What Happened to Andrew Thomas Sampley?

Rebecca Sampley Sampley Coley, daughter of Jesse C. and Mahulda Crossland Sampley, married John Samuel Coley in 1864. They lived on Sand Mountain in northeast Alabama after the Civil War. When Rebecca died in 1885, John S. Coley donated the land for Wesley Chapel Methodist Church and cemetery.

In late October 1861 a company of men from Stevenson, Jackson County, Alabama enlisted in the 42nd Regiment, Tennessee Infantry, C. S. A. They made their way to Camp Cheatham, just north of Nashville, Tennessee. There on October 31, 1861 the men were mustered into Company E. After a brief training session, the entire regiment was transported to Fort Donelson, Tennessee, to guard the Cumberland River.

Among those men were my second great-grandfather John Samuel Coley (15), and several members of the Sampley family, also relatives. Brothers Andrew Thomas (26), Martin V. (19) and George Washington (17) were sons of Martin Sampley and his wife Perry or Perrie. Also in the group was the father-in-law of Andrew Thomas, Jesse Crawford (called Croft) Sampley (36). Andrew and Croft’s daughter Rebecca married August 9, 1860. I have not determined the exact relationship of all the Sampley men, but it is a work in progress for me.

The battle at Fort Donelson began with signs of a Confederate victory, but after two Confederate generals slipped their men out in the dark of night, General Grant’s Army was able to take the fort on Sunday, February 16, 1862. More than 7,000 enlisted men were taken to Camp Douglas Prisoner of War Camp. They were not prepared for the frigid cold Chicago weather and the crowded conditions. Of the five men from Stevenson, only Croft Sampley, the oldest of the group, managed to avoid the camp hospital.

By April and May many of the 42nd Regiment, Tennessee Infantry CSA were in critical condition. John S. Coley was admitted to hospital twice, George Washington Sampley died June 16, and his brother Martin V. Sampley succumbed ten days later. Both were buried in the Confederate grave that today lists the names of most of the deceased.

In April of 1862 men from four Confederate regiments held at Camp Douglas signed a petition expressing their desire to take the Oath of Allegiance to the Federal Government. The petition was accepted at the time the Dix-Hill Cartel was signed to allow a general exchange of prisoners. The men were taken by rail to Cairo, Illinois, where they were loaded on boats for Vicksburg. The trip took over one week with the steamships moving under a flag of truce during the day only; night travel was considered too dangerous.
John S. Coley was on the last boat to leave Cairo, having been in hospital until the last minute. Andrew Thomas Sampley was not so lucky. He was left at hospital in Camp Douglas. There his military records end. A family Bible in Birmingham provided his fate. It simply stated he died November 1862.

Andrew’s wife Rebecca gave birth to a baby boy on July 6, 1862, who died on October 22, 1862. Croft Sampley and John S. Coley returned to Jackson County, having served their year in the Confederacy. A year later, Coley joined the 5th Tennessee Cavalry, this time though it was a Union regiment. In May and June of 1864 Coley was absent without leave and then present on detached service at Tracy City, Tennessee, from July 1864 until June 1865. Years later when he applied for a Union pension, he noted that he married Rebecca Sampley on May 28, 1864 in Tracy City. I believe Rebecca’s life after marrying John S. Coley was better. She was the mother of ten children in that marriage, mostly boys. All of the children were living when she died in 1885.

When Jesse Crawford (Croft) Sampley died on Christmas Day 1893, the obituary stated that he was known in those parts as Rebel Jess. Certainly there must have been some interesting conversations in that family.