Martin Van Buren Parish

His father died when he was 3 years old, and in 1860 he was an unmarried 20 year old farmer living with his mother, 6 siblings and half-siblings, and 6 slaves on his step-father Peter Taylor's plantation at Rockdale/Wedowee in Randolph County, AL. He enlisted in Montgomery, AL on 26 July 1861 and mustered as a Private in Company K of the 13th Alabama Infantry.

He was with his company in action at Turner's Gap on South Mountain on 14 September and was captured there.

He was on furlough for 30 days in February 1863. He was captured again, at Gettysburg, PA on 4 July 1863.

He was a prisoner at Fort Delaware from 6 to 15 July 1863, when he took an oath of allegiance and enlisted for United States service as a Corporal in Captain G.H. Ahl's Battery, (1st) Delaware Heavy Artillery. Composed almost entirely of former Confederates, they served in garrison and guard duty at Fort Delaware through the war. In February 1865 he was detailed to guard prisoners in transit to Fortress Monroe, VA for exchange, and he mustered out with his battery on 25 July 1865.

By 1870 and to at least 1900 he was a farmer at Belton/Holland in Bell County, TX. He'd retired there by 1910 and was living with his daughter Ida Bell [Cargill] and her family in Bell County by 1920 and to at least 1930.

His service from his Confederate1 and Union2 Compiled Service Records online from fold3, and the Alabama Archives.3 Personal details from family genealogists and the US Census of 1860-1930. His gravesite is on Findagrave.

He married Caroline McBurnett (1838-1913) in October 1866 and they had 5 children; 4 sons and one daughter, in that order.

01/31/1842; Randolph County, AL

04/09/1933; burial in Dallas Cemetery, Bell County, TX