Robert Harrison Allen

In 1860 he was a 19 year old clerk living with his parents and siblings on the family farm in Tishomingo County, MS. He enrolled on 6 May 1861 at Baldwyn, MS and mustered there as 2nd Lieutenant of Company K, 19th Mississippi Infantry on 26 May 1861. He was promoted to First Lieutenant on 10 April 1862 and wounded at Williamsburg, VA on 5 May 1862. He was wounded again, in action near Richmond, VA in late June. He was appointed Adjutant of the regiment on 1 August (to date from 22 June).

He was wounded for the third time, in the arm in action at Sharpsburg on 17 September 1862.

He was absent, recovering, to at least 9 February 1863, when he was appointed Captain and Assistant Quartermaster of the 12th Mississippi Infantry (seen as 12th MS Battalion, a unit not found in the records).

It's not clear that he ever joined his new unit, as he was captured at Tupelo or Saltillo, MS on 6 or 7 May 1863, briefly held in Memphis, TN, then sent to the military prison at Alton, IL. He was transferred to Johnson's Island near Sandusky, OH on 18 June and then to Baltimore on 9 February 1864. He was exchanged at Point Lookout, MD on 3 March 1864 but was dropped from the rolls of the 12th Infantry on 11 April 1864 with no later military record.

By 1870 and to at least 1880 he was a successful dry goods merchant at Guntown in Lee County, MS.

His service from his Compiled Service Records,1 online from fold3. Personal details from family genealogists and the US Census of 1860-1880. His gravesite is on Findagrave.

He married Martha Feemaster "Mattie" Clayton (1841-1924) and they had 6 children between 1867 and 1883.

02/24/1840; Tishomingo County, MS

11/09/1895; in MS; burial in Baldwyn Masonic Cemetery, Baldwyn, MS