I have corresponded in the past with John Harris of Brooklyn, New York, and more recently with Josh Taylor of Conroe, Texas concerning Private John T. BAZAR, Company D (Winn Parish), 12th Louisiana Infantry. You were kind enough to explain to me more recently via the Indian Territory Civil War Message Board that the Confederate Soldier’s Home in Oklahoma was located at Ardmore, and that Dr. Henry Hailey who was head of the Oklahoma Pension Board lived in McAlester. Dr. Hailey's daughter was active in the UDC and a leading light in the founding of the Soldier’s Home at Ardmore.

More recently, “Oletia” posted a note to our Indian Territory string stating that John Thomas BAZER was born 12 APR 1842 in Morton County, Mississippi and died on 9 JUN 1864 at Monocacy, Maryland. The date and place of birth corresponds to research notes given me by John Harris. But John T. BAZAR and the 12th Louisiana Infantry were never in Maryland. Given the military records I have examined, and John Harris’ research, the date and place of death which she offered is way off the mark.

John T. BAZAR was a prisoner of war at Vicksburg for a total of six days and released on parole to go home. Had he reported into the Federal parole center at Natchitoches in June 1865 as was required of him, he still would not have been a POW inside a northern POW camp. Incidentally, his CMSR contains a copy of his Vicksburg parole certificate with his signature and the verifying signature of Captain John A. Dixon. This is dated 6 JUL 1863.

John's Compiled Military Service Records contain a 1915 report from the Adjutant General's Office in Washington, DC to the Confederate Soldier's Home in McAllister (as spelled in these records), Oklahoma confirming this absence of a final parole record. The pension request was at first denied, but later granted in 1919. According to John Harris' research, John T. BAZAR died on 31 OCT 1920 without wife or dependent children. A letter supplied by his brother, H. C. BAZAR, in 1921 confirmed this lack of heirs who could claim his pension.

The Compiled Military Service Records for the 12th Louisiana Infantry show that John T. BAZAR enrolled at Montgomery, Louisiana on 10 FEB 1862. Montgomery was then a Red River port town in Winn Parish, Louisiana (now part of Grant Parish). Among the stragglers from the 12th Louisiana Infantry in the aftermath of the Battle of Champion Hill on 16 MAY 1863, John ended up inside Vicksburg and was captured there on 4 JUL 1863. Those members of the regiment who were trapped inside Vicksburg during the siege were officially identified in the records as a "detachment of the 12th Louisiana Infantry" commanded by Captain John A. Dixon who was the senior officer present from the regiment. John and the other able bodied captives, including Captain Dixon, were paroled and released on 10 JUL 1863. Most returned home to Louisiana to await exchange.

John reported into parole camp to be ready for exchange prior to 1 APR 1864 when ordered to do so by Captain Dixon. In May 1864, Dixon had 160 men in parole camp at Vienna awaiting exchange. Following the exchange declaration, Dixon’s detachment of the 12th Louisiana Infantry was temporarily attached to the 3rd Louisiana Infantry at Shreveport. In December 1864, Captain Dixon left Shreveport with 28 exchanged Vicksburg parolees and a handful of other absentees and new recruits, crossed the Mississippi River near Natchez, and rejoined the regiment at Tupelo, Mississippi. Captain Dixon and those men were accounted for in the final muster of the regiment on 28 APR 1865 in their camps near Greensboro, North Carolina. John T. BAZAR was not among these men. The last military record in his file is a Company D muster roll covering the period July & August 1864 stating that John T. BAZAR was a Vicksburg parolee “now at Winnfield, Louisiana”.

According to John Harris' research, John T. BAZAR ended up in Oklahoma near the end of his life where he filed a pension claim for his Confederate service. See Oklahoma Pension Claim #11316 filed 6 JUN 1916. In response to the question about where he was when the war ended, he wrote that he had "about September [1864] joined Company E, 3rd Louisiana Infantry and was surrendered with them." It may well be true that he joined the 3rd Louisiana Infantry. However, he also claimed to have reported into the Federal parole center at Natchitoches, Louisiana to be accounted for and released on parole in June 1865 as was required by the protocols of the Trans-Mississippi surrender. No record survived confirming that he actually did this.

Josh Taylor had a lot of family oral traditions to share, but not much in the way of documentation. Josh's story is that John Thomas BAZAR was married and had several children. He was married to Francis Jane Hogan who died in 1912. And John also had a brother named Henry C. BAZAR. Josh did not have a date or place of death for John T. BAZAR.

So “thank you” to Oletia, but we still don’t know where John T. BAZAR was buried! I would have thought he died at the Soldier’s Home in Ardmore, but you have checked the records there and he is not listed.

Hugh