In this episode of America’s Veteran Stories, host Kim Munson welcomes Colonel Bill Rutledge, a 96-year-old retired Air Force officer, who shares the intriguing history of his great-grandfather, Colonel James Welsman Brown. From his beginnings in Charleston, South Carolina, to his pivotal role in the Confederate Army during the Civil War, Colonel Brown’s story is a testament to dedication, bravery, and the complexities of war. Recorded on Father’s Day, this episode highlights how these narratives of courage have shaped the foundations of our modern society.
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World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf War, Afghanistan, and our other wars and conflicts. America’s fighting men and women strapped on their boots and picked up their guns to fight tyranny and stand for liberty. We must never forget them. Welcome to America’s Veteran Stories with Kim Monson. These stories will touch your heart, inspire you, and give you courage. We stand on the shoulders of giants. Here’s Kim Monson.
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Welcome to America’s Veterans Stories with Kim Monson. Be sure and check out our website. That is AmericasVeteranStories.com. And the show comes to you because of a trip that I took in 2016 with a group that accompanied four D-Day veterans to Normandy, France, for the 72nd anniversary of the D-Day landings in World War II. and return stateside realizing that we need to record these stories and broadcast them and archive them, hence America’s veteran stories. Pleased to have on the line with me my friend, and he is 96 years young, and that is Colonel Bill Rutledge, a retired United States Air Force. He has traveled the world. He has a… Deep interest and curiosity in people and places and things and history. And he shares so many different stories with us. And we’re going to talk today about his great grandfather. And we’re doing this on Father’s Day. And so it’s very appropriate. Colonel Rutledge, welcome.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, thank you for the opportunity.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, and we’re going to talk about your grandfather, Colonel James Welsman Brown. So tell us a little bit about Colonel Brown.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, James Welsman Brown was born in July 1840 on South Battery, Charleston, South Carolina. A tradition in many parts of the country and certainly down there. that the middle name was generally the mother’s maiden name so james wellsman his mother’s maiden name was wellsman and he was actually raised by his wellsman grandparents because his mother died when he was rather young so it’s people often wonder why do you have such an odd middle name but that’s That’s tradition in many, many parts of the world, actually, but especially in the South. And since he was living in Charleston, there were actually two colleges there. The College of Charleston is the oldest local college in America. It’s not a university. It was not at that time. It was just the College of Charleston. It was formed in the late 1700s. And the Citadel… was formed and opened in 1842. So he elected to go to the Citadel. So in 1858, he enrolled in the freshman class. And so he had just turned 18 and went there as an undergraduate student for the next three and one half years. During that time, The election of 1860 resulted in Lincoln being elected. And then also the threat of conflict. And one of the reasons being the South claimed control of Fort Sumter, although it was occupied by the Union Army. And in January of 1861, this was before the inauguration, The inauguration didn’t happen until March the 4th, 1861. The Union decided that they needed to provide more provisions and some troop strength to Fort Sumter. So they sent a ship to Charleston, and it was called the Star of the West, and it came in March. Charleston has a narrow gap because of a big bar out in the entrance to the harbor. So it had to wait a little bit in order to come into Fort Sumter. And while it was preparing to come into Fort Sumter, some of the cadets from the Citadel manned an artillery piece and shot towards the ship enough to endanger it and the ship turned around and went back north. So Fort Sumter was not resupplied that spring. And this is all relevant to what was going to transpire later on when, on April 12, 1861, the infamous shots towards Fort Sumter occurred.
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And what else do you know about his time at the Citadel when he was studying there?
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, he was a good student, and he was especially an effective leader. The officer corps, generally speaking, is not selected until people, the cadets, are seniors. That’s true at the Air Force Academy even now, I believe. But they are given ranks. such as corporal, sergeant, and so forth. The senior member of the undergraduate class, this being the junior class, the sergeant major is the senior person. He was selected as the sergeant major for the cadet corps during his junior year, and then he entered his senior year in September 1861. And by that time, things were getting rather hot around Charleston, and the Union Navy had blockaded the port. During that early period, also, there were attempts to run the blockade with ships, and Colonel Brown’s family They owned a cargo ship, and it was loaded with cotton, and they were trying to get it to England. But it was captured by the Union Navy and confiscated. So this was a huge financial loss for the whole family. However, that was not specifically relevant to the fact that by October of 1861— Colonel Brown, who was then a senior cadet, and about 30 other cadets elected to leave the school before they graduated and become officers in the Confederate Army. And he did leave 1st of October and was commissioned a first lieutenant of artillery. He had to go to a training process to… that was way west of Charleston just for protection. But then when he returned to Charleston, he was assigned as a battery commander of the 2nd South Carolina Artillery Regiment.
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Okay, and what happened after that?
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, since he was the most junior officer who had reported there, They moved him from battery to battery, moving him around so that he became familiar with the various guns that were located all around the perimeter of Charleston. Charleston Harbor, during the Civil War, was the most heavily fortified port in the South. And he was assigned to the heavy cannons. These are the ones that are so big. that they don’t have mobility. They’re in place, and they’re in a position to guard against the entrance to the harbor from the sea. That’s their principal reason. However, by becoming an artillery officer, he did know how to work things such as a more mobile, smaller cannon and artillery. even field artillery pieces. So he had a very eclectic life during that time. But in 1862, he was assigned full-time as the artillery officer at Fort Lamar. Fort Lamar was at a place called Secessionville, a very small village. on James Island, which is on the south perimeter of Charleston Harbor. And he had duty there most of the rest of the time that Charleston was in contention in the war, all the way up until February 1865.
SPEAKER 05 :
And so did he spend most of his time during the Civil War right there in Charleston?
SPEAKER 07 :
Yes, until they abandoned Charleston in February 1865. But there were a couple of big occasions that were very relevant. Early in the winter of 62 and 63, General Beauregard— who came from Louisiana and who had commanded forces up at the first battle in Virginia, the Battle of Bull Run or Manassas. He became the harbor commander for Charleston. And Beauregard actually summoned my great-grandfather to come and, briefed him on a Union gunboat that was bothering people all up and down a river that was around the perimeter of Charleston. It was called the Stono. And so there was a gunboat that had come down from New York, and it would go up and down parole, up and down the river and threaten the the flanks of Charleston and also be a nuisance to the farmers and people who had larger plantations along the river. So Beauregard gave him instructions to either capture the ship or sink it. And so what Colonel Brown did, by this time he was a major, and he assembled a detachment of field artillery and infantry. He had three field artillery pieces and a detachment of infantry from one of the Georgia regiments. So what they did, they did during the dark and at night, they took two of the artillery pieces to one side of the river and one separate on the other side. And they made a a triangular pattern, and they set it up with the idea that they were going to wait until the Isaac Smith, which was the name of the gunboat, would get into this triangle, and then they would be able to shoot from these three directions towards the ship. And they did. And what happened was they shot the smokestack down And so even though all the men were aboard, they were down in the cabins below and in the boiler room. But nevertheless, when the smokestack came down, there was so much smoke that was inside, they had to surrender the ship. Wow. So they had the unique experience of being infantry and artillery and way inland capturing a U.S.S. ship of the war. It’s most unusual. When they captured it, then they restored the repairs as necessary, and they renamed it the CSS Stono. They named it for the river, and of course they changed the USS to CSS. And it was used for approximately another year and a half in that same area, but it had, of course, their own One of the problems was they ran aground because there were a lot of places in the harbor that were not deep enough. And so consequently, ultimately, it just sank out there in that area or was scuttled probably. So it wouldn’t be repaired by the Union forces. Okay.
SPEAKER 05 :
Did they ever recover that ship?
SPEAKER 07 :
No, they did not. Interesting. It was not recoverable. Didn’t make much sense. It was just what it really had been. It had been used in the harbor in New York City as a ferry boat. And then they had converted it into what it was with small guns aboard. And that’s when they called them a gunship. And it wasn’t built for combat, but it was used to harass people and to try to control a very limited geographic area.
SPEAKER 05 :
Very interesting. I’m talking with Colonel Bill Rutledge, United States Air Force retired, regarding his great-grandfather, Colonel James Welsman Brown, and his time during the Civil War. And these are important discussions. We have them because of our sponsors, and one of those is Hooters Restaurants. They have five locations, Loveland, Aurora, Lone Tree, Westminster, and Colorado Springs. And great specials for lunch and for happy hour. And so be sure and check that out. We’ll be right back.
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Ah, ah, ah.
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And welcome back to America’s Veterans Stories with Kim Monson. And happy Father’s Day to all of you fathers out there. I’m pleased to have on the line with me Colonel Bill Rutledge, retired United States Air Force. And he’s 96 years young. He’s traveled the world. He has this great curiosity on people and places in history. And on this Father’s Day, we’re talking about his great-grandfather, And that is Colonel James Welsman Brown. And he served on the Confederate side in the Civil War. And so we’re talking about his time around Charleston. And he was involved in a very significant battle, correct, Colonel Rutledge?
SPEAKER 07 :
That’s correct. In the summer of 1863, the fortress that he was defending was one of these earthen fortresses. in Cessationville on James Island. And it was named for Colonel Lamar, who was the commander. Colonel Lamar got malaria, and he died that summer. So then, basically, Colonel Brown moved up, and shortly thereafter, he became promoted from major to lieutenant colonel within two years after he retired. was first commission. People move fast when you’re having casualties. And so the fortress there, even though it was an earthen fortress, this was very common during the Civil War. It was protecting the entrance to Charleston Harbor from the south. And what had happened is that James Island is a long north-south shaped island. And The Union infantry had landed on the southern end of the island and had proceeded north. And there’s a lot of swamp area, so they had to follow a trail that led right up towards Secessionville as the best route to get to Charleston. And they had 6,000 soldiers, and this was mostly infantry but also field artillery. What they did, they planned to attack the fortress with half of their soldiers, 3,000, and then have the other 3,000 in reserve so that they could swing around to the west and try to flank the fortress in case they were needed. So the frontal attack did occur, and it was dead in the middle of the night. I think it was around 2 o’clock in the morning, and the assault was made on the fort. Colonel Brown was in charge of the artillery specifically. He personally was. And it was so dark, and it was a surprise attack. But nevertheless, there were a lot of casualties in the Union force. because of the fortification structure. But they did get close enough that some of them actually cleared the parapet and came into the fort. So there was some hand-to-hand fighting. And then the defenders were able to force those who’d come across the wall back over. And they drifted back because they had a lot of casualties. somewhere in the ballpark of 400 to 500 people that were down, either killed or wounded. And so what happened? And the reserve came in. The reserve came, and instead of going directly on a frontal attack, they turned left and went west. And therefore, they were going to be shooting their artillery into the fort from the west, which was not as well protected. And it looked like they were going to They were going to take the victory. And about that time, a Confederate infantry regiment came to the relief. And what they did, the infantry people flanked the Union people who had flanked the West Wall. So they came and relieved them. And then the Union, extra 3,000 men, they retreated and went south and got out of the way. there were narrow windows of good hard ground. So the whole situation was keyed to control of that particular fortress. So when they went south, the decision was made that it was not practical for them to try to capture that again. And the strategic value was that there never was another single fortress Mass attack against Charleston during the remainder of the war. So it was a very successful defense. And Colonel Brown stayed in command there until really February of 1865. Now, what had happened in 64, of course, Sherman had captured Atlanta. And he had moved all the way to march across Georgia to Savannah. At Christmas 1864, Sherman sent word to Lincoln that he was giving him a Christmas gift of Savannah, Georgia. A little play on words, but it was a fact. They were in control. Now, When they were in Savannah, the people in Charleston were very fearful that he would make a direct attack on Charleston. But instead, what he did, he went to the west and went up to Columbia to capture the state capital. But when he got there and controlled the capital, he had now flanked Charleston. So Charleston was between Charleston his army, and the Navy on the other side. So they recognized that Charleston was no longer defensible. So the Confederates decided they must evacuate. So in February of 1865, they moved all of their military units out. And Colonel Brown’s position had expanded so that not only was he in control of the little operation on Secessionville at Fort Lamar, but also he was controlling the big guns that were around the perimeter of the harbor. So they had to be, what they did, they spiked the guns so they could not be used. They threw all our ammunition into the harbor. And then all the Confederate soldiers and their officers left Charleston and went across the Ashley River Bridge to the mainland because Charleston is on the base of a long perimeter and a long peninsula. So as the troops all went out, Colonel Brown, since he was in ordnance and they knew how to handle ammunition, big ammunition, he and a small detachment from his second South Carolina artillery, they blew the bridge. So the Ashley River Bridge was destroyed. They were the last people across it, and it was to preclude Union soldiers coming across the bridge and following them up into the Carolinas, up into North Carolina.
SPEAKER 05 :
That had to be. Do you have more details on what they did in order to blow that bridge?
SPEAKER 07 :
No, I don’t have a lot of details because the key was, you know, first of all, they’re all wooden bridges in those days. And all it takes is a little bit of gunpowder and the right strategic supporting columns and it’s going to collapse. So basically that’s what they did. They had their men and they had plenty of gunpowder. So they placed it in strategic spots. put a fuse in it just like you see in an old western movie lit the fuse and blew it up and it blew the supporting columns and then everything collapsed into the ashley river the main objective was just stop the flow of troops that might pursue them into the carolina north carolina
SPEAKER 05 :
And so then they’re headed to where after they get across that bridge?
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, their destination ultimately was to join the other various regiments coming mostly from Tennessee. As a matter of fact, it was called the Army of Tennessee. So it was coming south and east to meet them in North Carolina, in the southern part of North Carolina. So… What happened was, even though there were second South Carolina artillery, they didn’t have any artillery anymore. Well, they retained their name, but they were all issued rifles. And they said specifically that these were rifles from Europe. So the rifle is different from this. The muskets, in other words, they were breech-loading guns, so they were more powerful and more accurate. But unfortunately, these fellows had been trained for artillery, so they never had any combat experience using rifles. So this was a tremendous change. But nevertheless, they marched on. And on a side note, At the time that they were going north, Colonel Brown had a neighbor, and he inquired, he says, do you have a horse? And Colonel Brown said, no, I don’t have a horse. He said, well, if you’re going to be leading these infantrymen, you need a horse, so you can borrow my horse. So he loaned him his saddle horse, and he used it to go up north. for the next three months until after the war was over, and then he brought the horse back to Charleston and gave it back to his friend. Wow. And while they were going north, then he started maintaining a daily log that he kept in his little book in his pocket. And so it was a diary, but it was an end-of-day summation of what had transpired that particular day with their military unit as they went forward. And it is about four typed pages long. Remembering now it was a very small booklet, and so therefore it was a compilation of all of the information that was kept in his pocket. And when I saw it when I was very young, It was all done in pencil, and so therefore it had faded in a few places and rubbed some and gotten some moisture there. So there were a few words that weren’t included in there, but almost everything was logical and practical. And it was talking about their progress as a unit, how far they marched that day, where their next destination, like one of their early destinations was Sumter, South Carolina. And they were hopeful in some cases to get some relief by being able to use some railroads to give them some service. But that wasn’t possible. It didn’t work out. There were too many people coming from too many directions and not enough railroad. So they had to march. And so they marched for many days to get to the border of South Carolina and North Carolina. And there they joined with the rest of the Army of Tennessee. And they were moving northwards toward Bentonville, which is south and east of I-25 now. And I-95, I got the wrong one. So anyhow, they were moving in that direction because the concept was they wanted to halt the Union progress, it was coming north. Now Sherman made a move which is unusual. He divided his force. He divided it in half and he sent the right flank over to fade over into North Carolina towards the east side of the state over towards the ocean. Well, the only chance the Army of Tennessee had against such a massive force that was coming was to try to hit the right flank. And what they did, they honed in.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, let’s go to break. Leave that as our cliffhanger, Colonel Bill Rutledge. And I did want to mention the Center for American Values located in Pueblo. And they are nonpolitical, nonpartisan, just focused on these foundational principles of honor, integrity, and patriotism. And that plays out in their K-12 educational programs, their On Values presentations, and also their great portraits of valor of our Medal of Honor recipients. That website is AmericanValueCenter.org. That’s AmericanValueCenter.org. We will be right back.
SPEAKER 01 :
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SPEAKER 05 :
That I love and his name is Colonel James Welsman Brown. And before we went to break, Colonel Rutledge, you said that Sherman had done something unique, that he had divided his forces. And so Colonel Brown and company, they had some decisions to make, yes?
SPEAKER 07 :
Yes. The commander of the Army of Tennessee decided that Their only option was to try to defeat the right flank of Sherman’s army and to do it when they’re separated enough to give their chance to win a battle. It was a very slim chance, but they hoped. So they actually converged, and they met on the battlefield in a place that’s called Bentonville. North Carolina, and as I mentioned, it’s really just a little bit to the east of I-95 in North Carolina in the southern part of the state. And the first day, it seemed to be sort of a stalemate. They had halted the progress of the right flank of the Union Army, but the Union Army was much stronger. And during that first day also, the commander of the brigade that the 2nd South Carolina Artillery had been attached to was General Elliott. And General Elliott was wounded, so he had to be relieved of command. And Colonel Brown was the next senior officer, although he was a lieutenant colonel. He was a senior lieutenant colonel within their brigade. So he became the active brigade commander, which would normally be called a brevet brigadier. So he’s 24 years old, and he’s now commanding a brigade of mixed artillery and infantry against the strongest army in the country. And so the second day, it was obvious they weren’t going to be able to hold. So they gradually withdrew and withdrew towards the north. And meanwhile, Sherman realized that tactically he had to reunite his forces. So they were moving back. They were moving from Columbia back east to join up with his right flank. which meant the Army of Tennessee had no chance. So they moved and kept moving north. One of the real interesting aspects is it, now we’re talking about in April 1845, 1865. So they arrived in Raleigh on a Saturday evening, and the governor said, decided to come give them a big speech on Sunday. So they had a parade in Raleigh. It was really odd. I mean, they’ve been beaten in battle, but they have a full military parade. And the city got people together, and they had like an outdoor picnic for the soldiers because they hadn’t had very good food or very much of it in a long time. So it was like a festive day, which is unusual for an army that’s just been beaten in the field, and it has no chance at all. But he wrote in his little book that it was a beautiful day, and they had a marvelous time, and all the soldiers enjoyed the event. And that was one of the largest things he had. Now, the biggest entry in his book was all about the two days and the fighting. But that was just back and forth between various units. And he said that even though his men were not infantry, that they did a very good job. Now, casualties were pretty steep. But he was talking about the fact that they stood there. And they gave their best. And then… After they were at Raleigh, shortly thereafter, the general who was in command, General Johnson, of the Army of Tennessee, he conferred with Sherman. And they agreed to have a surrender of the forces. And Sherman was being very benevolent. He was very considerate. And he made provisions which were later revoked. by Congress. They thought he’d been too liberal. But nevertheless, he arranged that they would actually win the thing, the South would surrender their forces there. Meanwhile, while this was all going on down in North Carolina, Lee had been moving his forces over towards Danville, that was Lee’s objective, was to get to Danville, Virginia, with hope of connecting with the Army of Tennessee. These had been long-range plans. Well, what happened in the meantime, Lee got surrounded, and he had to surrender on April the 12th. And so he did surrender there, and then the word got back down to the Army of Tennessee, and they recognized no chance, zero chance. So they right away started negotiating with Sherman to surrender their forces, which they did. And in my grandfather’s journal, the last entry in his whole book was Lee’s address to his troops when they surrendered. And then he had an opportunity because General Grant was very magnanimous, felt it was appropriate. So Lee assembled all of his troops when he surrendered them, but he addressed them. Again, a very traditional thing for the senior officer to do.
SPEAKER 05 :
And now’s probably a pretty good time to share that because the next segment we’ll talk about after the war. So do you want to share that with our listeners?
SPEAKER 07 :
Yes. It’s a small letter. I’ll try to read it and see how far we can go. It says Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia, April 16, 1865. After four years of arduous service marked by unsurpassed courage and fortitude, the Army of Northern Virginia has been compelled to yield to overwhelming numbers and resources. I need not tell the brave survivors of so many hard-fought battles who have remained steadfast to the last, that I have consented to this result, from no distrust of them, but feeling that valor and devotion could accomplish nothing that could compensate for the losses that would attend the continuation of this contest. I determined to avoid the useless sacrifice of those whose past service have endeared them to their country and to me. Paragraph. By the terms of agreement, officers and men can return to their homes and thus remain until exchanged. You will take with you the satisfaction which proceeds from duty well performed. And I only pray that a merciful God… will extend to you his protection and blessings with an increased admiration of your constancy and devotion to your country and a grateful remembrance of your kind and generous consideration for myself. I bid you an affectionate farewell. Signed, Robert E. Lee
SPEAKER 05 :
Wow. And that was, do you have your great-grandfather’s journal? Can you hear? Do you have your great-grandfather’s journal, Colonel Rutledge?
SPEAKER 07 :
This was the last entry in his journal.
SPEAKER 05 :
And you’ve got that, so that’s pretty amazing.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, I have seen it, and I extracted all that information directly from there and said that there may be, because of some smudging and things, there may be a word or two that might be misspelled. So we tried to make it as clear and as accurate as possible. And did your grandfather write that out? Well, what happened was, of course, they had transmitted Lee’s address directly down to General Johnson. And when he got it, he shared it with his officers in the Army of Tennessee. And it was so impressive to the officers there that my grandfather wrote it down. That was the last entry in his book.
SPEAKER 05 :
That is really, really fascinating. And anything else about the end of the war before we go to break?
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, yes. When the war ended, General Johnson had to divide different things which were common property of the units. And so what they did, they made out formulas based upon the rank of the people. And so Colonel Brown inherited two mules and a wagon and… And, of course, the horse he was on was his, anyhow, his friend’s horse. So I presume he took the mules with him and the wagon on his return to Charleston because everybody was going back home. And most of the people in the 2nd South Carolina Artillery were Charlestonians. But they had been there to defend their hometown. And so it was a slow progression as they all had to walk home. So they’re walking from north central North Carolina all the way back to Charleston. So it took them a couple of weeks and they had very short notations in there. Every once in a while, he’d make a comment that would be rather personal. Like today, I wrote a letter to so-and-so who was a friend of theirs. or a member of their family. And one of the other entries there, he was talking about that as they were approaching Charleston, that he had asked one of his men to take the horse back to his neighbor, who had loaned him his personal horse to be used during the campaign. So it was rather lengthy, but it was just… what you or I might do if we were riding along on a trip in America, and at the end of the day we’d sit down and write a little one- or two-line summary of weather transpired that day.
SPEAKER 05 :
Wow, really fascinating. And we’ll find out what happened then after the war to Colonel James Welsman Brown. So we’ll go to break, and then when we come back, we’ll find out what happened after the war. But did want to mention the USMC Memorial Foundation. They are raising money for the remodel of the Marine Memorial, which is located out at 6th and Colfax. It was dedicated in 1977. So it’s time for a facelift, and Paula Sarals and team, working on that. More information, usmcmemorialfoundation.org. That’s usmcmemorialfoundation.org. We’ll be right back.
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SPEAKER 08 :
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From the mountains to the prairies to the oceans.
SPEAKER 05 :
And welcome back to America’s Veterans Stories with Kim Monson. Be sure and check out our website. That is AmericasVeteransStories.com. And happy Father’s Day to all of you fathers out there. And I’m talking with Colonel Bill Rutledge, a retired United States Air Force. He’s 96 years young. He’s traveled the world and has a great curiosity on history and people and places. And he shares many great stories with us. And I really am grateful for that. Colonel Rutledge, we’re talking about your great-grandfather, Colonel James Welsman Brown, and the Civil War is over. He’s trekked back to Charleston, his hometown. What happens after that?
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, while he’s en route back home, General Anderson, who was the commander of his unit at that time, and he was a commander of of a large brigade, and he gave what’s called a terminal promotion. So he was promoted from lieutenant colonel to full colonel. This was done also in World War II. The key normally was if you’re a major but you’re eligible to be promoted to lieutenant colonel, you can be promoted even though the war is over. And this is called a terminal assignment. And that was very common. So this was my first exposure. So I have the paper in my files where he was actually appointed as a full colonel in the Confederate Army as they departed for home. So he got back to Charleston, and he had got to know several of his officer friends from Georgia. So one of them invited him to come over with him and visit there. And as I recall, he probably had this sister. But anyhow, her maiden name was Davis. And there was always speculation, was she kin to Jefferson Davis? And we never had any documentation one way or another. But nevertheless, they became engaged and they got married and Columbus, Georgia, which is over on the west side, almost in Alabama. So they were married. And then his grandfather gave him money to buy what was called a half plantation. And it was over in Taylor County, which is near Macon, Georgia. It was west of the the river that divides there, the counties there. And so he built a house there and was married, and they had six children. They had five girls and one boy, one son who was a junior. The son didn’t last very long. He died as a young man. But they were over there in position in the late 1800s, 1860s so they made their home there and they were there for almost 15 years and during that interim period we had the reconstruction program throughout the south the election of 1876 was going to determine whether reconstruction was going to continue or not there was an agreement made with the electoral votes from Florida. They were the last ones to cast their votes. And they agreed that they would support the Republican nomination or the candidate because he had agreed that he would stop and he would halt the reconstruction and would return political autonomy to the southern states and to their citizens, many of whom were denied voting rights as a result of the Civil War. So that happened. And when that did happen, then the South hoped to regain some of their property. In Charleston, the key property there was the Citadel, where my grandfather had been a student. And that Citadel had become the headquarters for the occupying Union forces. So in 1877, a special committee was formed. It was called the Committee of Correspondence in Charleston, and it was designed to prepare a petition that would be sent to Washington requesting the return of the citadel property. So it could be used, again, as a school. And it had to go through the governor of South Carolina’s office, who was retired, also Confederate general. And then it went on to Washington. Well, the petition, unfortunately, asked for not only the return of the property, they wanted to return… like rental rates for 10 years because it had been occupied by the Union Army. Well, that didn’t ride well in Washington at all, so they rejected that. So they had to start and have a series of other requests. So the long and the short of it was the effort started in 1877, but they finally gained control back. by a continuation of correspondence in 1882. In the fall of 1882, the Citadel was reopened and has continued since that date as the Military College of South Carolina.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay. Fascinating regarding your great-grandfather. We’ve got a couple of minutes left. How would you like to button this up, Colonel Rutledge?
SPEAKER 07 :
Okay. This was done, of course, while he was still what they called a planter in central Georgia. And as the children were getting a little bit older, his wife wanted to move closer to a large city for the education of the children. So they moved to Marietta, just north of Atlanta. And the irony was that Within three months after they arrived in Marietta, she came down with typhoid fever, which is a waterborne disease, and they didn’t know where it came from in those days. And she died. So she died, and she leaves a husband in his early 40s with six children. And then he was very fortunate to find… A lady who had not been married because most so many of the eligible people for her and her generation and her educational background were killed during the war or were married. So she had never been married. So they married and she immediately took the responsibility of raising six children. And my grandmother died. was five years old when this happened. So this was in about 1880, 81. And she always looked at her as her real mother because she was only five when this all occurred, when her mother died. And the youngest child was only two. So my aunt, she never knew anyone else except the adopted mother. And she proved to be a wonderful lady, And they all considered her to be their mother. And this went real well until he was 52 when he contracted tuberculosis, and he died. Wow. So he dies, and she’s still the mother for six children, but no longer are they children. Now the youngest one was 15. Okay. And my grandmother was 17. Wow. And then she had three older siblings. Okay. No, four. Four older. Okay. And three of them, two of them married brothers from Georgia.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 07 :
Twin brothers. And a third girl went with them, and she was not married at the time. Okay. And they were sooners. They went to Oklahoma when it opened up. Okay. And they’re still out there.
SPEAKER 05 :
Oh, my gosh. Well, we’re out of time, Colonel Rutledge. Thank you so much for sharing this story of your grandfather, Colonel James Welsman Brown. And again, happy Father’s Day to all of you out there. We indeed stand on the shoulders of giants. God bless you and God bless America.
SPEAKER 10 :
Thank you for listening to America’s Veteran Stories with Kim Monson. Be sure to tune in again next Sunday, 3 to 4 p.m. here on KLZ 560 and KLZ 100.7.
SPEAKER 02 :
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