Anyway, I was intrigued about Phillip F. Edelen. He is one of my favorite ancestral kinsmen because from what I have read and heard he was a man after my own heart. Here is some info about him you might find interesting if you do not already know about it: He was captured around the Weldon RR in Va in 1864. Actually, according to the file and letters from yankees in it, he just walked into the Union lines, got captured and gave them a fake name, "Lum Cooper". He was almost hung as a spy because someone, a yankee officer I think, that knew him from Pisataway District, Pr. Georges Co., Md. and identified him. The fellow said he knew Phillip Edelen and stated that Phillip was a terror to his neighborhood, etc.. I thought that was funny. I forget how ol' Phillip got out of being hung. While visiting Piscataway several years ago I visted and met the Edelens there that own and run that horse farm (rent rides, lessons, etc.). Their dad Joe Edelen, who was like in his 60s or 70s, lived next door and ran a few cattle and goats. Joe turned out to be my dad's 7th cousin or something like that. Anyway, he was very knowledgable about our family history. He said Phillip lived in Piscataway and was indeed known to be a very tough man. Everyone respected him if not afraid of him. He said once Phillip was on his back porch shaving and some guy who had a beef with him snuck up behind the house and shot at him. The shot missed Phillip's head and struck his mirror. Phillip, undeterred or seemingly upset to any degree, calmly went inside to get his gun. The other guy ran. Phillip knew who it was. Anyway, the story goes that the guy who shot at him was so scared of Phillip tracking him down and killing him, challenging him to a duel, fight or what have you, left Maryland and was never seen again. Just moved away. I find al that very amusing and funny. I would like to have met Phillip. I would like to ask him all about his capture, why he just walked into the union lines, about where in the world he got that name he gave them, "Lum Cooper".
Do you know anything about any of the story above? Also, I have often wondered what happened to their uniforms and all, these old Confederate Veterans in our family; Phillip William, Walter A. Edelen and his brother Jesse R. Edelen, my own gr gr grandfathers Joseph Benidict Edelen and Dr. Alexius Llewellyn Middleton, Lt. "Tip" Edelen, etc.. Speaking of "Tip" Edelen, I have heard that his real name was William Marshall Edelen. But my grandmother, Eloise Gilmore Berry (married my grandfather David Middleton Edelen) said her aunt had been engaged to Tip Edelen at the time of his death in 1864 and that if she was not mistaken his name was William Henry Harrison Edelen. I wish I know for sure. But the Union officer that was in charge of the group that chased down and killed him (and captured Pvt. Jesse R. Edelen of Co. "E" 1st Md. Cav) knew him and his family and personally took his sword and personal effects back to his people. His tobacco pouch and some other stuff was in the family for years but dissappeared with the visit of some aunt back in the day.
Anyway, as for uniforms or equipment, nothing was handed down in my family other than Joseph B. Edelen's sword that his and my forefather carried at the Battle of Brandywine, Md. either in the Rev War or 1812. My 3rd cousin Charles Jenkins Edelen III told me he had it, that Joseph had carried it when he was a Lieutenant with the Maryland Militia prior to the war. But when war broke out his unit was disbanded by Lincoln's henchmen and his company crossed the Potomac and he wound up being a Pvt in Co. "H" "Washington Vols", 7th Va. Infantry. He was shot in the face at 1st Bull Run. It was a spent .36 Cal ball and pierced one side of his cheek. He spit out (probably with some bits of teeth) and put it in his pocket and finished the battle and later made a watch fob out of it and carried it the rest of his life. It has dissappeared somewhere along the years. Sad. But I bet ol'd Joseph was one pissed off individual after that bullet pierced his cheek and probably took out a tooth or two. I bet he fought like hell after that.
Do you know if any of Phillip or his brother William's effects, uniforms, gear, etc, are still around or what happened to them? I am just curious. I would love to see the uniform that my ancestor or one of my ancestral cousins wore in the War for Southern Independence. Where do you live by the way?
Later,
David Middleton Edelen II
Millbrook, Al.