Lucian is one of three surviving son of Zacheus and Emeline (Burns) Marks. He was born April 28, 1845 in around Center, Chatham, North Carolina. All indications show the family didn’t have much; his father was a shoemaker as well as being a farmer. Both William and Lucian would have helped out with the chores. However, four other children did not survive. Perhaps they succumbed to an epidemic of yellow fever or Influenza that pervaded the nation at the time.
Enlisted In Co. G, 5th Cavalry NC
Lucian (age 17) and his father Zacheus (age 38) enlisted on July 8, 1862 in Pittsboro, Chatham County, NC as privates and were mustered into Company G, 5th Cavalry Regiment, North Carolina. Almost a year later on April 3, 1863, William (age 19) enlisted into the same company and regiment. Lucian is described as being 5’7”, light complexion, dark hair and gray eyes. Being in the same company, Lucian and Zacheus went through the same battles and skirmishes together. After William’s enlistment, he also would have been at Gettysburg in 1863 with his father and brother. For a complete list of the 5th NC Cavalry engagements visit Civil War In The East.
Battle Of Gettysburg
The 63rd Regiment NC Troops, 5th Regiment NC Cavalry was at Gettysburg on July 1863. I spoke with a park official at Gettysburg National Park who said that the 63rd was pulling picket duty and was called into the fight on the third day, July 3, 1863. They were half way to the battle when a courier stopped them at 2:00 P.M. informing them that the rebel’s fight was going badly and they were ordered to turn back.
The division’s history says this was right about the time the Federals withdrew during the night to attack the Staunton River Bridge on the Richmond & Danville Railroad. Here Confederate (?) reserve forces held the Union (?) off until Barringer’s Brigade arrived to drive them off. The raiders now tried to return to their lines with Gen. Lee’s troopers behind them and Gen. Hampton’s Division waiting for them at the front.
Father and Son
William was discharged from Company G on October 31, 1863. Perhaps, his mother and baby brother needed him back home.
Lucian was with his father saw action at Brandy Station on November 8, 1863. None of the fighting was heavy but Generals Meade and Lee were maneuvering and probing for proper opportunities to attack. I believe this is where Zacheus was wounded and sent to General Hospital No. 1 in Lynchburg, Virginia. He recuperated and rejoined his company.
A skirmish at Staunton Bridge took place on June 24, 1864 when General U. S. Grant dispatched the Union cavalry to raid the rail lines and destroy them. This tactic was intended to cut Lee off from his supplies. The Union cavalry succeeded in destroying 60 miles of railway and this maybe where Zacheus received his leg wound. He died on August 22, 1864 at Richmond Hospital.
Skirmish At Stony Creek Station, Dec. 1, 1864
The next encounter of note was in Stony Creek, Virginia. This may best be summed up in Major-General George Meade’s report to Lt General Grant:
The Point Lookout prisoner register has an entry for L. H. Marks, captured at Stony Creek, Virginia on December 1st. The prisoners were taken to City Point, which was the site of Union general-in-chief Ulysses S Grant's field headquarters during the Petersburg Campaign at the end of the American Civil War (1861-1865). From there, on December 5th they prisoners were sent to Point Lookout POW camp.
Confined at Point Lookout, Maryland
Point Lookout opened its gates after the Battle of Gettysburg. It was the largest Union prison camp for Confederates and one of the most secure. It was surrounded on three sides by water from the Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac River, with Union cannons pointed toward the prisoners from Fort Lincoln and guns of Union ships anchored in nearby waters.
The prison consisted of "two enclosures of flat sand, one about thirty and the other about ten acres, each surrounded by a wooden fence fifteen feet high, without tree or shrub. A walkway surrounded the top of the walls where Negro guards walked. Their treatment of the prisoners was brutal.
All prisoners lived in the overcrowded tents and shacks, with no barracks to protect them from heat and coastal storms. High water often flooded the tents in the camp area. It was a breeding ground for malaria, typhoid fever, and smallpox along with chronic diarrhea.
The camp warders never had sufficient food stock or firewood for the prisoners, who resorted to eating rats and raw fish. Scurvy and malnutrition ran rampant. Prisoners were deprived of adequate clothing and often had no shoes in winter. They might only have one blanket between sixteen or more people and housed in old, worn, torn, discarded Union sibley tents. It was deemed the largest and worst Union POW camp.
22,000 prisoners were held at the site by the end of the war in April 1865.
The Oath Of Allegiance
Lucian was confined at Point Lookout until his release on June 29, 1865, after taking the Oath of Allegiance. Prisoners were being released in a combination of alphabetical order and reverse order of states that seceded from the union. By June 30th all the prisoners have been released and the camp closed down.
One solider confined held there wrote “It was all right to take the oath of allegiance to the United States as we did after we had no Southern Confederacy.”
The Oath of Allegiance taken at Point Lookout:
I________ of the County of _____________, State of _____________, do solemnly swear that I will support, protect and defend the Constitution and Government of the United States against all enemies whether domestic of foreign; that I will bear true faith, allegiance and loyalty to the same, any ordinance, resolution, or law of any State, Convention, Legislature, or order or organization, to the contrary not withstanding; and further, that I will faithfully perform all the duties, which may be required of me by the laws of the United States; and I take the oath freely and voluntarily, without any mental reservation or evasion whatsoever.
Subscribed and sworn to before me this _______________ day _____________ A.D. 1865
Lucian took the Oath on June 29, 1865 and was released the next day. His record shows Distinguished Service.
Clementine Gattis
About six months after the war, Lucian asked Clementine Gattis to marry him and they settled in Buies Creek, Harnett County with his new bride. She was the daughter of Thomas Gattis and Guella Melinda Holloman. The family stories said she was descended from royalty through the Holloman line and indeed, the line traces bank to King Edward I of England and Queen Eleanor de Castile.
They were married about a week later in Wake County on January 28, 1866 by Minister of the Gospel Gaston Farrow and witnessed by Junius Ferrell. Shortly after they were married, they started their own family in Cape Fear, later called Neills Creek Township in Harnett County. The 1880 census stated the mail for them went through Lillington. By 1900 they owned their own farmland free of mortgage.
The family became long time members of the First Baptist Church of Buies Creek. It was organized in 1875 and the present building was erected in 1914.
Leaving Chatham County
On July 3, 1866, Mary Marks (Gunter) deeded 50 acres of land “on the waters of the Rocky Branch and Stinking Creek.” It then goes on to say “that the said Mary Marks (Lucian’s grandmother) hath this day for and inconsideration of the natural affection, together with the sum of one dollar to her in hand paid by the said William H and Lucian H. Marks, doth hereby convey grant and give for the above consideration unto the said William H and Lucian H Marks all her rights and title to the tract of land on which she now lives, except the House and Lot, as long as she may live. The house and lot then to be used by her daughter Lucinda Marks (Lucian’s aunt) as long as she may think proper to occupy it” (Deed of Record; Book AO / pg.499).
William, Lucian and Emeline Marks that same day sold 31.25 acres property lying on the waters of the Rocky Branch and Stinking Creek in Chatham County for $100 to John Dezerne (Records of Deeds; Book AO / pg. 499)
Dorothy Marks (Lucian’s great granddaughter) tells us that many of the stories that have been passed on are all started as part of the family storytelling at the dinner table. Some of them were so vividly recollected that you believed them to be first hand stories.
June Lackey told us that Lucian and Clementine’s home started, as a one-room log cabin fastened and secured with pegs rather than nails. Additional rooms were added as needed. This expansion would produce doors throughout the interior. Later on, a clapboard siding was added.
The old homestead in Harnett is recessed about 300 feet from Rt 421, between East Buies Creek and Highland Drive (35°23'45.2"N 78°44'00.9"W).
Early homes in the area were constructed from the local longleaf pine forests. These homes were very small, simple buildings weatherproofed with clay between the beams. They were only one or two rooms construction, sometimes with an additional loft or shaded veranda. After sawmills were built, those who could afford them gradually replaced these log cabins with clapboard houses. Even until the 1850s, inhabitants were said to live in very Spartan houses without brick, glass, or stone construction. Doors and windows often remained opened and huge hearth fires were necessary in winter to compensate for that exposure to the elements.
By the 1870 census, Cape Fear Township, Chatham County, NC
Lucian was a farmer with a personal estate valued at $150 and no real estate. They had two sons, Wesley (4) and Zacheus (3 mos).
* Cape Fear was later called Neills Creek Township.
Depression
To give a feel for the time, the Panic of 1873 was a financial crisis that triggered a depression in Europe and North America that lasted until 1879. In the years following the Civil War, agricultural production levels skyrocketed. As more and more crops were dumped onto the American market, it depressed the prices farmers could demand for their produce. Farmers were growing more and more and making less and less. For example, between 1873 and 1894 cotton production doubled while the price of cotton fell from about 15 cents a pound to less than 6 cents a pound. Low income drove farmers into ever-deepening debt and exacerbated the other economic sectors such as textile production.
By the 1880 census, Neills Creek Township, Harnett County, NC
This page is not easy to read, but it lists L. H. Marks (35) as a farmer, Clementine (33), Zacheus (10), Leolian (5) and W.R. (1). Everyone in the household was born in NC.
Wesley has dropped off the census and the 1900 census indicates four children did not survive. Family also states that infants were babies buried at the family farm, although the head stone is currently buried. Throughout the 1860s and 1870s, North Carolina faced a series of epidemics including yellow fever, typhoid and smallpox. It’s possible they succumbed to one of these diseases.
Note: Buies Creek is referred to throughout this article, to clarify; it is a census-designated zone within Neills Creek Township.
1890s
Cotton has long been an important crop and shortly after 1900s, tobacco was introduced and has played a vital role ever since. Lucian did grow cotton based on the holdings in his will and his son, MacDonld is said to have first introduced tobacco into the area. It’s believed that Lucian’s children began to scatter in the 1890’s, because of a depression, which affected the whole country. Farmers were taking a beating and an epidemic impacted the Chatham and Harnett area. On Oct. 19, 1891 Zaccheus enlisted into the army and his enlistment documents reported Lucian as a carpenter.
Buies Creek Academy
Times were hard in the post-Civil War depression that gripped the South when James Archibald Campbell founded Buies Creek Academy in 1887 in Poe's, North Carolina (later called Buies Creek).
James A Campbell became a Baptist minister and turned down other job offers to stay in Harnett County, in order to help in his community where he grew up.
Buies Creek had a population of seven families with nearly all of them earning income from farming. The community received mail once a week. The nearest train station was 30 miles away. And nearly 25% of the voting population alone couldn’t read. The community was poverty-stricken.
The few existing public schools were only in urban areas. Churches and citizens filled in the gaps. Campbell founded BCA in 1887. It began with 16 students in the church and grew steadily over the years, striving to offer more to its students than the bare knowledge of the three R’s. Among the subject taught early on were: spelling, reading, composition, math, geography, Latin, music and religion. Lucian was among the patrons who signed the following document in 1887.
“We the undersigned citizens of the community of Buies Creek are personally acquainted with James A. Campbell, Principal of Buies Creek Academy, and have been patrons of the school under his management during the past session. We gladly bear testimony to his faithful and efficient work in the school room, and heartily endorse the school under his management.”
It seems that Lucian wasted no time seeing that his children received an education. In going through the 1888 catalogue of students we find the following: Zaccheus (age 18), Leola (age 13) and Walter (age 10). The children of L. H. Marks attended this academy, as well as Lucian’s younger brother Simeon G Marks (age 31).
The 1898/99 catalogue of students attending Buies Creek Academy included Leola (23), Walter (20), Elmond (16), Early (13) and Donald (11) Marks.
On December 20, 1900 a fire at the Academy destroyed all but one of the wooden buildings. One student came up to Campbell and said; “Dear teacher, cheer up. We boys are going to stand by you, and we are going to put up a brick building.”
Kivet Hall
The burned buildings were replaced by Kivett Hall. Construction commenced on May 23, 1901 and was completed on November 2, 1903. Kivett is the oldest standing building on the Campbell University campus. It not only offered academics, but also had Sunday school rooms for Buies Creek Baptist Church. An official church was built in 1913.
Lucian was a hard workingman, and both he and Clementine were well-respected members of the community. He was reported to be very skilled with his hands, and that he helped with the building of Kivett Hall, notably carving the staircase which June remembers going up and down many times.
We went to see the staircase, unfortunately we were disappointed, they had remodeled the interior and a more generic staircase has been put in its place.
It’s been suggested that Lucian probably worked on other aspects of the building and that the men in the community worked on the building when the crop season was over. This would have resulted in a bond between Dr. Campbell and the men. I wonder if Lucian is among the men pictured below?
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First Baptist Church of Buies Creek
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By the 1900 census, Neills Creek Township, Harnett County, NC
We find that Clementine has had ten children in all, but only six survived. Four children are in the household: Leola (25), Elmond E (17), Joseph E (14) and McDonald (12). The record shows that the children were capable of reading and writing; the three boys attended school; and Lucian owned his farm free and clear of mortgage.
The family said several children are buried in the Marks family cemetery on the farm. As I mentioned in my last blog, several of the stones were plowed under along with their names and dates.
A Very Active Time
Walter Marks had moved to Dunn by 1900, worked as a dry goods salesman, and married Bessie Crawford on July 6, 1904 in Reynoldson Township, North Carolina.On September 9, 1901 Lucian’s only daughter, Ola married John Middleton Burns and moved to West Sanford where John was a butcher in a market. Elmond Marks married Mary Eva Reardon on November 28, 1902 and started his own farm in Neills Creek. Lucian died sometime in 1904 at age 59 and was buried on the family farm. Joe married Minnie Allen on October 1, 1905. They moved to Duke where he went to work in the cotton mill as a machinist. McDonald was the youngest and was married at 19 to Lina Reardon (Mary Eva’s sister) on July 14, 1907. The farm seemed to naturally pass on to him after his mother’s death. Clementine died not long after her son’s marriage at age 60 and was also buried on the family farm.
Reunions
Given the fact that Lucian was a CSA veteran, the 4th of July was not celebrated; in fact much of the South did not recognize this. When Vergie Marks found this out, it surprised her since her family had always celebrated the holiday. But his attitude is understandable if you stop to think about it. Confederates in general were conflicted about celebrating the day. So many had died on the battlefield, Lucian’s own father had died and he himself became a POW for six months. By the mid-1870s some reunions were occurring and were part of a healing process that was badly needed. We were told Lucian would attend the Civil War reunions held in Washington, and of course there were veterans from both sides in attendance. Lucian had received a leg wound, which caused him to use a cane, and he was not above using it to emphasize a point when getting into an argument at the reunion.
Lucian’s Will
“I L. H. Marks of said county and state being of sound mind but considering the uncertainty of my earthly existence do make and declare this my last Will and Testament.
First: My Executor here after named shall give my body a decent burial suitable to the wishes of my friends and relatives and pay for all funeral expenses together with all my just debts out of the first moneys coming into his hands belonging to my estate.
Second: I give and devise to my beloved wife Clementine Marks, all of my property, real and personal of whatever description and whosesoever located, for and during the period of her natural life or her widowhood.
Third: Upon the death of my said wife or the termination of her widowhood by remarriage then it is my will that all my real estate and all of my personal property which shall be then remaining shall be equally divided and distributed amongst my several children, share and share alike. Provided and nevertheless that in case of the termination of my wives widowhood as aforesaid by her remarriage, then it is my will and desire that she shall have an equal share with each of my children in all of my property then remaining, for and during the remainder of her natural life.
Fourth: I hereby constitute and appoint S. G. Marks my lawful executor to all intent and purposes, to execute this my last will and testament according to the true intent and meaning of the same, and every part and clause there of; hereby revoking and declaring utterly void all other wills and testaments by me here to fore made.
In testimony where of, I the said L. H. Marks, do here unto set my hand and seal, this 16th day of Sept. 1904. Signed sealed published and declared to be his last will and testament in the presence of us, at his request and in his presence, and in the presence of each other, do subscribe our names as witnesses there to. J. F. McKay, AD Stewart
The children listed in the application for letter testamentary are: Zacchaus Marks, Leola (Marks) Burns, Walter Marks, Edmon Marks, Joe Marks and Don Marks. The following is an inventory of the property existing at the death of L. H. Marks December 17, 1904.
His brother Simon G. Marks was executor.
1 Mule $125. Household & kitchen furniture 100.
150 bushels cotton seed 30. 6 head of cattle 60.
1 mule 25. 37 acres of land 1
1 buggy 5. Sow & 7 pigs 10.
15 geese 6. Cas on hand 15.
1 wagon 15. 1200 lbs. pork 72.
12 hens 3. Remnant seed cotton 14.
Farm tools 20. 25 bushels corn 75.
1 organ 35. Todder shucks & peas 25.
Machine tools $25.
Widow’s Pension
$729. On July 6, 1908, Clementine a resident of B.F.D. #3, North Carolina, applied of a widow’s pension. One of the stipulations of the pension is that “she is not worth in her own right, or the right of her late husband, property at its assessed value for taxation to the amount of $500, nor has she disposed of property of such value by gift or voluntary conveyance since 11th of March, 1885”.
Children for Lucian and Clementine Marks:
1. Wesley Marks – b. 1866 Chatham Co., NC / d. abt 1880 Buies Creek, Harnett, NC
2. Lucian Marks- b. abt 1867 Chatham Co., NC / s. bef. 1870 Harnett Co., NC
3. Zaccheus Thomas Marks – b. abt Mar. 1870 Chatham Co., NC / d. Mar. 21, 1928 Bromley, Baldwin, NC / 1m. Stella Almina Mull, abt. 1897 Wyoming Territory (daughter of Braxton Peter Mull Jr & Martha Agnes Jackson / b. Mar 31, 1879 Cheyenne, Laramie, WY / d. Feb 5, 1967 Canton, Saint Lawrence, NY) / 2m. Stella Almina Mull, July 12, 1907 Milton, Santa Rosa, FL / 3m. Addie T Phillips, July 24, 1912 Baldwin Co., AL (daughter of George Washington Phillips & Molly C Mahathy / b. Mar 8, 1896 Shacklesville, Butler, AL / d. Oct 5, 1983 Stapleton, Baldwin, AL) / 4m. Dessie Jane Peterson, Mar. 21, 1923 Escambia Co., FL (daughter of Daniel Ander Peterson & Ema L Andrews / b. Sep 28, 1894 Escambia Co., FL / d. Nov 11, 1966 San Diego, San Diego, CA)
4. Leola "Ola" Marks – b. May 24, 1875 Dunn, Harnett, NC / d. July 16, 1948 Norfolk, Norfolk, VA / m. John Middleton Burns, Sep. 9, 1901 Chatham Co., NC (son of William Harris Burns & Anna Jarushia Bobbitt / b. Aug 8, 1880 Chatham Co., NC / d. July 12, 1947 Williamsburg, James City, VA)
5. Walter Raleigh Marks – n. Aug. 25, 1878 Dunn, Harnett, NC / d. May 7, 1957 Portsmouth, Norfolk, VA / m. Bessie Isobell Crawford, July 6, 1904 Gates Co., NC (daughter of John Sparkman Crawford & Minnie Sophia Gerke / b. Oct 8, 1886 Portsmouth City, Portsmouth, VA / d. Apr 7, 1848 Portsmouth City, Portsmouth, VA)
6. Elmond Eudy Marks – b. Oct. 20, 1882 Harnett Co., NC / July 4, 1969 Raleigh, Wake, NC / m. Mary Eva Reardon, Nov. 28, 1902 Harnett Co, NC (daughter of John Randerson Reardon and Emma D Ryal / b. Aug. 27, 1885 Harnett Co., NC / d. Sep 11, 1974 Roanoke, VA)
7. Joseph Early "Joe" Marks – b. June 29, 1885 Harnett Co., NC / d. Aug. 12, 1960 Charlotte, Mecklenburg, NC / 1m. Minnie Bright Allen, Oct. 1, 1905 Harnett Co., NC (daughter of Junious Burl Allen & Ella Jane Williams / b. Jan 1, 1884 Harentt Co., NC / d. Apr 22, 1973 Tarboro, Edgecomb, NC) / 2m. Ouida Mae Yarborough (daughter of John W Yarborough & Mary Jane Bailey / b. Apr 9, 1889 Opelika, Lee, AL / d. May 25, 1975 Harrisburg, Cabarrus, NC)
8. McDonald Marks – b. Sep. 9, 1887 Chatham Co., NC / d. July 26, 1934 Buies Creek Harnett Co., NC / m. Lina Estelle Reardon, July 14, 190 Neills Creek, Harnett, MC (daughter of John Randerson Reardon and Emma D Ryal / b. May 3, 1889 Harnett Co., NC / d. Sep 4, 1962 Durham, Durham Co., NC)
• 2 unnamed boys that died young
On June 8, 2002 David and Sharon Marks, Linda and Anna Matthews went to a Confederate Memorial Service at the Point Lookout Cemetery and reenactment of prisoner life. We contributed to posting a photo portrait of Lucian Marks in remembrance and recognizing his interment ordeal in this compound.
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