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This information is contributed by Lola DeGroff
My great grandfather, Lewis Jarvis Shaw, was born in North Carolina (lived in Duplin County). Here is what I have found about his Civil War Service. Lola DeGroff (Any idea where he might have been a student?) Born: September 14, 1841, North Carolina Lewis Jarvis Shaw first enlisted for six months as a 19-year-old student in North Carolina. He was a private in Captain Thomas S. Kenan's Company, Light Infantry, 2nd Regiment, North Carolina Infantry. They disbanded this company. In February 1862, Lewis again enlisted with Company B, 3 Regiment, North Carolina Infantry. While serving, Lewis was hospitalized in Richmond VA with pneumonia. He returned to duty a few weeks later and on May 3rd, 1863, saw action in one of the greatest battles of the war Chancellorsville. That battle, considered Robert E. Lee's greatest victory, came at a huge price. They mortally wounded Major General Stonewall Jackson at Chancellorsville. In all, the Confederates suffered 14,000 casualties while inflicting 17,000. You could say Lewis was blessed at Chancellorsville that day he did not lose his life, but a gunshot to the leg wounded him. They promoted him to corporal that same day. Later in the war, they again hospitalized him in Raleigh NC with a left leg flesh wound. We believe that Lewis suffered permanent injury as all photos show him with a cane. Lewis was taken a prisoner of war and held at Point Lookout, Maryland from April 6, 1865 until his release on June 20, 1865 a few months after General Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House. Point Lookout, the largest Union prison camp for Confederates, was in operation less than two years but approximately 52,000 prisoners passed through its gates. Located at the southern tip of Maryland and surrounded by water on three sides, it was an area subject to extreme heat and cold. One can only imagine the atrocities Lewis experienced while imprisoned. Nevertheless, his life went on. After the war, Lewis returned to North Carolina, married Mary Elizabeth Outlaw and had two daughters. A few years later, he moved his young family here to Hopkins County, Kentucky. His father and mother, and many relatives in the Outlaw and Whitfield families came too. Lewis experienced sadness and joy two of his three wives died young but together they blessed him with eight children all but two reaching adulthood. Lewis worked as a farmer, a shoemaker, a coal miner and was for a time the Postmaster in nearby Morton's Gap. Lewis Jarvis Shaw died on March 29, 1927. |
