Fountain Elliot Pitts McBride

My Confederate ancestor is Fountain Elliot Pitts McBride. He was the second child of thirteen children born to William S. McBride and Rosanna Kinzer McBride. He was born in Maury County, Tennessee on February 10, 1843.

Uncle Fountain enlisted in the Confederate Army of Tennessee on September 23, 1861 at Camp Trousdale, joining Captain James G. Armstrong's Company of the Twenty-third Tennessee Volunteer Infantry. This company became 1st company A, Twenty-third Regiment of Tennessee Infantry. In May of 1862 the company was disbandedand and the men were transferred to company B of the same regiment. The Twenty-third Tennessee, also known as Martin's Regiment, was organized for State service on July 31, 1861 and transferred into the Confederate Army on August 23, 1861. It was consolidated with eight companies in April 1862 and then re-organized on May 5, 1862.

Uncle Fountain was slightly wounded in the shoulder during the Battle of Murfreesboro / Stones River, Tennessee on December 31, 1862. He returned to his company for duty on July 29, 1863. He was then detailed, by oral order of Brigadier General Johnson as a Body Guard on June 24, 1863 at Fair Field, Tennessee.

During the Battle of Hatcher's Run, April 2, 1865, Uncle Fountain was captured and arrived at City Point, Virginia on April 4, 1865. From City Point, he was transferred to Point Lookout, Maryland, where he signed an Oath of Allegiance on June 29, 1865, thus securing his release from Federal prison, well over a month after the War had been decided.

Fountain Elliot Pitts McBride died at the age of 92 on September 3, 1935 in Birmingham, Alabama at the home of his son, Evan Pitts McBride. His body was returned to his Maury County home and he was interred in the Mt. Nebo Cemetery in the Sawdust Community of Maury County. I am proud to be descended from this Confederate Veteran and cherish the photos that I have of him. One such photo, not to give away my age, shows Uncle Fountain holding me when I was just two months old in July of 1931. I hope you enjoy these images as much as I do. Not many men today can say that they were truly "rocked in the arms of the Confederacy".

Article and photos submitted by Harold Dame Floyd, Sam R. Watkins Camp 29, Columbia, Tennessee