includ ing : Gettysburg in July 1863 and those in the Shenandoah Valle y in Western V A including: Cloyd's Mountain in May 1864 , the Lynchburg Campaign in June 1864 , Monancy in July 186 4, 3rd Winchester and Fisher's Hill in Sept. 1864 and Ge n . Phil Sheridan's rout of the Confederate Forces at Cedar C reek in October 18 64. Gen. Jubal Early commanded the Confe derate Army during the Valley camp aign in which the 17th a nd 34th Cav. troops "were poorly fed, poorly armed, s eldo m paid and almost always fought against overwhelming odds. " On the th ird and final day at the battle of Gettysbur g on 3 July 1865, the 17th and 34t h Cav., among others, we re under the command of Gen. Albert Jenkins who was subor d inate to Gen. J.E.B. Stuart and placed on the far left flan k of Lee's arm y. The brigade in which they were a part fou ght in the open fields northeas t of Culp's Hill and nort h of the Hanover Road between the Rummel and Lott's far m . Gen. Stuart's objective was to attack the rear of Gen. Me ade's Union Arm y on Cemetery Ridge while Gen. Pickett le d the Confederate Infantry against th e Union's front. Th e Union Cavalry was successful in stopping Stuart, thank s i n large measure to Gen. G. A. Custer's repeated charge s while leading the Mich igan Cavalry Brigade. The monumen t to this fighting is located about th ree miles east of th e main Gettysburg Battlefield. In 1867/1868 the family move d from West Virginia to Missour i for a year or two and the n on to Wilson County, Kansas in 1870. James homest eade d about two miles northeast of LaFontaine, Kansas. He wa s a farmer an d a minister of the Primitive Baptist Churc h and officiated at many marriages o f record in Wilson Cou nty, Kansas. James was appointed the first postmaste r o f LaFontaine in March 1879. In 1887 he owned and opera ted a hotel in LaFon taine until the hotel was destroyed b y fire in 1908. In Feb 1909 James bou ght a farm in northe rn Montgomery County where they lived until their dea ths . (Wilson County History, 1988; copied from USGenWeb, Wilso n County, KS Digi tal Archives; July 1998; authored by Bil l Bentley)
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