JMpension.html

Pension Application of Jabe McGehee , 1st Co. "B". 6th Ala. Inf. Regt.

ìSeven Pines, the Southerners called it, since that was where they scored their gains; to the Northerners it was Fair Oaks, for much the same reasonî (James D. Allen)

In frustration pinning down the ancestor I then knew as Fabin or Everett McGehee born possibly Dallas Texas, known to an artist and later photographer, known residence in later years in Alabama, suspected links to the state of Georgia, with unknown state of service to CSA but likely mustered either Texas, Georgia or Alabama, and known having lost an arm at Seven Pines, I posted in the Alabama in the Civil war Message Board what I knew. Soon after came this response from Alan J Pitts, to whom I remain greatly indebted for his effort. The pension application of Jabe McGehee [no mention of Fabin] was made out in Lee County, Ala. The birth state [Georgia and not Dallas at all] while the town of that state is questioned as legible] is given, his profession is given, his physical description is included, and his service detailed.

Alabama in the Civil war Message Board
Poster: Alan J. Pitts
Title: Here's your man....
Date: Mon Feb 26 23:05:27 2001

Jabe McGehee, 1st Co. "B". 6th Ala. Inf. Regt.

This was Company ìBî of Macon County, the ìLoachapoka Riflesî, organized by Captain John M. Kennedy. Kennedy and many of his men went home at the end of twelve months service. William L. Rowe was elected captain when the company reorganized on April 28, 1862. Your ancestor was serving under Rowe's command when he was wounded at Seven Pines, May 31, 1862.

Organized at Loachapoka, Alabama, January 29, 1861, members were received in Confederate service there on May 7, 1861. They enrolled at Montgomery, Alabama, on May 15, 1861. The company reorganized as 2nd Company ìLî on April 28, 1862.

Losing his left arm at Seven Pines, he was discharged from service while in Seabrook Hospital at Richmond, Va., July 19, 1862. According to this paper, he enlisted as a 3rd Corporal, was twenty-five years old, born Ruckenville, GA,*** five feet, nine inches tall, fair complexion, black eyes, and by occupation a painter.

This man appears in pension applications dated 1881 and 1887 made out in Lee County, Ala. You may recall that he enlisted from Macon County, but may have lived in the part of that county taken to create Lee after the war. He gave his occupation at that time as a photographer.

While looking for him under the other name you provided, I noticed that Leonidas J. McGhee appears on the 1907 veterans census for Lee County. He says he was born in Harris County Ga on Mar. 1, 1832, and served in the 46th Georgia. Don't know if he's related or not.

Nothing under Fabin Everett McGehee or any of the other variants of this name. I almost gave up but decided that a one-armed man might apply for a pension and say exactly where he lost it. That idea worked.

You should be proud of this man's service to his country; please take the trouble to find Shelby Foote's 'The Civil War: A Narrative' Volume I and read the account of the attack of Robert E. Rodes' Brigade at Seven Pines. It's on pages 446-49. Perhaps others can offer better accounts so you can appreciate his experience.

***Editorís Note: i believe Ruckenville, Ga as his birthplace is a misreading of curly cue writing of the scanned original, and is likely Hawkinsville, Ga, not Ruckenville. I find no evidence for a Ruckenville, even considering it may no longer exist, while many of Jabusí children later resided Hawkinsville, and his own wife was buried in Perry, just a stoneís throw away.