Another Unexpected Find
One of the things I like about research is unexpectedly finding an interesting tale. That’s the case with the Private William Henry R. Baxley story in this post. I was poking around on the internet, trying to locate more of the Fifty-First’s burial places. I came across Baxley’s Find-A-Grave memorial; he’s buried at the Florida State Hospital. That led me to search the Florida Civil War pension records and then census records in North Carolina and Florida. The more I learned about Private Baxley’s life, the more interesting it became. My casual search for gravesites morphed into several hours of research into one soldier’s life. [I never found out what the middle initial ‘R’ stood for.]
The Widow Martha Baxley
Martha Baxley appears in the 1900 census for Cumberland County, North Carolina. She was living in a rented house in Pearces Mill Township with four of her children, all of whom worked at the local cotton mill. She gave her age as 57 years old and reported giving birth to 13 children during her lifetime, nine of whom were still living. Her marital status is listed as “widowed.” But in 1900, her husband, William H. R. Baxley, was alive and well and residing in Florida.
Before the War
William Henry R. Baxley was born on January 12, 1838, in Robeson County. In 1850, he was living on the family farm with his father Elias, mother Nancy and six brothers. Ten years later, William was still at home, but his father had become a merchant near Kenansville. Sometime that year or the next, Baxley married a local girl, Martha McNatt (b. March 1843). In 1861, the couple’s first child, James, was born.
During the War
The couple’s lives were soon interrupted by war. William answered the call to duty and joined the Ashpole True Boys (Co. F, 51st Regiment NCT) on March 10, 1862. Baxley was appointed 3rd Sergeant upon enlistment, but within a few months he was reduced to ranks. In August, Private Baxley was treated at a Wilmington hospital for gonorrhea and catarrhus. After a week in the hospital, he was sent home to recuperate.
Baxley returned to his company before December 1862. During the fight at Goldsboro on December 17, he was severely wounded. A musket ball entered his left side between the third and fourth ribs and lodged against his spine. Doctors initially thought the wound was mortal, but William survived and was furloughed.
During June 1863, Private Baxley was jailed in Wilmington, awaiting court-martial, likely for overstaying his leave. The outcome of the trial is unknown, but William rejoined the regiment in Charleston during July. Shortly after arriving in Charleston, Baxley was hospitalized for an unspecified reason. He returned to the regiment a month later and was present until May 1864.
On May 16, 1864, Baxter was captured during the Battle of Drewry’s Bluff. He was imprisoned at Point Lookout. Later, the Yankees transferred Baxley to Elmira. On May 17, 1865, William Baxley was released from Elmira after taking the Oath of Allegiance, a Yankee ball still buried in his back.
After the War
Baxley returned to Robeson County and took up farming. Despite the pain caused by the Yankee bullet, he and Martha seemed to prosper. They added two more children to the household before 1870. The family continued to grow. The couple had three more children by 1880 and then four more after that. The last child was born in December 1886. But sometime between 1886 and 1900, everything changed for the Baxley’s.
Florida Residency
In the 1900 census (the one where Martha is listed as a widow), William H. Baxley is residing in Calhoun County, Florida as a never-married laborer. He is 62 years old and a native of North Carolina. Definitive proof that this man is Martha’s husband occurs two years later. On October 6, 1902, William H. Baxley applied for a Confederate Soldier’s pension in Washington County, Florida. He listed his unit as Company F, 51st Regiment North Carolina Troops.
William Baxley’s pension application was approved, and he began drawing $120 per year from the State of Florida. He reapplied for his soldier’s pension in 1909, probably because of a change in the state’s pension law. On that application, Baxley states that he has resided in Florida since 1883. Martha’s last child was born in 1886. The discrepancy was either caused by William’s fading memory or by Martha’s indiscretion. Either way, it appears that William Baxley moved to Florida before 1890.
Martha remained in North Carolina and died at Newton Grove on September 27, 1920.
Second Marriage
Shortly after William Baxley applied for a pension, he remarried. He married 42-year-old Lizzie Mercer in Washington County, Florida on October 23, 1902. At the time of the marriage, Lizzie had a son, Thomas Maxwell Baxley, who was born in either 1901 or 1902. [I could not locate a divorce decree for William or Martha Baxley in North Carolina or Florida.]
By 1909, the couple had split up. After Baxley reapplied for his pension, he sent a follow-up letter to Florida’s Comptroller, A. C. Croom. In the letter, Baxley expresses concern that his estranged wife and her family were trying to stop the approval of the application: “…the woman I took for a wife and her treacherous people have threatened to petition to the board to stop the pension since she have left me. I married her at the first of my pension which was about five years ago and our Captain of McMillan Camp is now in a position to endorse any thing for her people as I did not support him in the last election.”
William Dies
William Baxley’s second pension application was approved. But William’s health worsened as he aged, and in May 1911, he applied for admittance to Florida’s Confederate Home. Baxley didn’t stay at the home long. He was adjudged insane and sent to the Florida State Hospital, where he died on July 23, 1912.
Lizzie’s Pension
In 1915, as soon as Lizzie turned 65, she applied for a widow’s pension. Washington County’s clerk of court opposed the application: “… she and her husband had parted, and her husband had sued for Divorce, and before the Court issued a final Decree annullin[g] the Marriage, Baxley was Adjudged Insane and sent to the Asylum; and afterwards Died.” However, without a divorce decree, the pension board had no option but to approve Lizzie’s application. Lizzie drew her pension from July 1915, until she died in 1946.
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