Francis Marion
Poteet
Francis Marion Poteet
died at Mooresboro, Cleveland County, NC,
April 3, 1902, eight hours after the
death of his wife of fifty-four years.
Those years together encompassed perhaps
the most difficult events any people ever
had to endure; the terrible Civil War and
the Reconstruction period that followed.
That they both lived to exceed the
biblical "three score and ten"
in spite of their life experiences is a
miracle that must be attributed to the
grace of God, rather than to their
pioneer hardiness.
Francis
was born February 3, 1827, in Burke
County, NC, in an area that was later to
become part of McDowell County. He was
the son of John Poteet, Jr. and Susanna
Brittain. His brothers were Joseph,
Henry, Peter, Elisha, Sidney Ervin, James
Rufus, and George Dickson Poteet. He had
one sister, Jemima. Martha was the
daughter of Henry Henley and Anna Amy
Jenkins. Her brothers were James Thomas,
Alvis, William and Pinckney Henley, and
her sisters were Lavina , Mary, Sarah,
Henrietta, and Laura Henley.
Francis
was a farmer, a carpenter and a miller.
He married Martha Henley September 25,
1847, in McDowell County, NC. He was 20
years old and she was 21. They had the
following children: Mary Elizabeth,
Thomas, Alvis, Amy Jane, Rufina Celena,
Susannah, Julia, George Pinkney, Frances
Emer, Martha, Derotha Ida, and Isabelle.
The family lived in the Dysartsville area
of McDowell County prior to the beginning
of the Civil War.
Francis
was working as a miller at the time of
his being conscripted into the
Confederate Army October 2, 1863, in
Company A, 49th Regiment, North Carolina
Troops, as a private. Military records
show that the enlisting officer was a
Captain McRae in McDowell County, NC.
Francis was 36 years of age. The
enlistment was for "3 years or the
duration of the war". His unit, at
various times, was at Weldon, NC,
Kinston, NC, Petersburg, Virginia, and
other spots in North Carolina and
Virginia. In letters to his wife, Martha,
he told of many hardships he and his
comrades had to endure, including short
rations, extreme fatigue, inadequate
medical care, no pay and the horrors of
combat. Martha was having a difficult
time back home. She had to deal with
providing for herself and their children,
nursing them through sicknesses (2 died
while Francis was away), having to
contend with those who tried to cheat
her, and thieves who crept in and stole
crops from the fields and provisions from
her storehouse during the dark of night.
Records
reveal that Francis made an unauthorized
visit home, going AWOL December 1, 1863
from his company’s encampment at
Weldon, NC. He was arrested January 27,
1864 and was tried for his offense and
confined in the Guard House, referred to
as Prison "Castle Thunder", a
name apparently bestowed upon that place
by the soldiers who were imprisoned
there. A letter from Martha to Francis,
dated January 21, 1864 explains why
Francis made that unauthorized visit. She
wrote, "It is just one month today
since our little son died, and I
don’t think they ought to blame you
for coming home to see him die".
This was their son Alvis, who died
December 21, 1863. Alvis was only 13.
Martha
also revealed in her letter that Francis
returned from his absence of his own free
will, saying, "I thought when a man
went back within themselves they did not
put them in the guard house, but George
Taylor told he tuck you up and is to get
thirty dollars of your wages and I expect
that is the reason of you being
punished". His punishment, 120 days
of confinement, was severe enough, but
could have been much worse. Bell Irvin
Wiley, in his Civil War Classic The
Life of Johnny Reb,
quotes the Assistant Secretary of War as
saying that at this time, after
Gettysburg and other losses during the
last half of 1863, that the number of
soldiers evading service by devious
means, but chiefly unauthorized absence,
reached 50,000 to 100,000. Wiley says
that some "were Union
sympathizers… resenting being
conscripted against their will…
others extreme youth or of little
learning with no concept of the
seriousness of desertion… and some
who had to choose between staying on duty
or returning home to rescue families from
starvation, and they chose the
latter."
Certainly,
to us, it would seem that Francis’
reason for coming home was one we could
understand, though it was certainly in
violation of military law. Perhaps the
military court took his particular
situation into consideration, for he was
returned to his Company for regular duty
May 25, 1864. Others who were convicted
of a similar breach of military conduct
suffered much more serious penalties,
some even execution by firing squad.
After
the war mercifully came to a close, the
family moved to Enola, Burke County,
North Carolina, where Francis operated a
grinding mill, and Martha, a nearby
store. They were active members of the
Baptist Church, and contributing members
of the community there. In the
1890’s they moved to Mooresboro,
Cleveland County, North Carolina. One of
their grandsons, Otis Poteat, who had
lived with his grandparents since his
birth, recalled going with his
grandfather to the railroad depot there,
where Francis would sit on a bench at the
station with other Civil War veterans and
talk about their experiences during the
war. Francis continued work as a
carpenter and builder of coffins.
Throughout his adult life he worked with
wood. At the time of his death, he had a
supply of wood that he had cut,
undoubtedly for a building project of
some kind.
Martha
suffered a stroke and died about 8 p.m.
April 2, 1902. Francis suffered a heart
attack and died about 4:00 a.m. the next
morning, April 3, 1902. The story of
their passing, as it was handed down from
their daughter Celena to her daughter,
Laura Ada Dickson, was this: "Celena
walked the several miles to visit her
father and mother at their home. Late in
the afternoon, Celena walked back to her
own home. She had barely gotten home when
a rider came to tell her that her mother
had just died while working in the yard.
Celena, of course, was very upset and
wanted to return immediately but it was
late and she had no way to go but walk.
The rider told her that if she would wait
until morning, he would take her. Having
a large family of her own, with chores to
do, she decided to wait. Upon her arrival
the next morning, she was told that her
father, Francis, had died during the
night. He had gone to bed and died in his
sleep." Family members felt that
their hearts were so in tune with one
another that he could not go on without
her. Funeral services for both were at
Sandy Run Baptist Church in Mooresboro,
Friday, April 4, 1902, with burial in the
church cemetery.
_______________________________________
Authored
by: Charles E. Rich, 204 Dove Lane,
Rutherfordton, NC 28139 Phone
828-286-8585 Charlie@rfci.net
Index
of personal names: Poteet,
Francis Marion, Martha, John, Jr.,
Joseph, Henry, Peter, Elisha, Sidney
Ervin, James Rufus, George Dickson,
Jemima, Mary Elizabeth, Thomas, Alvis,
Amy Jane, Rufina Celena, Susannah, Julia,
George Pinkney, Frances Emer, Martha,
Derotha Ida, Isabelle, Dickson,
Laura Ada, Taylor, George, McRae,
Captain. Brittain, Susanna.
Sources:
Census, marriage and military records,
collection of letters of Francis &
Martha Poteet, recollections of
descendants, article from
the Cleveland Star of April 9,
1902.
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