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John Fearn Francis was not born in
America and arrived there by going "the long 'way around"; by way of
England and Australia. The story of his becoming a participant in the
American Civil War and the picture that develops of his life and character
is one of fascination; and ends with his becoming a Confederate Hero of
Mansfield, Louisiana.
John Fearn Francis was born John Fearn in England around 1826 and the
Fearn family was well-known and respected, having made a name for
themselves in the cutlery industry. England in the early 19th Century was
over crowded, people often lived in squalor and every opportunity was
taken by the existing government to reduce its population; by removing as
many as possible.
John Fearn was arrested and later tried on January 4, 1844 and convicted
at 19 years of age in York Sheffield, England, supposedly for
receiving stolen goods without knowing they were stolen, but his
Tasmanian Van Diemans Land penal colony records state he was arrested for
stealing money and other articles from a person; his sentence was 15
years in Van Diemen's Land, a prison penal colony now known as Tasmania,
Australia. It further states it was his second conviction and stated this
offence was picking pockets money and a parcel. He also served eighteen
months in the Southport Station Gang, prior to being sent to Van Diemans
Land. His trade at the time was that of a saw smith. When he arrived in
Australia, he took the name of John Francis, so as not bring disgrace on
his family back in England. Records indicate that John worked on Rocky
Creek Convict Station, in northern Van Diemen's Land, a base for convicts
sent to clear land for the Van Diemens Land Company. After seven years of
service, however, he was given a conditional pardon for good behavior.
In July, 1852, John married Ellen Malley, a native of Tasmania, at St.
James Old Cathedral in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. His time was spent
in the goldfields of Victoria and friends there advised him to go to
Louisiana and grow cotton or sugar if he wanted to make a lot of money. So
he and his wife Ellen (O'Malley) moved from Tasmania, Australia to
Louisiana. The exact date of John & Ellen's arrival in America is unknown,
but on September 21, 1857 John purchased two acres of land in Mansfield,
Louisiana. The 1860 Census of DeSoto Parish reveals they had a 4 year old
daughter named Eliza and a 1 year old daughter named Mary, both born in
Louisiana. John and his family eventually moved into the township of
Mansfield with their home situated in the center of Mansfield, Louisiana;
where some believe he became a Cutlery Remaker. That, however, has not
been verified, but his family had been in the business in England.
John enlisted as a private in Thomas' 28th Louisiana Infantry Regiment,
Company B, on March 29, 1862, in New Orleans and John & Ellen's third
child, a son named William, was born shortly after his enlistment. Muster
roll records reveal John was a male nurse on daily duty in the camp
hospital. During September and October of 1863, he was shown as "Absent
with leave; being sent home to collect clothing for his company as part
of a detail sent back for uniforms and clothing. During his period of
service John was a Commissioned Officer with the rank of 2nd Lieutenant.
Around the time that New Orleans fell to Union forces of Admiral David G.
Farragut's fleet, confusion was rampant and all Louisiana wanted to defend
against further invasion. Men were recruited quickly and formed into
units, one being the 28th Louisiana Infantry Regiment; consisting of two
separate units bearing the same designation. The first was formed by Col.
Henry Gray organized in May 1862; the second formed by Colonel Allen
Thomas on May 3, 1962. Both were formed, around the same time without the
knowledge of the other; on opposite sides of the Mississippi River. Gray's
was formed first and retained the 28th designation while Thomas' 28th
became known as the 29th Louisiana Infantry Regiment while retaining the
28th Thomas' designation.
Thomas 28th Louisiana Infantry Regiment, Francis unit, was organized at
Camp Moore on May 3, 1862, by the addition of five companies to a
battalion formed by Thomas for state service. They left for Vicksburg,
Mississippi, on May 20th, arriving on the 21st. During the first Federal
attack on Vicksburg from May 18th through July 27th, the regiment did
picket and guard duty near Warrenton; south of the city. They remained
near Vicksburg throughout the summer and fall, continually drilling and
doing picket duty. On December 27th the regiment moved to Chickasaw
Bluffs, north of Vicksburg, to assist in the defence of the surrounding
area. Thomas 28th Louisiana Infantry repelled enemy attacks on December
28th and 29th, with 9 men killed, 25 wounded, and 9 missing. After that
they had a period of inactivity until the beginning of the Siege of
Vicksburg, on May 19, 1863. Thomas 28th originally occupied trenches on
the Confederate left flank near Fort Hill, but on May 22nd they moved in
support of General John H. Forney's division, during a major Union
assault; after the attack, returning to their old positions.
During the siege, 16 men of Thomas 28th Louisiana Infantry were killed
and 57 were wounded; the remainder being captured. They were eventually
paroled after their surrender, on July 4, 1863 when the Confederate
stronghold fell to the Federal army under Ulysses S. Grant. After signing
the document of Pardon, some of the men of the 28th Regiment, along with
other regiments began a long overland march to Enterprise, Mississippi;
near the Alabama and Mississippi border. There, on their honor, they
remained in a "parole" camp. They were "fed, clothed and provided for" by
the Confederate government, with no Federal guards present, while they
awaited their eventual exchange and return to active duty. That happened,
once an equal number of federal prisoners were accumulated for their
exchange. After months in the camp many of the men were sent home, while
others were re-assigned to the ranks of other Confederate units.
Eventually they were allowed a short furlough home before returning to
their regiments in the summer of 1864. Many however, chose not to return
to duty and remained at their homes. The regiment though, remained in the
Alexandria-Pineville area until May, 1865 at which time, it marched to
Mansfield, where the men disbanded on May 19th. The muster roll records do
not show John Francis' promotion to 2nd. Lt., but the Regimental Roster
shows he enlisted as a Commissioned Officer. The Vicksburg pardon
document, dated July 7, 1863 does indeed show that John Francis signed the
document as a 2nd Lieutenant. The "Surrender and Pardon document" dated
July 7, 1863 at Vicksburg was signed by 2nd Lt. John Francis, Co. B., 28th
Thomas' Louisiana Infantry Regiment.
The spring of 1864 found John at home in Mansfield, Louisiana when the
approach of the Union Army from the south, in the infamous Red River
Campaign, brought the war to their front door and brought forth every man
in Louisiana that was able to fight, forming ranks during the Battle of
Mansfield. No loyal Louisiana man would have hesitated to defend his home
and family from the invading Union Army, so, like all able bodied men of
Mansfield, John participated even though he was not an "official" member
of any unit at the time. Local history relates Francis cared for the
wounded of Confederate and Union forces alike as they were brought to the
church in town, which had been converted into hospitals. John was probably
one of the few, if not the only man in town, with experience in
battlefield nursing; having been a Confederate male nurse.
Several colleges, churches and homes in Mansfield became battlefield
hospitals. The most severe cases of both sides were taken to the Baptist
Church. John E. Hewett recalled that; "At
dark on the eve of the tenth, one of the nurses lighted a candle and
holding it in one hand attended the patient with the other, but the
delirious patient struck down the candle and the light, catching the loose
cotton used as bedding, set it on fire, and in a moment the flames filled
the building. To save the wounded from death by burning, the men who were
in Mansfield rushed in and carrying the patients through the fire or
casting them out of the windows saved about 200 soldiers from a horrible
death. As the rescuers were about to abandon the work, a young Creole
Confederate soldier suffering from slight wounds and a young Union soldier
arrived upon the scene and answered the wild calls for help from within.
The fatigued rescuers joined them and another dozen of the men were saved
from the flames." The Baptist Church was burned to the ground.
Many wounded soldiers were rescued, some being thrown from windows.
Several died in the fire, some being the rescuers including John Fearn
Francis who was said to have been tending the worst of the wounded; dieing
and giving his life in an attempt to rescue the wounded from the burning
building. The descendants of John Fearn Francis, however, today relate the
family story that John died fighting a fire when a cannonball
struck the roof of his home. After plotting the positions of the
batteries, and the location of the Francis home, however, it was
determined that such would not have been possible because of the distance.
But there was a fire in Mansfield though and the victims of the fire were
buried in a corner of the City Cemetery, close to the church. According to
the Mansfield Historical Society, there are some ten unmarked graves, in
that part of the cemetery, closest to where the Baptist church once stood.
John was said to have been buried in the Mansfield City Cemetery, Special
Section, which includes 10 unmarked graves of soldiers killed in the
Mansfield Battle. Confederate graves, if found by Union soldiers would
have been desecrated or destroyed. When federal soldiers came upon burial
sites of marked Confederate dead, the desecration of the grave was
commonly done as an additional insult to the family of the soldier. It was
also a common practice to place the name and unit of a dead Federal
soldier on the marker of a fallen Confederate soldier; so the Mansfield
Confederates were buried without headstones; presumably for that reason.
That practice was documented by many in Louisiana and other states during
the period.
On April 8, 1864 Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Bank's Red River Expedition
advanced about 150 miles up Red River and Maj. Gen. Richard Taylor,
without any instructions from his commander, Gen. E. Kirby Smith, decided
that it was time to try and stem the Union drive. Like many important
battles, the Mansfield-Pleasant Hill engagement was actually a series of
encounters taking place over several days. Taylor therefore established a
defensive position just below Mansfield, Louisiana near Sabine
Cross-Roads, an important communications center. On April 8th, Banks Union
force approached, driving Confederate cavalry ahead of them. For the rest
of the morning, the Federals probed the Rebel lines and in the late
afternoon Taylor, though outnumbered, decided to attack. After a two-hour
cavalry fight with Union forces near Wilson's Farm on April 7, 1864,
General Taylor elected to defend a site about four miles south of
Mansfield, now the location of the Mansfield State Historic Site. General
Hanks did not expect the Confederates to fight until he reached
Shreveport, so the Union army had become stretched out along the narrow
road leading to the town of Mansfield. That allowed Taylor to deal with
his opponents on more equal terms, since the Confederate troops were
heavily outnumbered.
Taylors men made a determined assault on both Union flanks, rolling up
one and then another of Banks divisions. Finally, some three miles from
their original contact, a third Union division met Taylor's attack at 6:00
pm and stopped it, after more than an hour's fighting. That night, Taylor
unsuccessfully attempted to turn Banks right flank and at 12 p.m. on April
8th, the head of the now disorganized 5,700 man Union army was confronted
by 8,800 men of the Confederate army in battle formation. The Union troops
quickly formed a line of battle along a rail fence and a ridge known as
Honeycutt Hill; and on orders from Taylor, General Alfred Mouton's
Division charged the fence. Mouton was killed leading the attack, but
French born General C. J. Polignac, along with other
Confederate forces, continued the attack and overwhelmed the Union
line. Banks withdrew, but met Taylor again on April 9th at Pleasant Hill.
A fresh unit of 1,700 Union troops formed another line of battle; about a
mile south of the first. After a brief encounter, Taylor and his
Confederates routed the Union forces, taking many prisoners and seizing
guns, small arms and wagons abandoned by fleeing soldiers. The Union army
rejoined the navy in Natchitoches and began their long retreat down the
Red River. Mansfield was the decisive battle of the Red River Campaign,
forcing General Banks forces to retreat back towards Alexandria. There
were 2,900 Union and 1,500 Confederate casualties.
The muster roll records do not show that John Fearn Francis participated
and was subsequently killed at the Battle of Mansfield on April 8, 1864.
All records regarding John Fearn Francis cease as of this date and no
records are found for John Francis after the Battle of Mansfield on April
8, 1864. John, however, was said to have died during the period of the
Battle of Mansfield, while caring for the military wounded of both armies.
After the surrender, the new government required that tutors, or
guardians, be appointed for all children of deceased soldiers. As such,
Ellen Francis and W.S. Donaldson were appointed as guardians for John's
three children; Anola Mary, William, and John. John Thomas was born
January 10, 1865 and his father never knew about him. Somewhere between
1860 and 1865, their oldest child, which appeared on the 1860 census, had
died. In November 1865, Ellen Francis sold their property on Crosby Street
and left Louisiana for England where John's family lived. Ellens and the
childrens names, given as Fearn, next appeared on a Ship's Passenger List
of the Great Britain, which departed from Liverpool, England, in
February, 1866 and arrived in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, in March,
1866.
After returning to Australia, Ellen met and married Alexander Wannan and
John's three children took the name Fearn-Wannan; which their descendants
bear to this day. John Fearn Francis died for the heritage of America,
protecting the South and caring for the wounded and his family had to go
on without him. The descendants of the men with whom he fought, American,
English, Scottish, Irish, Australian and others are richer for the price
he paid. One descendant, William Fearn-Wannan, also known as Bill Wannan,
was the great-grandson of John Fearn and author of the book "Australian
Folklore". John Fearn is not listed in the Louisiana rosters nor is he
listed in the index of the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion,
but the signatures of Francis marriage certificate, signed by John
Francis and witnessed by an individual named Fearn, possibly a brother,
and the rolls of a Louisiana soldier named John Francis match exactly,
validating the fact that Francis was the alias used by John Fearn Francis.
Much of the personal information of John Fearn Francis used herein was
found in the book "Fearn Family History -- A Snyopsis" compiled by Alan
Daley and Howard Fearn-Wannan, November 1995. Mr. Michael Wannan and his
son James Fearn-Wannan. are also descendants of John Fearn Francis.
In March 2007 after much research and confirmation, James Gray, a
Confederate descendant himself and a member of the Sons of Confederate
Veterans, with the American Civil War Roundtable of Queensland, Inc. of
which he is a member, enlisted the assistance of Mr. David Hill, Commander
of the Lt. General Richard Taylor Camp # 1308 of the Sons of Confederate
Veterans of Louisiana, and an official military headstone was acquired
from the American Veterans Administration for placement on the gravesite
of the Australian hero John Fearn Francis; as he was known at the time of
his death. With the assistance of Mrs. Alice Holtin, the back of the
headstone was to be inscribed with information denoting that John Fearn
Francis was an Australian; who died a hero and gave his life in the
service of others.
There is a yearly period Civil War encampment, complete with authentically
uniformed soldiers and equipment held at Mansfield State Historic Site.
Members portray Confederate soldiers in a typical encampment setting,
which include camp life, drill and daily soldier life. The program helps
the visitor visualize mid-19th century history in a way that brings it to
life and makes it real, and gives them a sense of what it was like for
Civil War soldiers in the field. Mansfield State Historic Site is located
three miles south of the town of Mansfield, on State Hwy. 175. The park
can be accessed east/west via U.S. Hwy. 84, or north/south via I-49. The
site is the scene of the 1864 Battle of Mansfield, a Civil War engagement
involving almost 30,000 troops. In addition to Louisiana troops, almost
10,000 Texans were engaged in the battle, the most Lone Star soldiers in
any single battle of the Civil War. The park includes a portion of the
Mansfield battlefield, a walking trail and monuments. The park museum
contains an audio-visual program, exhibits, artifact displays and restroom
facilities. Information on Mansfield State Historic Site can be attained
by calling the park at 872-1474 or toll free in the U.S. at
1-888-677-6267. Information can be acquired on their website,
www.mansfieldbattlefield.org.
Above all, we should always remember the sacrifice made by John Fearn
Francis, an Australian immigrant who served the Confederacy gallantly and
gave his life in an attempt to save the lives of both Confederate and
Union wounded soldiers alike. |
