Louis Napoleon Nelson: The First Black Chaplain Of The Civil War

5fish

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I found him with photo and he rode with Forrest. Is he a Black Confederate


Louis Napoleon Nelson: The First Black Chaplain of the Civil War

When the 7th Tennessee Cavalry Regiment requested a chaplain, there were not enough clergymen to assign to every military unit in the Confederate States Army. Fortunately, there was a man called of God in their midst. Louis Napoleon Nelson was well versed in Scripture and traveled to war as the bodyguard of two Oldham brothers.

Answering the call, Louis Napoleon Nelson conducted a spiritual service for the soldiers. They so thoroughly enjoyed the sermons until the field officers appointed him as the honorary chaplain of the 7th Tennessee Cavalry Regiment during the Battle of Shiloh in April of 1862.

How could this be? How could Confederate field officers assign an African-American as their regimental chaplain? This was indeed possible because President Jefferson Davis delegated the appointment of chaplains to Confederate States Army field commanders.

Also, Confederate States Army chaplains did not have a formal title. As an example, some chaplains were called Brother, Father or Reverend. During this period in American history either South or North , African-American men were not addressed as “Mr./Mister”. Therefore, the common title for African-American men who were held in high regard was “uncle.” Therefore, the troopers of the 7th Tennessee Cavalry Regiment affectionately called Louis Napoleon Nelson, “Uncle Louis.”

After several revival services, word spread throughout the camp. On September 10, 1863, a correspondent for the Religious Herald wrote, “Uncle Louis is heard with respectful attention, and for earnestness, zeal and sincerity, can be surpassed by none.”
 

5fish

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Here is his grave and more photos...


BIO:

Louis Napoleon Nelson – Ripley Native and Confederate Civil War Soldier
November 1, 2011 in Civil War, Ripley, Slavery

Louis Napoleon Nelson was born in 1846 in Ripley, Lauderdale County, TN. He died in 1934 at the age of 88. Louis served in an integrated unit for the Confederacy; the 7th Tennessee Cavalry Company M. Louis is a well-known Ripley native due to the efforts of his grandson. According to his grandson, Nelson Winbush, Louis Napoleon Nelson went to war with the sons of his owner, James Oldham, as their bodyguard. At first Louis served as a cook and look out, but he later saw action under the command of General Nathan Bedford Forrest. Louis also went on to serve as a Chaplain. He could not read or write, yet he had managed to memorize the King James Bible. He went on to serve as Chaplain for the next 4 campaigns, leading services with the soldiers before they went to the battlefield. He fought in battles at Shiloh, Lookout Mountain, Brice's Crossroads, and Vicksburg. After the war Louis lived as a freeman on the James Oldham plantation for several years. He built a yellow, two story house, with a wraparound porch in Ripley. Throughout the years Louis went to 39 Confederate reunions proudly wearing his Civil War uniform. When Louis Napoleon Nelson passed away a Confederate flag draped his coffin. According to a story in the Memphis Commercial Appeal newspaper in 1933 Louis described himself as the only colored Democrat in Lauderdale County, TN. His funeral the following year, which included a military procession, was described as "the largest colored folks funeral we had ever seen in our time." Today his story lives on through his grandson Nelson Winbush, who proudly proclaims his grandfather's legacy.
 

diane

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I've found the story of Louis Napoleon Nelson to be an interesting one. I would not say he was a Confederate soldier, but he may well have been a black Confederate! When Forrest needed numbers, everybody went whether they were the black cook or the white cavalryman. Wouldn't dispute that he was in the battles he claimed to have been in - Union reports note blacks among Forrest's soldiers on the field. When he surrendered, Forrest turned over his 45 slaves and said 'better Confederates never lived' but he did not say they were soldiers. (And they may have differed with him about being Confederates...) Some of them wore uniforms, were fully armed and were part of his escort as well. He put forth considerable effort to get at least three of these men Tennessee pensions because they had been wounded and were disabled. None of them received soldiers pensions but were listed as servants.

I've also wondered if Nelson was the mysterious (and possibly fictional) black Democrat said to have accompanied the Democratic delegation from Tennessee to the 1868 convention in New York.
 

diane

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No, I haven't seen much about him but if he was a preacher he would not have been allowed to be a chaplain. He was mainly connected to Duckworth's command, so it's likely he preached to the blacks in that company and possibly those in Forrest's command if the two units were combined. Forrest's chaplain was D C Kelley, the Fighting Preacher.

Nelson puts me in mind of William Mack Lee. He, too, was a preacher and claimed to have been Lee's personal servant and made quite a living regaling folks with his tales of Lee. He's pretty much considered to have been a fraud. I haven't researched Nelson enough to say that but it seems to be more along those lines. Hard to say, but the pension papers and correspondence indicate he was a slave who went with his master's sons to look after them - that's it!
 

5fish

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Nelson puts me in mind of William Mack Lee.
I think its a bit of folklore and a bit of truth with some embellishment added in the mix... You think someone would have mention somewhere about a illiterate black slave preaching to white troopers... I could not find anything other than his Nelson's grandson's storytelling...

I found a reunion picture and Louis Nelson is standing to the back and right of the white shoulders... all alone... He was not one of the boys...


Snip...

You will notice that Nelson is situated just off to the right of the rest of the group. This is very common in images of veterans and former slaves. Nelson’s location served as a reminder of his presence and role in Confederate units, but it also serves as a reminder of the racial hierarchy of the 1860s as well as the early twentieth century.
 

diane

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There is a photo, 1908 I believe, of a reunion of Forrest's escort in Lynchburg, TN. There are two black men there, identified, and they aren't separated from the whites. I think that's because they did fight side by side together. Forrest's escort was a bit of an anomaly anyway - it also contained a few Indians. Forrest himself hand-picked these men because he used his escort as no other general used an escort.
 

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There is a photo, 1908 I believe, of a reunion of Forrest's escort in Lynchburg, TN.
Here it is still off to the side...


 

diane

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Yes, that's the photo I was talking about! Anyone who served in Forrest's escort was accepted, no matter their color. There is another of Forrest's escort in the field that contains an Indian - who happens to be my great-uncle as near as we can figure - and the commander in the picture might be Bill Forrest. If it is, it's the only picture of him alive! (The only confirmed photo of William Hezekiah Forrest is a post-mortem one.)

I'm not sure I'd read too much into the standing to the side. There were social rules still in place that weren't equal by any means. A story - a group of Union soldiers were invited to dinner at a black home. The table was all set and they seated themselves and were surprised to see the family standing together in the corner. Aren't you going to eat with us? they asked. Oh no! It isn't right for black folks to eat with white folks. They were free, too. The soldiers said they weren't comfortable eating their food with them standing in the corner eating nothing!
 
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5fish

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(The only confirmed photo of William Hezekiah Forrest is a post-mortem one.)
You can click in the photos and the get bigger and if you look someone number one photo which means there a list of names to go along with the photo... just got to find the person with the list of names...
 
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