Information Sheet
R Synnamon, James, 1836-1916.
996 Letters, 1865-1902.
One folder,
photocopies and typescripts.
These are three letters written by James Synnamon, a
resident of Platte
County, Missouri, and captain of Co. G, 6th Missouri
Infantry (CS). Two letters, written in
1865, describe Synnamon’s wounding at Franklin, Tennessee, and imprisonment at Fort Delaware, Delaware. The last
letter, written in 1902, describes a return to Vicksburg to identify unit positions for the battlefield commission’s
marking program.
James Synnamon, a native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, came to Platte County, Missouri, in 1857. He
joined the Missouri State Guard when the Civil War began, serving as first
lieutenant and then captain of Company A, Extra Infantry Battalion, 5th
Division, Missouri State Guard. After that
unit disbanded, Synnamon served in Company B, Hughes’s Infantry Battalion (CSA),
organized in early March 1862, fought at Pea Ridge, Arkansas, and then crossed the Mississippi River in April. The unit was broken up, apparently when the
army was reorganized in May 1862. Two
companies of Hughes's unit were then incorporated into Col. Eugene Erwin's 3rd
Missouri Infantry Battalion, which, in turn, became part of the 6th
Missouri Infantry Regiment in August 1862 at Guntown, Mississippi. Synnamon became first lieutenant and captain
of Company G of the 6th Missouri. Later consolidated with the 2nd
Missouri Infantry, the regiment was part of Gen. Francis Marion Cockrell’s 1st
Missouri Brigade until the end of the war.
Synnamon was wounded eight
times during the war, acquiring the sobriquet “Ball Catcher Captain” for his
propensity to be hit by enemy bullets. He
was badly wounded and captured in November 1864 at Franklin, Tennessee. Exchanged in January 1865, Synnamon was
captured again with the rest of the Missouri Brigade at Fort Blakeley in April. Paroled and released at Fort Delaware, Delaware, in May 1865, he was said
to be “very thin” when he returned to Platte County. Synnamon freighted between Missouri and Denver after the war, then farmed
and worked as a carpenter in Platte County. He was appointed assessor of Platte County in 1883 and was elected to
the same position in 1884 and 1886. He
was sheriff of Platte County, 1886-1892.
Synnamon was active in Confederate
veteran circles and attended the 1911 Confederate reunion in Lexington, Missouri. He died in
1916 and is buried in Weston, Missouri.
The Synnamon collection consists of photocopies and
typescripts of three letters. The location
of the original letters is not known.
Two letters, written in 1865 from the Union prison at Fort Delaware, are addressed to friends John and Jane Cooper in Platte County. They describe
Synnamon’s wounding at Franklin, Tennessee, the wretched condition of the prisoners, burial of
Jane Cooper’s brother at Vicksburg,
and disgust at having to take the oath of allegiance in order to be paroled
from prison in May 1865. The third
letter was written in January 1902 to an unidentified former subordinate. It describes Synnamon’s return to Vicksburg in October 1901, when he toured the site with Union
and Confederate veterans to identify unit positions for marking by the
battlefield commission. He recalled
especially the events of June 16, 1863, and took exception to Gen. Cockrell’s recollections,
which did not acknowledge the regiment’s assistance during the action that
day.
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