THE CALVIN JONES ANDREWS WEBSITE
Designed and Published by Joseph Philip James, Newport, Arkansas
CALVIN JONES ANDREWS, CSA
This page is dedicated to the memory of my great-grandfather, Calvin Jones Andrews, and all other Confederate Cavalrymen, be they Regular Confederate Cavalry, State Cavalry, Partisan Rangers, or Guerillas, who served in the War of Southern Independence. Calvin Jones Andrews was in the 3rd Confederate Cavalry during the early part of the War, and later on served with Captain Gatewood's Raiders, a guerilla outfit operating in extreme Northwest Georgia, and Tennessee. I have included a picture of the 36 Navy Colt that Calvin "liberated" from a dead Yankee Trooper in Northwest Georgia. Calvin and a fellow trooper had ambushed the northern gentleman; Calvin receiving one Colt and his partner taking the other. I am seeking information on both regiments, and would also like to hear from any descendants of troopers who served in those outfits.
Calvin Jones Andrews was born 19 October 1840 in Orange County, North Carolina. He was the tenth of fourteen children born to William and Martha (Carroll) Andrews. In 1845 he moved with his parents to Walker County, Georgia where he would grow to adulthood, marry and become a soldier in the Confederate Army. Following the War for Southern Independence he moved to Sharp County, Arkansas, and remained there the rest of his life. Jones Andrews spent his youth growing up in McLemore's Cove and became familiar with the mountains and valleys of Walker County, a knowledge which would prove of great value to him during the war. He had started school at the LaFayette High School and had intended to graduate when the Civil war came up, however, he left and enlisted in the Confederate Army. He first enlisted in Nashville, Tennessee on November 1, 1861 as a 2nd Sgt. in Capt. Allen Lea's Company (Lookout Rangers) Co. A. 2nd (Smith's) Regiment, Tennessee Volunteer Cavalry. He later joined Company A of Col. Esters 3rd Confederate Cavalry. He spent most of his war years with this unit and participated in the Battle of Davis Crossroads and the Battle of Shiloh where he was wounded in the thigh. Near the end of the war Jones Andrews joined up with Captain Gatewoods Raiders, a group of renegades with southern sympathies which operated in Northern Georgia and Tennessee during the war. After the surrender of the Confederates at Appomattox, he started to Texas with Gatewood's outfit, but after hiding out in Louisiana for sometime, he returned to walker County. He had trouble with Union sympathizers and left Georgia for Tennessee where he spent a couple of years, returned to Walker County and in 1869 left for Arkansas.
A newspaper article in the Rome Tri-Weekly Courier, of Rome, Georgia dated April 7, 1864 described an event during the war which involved Jones Andrews and led to his later troubles with Union sympathizers. "We have learned the following particulars in regard to the little fight in Chattooga County on last Friday. The Yanks were led by Captain Lawton, dressed in a Confederate Lt. Colonel's uniform, and he had twelve men all dressed as Confederates. They came from LaFayette by way of Tryon factory to Summerville and returned same way. After an unsuccessful search for a Lt. Joel Weathers in Summerville they then went to the Merrill place in search of Mr. Jones Andrews of 3rd Confederate Cavalry now on furlough. They rode up and asked Mrs. Andrews for her husband. She refused to tell where he was, and Capt. Lawton started to lead his ruffian band into the house to search for him. Just as the vile creature stepped in to the house Mr. Andrews shot him, killing him instantly. He then fired four more shots at the balance of the party who precipitately fled leaving five of their horses."
Family legend tells that Mrs. Andrews and a neighbor lady buried the body of Captain Lawton beneath the front door steps. During the war while home on furlough in 1863, Jones Andrews married Miss Cynthia Elizabeth "Lizzie" Bowers, daughter of H.Y.L. and Martha Bowers also of the "Cove." "Lizzie" Bowers was born May 6, 1844 in Orange County, North Carolina and spent her youth in Walker County, Georgia. She attended the old girls academy in LaFayette. This school was destroyed by the Union Army during the war. Nine children were born to this marriage: Edward, Byron, Martisha, William "Bill", Georgia, Ruby, Sallie, Ferd, Allie and Junie. Georgia, Ruby, Sallie and Allie all died as young children. Edward Byron became a farmer, teacher and a member of the Arkansas State Legislature in the early 1900's; Ferd was a medical doctor and died in his 30's; Bill became a successful farmer; Junie and Martisha became housewives. Calvin Jones Andrews received a Confederate pension form the State of Arkansas and died at the age of 69 on March 21, 1909. He is buried in the Mahan Cemetery near Strawberry, Arkansas, along with his long faithful wife, Cynthia Elizabeth, who died on November 24, 1916 at the age of 72. Both had come a long way from their birthplace in North Carolina to the home of their youth in Walker County, Georgia to their final resting place in Sharp County, Arkansas. Many descendants of the couple as well as relatives still remain in Arkansas as well as relatives in Walker County, Georgia. The foregoing was written by my cousin, David Robins, and is re-published here with his permission.
Calvin Jones Andrews' moment in history - He Shoots a Yankee Spy
Andrews Family Tree - Showing Ancestors and Descendants of Calvin Jones Andrews
Chronology of Events - 3rd Confederate Cavalry
Company History - Company A, 3rd Confederate Cavalry - June 1862 - June 1864
Brief History of Captain John Gatewood's Confederate Guerilla Command
Map of the Area of Operations - 3rd Confederate Cavalry & Gatewood's Guerilla Command
Other Links:
U.S. Civil War Center - SCANCO -research of Confed. Partisan and Guerillas
Confederate Partisan Rangers and Guerillas
The League of the South - Independence For Dixie: NOW!
The Sons of Confederate Veterans
in fairness to the other side - The Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War
Cyndi's List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet
Walker County, Georgia GenWeb Site - a very good site!
Independence County, Arkansas GenWeb Site - an exceptional site!
FIDDLER'S GREEN
Halfway down the trail to Hell In a shady meadow green Are the Souls of all dead Troopers camped Near a good old-time canteen, And this eternal resting place is know as Fiddlers' Green
Marching past straight through to Hell The Infantry are seen Accompanied by the Engineers, Artillery and Marines, For none but the shades of Cavalrymen Dismount at Fiddlers' Green
Though some go curving down the trail To seek a warmer scene, No Trooper ever gets to Hell Ere he's emptied his canteen. And so rides back to drink again With friends at Fiddlers' Green
And so when man and horse go down Beneath a sabre keen, Or on roaring charge of fierce melee You stop a bullet clean. And the hostiles come to get your scalp Just empty your canteen, And put your pistol to your head And go to Fiddlers' Green.
"The Guerrillas: A Southern War Song" by Maryland jurist S.Teacle Wallis:
"Whenever the vandal cometh, Press home to his heart with your steel. And when at his bosom you cannot, Like serpent, go strike at his heel. Through thicket and wood go hunt him, Creep up to his camp fireside, And let ten of his corpses blacken, Where one of our brothers hath died."
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