John E. Robuck was a man of vision. He saw things as they were, and called it like he saw it. You can see this from his writings about this life’s experiences. He strove for right, as he was taught as a child, and believed, and revered God.

His parents, John Robuck Jr., born March 2, 1796, died, October 22, 1856, and Malvina Mahala Oliver, born, 1818, died 1880, were married in Marshall County, MS, and John E. was born there. John Jr., his father, bought 760 acres in Yocona, Lafayette County, MS, in 1838, and there raised Cotton, and his family until his death in 1856. The book, The Pioneeer Families of Lafayette County, credits John Jr. with the dropping of the Alpha E, from his surname upon his arrival in Mississippi. The why’s and wherefore’s are not discussed, but this spelling is still used today, by some members of the Robuck Family.

John and his brothers and sisters were raised as most children were in those days. They lived on their Father’s Plantation, were educated, and well provided for, however, one can never know what it was really like without someone having written the experiences down, and John did just that, albeit, in his latter years, and about his years in the Service of the Confederacy, although he does include some specific events that happened in his earlier years.

On the 1850 Census, John was enumerated in his parents home, and it was there in 1859, that he married Henrietta V. Markett. Soon after the marriage, they moved to Karnes County Texas, where John worked as a store clerk, and was a member of the Helena Guards. He was on the Muster Rolls in May, and June, 1860, and the following was notated. “Discharged, Absent from the State.”

During the Winter of 1860, and early 1861, John attended the Jefferson Medical College, in Philadelphia, PA, but did not finish his studies because of the Slavery Question that was all the talk of the time. John says in his book Personal Memoirs of J. E. Robuck. That “After the election of President Lincoln, the abolition candidate, dismal and dark , portentous and threatening clouds of war soon began to gather and hover over the entire country.” And he goes on to tell that history records that every battle fought in the Civil War, was fought on Southern soil, except Gettysburg, PA, but then says, “I know of at least forty small, but hard fought battles that were pulled off in the city of Philadelphia.”

John arrived home from Philadelphia on March 8, 1861, to find excitement all around him about the war. He chose to wait until he felt that the time was right for him to join the fray, and was therefore teased and taunted, all of which had little or no effect on him. In September of 1861, John was still at home, and received as a prank, delivered by a Negro slave, a hoop skirt, a huge sun bonnet, and a Mother Hubbard frock, sent by three young women of the neighborhood.
 
In response to this teasing, John donned the complete outfit, and set off to the Photographer. He had three pictures printed, and presented each of the young ladies with a copy. He also reports that after a lapse of near forty years, while at the home of one of the young ladies in Texas, she showed him the picture. He also reports that he kept his Mother Hubbard frock until after the war, then transformed it into a Ku Klux robe.

In March, 1862, a Company was formed in Oxford, MS, and John, along with his brother, Bruce, and several others from the neighborhood, joined. They called the company, The Lafayette Rifles, and elected Newton A. Isom Captain, and Robert L. Spencer First Lieutenant. John’s brother, Bruce was a Corporal.

The Company met in Oxford on March 8, 1862 to leave for the front. John describes an understandably distressing scene of husbands and wives clinging to one another, for perhaps the last time, of fond father’s stooping to hold their children, while tears from all fell like rain. When this was all over, the men boarded the train to go, not to the war front, but to Grenada, forty miles away, and there they stayed for about two weeks, drilling company tactics, while waiting for the other regiments to arrive to form what was later known a Walthall’s Twenty-ninth Mississippi.

Soon after it was formed, the Regiment was ordered to Corinth. This was just after the Battle at Shiloh, and all of the Confederate Army had fallen back to Corinth. Here the measles had broken out in the camp, and John became ill, and was furloughed home. Once there, and much better, he began to notice that there were no men, other than the very old, those under age sixteen, a few Doctors, and Preachers, as well as the wealthy Planters. He also noticed that five women of the neighborhood were wearing black calico, the Widows Weeds, as five of his company had succumbed to the measles, and without ever firing a shot in battle, they were counted among the dead of the Civil War.

Mahala, John’s Mother, once told him, “Son, you are nothing but an overgrown boy, and will be such as long as you live.” She was right. John was certainly such. When he was well enough to return to the front, it was understood that he and the thirty-nine other men who had been furloughed home due to illness, would meet in Jackson, MS, and there wait until all were present before transportation would be arranged to get them back to their regiment, which had been moved to Atlanta, GA. He was amongst the first to arrive, and he and others “put up” at the old Washington Hotel, on Capitol Street, not far from the Governor’s Mansion. While there, the proprietor of the hotel was having some trouble with the young boys belonging to a wealthy family, who lived next door to the hotel. The four boys, along with a neighbor boy each owned a kettle drum, and a bass drum, and as boys will, they decided to play war, each day in some different way, and would incessantly beat their drums. This annoyed the proprietor beyond endurance. His name was Mr. Shaw, and when the boys would play their drums, he would “walk the floor, and “cuss”’ to the very great amusement of the men of the regiment. When at last, Mr Shaw had had enough, he said, “I will pay any man fifty dollars in cash who will stop those ------ drums!” John immediately stood forth, smiling, raised his hat, and bowed gracefully, and told him, “I am that man, Mr Shaw!” When asked how he intended to stop the drums, he politely told Mr Shaw, “Never mind, Mr. Shaw, that is my business, and my part of the contract”

 
When the contract was witnessed, John proceeded to the Governor’s Mansion, where the noise seemed to absorb all other sound, and politely knocked at the door, which was promptly answered by a servant of the house. When he asked for the lady of the house, she soon appeared, asking, “What can I do for this Confederate Soldier?” John then proceeded to tell her that his mother was ill in the Washington Hotel, and that as much as he enjoyed the fervor of the boys himself, that it was annoying his sick mother, and would the lady please keep the boys quiet for the next two or three days. She agreed quickly, and had the servant take away the boys’ drums.

When he returned to the hotel, Mr Shaw asked how he had done it, when John refused to disclose his method, Mr Shaw wanted to back down from his end of the bargain, but when the rest of the regiment stood and backed John, he quickly complied, although he continued to try to get him to disclose how he had stopped the drumming, going so far as to call John aside on the day all the  boys were leaving for the train station, and tell him that the desired information would settle his weeks bill at the hotel, so finally John told him, but not after the boys from next door had paid a visit to find out about the sick woman at the hotel. At this juncture, John thought he was caught, but soon found out that there had indeed been a lady there who had been ill, but who was much better, and had left the hotel that very morning.

Mr. Shaw was crestfallen and hacked off to say the least, when as John and his regiment was leaving, and indeed had gotten no further than the porch of the hotel, when once again the drumming started, and with much renewed vigor!!

The regiment removed to Dalton, GA, and there remained about two weeks, then were dispatched to Atlanta to perform the duty of impressing horses for General Bragg’s Kentucky campaign. While there, John befriended a lady named Mrs. Kate  Howard. The Howard’s were a rich family, and the daughter was in receipt of two fine Kentucky horses, for a birthday present, in the year 1860. Now, Mrs. Howard’s brother was home on furlough, and John, having learned of the horses from one of Mrs. Howard’s neighbors, was on guard duty and the location happened to be close to some woods behind the Howard home. At about ten o’clock that night, he was alerted by the sound of rapid hoof beats, but before he got to the road, someone had passed with a pair of horses. John stated that if Mrs. Howard had offered him money to protect the horses, he would surely have sent them north with General Bragg, but he instead accomplished two things of which he was proud. He thwarted  Mrs. Howard’s vindictive neighbor, and brought smiles back to a little girl, who at breakfast the next morning, which John took with the Howard family, ran behind him, and planted a kiss on his rough, grizzled face. Apparently, that made it all worthwhile. When John was wounded at Chickamauga, he was cared for in the Howard home, in Atlanta.

When all the available horses had been gathered in Atlanta, John and the regiment was ordered back to the Army. They began a journey over the mountains of Tennessee, and crossed the Tennessee River near Sparta. John caught the measles, and traveled by ambulance for a day, until the regiment surgeon declared him unable to travel, and left him in the care of a widow who lived close to the road, on the side of the mountain.

 
Most people who lived in this area were not Confederate sympathizers, and were in fact hostile. When General Bragg’s Army had left him alone at the home of this widow, Mrs. Rose, the bush-whackers paid a visit. Now, John ‘s danger was worse than the measles. They came frequently, cursing John, while he lay abed, recovering from his illness, telling him that he should not leave there alive. They would curse the old lady, and tell her that they would burn her house, because she was harboring a “damn Rebel”. On all of these occasions, Mrs. Rose was able to talk the men out of their intentions, but a few days later, they would return, until finally, one night four new men arrived, and two of them entered the house, and straight to the bedroom where John slept. Now, John had a theory. “As long as there is life, there is hope.” But a weak man, just up from a sick bed stands little chance of defending himself against four burly, healthy men, all “armed to the teeth” so John at once decided to make good his escape from these ruffians, which he did, but only after some vigorous running from the “good limb to hang a Rebel on”, and some help from a phosphorescent light which is sometimes seen to rise from marshy ground at night, sometimes called will-o-the-wisp. The mountaineers were badly frightened by it, and all ran back up the mountain, leaving John safe, even if he was worn out!

When this was all over, John decided which way to go to find a road, and headed to it, then down it, carrying his big pistol that he had stolen from the bushwhackers, and after having traveled about sixteen miles, total, from Mrs. Rose’s house, to his then present position, he had  the good fortune to be picked up by a man named Mr. McCain. John spent the night with Mr. McCain and his wife, and the next morning, was given a lift into Glasgow, where he happened upon a man who was on the eve of setting out to visit his son, who just happened to be in John’s regiment, and that is how he got back to his ranks, but did not go there, straight away. He caught up with the Army near Bardstown,  KY, and decided to scout for General Kirby Smith’s Cavalry.

 During this time, he and the other scouts were involved in several skirmishes and running fights with the pursuing Northern Cavalry, and it was not until they reached Camp Dick Robison, that John returned to his regiment. When he arrived, he was greeted with surprise, and many cheers by his comrades, as the Regiment physician, Dr. Brother’s, had told them that John was sure to die where he was left off, for lack of medical attention, and proper nursing.

Upon his arrival, the men were also greatly interested in John’s horse, which he had taken from a Northern soldier. The horse was a Kentucky Throughbred Stud, light on his feet, fast as a race horse, and sure footed. When asked where he came across such a horse, John told the men he had bought him, and then decided to sell him to the Quartermaster, who was in need of a horse of his own. The man gave John, for horse, saddle, and bridle, two hundred fifty dollars, Confederate money.

On December 10, 1862, the Regiment was marched to Murphreesboro, Tn, there, they thought, to set up winter camp. It was extremely cold that winter, and the men thought they had little choice but to freeze to death, or to be smoked out of their little “wigwams”, which is what John called the little shacks the men built for themselves. Relief came, but it was relief that sent them from the frying pan, into the fire. They had been in their little wigwams but for a few days, when on December 30, the company was called out, and marched down the Nashville Pike a few hundred yards, and deployed as skirmishers.

 
Now, Murphreesboro was John’s first “Big Fight” and as “skirmishers” the men soon found out that the Northern Forces had a line deployed in their front. The 29th MS was in a large grove of heavy oak trees, and all was very quiet until about 8:00 a.m., when the Yankee’s sent a boy out in search of water. The boys of the 29th watched, as the boy, laden with canteens, went about his search. Then, as a joke, one of the men, named Bill Gullet fired at him. The boy ran, screaming, back to his regiment, but was un-hurt. Mr. Gullet only shot at the boy to see him run, but it was a fatal shot for the 29th MS.

The Northern forces immediately opened fire, and there our boys fought all day, until about 4:00 p.m., until they were relieved by another regiment. None were killed that day, but there were several wounded. The next day, was a different story altogether. The regiment was placed on the same piece of ground  as the day before, that was, a large field of corn stalks, which had presumably been cut in preparation for the battle. John describes his thoughts on the middles of the rows of corn, as himself having thought they were the deepest middles he had ever seen, as the 29th and 30th MS Regiments were sent with orders to capture the Batteries that the Northern Forces had set up in the grove of heavy oaks. The Yankees held their fire, until the regiments were within thirty yards of them, and were then ordered to fire. This cut our boys down like weeds. They were ordered to fall down in order to escape the bullets, shells, and cannon fire. It was then that John changed his mind about the depth of the middles between the corn rows. How he wished they were four or five feet deep!!!

They were ordered to retreat, which they did, double time, but not without leaving scores of brave fellows in that old corn field, never to charge, again. In less time than fifteen minutes, being exposed to cannon fire, shells, and bullets, one forth of the 30th MS, and about the same amount of men of the 29th MS Regiments lay dead or dying. After falling back to their  trenches, the entire brigade was ordered to take the Batteries. Again, and again the men rallied to their Battle Flag, charged, and counter charged, until at last the Batteries were taken, but at great loss to both sides in that bloody battle. John himself did receive a “scratch” and was consequently detailed, along with another soldier, Pat Rankin, to the rear, to guard three hundred Yankee Prisoners. The consequence of this was that among the old comrades, John, and Pat Rankin received credit for having captured three hundred Yankees, at Murphreesboro.

On January 31, 1863, there was no fighting at Murphreesboro, as a temporary armistice was declared, in order to bury the dead, but on the second, there was considerable picket and skirmish action, but no general engagement. On that night at 12:00, General Bragg’s army was on the march to Shelbyville, there to finally go into their winter quarters, and did no more fighting until the Battle at Chickamauga, the next September.

 
Anybody that has read John’s book, Personal Memoirs, will surely remember the “cat and pie story” that he told to be a true happening that took place while the company was in Winter Quarters that year, and this is the place in time where John, along with two of his friends taught three grown daughters their duty to Mother, and Country. A short time later, in late August, 1862, the 29th Mississippi left camp, and marched, crossing the Tennessee River on Pontoon Bridges, near Bridge Port, and then on to La Fayette, GA. On the morning of September 19, they found themselves in the line of Battle at Chickamauga, and on that day, they “whipped” the U. S. regulars under General Baird, driving his men from the field, and capturing a whole park of artillery in one of the most brilliant charges in an open field ever made by any command in any war, before, or since. After this, the men “spiked” meaning they put out of use every gun in the batteries captured. While this was being done, John picked up a revolver to keep as trophy. The company was soon relived  by another unit, and ordered to the rear, and there held in reserve. John still held on to his trophy revolver, and after the command was reformed, and while waiting, John noticed a small opening, or cave in solid rock, and thinking to hide his revolver, he climbed inside, and put it in a small hole, covering it with some rocks, making his hiding place seem to be solid rock, all the while thinking to go back and reclaim his treasure after the battle was over, and somehow send it home, but alas he had reckoned without his host, for it was only a short time later that he was wounded, and borne helpless form the field. It was when he was recovering from this injury that he was cared for in the home of Mrs. Kate Howard, the lady who’s daughter was the owner of the fine Kentucky Horses that John had “let slip by” while in Dalton, GA, in 1861. We of John’s family Thank the Howard Family for her kindness. It was this injury that permanently retired John from Confederate Service.

While John was recovering from his wound, his regiment went on to battle at Lookout Mountain, TN, and it was there in November, that his brother, Bruce was wounded, and captured. He was sent to Rock Island Prison, there to remain for the remainder of the war. He was traded in February, 1865.

Forty-five years and one day later, on September 20, 1908, John returned to the Chickamauga Battlefield, and while walking through the Park, he discovered the same little cave where he had hidden his trophy pistol. Sure enough, it was still there, dry, and untouched by water, but rusty, nonetheless and the handle was still perfect. At the reunion in Memphis, in 1909, John gave the pistol to Mr R.H. Vance of Johnson and Vance on Main Street, who was also a member of the 29th Mississippi, and in 1911, Mr. Vance was still in possession of that pistol.

After this time, John’s experiences of the Civil War were not that of Soldier, but that of observer, and he stayed on with his regiment, writing down many of those observances and finally documenting them into book form in 1911, just two years before his death.

When the War was over, John, at some point in time was a school teacher in Texas, and then took odd jobs, as will struck him. It was during one of these odd jobs that he met Archie McDonald. John’s job was Cattle Driving, and while on this particular drive, the boss fell ill. The company stopped in a small town, and there, the man’s nurse was Mr. Archie McDonald. A kindly, white haired, gentle man, strangely quiet, he spiked John’s interest, and in talking together, Mr McDonald told John his life’s story, which John wrote down, and published.

 
Archie McDonald was a gentle born man, and upon his birth, was presented with his own slave, who happened to be born on the same day, on the same Plantation, in South Carolina. Archie grew, as did his Negro, and against all teachings, his family allowed him to educate, along with himself, his Negro boy. The boy was very close, and protective, as well as loyal to Archie, and as boys will do, Archie, his negro, and his cousin played and grew to love pranks. One such prank ended up costing Archie his free life. The boys were in a town in the north, and one night, at the hotel, they observed two French Canadians playing at Billiards, and the game came to blows. The boys decided to show the two how silly they were, by playing at the same game, but adding an element of their own. It was decided that the cousins would play, pretend to fight, and Archie would pull his pistol, and pretend he was going to shoot his cousin.

Instead of pretending, the gun really did go off, and killed Archie McDonald’s cousin. He was tried, and sent to prison for First Degree Murder for 50 years. This was the story that John wrote in his first book, Archie McDonald of South Carolina, 50 Years a White Slave, etc. The actual title of the book is too long to recall, and only two copies of the book remain that I know of. One is in The Department of Archives and History, in Jackson, MS, the other, owned by an Antique Book Collector in FL. It was published in 1909, and was written while John was an inmate at Beauvoir Soldiers Home, in Biloxi, MS.

In May, 1906, John traveled to Mississippi City, (Biloxi) to gain admittance to the home there for  Confederate Soldiers. While there, I came to understand why anybody would want to live there. The name Beauvoir means Beautiful View, and it surely is just that. Nearly one hundred years later, I was taken aback by the view, and the peacefulness of the place. Like all places that house people together, there were a few problems here and there, and John just happened to be in the middle of a rather large one.

His problem began on the second day after his arrival at the home, when one of the cooks, Ben Alexander, cursed John, and ran him out of the kitchen for spilling coffee on his clean tablecloth. John was told, “By God! You MUST leave this kitchen!!”

Now, being raised in a family that owned slaves, and finally, a Veteran of a war that is claimed by most to have been about slavery, or rather the ending of the institution of slavery, this behavior very much offended the old soldier, and he immediately reported the outburst to the Matron, Mrs. Wallace. She, as it was understood, did not have the authority to dismiss the cook, and so the matter was left until the next day, when the Superintendent, Dr. W. T. Price, was to return. When he arrived, Dr Price was informed of the incident, and upon discussion with the Matron Wallace, who agreed that if such was the truth, that the cook, Ben, must be discharged, he was called upon and questioned about the happening. Finding it to be true, Ben was discharged, and left Beauvior the same day, after preparing the evening meal.

This was a minor happening when compared to what took place some months after. As John made his way from Greenwood, MS, to Biloxi, to enroll as an inmate at Beauvior, he stopped to visit a friend in Itta Bena, MS, by the name of Mrs. Barrington. While there, after she had discovered why John was in the area, Mrs. Barrington told John that she had heard some distressing news of mismanagement at the home, and asked if he would write to her in regards to what he thought of the conditions there.

 
As requested, John complied, writing all that he had seen and heard. His mistake was that he included hearsay, without checking on the facts. This is how a Mr. G. W. Edwards came to know of John’s problems, and the perceived problems of the other old soldiers at the home. It was he who took it upon himself to write to the Editor, Mr. J. G. McGuire, the then famous, “Soldiers Home Letters”, penning himself the nom de plume, “A Mississippian”, but as he had used excerpts from John’s letters to Mrs. Barrington, it was John who had to take the blame, and it caused him to be suspended from Beauvior, in the opinion of this author, unfairly.

A list of the charges made against the Home, due to the letter excerpts, are taken from a copy of The Yazoo Sentinel, published, August 30, 1906, are as follows:

1) That the Negroes carried the keys, and lived and were treated better than the old soldiers, and once again, the cursing of “Capt.” John Robuck, and the refusal of the Matron, Mrs. Wallace to dismiss the cook, until the old men talked of a lynching was brought to light.

2) That a pig was found drowned in a slop trough, and was dressed and fed to the inmates.

3) That there was a goodly amount of money dropped in the contribution box for the benefit of the old soldiers, but that they never saw any of it.

4) That though there were several Negro Laundresses there, the old men had to pay extra for a starched shirt.

5) That the old men were refused food suitable to their physical condition, in that the Daughters of the Confederacy sent jams and jellies, but that they were allowed to rot in storage instead of being given to the old soldiers; and finally,

6) That the Matron was a Northern woman, and not in sympathy with the Veterans. In that time, to be deemed a Yankee in the South, was considered to be the worst kind of accusation. John called her just that. A Yankee.

All of these accusations were addressed in the investigation that followed, and each of them were explained in turn by the Superintendent, Dr. Price.

Before the investigation took place, and just after Dr. Price had been advised of the letters, he summoned John to a room, and asked him his part in the letters written by Mr. Edwards. John told him that the excerpts were taken from some letters written to a friend. At that point, Dr. Price told John that he was going to suspend him, to which John replied that he would have to be removed by force. This could be arranged, said Dr. Price, and at that point threatened John with a dishonorable discharge. Things calmed down a bit, and John asked to be allowed to make a statement at breakfast the following morning, and name those who had told him some of the hearsays that he wrote to Mrs. Barrington about. This was allowed, and the next morning, John made his announcement, but named no names. When he asked his fellow inmates how many of them thought he was being suspended unfairly, only about five of sixty, or sixty-five men raised their hands.

John left Beauvior that day, with Dr. Price telling him to leave the address where he would be, and that he would be contacted, so that he may be present at the investigation. He never went back.
 
When the time came for the investigation to take place, an announcement was placed in every newspaper in Mississippi, and in the New Orleans, and Memphis papers as well. John could not be found.

The Home was cleared of all charges, and the following resolutions were passed:

1) That the charges made by the inmate, John E. Robuck against Dr. W. T. Price,     Superintendent, and Mrs. M. R. Wallace, Matron of Beauvior Soldiers Home are wholly untrue, malicious, and unwarranted by the facts.

2) The charges that were made by Robuck, that Mrs. Wallace is a Yankee, is shown by the testimony taken by the Board of Directors, is wholly false.

Dr. Price, and Mrs. Wallace were commended for performing the duties of their respective jobs in a matter deemed to be suitable.

John’s whereabouts between the time he left Beauvior, and his death in 1913, remain unknown, but at the time of his death, on January 31, 1913, he was in Vicksburg, MS. He died of a Stroke, and paralysis, and is now  thought to be buried at Soldiers Rest Cemetery in Vicksburg, Lauderdale County, Mississippi.

One day we shall know for sure.