Submitted by Ted Warren; Edited and vetted by Cheri Todd Molter and Kobe M. Brown
On September 1, 1861, twenty-seven-year-old Joseph Butler of Sampson County, NC, enlisted in the Confederate army as a private. About a month later, Butler left his wife, Isabella, and their children behind to go to Wilmington, NC, where he was assigned to Company A of the 30th Infantry, NC Troops.
While her husband was away, Isabella worked to maintain their homestead, took care of their family, and collaborated with other local women to provide needed supplies like, quilts, pillows, socks, shirts, and towels for her husband and other Confederate soldiers. Her efforts, and those of other Sampson county women, were sometimes acknowledged publicly in local newspapers. (see attached image)
[Some of the Butler women named in this acknowledgement from the Sampson Rangers (Wilmington Journal, Dec. 12, 1861, p 1) were related to Joseph: “Mrs. Redman Butler” was his stepmother; “Mrs Jos Butler” was, of course, Isabella, his wife; and “Miss Rebecca Butler” was his sister.]
In May of 1862, according to his military records, Butler was treated for dysentery at C.S.A. General Military Hospital, No. 4 at Wilmington, NC. By November 1862, he had recovered and was back with his company. A year later, in December 1863, Butler received permission to take a furlough of indulgence that began on January 15, 1864, and lasted for eighteen days.
According to witness testimony provided with his wife’s pension claim, Butler was wounded in the left leg during an engagement at Spotsylvania Courthouse in May 1864. Butler “was carried to the field hospital near Spotsylvania C. H.” where his “leg was amputated by Dr. Briggs, Surgeon of Virginia” (SR_SA_1885_Pensions_Butler_Joseph_Sampson_County, State Archives of North Carolina [photo of document attached]). Butler died at the hospital after the procedure and presumably, was buried nearby.
Later, a doctor traveling north from Atlanta found the skeletal remains of a Confederate soldier he identified as having the surname “Butler.” They had been exposed after being buried on the brow of a hill. He labeled the skull as “Rebel Butler’s” and took it with him. According to an article in The Standard Times, “The skull was donated to the Henry County Historical Society Museum in New Castle, Ind., in 1923, and remained on display there for 70 years” (Anne Gearan, “Confederate soldier’s skull buried,” The Standard Times, Aug. 26, 1996). It was used for medical education until it was returned to Spotsylvania for reburial.
There were eleven Butler men in Joseph Butler’s regiment: Only three of them were at Spotsylvania Courthouse on that day. Two of those three men were captured alive and taken north. Joseph Butler of Sampson County was the only documented Confederate man with the surname Butler who was wounded at that location and died at the Field Hospital at Spotsylvania Courthouse. He was identified as “Rebel Butler.” Butler was reinterred at the Confederate Cemetery at Spotsylvania Courthouse on August 25, 1996, with Civil War re-enactors, including a woman dressed as a nineteenth-century widow, in attendance. The event was broadcast on CNN and covered by news organizations across America. I was there along with my daughter, and after the ceremony, we were offered the flag that covered Joseph “Rebel” Butler’s coffin. The flag now is used on special occasions at the Confederate Cemetery in Fredericksburg.
Here’s the link to the letter that was written to verify Joseph’s place and date of death as part of Isabella Butler’s widow’s claim: SR_SA_1885_Pensions_Butler_Joseph_Sampson_County-01
Sources: Article confirming the 1996 event: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-08-25-mn-37616-story.html