James
C. Barrs,
my G-G Grandfather probably sold his Taylor County property within
several
years of his being releases from the Union Military Prison at Fort
Delaware on Pea Island in the Delaware River after the War Between the
States had ended in 1865. He was released
from Fort Delaware Union Military Prison in 1865. We don't know
what motivated him to make the decision to move his family to south
Suwannee-Columbia County Florida
instead of Taylor County Florida. He may have sold the Taylor County FL
property to finance a General Store and the establishment of the town
of Barrsville Florida in south Columbia County Florida around
1871.
And, there was and still are Barrs living in Taylor County,
Suwannee, Madison, Columbia
and Lafayette County Florida. Some Barrs families still live in the
Brooks
County Georgia area of The Nankin District and many are buried in the
old
Columbia
Baptist cemetery in Nankin. James Carl Barrs was buried in the
Perry
Cemetery in Taylor County Florida. He was a Grandson of G-G
Grandparents James Campbell Barrs
and Martha Elizabeth Land-Barrs
and son of Ander Barrs.
James
C. Barrs
served in the CSA during the War Between the States. He enlisted
three times! He first enlisted in the home militia before the war. Then
he enlisted again, at age 42, on August 4, 1863 at Quitman, Brooks
County
Georgia in Captain Wiley W. Groover's 11th Georgia Calvary,
Georgia
State Guards Company for a normal enlistment period of 6
months along with his only living brother William W. Barrs and his
oldest son James Henry L. Barrs.
After serving out his enlistment
in 1864 he then again enlisted on May
6, 1864,
and again at Quitman Georgia in Company E, 1st Regiment
(Symon's
Regiment) Georgia Infantry State Reserves for the duration of
the
war. He was appointed 4th Sergeant. He was serving at Fort McAllister
Georgia
(Near and northwest of Savannah Georgia. Ft. McAllister is today a
state park.) on December 13, 1864 when Union General Sherman's
overwhelming
large force of 9,000 troops, on their infamous 'March to the sea'
campaign,
over
ran and captured the fort being defended by 250 troops at twilight on
December 13, 1864 and took all CSA troops captive
who were not killed at
the conclusion of the battle.
A young CSA Private, Samuel
Moore, was 15 years of age when he joined
the CSA. He wrote an account of his war experience at age 19, "The fort
was
not surrendered, but overrun and captured in battle." His writings can
be found in the history of Jefferson County Florida and Brooks County
Georgia. Reference: Undaunted:
The History of Port McAllister, Georgia by William E. Christman
1996. Copies can be ordered from the museum at Ft. McAllister Georgia
State Park.
James
C. Barrs,
after being captured in hand to hand combat along with the other
defenders of Ft. McAllister,
was sent first to Hilton Head South Carolina, where he was hospitalized
with Typhoid fever. He was then transferred to the Union's Fort
Delaware
Military Prison until his release, after signing 'The Oath' on July 18,
1865. He was assigned to Prisoner Barracks No. 14 of Ft. Delaware,
according to the Fort Delaware Society.
In
October of 1865 he arrived back at his home in The Nankin District of
Brooks
County Georgia after having traveled by leaky boat with young Samuel
Moore
to Jacksonville Florida, walking, riding the train to Madison Florida
and
then walking the 16 miles north from Madison Florida to Jim Barrs'
home
in The Nankin District of Brooks County Georgia.
James C. Barrs' family said that
they were surprised to see him
again because they had given him up for dead. Before he would go
into his home he striped off all of his tattered clothes, took a hot
bath,
and put on clean clothing, according to one of his sons, John
Wesley
Barrs.