editors note: My Great Great Grandfather ,William M. Bowen served with Wauls Texas legion
This information provided by Mr. Andrew WardThough this does not present a flattering portrait of Willis's Battalion and its involvement in the battle of Fort Pillow, I thought it might be of interest.
Best regards,
Andrew Ward
Pension file of Allen James Allen James Walker was born in 1845 "in the family of and a slave to Mrs. Sallie Walker near Germantown, Shelby County, Tennessee.
My mother, Cleary Walker, belonged to Mrs. Walker also. My father was a white man whom I never knew and my mother never told me who he was," although a comrade later refered to Walker's master as his father. He stood a little under 5'9", with a "yellow" complexion and brown eyes when he was "made up with the original organization under Major Booth. When I enlisted I gave them my name as Allen James and added that I belonged to the widow Walker. They said they wanted my name, not my owner's, and so enrolled me as Allen James, the name my mother gave me.
There were only four companies of us then: A, B, C, and D, and we were then called the 7th US Colored Heavy Artillery and had siege guns there at Corinth. In December of 1863 or January, 1864 we came to Memphis to Fort Pickering, bringing our siege guns with us, and shortly after reaching Memphis we were sent to garrison Fort Pillow, Tennessee, about 60 or 70 miles up the river. We left our siege guns at Fort Pickering and had smaller cannon at Fort Pillow. Here, (April 12) in the forepart of 1864 Forrest run in on us. I was captured there. I was not treated like the other prisoners. ...A [Corporal, possibly demoted from orderly sergeant] John [C. Peevey of Co. C, Waul's Texas Legion or Willis's Battalion] took me and made me his servant, made me change my U.S. uniform for Confederate clothes and kept me with them for nearly a year. ...I went with them all over Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi. About December, 1864 or January, 1865, John Peevey sent me with his brother [Private George M.] Dallas [Peevey], who belonged to the same company, to their home in Gonzales, Texas, or rather on their little farm near there and here they made me practically their slave, and I put in a crop that Spring for them.
About July 15, 1865, we learned of the surrender, and hearing of some U.S. soldiers coming through there I ran off and got with a wagon train -- I don't know from whose command -- and they took me to Columbus, Texas where I was turned over to headquarters and given transportation to Galveston. Here I was sent to New Orleans by ship," and from there "to New York, and falling in with a crowd -- members of many regiments scattered about -- they sent us all round in Virginia and North Carolina, dropping each man off as he reached his command and finally wound me up at Baltimore, Maryland. Here I was given transportation by rail to Cairo, Illinois and from there by boat to Memphis, Tennessee, where I arrived about November 14, 1865, and found my regiment camped on Vance Street and then known as the 11th U.S. Colored Volunteer Infantry commanded by Colonel Turner. Lieutenant NMiles commanded Company D, and the regiment was filled up with strangers, recruits and substitutes. James Murrel, Robert Jones, Sherry Blain and several of the old company boys were still there." After the war he remained in Germantown until 1894, when he moved into Memphis.Pension file of Allen James Walker.
The Bowen
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1999-2003
This info added 12-2002