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Biography/History:
William Alexander Montgomery was born at Davis Mill, Winston County, Mississippi, on October 18, 1844. He was the son of Charles Warren and Olivia F. Moore Montgomery. Around 1846, Montgomery and his family settled along Fourteen-Mile Creek near Edwards, Hinds County, Mississippi, where they engaged in farming. The Montgomery family also included Lawson Rochester (b. ca. 1849), Charles K. (b. ca. 1850), Olivia (b. ca. 1860), Victor Van Dorn (b. July 21, 1861), and Joseph C. (b. ca. 1864).
After studying with private tutors and in local schools, Montgomery enrolled at Union University, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, in 1859. When Mississippi seceded from the Union in 1861, Montgomery’s father requested him to return from school. The sixteen-year-old Montgomery enlisted with the Raymond Fencibles, Company C, Twelfth Regiment, Mississippi Infantry, in May 1861. Due to his young age, Montgomery was discharged after eight only months of service with the unit. He later enlisted with Muldrow’s Company, Company E, Wirt Adams’s Regiment, Mississippi Cavalry, in which he served as a scout. In spring 1864, Montgomery was promoted to captain and ordered to raise a cavalry unit. The Montgomery Scouts were mustered into service on November 1, 1864. The unit participated in such Mississippi battles as Champion Hill, Hinds County, and Concord Church and Mechanicsburg, Yazoo County, before being discharged on March 13, 1865.
By September 1865, Montgomery had enrolled in law school at Transylvania University, Lexington, Kentucky. His father died about six months after he entered law school, and Montgomery returned to Mississippi where he assisted his mother in the care of three younger brothers and in managing the family farm. He was admitted to the Mississippi bar in 1868.
Montgomery married Mella Dupree on December 22, 1868. She was the daughter of James and Charlotte Biggs Dupree of Brownsville, Hinds County, Mississippi. The Montgomerys resided near Edwards where they had five children: Patrick Henry (b. January 29, 1872), Charles Warren (b. September 14, 1875), Olivia M. (b. December 11, 1876), Hugh Laurence (b. November 27, 1878), and William Alexander, Jr. (b. October 10, 1880). Hugh Laurence and William Alexander Montgomery, Jr., both died in infancy. In 1878, Montgomery was appointed to fill the unexpired term of Senator A. R. Johnston, who represented Hinds and Rankin counties in Mississippi. After his term expired in 1880, Montgomery established a law practice. Mella Dupree Montgomery died on March 28, 1882, and was interred at the Montgomery family cemetery in Hinds County.
Montgomery married his second wife, Betty Henry, on April 16, 1884. She was the daughter of B. Wilkins and Sue Randolph Henry of Edwards. The Montgomerys resided in Edwards where they had three children: William Alexander, Jr. (b. July 29, 1886), Mella Dupree (b. July 18, 1888), and Wilkins Henry (b. February 28, 1895).
In 1897, Montgomery was elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives. During the Spanish-American War, Governor Anselm J. McLaurin appointed Montgomery as colonel of the Second Regiment, Mississippi Infantry. This regiment was mustered into service in Jackson, Hinds County, Mississippi, on June 9, 1898. Montgomery also served as acting brigadier general of the First Brigade, Third Division, Seventh Army, under General Fitzhugh Lee. After his regiment was mustered out of service on December 21, 1898, Montgomery returned to Edwards and resumed his law practice. He was also active in several fraternal organizations, including the Knights of Pythias, Masonic Order, Odd Fellows, and United Confederate Veterans. Montgomery also contributed a poem to the Confederate Veteran magazine. In 1907, Montgomery was appointed to the board of trustees of the Mississippi Penitentiary, a position he held until his death on October 12, 1925. He was interred at Edwards Town Cemetery.
Scope and Content:
This collection consists of two bound volumes of memoirs and two bound daybooks (with accompanying material) of William Alexander Montgomery of Edwards, Hinds County, Mississippi. The primary focus of the memoirs is the Confederate military service and post-war life of Montgomery. He refers to himself in either the first or third person in both memoirs.
The first memoir begins with a muster roll of Montgomery’s unit that records soldiers’ names, where and when they enlisted, length of enlistment, enlisting officers, and whether they died in battle. The next section contains copies of some of Montgomery’s orders and daily entries that note his unit’s movements between November 1864 and May 1865. The final section was written by Montgomery at three different times and offers insights into his life during and after the war. The first entry was made on August 1, 1865, shortly after Montgomery returned home. He comments on the war and its impact on the Edwards area. In a March 1, 1866, entry Montgomery states that he has just returned from law school in Lexington, Kentucky, where he has been for the previous six months. He offers opinions on political and social affairs in Mississippi at the time. In the last entry dated April 18, 1882, Montgomery discusses all of the changes that have occurred in his family during the sixteen years that elapsed since his last entry. He recounts the death of his father, Charles Warren Montgomery, and returning from law school to help reduce family debts through the cultivation of cotton. Of interest is Montgomery’s account of an unscrupulous Confederate veteran’s confidence scheme perpetrated on unsuspecting Hinds County cotton farmers. Montgomery mentions completing his legal studies and establishing a law practice. He also notes his marriage to Mella Dupree in 1868 and her death in 1882.
Montgomery later inverted the first memoir and continued writing in the opposite direction. This section contains an account of his early life, including moving to Hinds County and attending school with cousins. Montgomery describes joining the Raymond Fencibles and his compulsory discharge eight months later due to his young age. He discusses taking his father’s place in the state militia upon returning home and his subsequent military service in Wirt Adams’s Regiment, Mississippi Cavalry. Also included with the volume are eight separate pages containing an incomplete narrative on the battle of Concord Church in Yazoo County.
Dating from 1883, the second memoir contains recollections of Montgomery’s service as a scout under General Wirt Adams. He relates the unit’s movements along the Big Black River and reports to superiors such as Confederate general Stephen D. Lee. Montgomery also details skirmishes he was involved in around Forest, Scott County, during the unit’s pursuit of troops commanded by Union general William Tecumseh Sherman.
Montgomery also inverted the second memoir and continued writing in the opposite direction. This section consists of an undated address, possibly presented at a public event. Also included are a clipping of a poem composed in memory of Montgomery, a program from a reunion of Ratliff’s Battery, and a printed laundry advertisement resembling a Confederate note.
The two daybooks were used by Montgomery to record a variety of personal and business information from 1867 to 1877. In each daybook, Montgomery notes events of personal significance such as the births of children and news of family and friends. He describes farming activities and weather conditions and also records personal expenses.
Dating from 1867 to 1870, the first daybook contains two pages of cotton information. The first page is entitled “Weights of Cotton” and lists the names of day laborers and the numbers and weights of bales. The next page is entitled “Cotton Shipped” and lists the dates cotton was shipped, the numbers of bales, the names of day laborers, and the firm to which the bales were shipped. A final page is entitled “Names of Hands on the Oakwood Church and Baldwin’s Ferry Road.” Some of the names on this undated list appear on the pages containing cotton information. In the back of the volume are three political essays. There is also an 1870 address intended for presentation at an unnamed literary society.
Covering the years 1875 to 1877, the second daybook includes two hand-drawn plat maps. They identify property bought and sold by Montgomery family members and their neighbors along the Big Black River in Hinds County. Also included is a possible list of day laborers who may have worked for Montgomery and their ages and birth years.
Series Identification:
Boxes 1 and 2
Boxes 1 and 2
Box List: