The
Unfortunate Captain Austin
by Dave Untener
It was a dark and
stormy night…. Well, it might not
have been, but it certainly would have
seemed so to Union Captain George Austin.
He had just won a lottery, and the prize
was his execution! This is a story about
one of our Austin ancestors and how he
was involved in a National incident during
the Civil War. An incident that involved
the Secretaries of War for the Union
and Confederacy, General Robert E. Lee,
Union General George McClellan, and the
Virginia Confederate House of Delegates.
Our story begins
two months after the start of the Civil
War. In June of 1861, a volunteer regiment
was formed at Camp Clay, Pendleton, Ohio,
to fight for the Union. Although consisting
primarily of Ohio recruits, it was led
by Kentucky officers, and became the
2nd Kentucky Infantry Volunteers. Our
George Austin was a Captain, and the
leader of Company B of this unit.
Their first campaign
against Confederate forces started July
13 in Virginia around the towns of Barboursville
and Scarytown. On 17 July 1861, the regiment
engaged Confederate forces led by Captain
Jenkins. During the battle, the Union
regimental commander Col. Woodruff, his
assistant Lt. Col. George W. Neff and
our Capt. George Austin were captured
and taken prisoner. They were ultimately
confined at the Confederate Columbia
Jail, Columbia, South Carolina. While
Captain Austin sat in prison feeding
birds, events were taking place that
would put his life in greater peril.
The Virginia State
Rangers of the Confederacy were authorized
by an act of the Virginia General Assembly.
These were civilian or partisan units,
loosely sponsored by the Confederate
Government, whose purpose was to harass
Union forces using guerrilla tactics.
Their leaders were given blank commissions,
which were completed by the guerrillas
to prove they were soldiers in case they
were captured. Some Ranger groups were
very effective soldiers, while some became
common criminals, robbing friend and
foe alike. Just how bad was it? You have
some idea when Confederate General Henry
Heath characterized one of the groups
as “an outlaw band that robbed
and plundered.”
The leaders of two
of these Ranger Companies, Captains John
L. Spriggs and Marshall Triplett were
captured by Union forces; considered
outlaws, not soldiers; and were sentenced
to be hanged as felons. The Confederacy
would simply not allow these soldiers,
official or otherwise, to be treated
as criminals. The story of what happens
next is set forth in a series of letters
that are published in “The War
of the Rebellion - A Compilation of Union
and Confederate Armies.”
It starts with a
January 4, 1862, letter from Capt. Austin’s
commander Col. Woodruff indicating that
he, his assistant Neff and Austin were
being held as hostages for the privateers
Triplett and Spriggs. In a February letter
Woodruff said:
“We are
treated as felons, humiliated, degraded,
yet
no steps have been taken as we are
aware to relieve us from the mortification
and suffering we have been compelled
to endure. As long as the privateers
are held otherwise as prisoners of
war
there can be no possible chance for
our release.”
It was at this point
that things started to go downhill for
our Captain. Having no appropriate answer
from the Union, which was still planning
to hang Triplett and Spriggs, the Head
of the Confederate Prisons ordered a
lottery be held to select two Union Captains
who would be hanged if the Union carried
out the sentences against the Rangers.
Our Captain George Austin and a Captain
Timothy O’Meara, of the New York
State Volunteers were the unlucky winners
of the lottery. General Robert E. Lee
then wrote to Major General McClellan
of the Union Army:
“GENERAL:
I am directed by the Secretary of War
to state that having been informed of
the capture of Captains Spriggs and Triplett,
of the Ranger Service of the State of
Virginia, and of their intended execution
by order of the United States Government,
he has caused lots to be drawn from among
US officers detained as prisoners of
war for the purpose of selecting subjects
for retaliation, and the that lots have
fallen upon Captain George Austin and
Captain Timothy O’Meara.”
“It is the
desire of the Confederate Government
to conduct this war in conformity to
the usages of Christian and civilized
nations, but should he have been correctly
informed and should Captains Spriggs
and Triplett be executed, retaliation
will be made on Captains Austin and O’Meara.
This course will be demanded by due
regard for the citizens of the Confederate
States
and will be unhesitatingly though
reluctantly pursued.”
“Not being
certain of the correctness of the
report no change has been made in the
treatment
of the hostages, and I shall be very
happy to learn that the report is
without foundation.”
While we do not
have the reply, the records of the Virginia
Confederate House of Delegates show a
letter from the Confederate Secretary
of War dated October 1862 that says, “Hearing
some time ago from Gov. Letcher, of the
reported intention of the enemy to treat
Captains Sprigg and Triplett as felons,
the department caused two hostages to
be set aside from the commissioned officers
of the enemy, and informed General McClellan,
through General Lee, that they would
be treated in all respects as the United
States government treated Captains Sprigg
and Triplett. General McClellan referred
the letter to his government, and afterwards
informed General Lee that Captains Sprigg
and Triplett would be treated as prisoners
of war.”
In September of
1862, records show that Captain George
Austin was exchanged as a prisoner of
war. This is all we know about George
Austin. We can guess, however, that he
probably stayed away from lotteries for
the rest of his life!
Initial
research in the Cincinnati Public Library
and the Allen County Public Library
in Ft. Wayne, Indiana was done by Jim
Carlin
|
