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A National Archives' biography exists for A. S.
Gaines and is in black below. Blue entries are my additions to their
work.
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Abner S. Gaines is found in
Selma, Ala. in the 1860 Census living in a hotel along with two
other Civil Engineers. His age was given as 30, his place of birth
was Alabama and he is shown without property or wife. Since the
information for the Census might well have been provided by the
hotel owner for all his guests, all this information is somewhat
suspect.
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In one of the letters below, his
father gave Abner's age as almost 30 in 1862. He was also officially
listed as being from Tennessee in Army records. Before the war, he
worked for 12 years on rail road construction in the South, the last
several years being on the Mobile & Ohio RR.
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Gaines is included here because
of his position as a Government Agent in the completion of the
Alabama & Mississippi Rivers RR between Selma and Meridian in
1862. After that job was completed, he was only occasionally related
to railroad matters. He was commissioned into the Engineer Corps in
1864.
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In 1873, he represented Wayne
County in the Mississippi Legislature. In 1882, a Mobile & Ohio RR
map listed him as a Land Commissioner, living in Mobile.
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| Start of War |
Worked
as an Engineer constructing the Selma & Gulf RR
|
| March 18,
1862 |
Applied for
appointment in the Army. His profession, and President
Davis' knowledge of him, made it likely that he was only
considered for Engineer duty
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| April 4,
1862 |
Appointed
Government Agent to assist the Alabama & Mississippi
Rivers RR in completing the entire road from Selma to
Meridian
| OR Series 4, Vol. 1, Page 1048 |
| OR Series 4, Vol. 1, Page 1066 |
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OR Series 4, Vol. 1, Page 1089 |
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NA,
SWR 5-4-62 |
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NA,
SWT 5-13-62 |
| NA,
SWR 6-16A-62 |
| NA,
SWT 6-17-62 |
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| May 20, 1862 |
Under
direction of Sam Tate, seized iron from the Cahaba, Marion
& Greensboro RR for the completion of the Selma to
Meridian road
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| May 29, 1862 |
Reported to
the Secretary of War on sources of iron for the Alabama
& Mississippi Rivers RR
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| June 12, 1862 |
Requested
status of Alabama & Mississippi Rivers RR money
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| June 20,
1862 |
Was left in
charge of completing the Alabama & Mississippi Rivers RR when
Fleming was relieved
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| September 27,
1862 |
Recommended
again for Engineer Corps Captain
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| October 2,
1862 |
Ordered to
not impress slaves
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| October 21,
1862 |
Ordered to
give any iron he did not need to the Navy
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| November 14,
1862 |
Engineer
Bureau forwarded his request for a job on the Alabama River
defenses to Mobile
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| December 10,
1862 |
Reported
completion of Selma & Meridian RR connection and reported for duty in Mobile
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| January x,
1863 |
Became
Assistant Engineer at Mobile
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| March 3,
1863 |
Again
applied for an Engineer Corps commission
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| August 3,
1863 |
Spent the
previous 2 weeks working defenses at a Mobile & Ohio RR bridge
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| October 10,
1863 |
For some
reason, Major General Gilmer instructed his Acting Engineer
Bureau Chief Rives to not forward Gaines appointment
recommendation until Gilmer had provided additional comments
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| October 15,
1863 |
RR President
commented on his capability as an engineer
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| October 21,
1863 |
Gilmer said
he had a valid claim to a Captaincy
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| November 14,
1863 |
Ordered to
Army of Tennessee
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| January 22,
1864 |
Appointed
from Tenn. as Capt. of Engrs.
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| February 20,
1864 |
Assigned to
inspect and ready the bridges on the Mobile & Great
Northern RR
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| March 15,
1864 |
Appointed Captain of Engineers
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| June, 1864
to end of War |
On duty in
the Army of Tennessee and, in 1865, in Mississippi |
| May 10, 1865 |
Paroled at
Gainesville, Ala. as Captain of Engineers |
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