Tennessee Valley Civil War Round Table

Three Things I've Learned (with Ryan Quint and Sam Flowers) The ugly truth behind the “polite” behavior of “gentleman” in the Antebellum South. The power of rifled artillery against masonry forts. The statues in the U...

William E. Maurey was born to Adam and Susan Culp Maurey in Gettysburg, PA, on November 22, 1828, the second of eight children. His father was a stone mason and officer in the local militia. The 1850 Census listed Maurey, aged twenty-one, working as a lace weaver and living with his widowed mother and two siblings in Gettysburg. He married Sarah J. Clippinger sometime in the early 1850s, but his matrimony was short-lived; she gave birth to a daughter on July 4, 1855, but died two weeks later, followed by the child the very next day. Their shared headstone at Evergreen Cemetery was later damaged by artillery fire during the Battle of Gettysburg.

Maurey moved to Springfield, TN following this tragedy and married a local girl named Susan D. Persise on February 19, 1860. He worked as a “brick mason,” a trade he likely learned from his father. His second marriage produced one son, James Maurey, born on December 14, 1860.

William enlisted as a private in Company C, 49th Tennessee Infantry on November 23, 1861 at Springfield, TN and mustered into Confederate service on November 30, 1861, at which time he began keeping a war diary. The regiment received marching orders for Fort Donelson, TN, on December 6, 1861 and departed by rail via Nashville three days later, arriving there on December 10, 1861. Maurey noted, “it has nothing to prepossess a man favorably, unless wind is a recommendation.” He was captured along with the entire garrison on February 16, 1862. Maurey and other enlisted men were imprisoned at Camp Douglas until paroled at Vicksburg, MS, on September 26, 1862. Maurey was promoted to 1st sergeant on Christmas day 1862.

The 49th, Tennessee along with the rest of Quarles’ Brigade, was assigned to the Army of Tennessee in November 1863, arriving after the Battle of Missionary Ridge and falling back with the rest of the army to Dalton, GA. On April 12, 1864, men of Quarles' Brigade established the Christian Association of the 49th Tennessee Infantry and Maurey served as Vice President, part of a wider trend of religious revivals that swept through the Army of Tennessee during the winter of 1863-64. He was wounded in the right foot at the battle of Ezra Church on July 28, 1864, but recovered in time to accompany the army into Middle Tennessee.

William E. Maurey was killed at Franklin assaulting the federal works with Quarles’ Brigade of Walthall’s Division on the eastern flank of the battlefield. His young widow brought his body home sometime after the battle to rest at Cheatham Park in Springfield, TN, until that cemetery was closed and he was moved to his current location at Elmwood Cemetery in Springfield, TN.

Maurey’s second cousin, John Wesley Culp, was killed at Gettysburg on July 2, 1863 serving with the 2nd Virginia Infantry on Culp’s Hill––his uncle’s property. Another cousin, John W. Culp’s brother, William E. Culp, served in the opposing army with the 87th Pennsylvania Infantry and survived the war.

A Sultana Survivor Remembers the Disaster On April 26, 1865, on a wharf at Helena, Ark., photographer Thomas ...

One last reminder: Today at 1 PM Central Time, be sure to watch C-SPAN's American History TV seen on C-SPAN2 as they will be airing a presentation on Thaddeus Lowe given by our past president, Dr. Cheryl McAuley. We aren't able to tell you the channel number because that will depend upon which cable provider you are a subscriber. For more information, click here: https://www.c-span.org/event/the-civil-war/aeronaut-thaddeus-lowe/439307?fbclid=IwY2xjawSH5yRleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETJncGt0OVAzYXdrYnVqeEc5c3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHq0LYwkLWkRxF4YjEYhgnwNXAdmikKTT4wnB5RGSR3JeFTLeJutLWEj2uJGA_aem_h0zbeyuglE8u6aQrFHj6YQ

This Civil War book is on sale for $2.99 for a limited time from Barnes & Noble, available for download to your digital reader.

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Thank you to Bernie Biederman for leading our study of the Battle of Perryville over the past two months during our Little Round Table Discussion Group. His deep research and enthusiasm for the subject was very evident. If you would like to read Bernie's notes for these two LRT sessions, you can do that now under the "Nooks & Crannies" section under the "Education" tab on our website tvcwrt.org, or by clicking this link: https://tvcwrt.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Battle-of-Perryville.pdf.

Another short video to prepare you for our Little Round Table Discussion on the Battle of Perryville tonight at 6:30 inside the Huntsville Elks Lodge, 725 Franklin. A display of some artifacts related to the battle, including a few from a guy born here in Huntsville, John Hunt Morgan.

Actor Steve Zahn Examines Civil War Artifacts at Perryville The American Battlefield Trust travels to the Perryville Battlefield in Kentucky to check out some Civil War artifacts with actor Steve Zahn. Joan Lee House ...

May 28 1864 (Saturday)

Robert E. Lee concentrates his army near Atlee’s Station, on the Virginia Central Railroad south of Totopotomoy Creek. He reports: "As far as I can ascertain none of the enemy have advanced south of that creek. I believe that he is assembling his army behind it. Fitz. Lee's division of cavalry engaged the enemy's cavalry near Haw's Shop about noon today and drove them back upon their infantry, which prisoners stated to be the Fifth and Sixth Corps. I have not, however, received very definite information as yet either as regards their positions or numbers." When Richard S. Ewell suffers from a “severe attack of diarrhea,” Jubal Early takes over as temporary commander of his corps. Ewell reports: "I rode in an ambulance to Mechanicsville, remaining in my tent." After Ewell departs, George Pickett announces the arrival of his division, worn out after its march from Richmond: "The men are calling loudly for bread…. We must get something, or the division will be worse than useless."

Report of Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock, U.S. Army, commanding Second Army Corps.
On the 28th, at 5.30 a.m., we broke camp, crossing the Pamunkey about 4 (?) miles above Hanovertown at 12.30 p.m., and taking position on the left of the Sixth Corps, the right near Pollard's house, prolonging the line toward Haw's Church. Communication was established during the afternoon with the Fifth Corps, which had crossed at Hanovertown, but an actual junction was not effected. The cavalry was heavily engaged in my front during the afternoon.... am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
WINF'D S. HANCOCK, Major-General of Volunteers.