When Roots Determine Leaves & Branches

One of the most important elements of teaching history is truly understanding my own history. To make history relatable to students you have to make it personal. My own personal history and the history of my ancestors is something I have always found an interest in. Growing up, I always remember just sitting around listening to tales of family history with my maternal grandparents. After they both passed away I wanted to start tracking down and documenting as much of this family information as possible.

Never being close to my biological father’s family, I always wanted to know more about that side. The last name of Godwin was not that difficult to trace.  A few other researchers had already put pieces together of the history of that side. The first Godwin of my line that came to America was Thomas Godwin arriving in Jamestowne, Virginia Colony in 1650.[1] Thomas served as a colonel in the militia, as a Burgess, and was elected as Speaker of the House of Burgesses during Bacon’s Rebellion. His son, Thomas Jr., and through the next two generations became active in the Quaker movement in Virginia becoming opponents of slavery. Thomas Jr. refused to accept a slave mentioned in his father’s will out of religious principles.[2] It was through this line that my ancestors traveled through Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, and stopping in Alabama in the early 1830’s. They arrived in an area of Alabama called Sand Mountain – named for its higher elevation and poor soil. This was a newly formed county from Cherokee lands called Marshall County.[3] Coming from more fertile soil previously in Georgia, farming became much more difficult.

The part of this line I found the most intriguing was the family’s response to the Civil War. Many families in northern Alabama were opposed to the idea of secession. Many of these Jacksonian Southerners were very loyal to the United States rather than the state of Alabama. Very few families owned slaves. They viewed secession and the war to come as an act of treason. When conscription began, many men fled to Tennessee or hid in caves along the Tennessee River. Once General Ulysses S Grant arrived in Tennessee, many of these men were allowed to form a unit of volunteers under Union Army command.[4] My great-great grandfather along with his father joined this unit in 1862, serving in it until after the war ended.

For a southern family to have men fighting for the Union is a rare occurrence. There are stories of Confederate soldiers deserting throughout the war to then serve in the Union Army. But there are very few stories told of men who joined early on or as soon as Union forces reached them. I was definitely intrigued by the whole story of two generations, a father and son, going off to war to fight under General Grant. I decided that more had to be learned about this unit. There are a few small books from local researchers mostly only available in Alabama libraries. The books that were still in print, I ordered copies for myself. Glenda Todd wrote several books on the First Alabama Cavalry telling of their exploits and stories about some of the men who fought in the unit. Looking at more information I read that this unit was transferred from direct command under Gen. Grant and sent to Gen. William Sherman’s command in Chattanooga. General Sherman had the First Alabama detached from the main units choosing instead to have them as his vanguard and escort in his march through Georgia. The First saw battle in Chattanooga, Dalton, Resaca, Kennesaw Mountain, Atlanta, Jonesboro, Savannah, and followed Sherman’s forces through the Carolinas to the end of the war.[5]

To have this father and son fight for the Union Army during the Civil War but be from the heart of the South was an amazing story. To imagine the hardships of living essentially in hostile territory and fearing for the lives of your family had to be difficult. With some of this line having kin in Georgia fighting in Confederate units across the battlefield makes it even more intriguing. My own family story here revealed a solid historical example of brother versus brother facing off at the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain just north of Atlanta. Digging into this history even back to the early days in colonial Virginia, I saw how an opposition to slavery and a deep sense of patriotism to the United States carried over through time and even to the next few generations that served in the military in several wars and conflicts.

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[1] “Resources,” Jamestowne Society (Jamestowne Society, n.d.), accessed June 16, 2020, http://www.jamestowne.org/resources.html.

[2] John Bennett Boddie, Seventeenth Century Isle of Wight County Virginia: a History of the County of Isle of Wight, Virginia, during the Seventeenth Century, Including Abstracts of the County Records (Baltimore: Genealogical Pub. Co., 2003).

[3] 1850 U.S. census, Marshall County, Alabama, population schedule, Kirbys, James A Godwin; digital image, Ancestry.com, accessed April 18, 2013, http://ancestory.com.

[4] Glenda McWhirter. Todd, First Alabama Cavalry, U.S.A.: Homage to Patriotism (Westminster, MD: Heritage Books, 2006).

[5] “Soldiers and Sailors Database,” National Parks Service (U.S. Department of the Interior, n.d.), accessed June 18, 2020, https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/soldiers-and-sailors-database.htm.