William Henry Lilly: Civil War Soldier
by Earl D. Wood
   
Editor's Note: Earl D. Wood is a great-great-grandson of William Henry Lilly. The author may be contacted at 961 West Vuelta DeI Yaba, Green Valley, Arizona 85614. Earl Wood grew up in Damascus; his grandfather Wesley Wood was a country correspondent for the Log Cabin Democrat for many years. This article has been edited for publication in Faulkner Facts and Fiddlings, and the footnotes have been added.  

In an attempt to follow William Henry Lilly's trail during the Civil War and to understand his motives and loyalties in fighting for the Confederate States of America, I have prepared this essay as best I can.

This essay has some “guess work," however much of the information was taken from his military records and more was extracted from Escape from the Maple Leaf, written by Col. Jerry Witt in 1993, which relates a segment in the life of William Lilly and some of his Confederate comrades when they were taken prisoner. I think my great-great-grandfather was a dedicated soldier who honestly believed in the cause of the South, especially at the beginning of the Civil War.

William Henry Lilly was born August 31, 1831 in Kanawha County, Virginia (now West Virginia). He was living in Springfield, Conway County, Arkansas, on July 22, 1861 when he enlisted as a private in the Confederate Army as a member of Company I, 10th Regiment, Arkansas Cavalry Volunteers. He was 29 years old and his enlistment was for one year; however, he must have re-enlisted since he served more than one year .

On April 18, 1862, he was transferred to Company K, 10th Regiment, Arkansas Infantry.1 Shortly thereafter he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant. The 10th Arkansas was sent to Louisiana and became part of the garrison at Port Hudson which was besieged by superior Union forces in May-July 1863. On May 27, 1863, William Lilly was captured near Port Hudson along with his commanding officer, Col. Allen Witt, a Lt. Samuel Wesley, and nearly fifty enlisted men of the 10th Arkansas. Among those captured was Col. Witt's brother, Corporal Jeremiah Witt from Quitman, Arkansas. The prisoners were held at the U. S. Customhouse in Union-occupied New Orleans.

On June 2, 1863, Federal officers selected fifty Confederate officers, including Col. Witt, Lt. Wesley , and Lt. William Lilly, for shipment to Fortress Monroe, Virginia, at the tip of the Yorktown peninsula where the James River flows into Chesapeake Bay. The men hoped they would then be exchanged for Union officers held prisoners by the Confederates. Late in the evening of June 2, the Rebel prisoners were loaded on board the steamer "Cahawba," which headed down the Mississippi River for the long seaward joumey to Fortress Monroe.
 
Rebel Prisoners Guarded by "Zouaves"

Their escort during the voyage was the 6th New York Volunteer Infantry under the command of Colonel William Wilson. The regiment was also known as "Wilson's Zouaves"2 and had been apart of the Union forces in the siege of Port Hudson. These men were on their way back to New York for discharge since their enlistments had expired. During the six-day joumey to Fortress Monroe the Rebel officers were treated the same as their enemies. Shortly before leaving the "Cahawba," a committee from the Confederate group composed a note and delivered it to Col. Wilson. It read:
 
"Resolved, That we tender our gratitude and thanks to Col. Wm. Wilson, his officers and men of the 6th N. Y. Vol., for the kind and courteous treatment received at their hands during our passage from New Orleans to Fortress Monroe."

It took six days to make the joumey around Florida, up the Atlantic coast, to Fortress Monroe. To their disappointment the Rebels were told there would be no prisoner exchange, and that they would be shipped to the Federal prison at Fort Delaware on the Delaware River below Wilmington.

On June 10, 1863, the fifty officers from New Orleans, along with seventy other Confederate officers who had been held at Fort Norfolk, Virginia, were loaded on the steamer "Maple Leaf” to be transported to the federal prison at Fort Delaware. Late in the evening, while being transported across Chesapeake Bay , seventy Confederate officers, including Lt. Lilly, rose on the Union guards, overpowered them, and took possession of the ship. They made their escape to the Outer Banks of Virginia near the North Carolina border. The Rebels were not unanimous in their desire to attempt escape. This was particularly true of those who had promised they would cooperate with their captors, since the possible penalty for violation of their parole was death. Among the fifty who remained as prisoners were fifteen who were sick and wounded.

Starting on the morning of June 11, 1863, these seventy brave officers made their escape across Currituck Sound, then into the Great Dismal Swamp, with the Union cavalry in pursuit. Their travels on into North Carolina were without food some days, and they slept in the wild swamps, but they were helped by Confederate Home Guards and the wives of Confederate soldiers who were away fighting in the war.

On June 17 some of the prisoners, who had split off from the rest, came up on the Weldon & Petersburg Railroad and rode into Richmond, Virginia. The balance of the escapees followed close behind and were all greeted with a hero's welcome. They were treated well, staying in the best hotel in Richmond, and received back pay which amounted to a goodly sum. Eventually they all caught a train headed south to locate their outfits.
 
Lilly Rejoins the Confederate Army

Lt. William Lilly made his escape back to friendly troops in Morton, Mississippi. While at this location he was detailed as provost guard in charge of Confederate government stock. On October 13, 1863, while William was at this location, one John Irvin, private, Co. I, 20th Mississippi Regiment, stole one black horse from government stock. Also, one H. Van Winkle and one A. H. Higgins, privates, Co. H, 10th Arkansas Infantry, stole two mules, bridles, and saddles from the same government stock. These incidents were included in a written statement signed by Lt. Lilly wherein he admitted these thefts happened under his command. I presume the thieves were court- martialed.

On November 19, 1863, William Lilly wrote to his commanding officer, making application to re-join his command in Arkansas.

The last record that I have of Lt. Lilly is a pay voucher dated November 26, 1863, in which he was paid $240 for the three months of August-September-October 1863. Not bad pay in those days; however, the Confederate money wasn't worth much, especially in the later years of the war.

According to a letter I received recently from Jerry Witt, the author of Escape from the Maple Leaf, he has determined from lots of research that Lt. Lilly was reunited with his command near Little Rock in the winter of 1863.3

Lilly and other Confederate soldiers were later rounded up by the Federal forces and drafted into the Union army's 3rd Arkansas Cavalry under the command of Col. Abraham Ryan. Lilly was drafted as an enlisted man with the rank of sergeant. Some of the ex-Rebels deserted rather than serve in the Union army, but Sgt. William Lilly served with the regiment until his discharge at Lewisburg [south of present-day Morrilton] on June 30, 1865.

William Lilly married Sarah C. McMillen. They had four children: Emma C. (born January 11, 1859), William H. (born August 10, 1864 ), Robert P. (born June 10, 1868), and Martha M. (born July2, 1873). Sarah died December 23,1884. William died November 2, 1913, at Higdon, Arkansas. He is buried near Bono, Faulkner County, Arkansas.4

Note: Col. Jerry Witt, of whom I made reference, is the great-grandson of Corporal Jeremiah Witt and the great-great-nephew of Col. Allen Witt, both in the 10th Arkansas Confederate Cavalry with Col. Allen Witt being the commander of this unit. I had the honor of talking to Jerry Witt by telephone in December 1996, and found hirn to be a very knowledgeable Civil War historian. He spent many years researching the history of this unit and their travels.
 
Footnotes:
 
lFor more information on the 10th Arkansas Infantry, see the articles by Charles D. Parsons
 and Brian Dirck in Faulkner Facts and Fiddlings (Fall/Winter 1994), pages 53-76. Both are
 available on the Faulkner Facts and Fiddlings website.
 
2The "Zouaves" were originally an Algerian unit in the French army which adopted a brilliant
uniform and conducted a quick spirited drill. The 6th New York was one of the Federal
volunteer regiments which adopted the dress and drill of the Zouaves.
 
3This would be the I0th Arkansas Cavalry, a guerrilla unit organized.by Col. Allen Witt and
usually referred to as "Witt’s Cavalry,” Dirck, pp. 67ff.
 
4The Census of Cemeteries (1990), p. 296, published by the Faulkner County Historical Society, lists the following persons buried in McMillen Cemetery, located about a mile west of Arkansas Highway 285 in the Bono community:

News from Bygone Days: The Greasy Valley correspondent reported in the Log Cabin Democrat (April14,1933) that a small war between rival gangs of bootleggers had erupted. "There were several black eyes, a flat nose or two, and one brother was shot through the hand. I had been expecting that very thing to happen at any time. There is entirely too much competition in this business in this valley ."

William Henry Lilly: Civil War Soldier
Earl D. Wood
Faulkner Facts and Fiddlings, Fall and Winter, 1997, Nos.3-4, pp. 60-63