GRAVE 2102 AT CAMP CHASE READS- TAYLOR ELLIS CO. B 1 W. TENN. REG. CSA / CAPT. W.W. PHILLIPS CO. A 6 TEX. REG. CSA
GRAVE 2102 is a double burial
A>The first soldier should be Private Taylor Ellis Company B 1st West Tennessee Regiment USA Taylor Ellis was a Union soldier and not a Confederate. His unit was the 1st West Tennessee Regiment and it became known as the 6th Tennessee Cavalry in July of 1863. The 6th Tennessee Volunteer Cavalry Regiment was a cavalry regiment that served in the Union Army during the War Between the States. The regiment was also known as the 1st West Tennessee Cavalry. Although Private Taylor Ellis had died prior to the official formation of the 6th Tennessee Cavalry he was still carried on their roster as being with Company M. Taylor Ellis was born in Carroll County Tennessee. (born about 1845) Seldom during the War Between the States had one particular county been so evenly divided in their loyalties. Many loyal Union men lay in low profile until the victories of Fort Donelson and Shiloh by General Grant. By the summer of 1862 the Union men of Carroll County helped to fill the ranks of the 1st and 2nd West Tennessee Regiments. It was in this atmosphere that Private Taylor Ellis enlisted in the 1st West Tennessee Regiment (USA) in Carroll County on August 1, 1862 at age 17. According to the 1850 census of Carroll County Albert T. Ellis (age 5) was living with his mother and sisters in District 7. His mothers name was Martha Ellis and she was born in North Carolina. Although it is not confirmed she may have been Martha A. Hicks who married John Ellis in Wake County (Raleigh) North Carolina in 1829. According to the 1860 Carroll County census Taylor Ellis was living in District 7 and attending school. (District 7 was located in Huntingdon, Tennessee) General Grant had his sights set on Vicksburg, Mississippi and needed supplies espeically by rail. Private Taylor Ellis and his company were sent to help guard the Mobile and Ohio Railroad near Trenton, Tennessee. General Nathan Bedford Forrest had just the opposite plans and made a brilliant raid upon Trenton and the destroyed parts of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad on December 20, 1862. General Forrest detested Union soldiers from West Tennessee and young Private Taylor Ellis now found himself a prisoner. General Forrest quickly paroled his prisoners and they were sent to Camp Lew Wallace in Columbus, Ohio awaiting to be properly exchanged. Camp Lew Wallace was located near what is now the Ohio State University and the Camp was closed in January of 1863 and all paroled Union prisoners were then sent to Camp Chase. Camp Chase was not only a Confederate Prison Camp but also was used as a mustering in of new Union regiments and also used as a Union Parole Camp. Private Taylor Ellis was assigned to Company G 4th Regiment of Paroled Forces. The Union prisoners at Camp Chase were generally looked down upon by their Union guards. At this stage of the War for the Union if a soldier did not want to fight he could be captured and sent back North and wait to be exchanged and then wait for his enlistment to expire and then go home. (This was not true however for the Confederates as they enlisted for the duration of the War) This was not the case with Private Ellis for most of his entire company had been captured at Trenton,TN. However he was from a Southern State and his loyalty and devotion to duty may have been in suspect. Private Taylor Ellis was shown as being absent without leave on February 1, 1863. He died of pneumonia on February 16, 1863 at the Camp Chase hospital. He may not have followed the proper procedure and checked himself into the hospital and thus his status; as being absent. Private Taylor Ellis was buried in grave #77 at the Southeast City Cemetery in Columbus, Ohio by Brotherlin & Halms (contracted government undertakers) where Union and Confederate soldiers alike were buried. Mistakes were made during and after the War and somehow Private Taylor Ellis was listed as being a Confederate soldier. In May of 1869 Captain Irving of the United States quartermasters department re-interred this loyal Union soldier and double buried him with Confederate Captain W.W. Phillips in grave #2102 at the Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery.