There was a Donald presence in Jasper County as early as
1840; the census listed A.G. Donald (Andrew Gray Donald?), Alex Donald
(probable grandfather of Watson Augustus Donald), and James Donald households.
These are thought to have been in the southern part of Jasper County, near the
Jones County line. In the 1850 census, Alexr Donald, born about 1790 in South
Carolina, was age 60 and living with the family of his daughter Lucy Donald
Page. The Shady Grove Cemetery in Heidelberg has a number of graves of persons
associated with the Robert Leander Donald family, below.
In the 1860 census of Jasper County, Mississippi, Unity
Amanda Morgan Donald was in the household of her brother Davis Morgan, along
with Amanda’s daughter 11 years old Amanda Gabrilla Donald. In the next
household listed we find Watson Augustus Donald, age 17, living with the Robert
Leander Donald family. Watson was still age
17 when he enrolled with the Jasper Grays, which formed on April 27, 1861, at
Paulding, Jasper County. www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~msjasper/military/grays.html
is R. J. Lightsey’s account of the Jasper Grays. The unit was given a dinner at nearby DeSoto,
Clarke County, which was on a rail line. The Jasper Grays went by train to
Corinth, Mississippi, for training, and in June became Company F of the 16th
Mississippi Infantry. Watson’s enlistment at Corinth is dated May 31, 1861,
& he was conscripted for re-enlistment on Feb. 5, 1862, while camped at
Manassas, Virginia.
Initially, in 1861 the regiment had gone to Lynchburg,
Virginia, and camped for several days. They arrived at Bull Run (Manassas) just
after the first battle, which was on July 21, 1861. The 16th was
involved in several major battles, including Cold Harbor, Petersburg,
Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg (likely in Ewell’s II Corps). Two
Muffley cavalry men may have also fought at Gettysburg, on the Union side. History
of the 16th: www.norfield-publishing.com/16ms/16thhome.html
Another unit, the 13th Mississippi Infantry, took
heavy losses at Gettysburg. George Lavalle Donald entered the 13th
as a lieutenant, and was discharged as a major. Maj. George Levalle Donald
lived at Shubuta, Clarke County, Mississippi. He was reportedly a grandson of
John Donald (d. 1831, Abbeville), so was a probable distant cousin of our
Watson Augustus Donald. A bit of yDNA from this line would be welcome. Lt. Col.
Alfred G. O’Brien was also in the 13th. Another Alfred O’Brien,
associated with the same part of Mississippi, was an ancestor of Anne Donald
Muffley, but that is another story.
Watson Augustus Donald was wounded at the Battle of
Spottsylvania Court House.
Spottsylvania was among a handful of the Civil War’s worst. www.norfield-publishing.com/16ms/16over.htm On May 12, 1864 (the day of his wounding
& capture), it looks like Watson’s 16th Miss. was in a force
sent to reclaim works taken by Union troops. I think that this was at “The
Bloody Angle” part of “The Mule Shoe” salient. The nearly 24 hrs. of fighting
there was of “…an intensity of firepower
never previously seen in the Civil War battles.” (Wikipedia). A 22 inch oak
tree was completely severed by musket balls, & the stump is in the
Smithsonian. Thousands died on both sides, & thousands of Confederates were
taken prisoner, including Watson.
Watson was taken to Lincoln USA General Hospital in D.C.
with head & flesh wounds. Then he was held at the Old Capitol Prison in
D.C. By October, 1864 he was at Elmira prison. About half of the POWs lived in
buildings, the other half in tents. Of the 10,000 held at Elmira at any one
time, the death rate was about 5% per month. Watson had already been through
hell before he got to Hell-mira. He was released from Elmira on May 29, 1865,
after he signed an oath of allegiance & indicated a desire to remain in the
North (which he didn’t do). www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/medtour/lincoln.html
 |
| Watson A. Donald Sent to Elmira POW Camp |
After surrender of the 16th Mississippi at
Appomattox on April 9, 1865, some of the Jasper Grays returned home on foot.
Meridian, Mississippi, was in ruins. They were met there by Billy Brame, who
was probably William M. Brame, husband of Vicey Ann Morgan (daughter of Davis
Morgan) and thus a first cousin of our Watson Augustus Donald. Currently there
is a Jasper Grays re-enactment group covering Jasper and Jones counties.
Watson Augustus Donald and Jerucia Ophelia Bounds were wed
in Jasper County in 1868. By the 1870 census, the first of their 11 kids was
born: Fanny. Watson was a farmer in that census. It is possible that he also
cut trees for railroad ties in Mississippi, as did Watson’s descendants in
Arkansas later. Also in 1870, Watson’s sister Amanda Gabrilla Donald married
George W. Moore.
There was a yellow fever epidemic in Mississippi in 1878.
Our Donald family moved to Arkansas, but are not found in the 1880 census of
either state. Before the war, Watson’s sister Mary Ann Donald had married
Joseph A. Bounds, and this family also made the trek to Arkansas later.
