The Teagues in Andersonville Prison

Andersonville Prison, August 1863*

The last few men in my family that I know were prisoners of war during the Civil War were Jasper and Leander Teague, who were brothers and James Teague their cousin.  They were all my 2nd grand-great uncles. They were captured and sent to Andersonville, escaped then re-captured and sent back.  Below are the military histories on all three men, they each served in the 7th Tennessee Volunteer Cavalry on the Union side.

TEAGUE, JASPER N, Co A, corporal/sergeant, enlisted for 3 years and mustered on 9/8/62 in Jackson, TN at age 25.  He furnished his own horse and equipment and received a $100 bounty for enlistment.  Probably not captured with the regiment at Trenton, TN, he was one of the 100 or more men of the detachment of the 7th Tennessee who went AWOL from the forts on the Mississippi/Tennessee line in June 1863.  He left on 6/20/63 but returned to duty at some point and was promoted to sergeant on 2/1/64.  Presumed captured with the regiment at Union City, TN on 3/24/64, he was imprisoned in Andersonville in Georgia and other eastern prisons.  Paroled through North East Ferry (Wilmington, NC) on 2/28/65 he went to College Green Barracks in Maryland, then Camp Chase, OH.  Teague mustered out at Nashville, TN on 8/7/65 when the regiment disbanded.  He married Mary Ann Burkett and became Sheriff of Henderson Co, TN.  They moved to Lamar Co, TX by 1880.  By the 1890 census he lived near Oak Grove, TX and complained of rheumatism in his right shoulder and hip.  He applied for an invalid pension in 1885.  Teague was made Postmaster of Oak Grove, TX (near DeKalb) in 1898.  He died on 2/5/1922 and is buried in the Oak Grove Cemetery in Bowie Co, TX.  His wife Mary applied for a widow’s pension.  He appears to have been the son of John Robins and Mary Reed Teague and brother to Leander Teague of Co A.  MR #1736

TEAGUE, LEANDER L or A(RISON), Co A, private/sergeant, enlisted for 3 years in Jackson, TN on 9/8/62 at age 24 (born 9/5/1838).  He furnished his own horse and equipment and received a $100 bounty for enlistment.  Presumed captured with the regiment at Union City, TN on 3/24/64, he was a POW in Andersonville in Georgia and other eastern prisons.  Released on 3/1/65 (Dyers), Teague mustered out at Nashville, TN on 8/7/65 when the regiment disbanded.  In 1870 he was a saloon keeper in Henderson Co, TN and in 1890 he lived near the Lexington, Post Office.  He applied for an invalid pension in 1886 and died in Henderson Co, TN in 1919.

TEAGUE, JAMES A, Co A, private/corporal, enlisted for 3 years and mustered in Jackson, TN by Captain Smith on 9/8/62 at age 19.  He was 5’10” tall, fair complexion, blue eyes, light hair, a farmer, born in Henderson Co, TN about 1843.  He furnished his own horse and equipment and received a $100 bounty for enlistment.  Captured and paroled with the regiment at the battle of Trenton, TN on 12/20/1862, he most likely spent time in parole camp at Camp Chase in Columbus, OH along with Colonel Hawkins and others of the regiment awaiting exchange.  These men were exchanged from June through September, 1863.  Teague was appointed corporal on 10/17/63.  Presumed captured with the regiment at Union City, TN on 3/24/64, Teague was imprisoned in Andersonville, GA, Florence, SC and Charleston, SC (Goodspeed).  He escaped at Georgetown, SC on 2/15/63 and made it to Union lines.  Transferred to College Green Barracks, Annapolis, MD, he was sent to Camp Chase, OH on 3/11/65 and then to Paducah, KY where he was acting as an orderly in May, 1865.  Teague mustered out at Nashville, TN on 8/7/65 when the regiment disbanded.  He married Neoma L Bird in 1868 and joined Post #81 of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) in 1889.  In the 1890 veterans’ census he lived in Lexington, TN.  He died on 9/8/1892 and is buried in Antioch Cemetery near Lexington, TN according to his GAR records.  His widow applied for a pension.  Teague was the son of Isaac Wilburn and Alice Fuller Teague of Henderson Co, TN and a cousin to Jasper and Leander Teague.  MR #1735

For more pictures of Andersonville, see prior post or visit the link below

Sources:

​National Park Service Historic Photos of Andersonville Prison
URL: https://www.nps.gov/media/photo/gallery.htm?id=A6A1C636-1DD8-B71C-07DB9DB39A2A1074

Roster of the 7th Tennessee Volunteer Cavalry, USA
URL: ​http://tngenweb.org/henderson/2013/09/11/roster-7-cavalry/