Benjamin Dugger's Civil War Company in West Virginia
kat >^.^<
Our ancestor, Benjamin S. Dugger (probably the S stands for Smith) has
finally turned up as a one-liner in the book _'Twixt North and South_, by H.
M. Calhoun. The writer was a Southern sympathizer, born after the war, who
collected stories from old Southern vets and their families. Not a bad
writer, but sometimes a little vague in his meaning.
Anywhoose--in chapter 18: "An Affair in the Germany Valley" he tells how a
company of Union "Swamps" made of men from Boggs' Company and a few from
Snyder's company were under the command of Sampson Snyder. They were
looking for A. B. Warner's company of Dixie Boys, headquartered at Zebedee
Warner's home in Bland Hills.
Well, they made a mess at the Warner homestead, but didn't find the company,
who were working out of sight of the house, and unarmed, anyhow. As soon as
they learned about this, they went in pursuit.
The Swamps, however, stopped at the homes of George Harper and Captain
Joseph H. Lantz in Germany Valley, pausing particularly at a barrel of apple
brandy which they felt had an inefficient spigot and gave up the goods much
better when the head was knocked in. Eventually, they left these homes with
as much booty as they could muster and continued toward North Fork.
The Dixie Boys, not having paused for the apple brandy, went to "head them
off at the pass" so to speak, and waited for the Swamps at a flat ridge.
Seeing that the numbers in the opposing company were greater than his own,
Warner decided not to strike. However, someone did fire off a shot when:
"The sight of Benjamin Dugger with a ham and a jug of brandy on his
gunbarrel was too strong a temptation for one of them to withstand."
Apparently "there were many amusing incidents of the affair resulting from
the effects if the apple brandy." None of the Swamps were killed, but two
of Warner's Dixie Boys were mortally wounded.
Now, Mr. Calhoun has a list of Muster Rolls of Confederate forces, but not
Union forces. I have looked in the web sources that I can find and have not
found Benjamin Dugger (this Ben Dugger, born, according to the family bible,
in Tenn on Feb 25, 1834. I'm sure I don't know what I'm doing, so I am
missing him.
I googled "Snyder's Swamps" and "Swamp Dragons" and "John Boggs," etc. I
did find a message board that said that Captain John Boggs Company of Home
Guards or State Scouts was the 46th West Virginia Volunteer Militia from
Pendleton Co. Can't find a roster on them, and I certainly can't find one
on Snyder's Swamps.
Could anyone direct me? I'm sorry if it seems that I'm too lazy to do my
homework. Really, I have spent several days and am surprised that I have
missed something that seems so obvious.
Thanks for the help.
Kathleen Allen Dugger Tromp
--
kat >^.^<
Rhinelander, WI
Home of the Hodag
Linda Scheimann
The Civil War was a complicated story. I had a picture about it at
Crosswinds once but not there now I suppose, tho CW probably is.
Linda
kat >^.^< <trompB...@charter.net> wrote in message
news:bmbs7v$ks80p$1...@ID-130507.news.uni-berlin.de...
MikeS
"kat >^.^<" <trompB...@charter.net> wrote in message
news:bmbs7v$ks80p$1...@ID-130507.news.uni-berlin.de...
> finally turned up as a one-liner in the book _'Twixt North and South_, by
H.
> M. Calhoun. >
Kat, I could find only two Benjamin Dugger's from Tennessee in the online
civil war records as follows:
Database: Civil War Service Records
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Surname Given Name Middle Initial Company Unit Rank - Induction Rank -
Discharge Notes Allegiance
Dugger Benjamin F. H 4 Tennessee Cavalry. Private Private Union
Dugger Benjamin S. K 1 (Turney's) Tennessee Infantry. Sergeant
Sergeant Confederate
Perhaps you can find something at the following URL which has the
Tennesseans in the Civil War for both the North and South
http://www.tngennet.org/civilwar/tncwindex.html. Also there is Tennessee in
the Civil War at http://www.tngennet.org/civilwar/.
Happy Hunting. Mike
kat >^.^<
"MikeS" <arch...@heaven.com> wrote in message
news:qghib.25017$7_1....@twister.austin.rr.com...
I haven't been able to confirm that Benjamin S. Dugger (our man's name) is
the same Ben S. as either of these. According to the little information
that I have found, Sergeant Dugger was killed by Confederated during the
war, so perhaps I have that information wrong, too.
In this book, Ben is in the Union group, but it seems that these "Snyder's
Swamps" were little more than a gang that use the war as a reason to cause a
ruckus. However, it was written by a Southern sympathizer.
The good news is that this book puts Ben in the Pendleton area in 1864, a
year before the young man known in the census records as James B. S. Grayham
(1870), Benjamin S. Lantz (1880, stepson), and Benjamin S. Dugger, Jr
(family bible) is born.
He doesn't seem to fit any of the Tennessee Benjamin Duggers at all. Mind
you, Duggers seem to go by middle names as often as first names (his son B.
S. Jr. went by "Smith"), but I don't think this is the case here.
I would like to find out more about "Snyder's Swamps" and John Bogg's
company.
Thanks for your help!
kat >^.^<
Kathleen Allen Dugger Tromp
Rhinelander, WI
kat >^.^<
"Linda Scheimann" <geb...@niia.net> wrote in message
news:bmbubq$l0r0b$1...@ID-131262.news.uni-berlin.de...
> Hi, Kat,
> The Civil War was a complicated story. I had a picture about it at
> Crosswinds once but not there now I suppose, tho CW probably is.
> Linda
Thank you for your response Linda. We don't have any photos of Benjamin S.
Dugger at all.
I did not know about the Crosswinds web page, than you for pointing it out.
MikeS
his son B.
> S. Jr. went by "Smith"), but I don't think this is the case here.
> I would like to find out more about "Snyder's Swamps" and John Bogg's
> company.
Kat, Go to this URL http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/WVWBTSVETS/2001-04
and read the thread on "Snyder's Swamp Dragoons." Perhaps this is the unit
you are looking for. If so, perhaps you can get further information from
the Rev. Koren Fae Rawlings. Mike
MikeS
Kat, you can find a letter written by John Boggs here.
http://wvmemory.wvculture.org/militia/pendleton/pendleton2.html
Other information on Boggs:
Ancestry. com Database: American Civil War Battle Summaries
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
"Petersburg, W. Va.,
June 19, 1864.
Pendleton Home Guards.
Capt. John Boggs, with 30 men of his company was returning from
New Creek with supplies, when he was attacked near Petersburg
by about 60 of McNeil's men, under command of a Lieut. Dolen.
The Confederates drove the guards to the woods, captured
several horses and burned 1 wagon. Boggs rallied his men and
recaptured the train. In the fight Dolen was killed, several
of his men were wounded and the rest driven to the mountains.
Boggs lost 6 killed and several wounded."
Mike
kat >^.^<
Mike, thank you for both of these helpful posts. I have been given new
directions to look, including the word "Dragoons" which I haven't seen yet.
HM Calhoun used the word "Dragon" the few times he used it. "Swamp Dragon"
= alligator, "Swamp Dragoon" = trooper. Both appropriate appellations.
kat >^.^<
Kathleen Allen Dugger Tromp
"MikeS" <arch...@heaven.com> wrote in message
news:kWYib.24446$3A6....@twister.austin.rr.com...
coo...@hotmail.com
I know your posting was listed over a decade ago [it's May of 2014 now] but I have a listing of your Benjamin Dugger enrolled as a member of Capt. Snyder's Company. He is listed as "Dugger, Bejamin in the book, "Captain Snyder and his Twelve of West Virginia by Carrie Harman Roy. I have placed that roster on one of my web pages about my gg grandfather, Sampson Snyder:
http://bretwalda.home.comcast.net/~bretwalda/snyder/sampson/swampdragonroster1865.htm
I also have a copy of several rosters of Capt. Snyder located at the WVU library in Morgantown where there is a file of Sampson's personal papers, listed under another spelling of his name during that time, Sampson Snider [with an "i" instead of a "y"].
I hope this message finds you and that is helps in some way.
Craig Snyder
Washington State
coo...@hotmail.com
http://www.ccsnyder.com/clan/snyder/sampson/swampdragonroster1865.htm
Craig Snyder