Rocky Lockley, a reader of my Civil War blog about my great grandfather’s 13th Mississippi Infantry Regiment, emails with a photo of an extraordinary find.
He and a friend recently dug up this old bullet when they were relic hunting near known Civil War camps in the vicinity of Brucetown, northeast of Winchester, Virginia. The 13th Regiment camped there in October, 1862, after the Battle of Sharpsburg (Antietam). Lockley explains:
“An Enfield bullet was recovered that at first glance seemed just like all the others except it had its nose cut down to be more like a snub-nose. When this bullet was being cleaned up with water and a toothbrush the engraved letters started coming out.
“After calming down a little [Lockley saw that] the letters formed a name and a message. G.M. Mott was carved from bottom to top on one side and “To Old Abe” was carved on the other!! After searching the internet for less than 5 minutes I had a hit that showed George M. Mott, Company E [The Alamutcha Infantry], 13th Mississippi, had been a part of the entire war.”
After more research, Lockley found a photo of Mott’s tombstone, showing that he was a medical doctor when he died in 1906 in Sabine Parish, Louisiana.
Independent historian H. Grady Howell’s muster listing for the 13th shows Mott entered the war as a private and had been promoted 2nd sergeant when Lee’s Army, of which the 13th had been a part, surrendered in 1865.
Independent historian Jess McLean, author of the only compendium of the men who served in the regiment, found that Mott was a 21-year-old student living near Marion, Mississippi, when he joined in the spring of 1861 as a sergeant. He apparently was later demoted to private before rising in rank again.
Mott is buried in Oak Grove Cemetery, two miles south of Converse, Louisiana, which is south of Shreveport.
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 