C.C. Crews

Born to Reuben Jordan Crews, a real estate attorney and colonel in the Georgia Militia,Smith, p. 332 and Elizabeth Yarbrough Phillips Crews in Upson County, Georgia, Crews was the first of eight children. At the age of eighteen, Crews was authorized to practice law after reading the law with an established firm and undergoing an examination. of Georgia 1847, Vol. 1, Page 12, Sequential Number 005 In 1853, he attended The Medical College of Louisiana, the predecessor institution to Tulane University School of Medicine, with Dr. G.N. Phillips of Alabama as his preceptor.List of Matriculants, Session 1852-1853, Tulane University Archives He graduated from Castleton Medical College in 1859.Waite, p. 205

C.C. Crews was appointed a Captain in the Confederate States Army in February 1862 and given responsibility for A Company of the 2nd Georgia Cavalry, which was recruited from Randolph and Calhoun counties.Poole p. 5 They were deployed in June to Chattanooga with the 8th Texas Cavalry as a brigade under the command of Nathan Bedford Forrest, participated in the First Battle of Murfreesboro, and operated as far north as Elizabethtown and Lebanon Junction, Kentucky in September.Poole, pp. 18 and 37 He was captured during one of these raids at Glasgow, Kentucky by Col. Sanders D. Bruce of the 20th Regiment Kentucky Volunteer Infantry on 1 October 1862,US War Dept., Series 1, Vol. 16, Part I, p. 1018 but was soon exchanged.Evans, P. 408 By November, C.C. was elected Lt. Col.National Archives Microfilm Publication M266, Record 109, Roll 9

In January 1863, Col. C.C Crews received command of his own brigade, the Crews' Brigade (2nd, 3rd, 4th Georgia and the 7th Alabama), part of the cavalry corps under the command of Major General Joseph Wheeler.Poole, p.74 Wheeler and Forrest operated in the area of Fort Donelson and Dover, Tennessee in February during the Battle of Dover (1863), at which time Col. C.C. Crews' was wounded in the hip. Also wounded was C.C.'s younger brother, 1st Lt. Fleming Jordan Crews, second in command of Company A, 2nd Georgia, returning at the end of the year to command the company as a captain.Poole, pp. 75-76

{{further|Chickamauga Union order of battle|l1=Union order of battle|Chickamauga Confederate order of battle|l2=Confederate order of battle}}

During the Battle of Chickamauga, Col. C.C. Crews commanded the 1st Brigade (General John A. Wharton Division, Major General Wheeler Corps) consisting of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Georgia Cavalry and Malone's Alabama Regiment. They captured Lookout Mountain, which earned Col. Wheeler, Morgan, Crews and Harrison a commendation in September 1863 from Major General Wheeler, "I tender my thanks for their zeal, energy and gallantry during the engagement".Wheeler, p. 111 In October, Crews' Georgia Brigade helped participate in the capture of McMinnville, Tennessee,Poole, p. 91 during Wheeler's October 1863 Raid.

{{further|Knoxville Union order of battle|l1=Union order of battle|Knoxville Confederate order of battle|l2=Confederate order of battle}}

In December 1863, Crews' Brigade, which consisted of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 6th Georgia (General John T. Morgan's Division, Major General William T. Martin's Cavalry Corps), was part of the Confederate forces under Lieutenant General James Longstreet in the Knoxville Campaign.Poole, p.98 They earned a citation for gallantry in the Battle of Mossy Creek by General Martin, "I have never witnessed greater gallantry than was displayed by Colonel Crews and the officers and men of the First, Second, Third and Sixth Georgia Cavalry...Col. C.C. Crews deserves mention for his skill and bravery".Poole, p.107Evans, p.267

{{further|Atlanta Campaign Union order of battle|l1=Union order of battle|Atlanta Campaign Confederate order of battle|l2=Confederate order of battle}}

With the start of the Atlanta Campaign, Col. C.C. Crews commanded a regiment under General Alfred Iverson, Jr. (General Martin's Division, Major General Wheeler's Corps) in April 1864.Poole, p. 117

Col. C.C. Crews personally received the surrender of the highest ranking Union officer of the war, Major General George StonemanPoole, p. 144 (future governor of California), during Stoneman's aborted attempt to free Union prisoners at Andersonville prison.Sherman, p. 459 A local newspaper at the time reported, "...a flag of truce was sent by Gen. Stoneman to Col. Crews, proposing an unconditional surrender of the whole of his command...Col. Crews received the flag, and ordered Stoneman's army to stack arms. Six hundred cavalry and two pieces of artillery immediately obeyed the order...".The Albany Patriot, Albany, GA, 4 August 1864, J.W. Fears, editor Also captured was Stoneman's aid, Myles Keogh, later a casualty of the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

During Wheeler's Raid of 10 Aug.-10 Sept. 1864, Crews' Georgia Brigade participated in the Second Battle of Dalton,Sherman, p. 472 raids in middle Tennessee,Sherman, p. 498 and skirmishes in Florence, Alabama.Poole, pp. 152, 155 and 157 More skirmishes continued in Alabama during the month of October.Poole, p. 160 November 1864 found the Crews' Brigade around Macon fighting the Union's Col. Atkins' 2nd Brigade Cavalry.Poole, p. 163 In December 1864,Poole, p. 170 the Brigade participated in the Battle of Waynesboro, Georgia, part of Sherman's March to the Sea, which culminated in helping Lieutenant General William J. Hardee's evacuation of Savannah, Georgia.Jones, p. 69 The year ended with this note from Major General Wheeler, "...Allen, Humes, Anderson, Dibrell, Hagen, Crews, Ashby, Harrison and Breckenridge and many other brave men whose gallantry you have so often witnessed are here still to guide and lead you in battles yet to be won..".Poole, p. 191

{{further|Carolinas Campaign Union order of battle|l1=Union order of battle|Carolinas Campaign Confederate order of battle|l2=Confederate order of battle}}

During the Carolinas Campaign Col. C.C. Crews commanded his Crews' Brigade consisting of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 6th and 12th Georgia Cavalry (General William W. Allen's Division, Major General Wheeler's Corps) and was recommended to be promoted to Brigadier General at the beginning of 1865.Wheeler, p. 418 In February 1865, C.C. operated in the area of Augusta, Georgia, the Upper Three Runs area of Aiken, South Carolina, and the Saluda River area of Columbia, South Carolina under orders of Major Generals D.H. Hill and Benjamin F. Cheatham.US War Dept., Series 1, Vol. 47, Part III, pp. 1105, 1113-1114, 1123, 1200 and 1261 Col. Crews commanded cavalry in the area of Salisbury, North Carolina and High Point, North Carolina at the end of April under orders of General J.E. Johnston.US War Dept., Series 1, Vol. 47, Part III, pp. 851 and 854 Col. Charles C. Crews and Capt. Fleming Jordan Crews were paroled at Charlotte, North Carolina, on May 3, 1865, under terms agreed between General Joseph E. Johnston and Major General William Tecumseh Sherman on April 26, 1865. In a final message from Major General Wheeler to his Corps, he pointed out "...Colonels Crews, Cook and Pointer...are still disabled from wounds...",Wheeler, p. 358 the second time C.C. Crews' was wounded in action, "...while most nobly carrying out my orders upon the field."Evans, P. 409

File:C.C. Crews house in Hillsboro, NM.jpg

C.C. partnered with James John McDonald as a pharmacist in Cuthbert for five yearsEvans, p. 814 before becoming the Treasurer of the Bainbridge, Cuthbert and Columbus Railroad Company.The Cuthbert Appeal, Cuthbert, GA, 17 March 1871 C.C. moved his family, his uncle Martin Mortimer Crews, his two brothers Dr. Leonidas Crews (New York University School of Medicine Class of 1855University Medical College, NYU Archives and Assistant Surgeon CSANational Archives Microfilm Publication M331, Record 109, Roll 65) and Fleming Jordan Crews, and their families to Texas in 1875.Brzostowski, P. 22 He then moved his family on to Hillsboro, New Mexico in 1879, where he practiced medicine until his death from pneumonia in 1887. C.C. Crews is buried in Hillsboro.

C.C.'s younger brother, George Crews, served in the 35th Georgia Regiment (Edward L. Thomas commanding) from 1861 and fought in the Second Battle of Bull Run. Seven Days Battles and the Battle of Fredericksburg before dying in 1863 of pneumonia in General Hospital No. 17, Richmond, Virginia.National Archives Microfilm Publication M266, Record 109, Roll 416

Another younger brother of C.C.'s was Lt. Col. James Mortimer Crews,Allardice, p. 432 who commanded the Crews' BattalionCivil War Centennial Commission, P. 163 (Col. Robert Trabue's 1st Brigade, General John C. Breckinridge's Reserve Corps), which fought in the Battle of Shiloh and earned a citation from Col. Trabue, "Lieutenant Colonel Crews behaved well".Civil War Centennial Commission, pp. 163-164

{{further|Shiloh Union order of battle|l1=Union order of battle|Shiloh Confederate order of battle|l2=Confederate order of battle}}

After the battle, his battalion was consolidated into Company F, 9th Regiment Kentucky Infantry (Mounted) and Lt. Col. James M. Crews was discharged. He briefly became a POW (2–9 October 1862) of General James S. Negley's at Roseville, Kentucky, before becoming an Inspector General on General N.B. Forrest's staff in 1863.National Archives Microfilm Publication M268 Roll 357 and M331 Roll 65 At the end of 1863, he took command of the 3rd Tennessee Cavalry (Forrest's) before being paroled 11 May 1865 in Gainesville, Alabama as part of the surrender of Richard Taylor to Major Gen. Edward Canby.National Archives Microfilm Publication M268 Roll 11 and M331 Roll 65

{{Reflist|2}}

• Allardice, Bruce s., Confederate Colonels: A Biographical Register, Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2008. {{ISBN|0826218091}}.
• Brzostowski, Matthew Adam, and Brzostowski, Olivia Castro, The Crews, Brinkman and Brzostowski Families, A Timeline in History, Houston: Brzostowski Publishing, 2011. {{ISBN|978-0-615-57963-4}}.
• Civil War Centennial Commission, Tennesseans in the Civil War, A Military History of Confederate and Union Units with Available Rosters of Personnel, Part I, Nashville: Civil War Centennial Commission, 1964. {{ISBN|0874020174}}.
• Compiled Service Records of Confederate General and Staff Officers, and Nonregimental Enlisted Men (National Archives Microfilm Publication M331, Record 109, Roll 65).
• Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Georgia (National Archives Microfilm Publication M266, Record 109, Roll 9 and Roll 416).
• Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Tennessee (National Archives Microfilm Publication M268, Record 109, Roll 357 and 11).
• Evans, Clement A., editor, Confederate Military History, Vol. VI, Atlanta: Confederate Publishing Company, 1899. ASIN:B000TYSDDS.
• Jones, Charles C., The Siege of Savannah in December, 1864, & The Confederate Operations in Georgia & The Third Military District of South Carolina During General Sherman's March from Atlanta to the Sea, Albany: Joel Munsell, 1874.
• Poole, John Randolph, Cracker Cavaliers, The 2nd Georgia Cavalry Under Wheeler and Forrest, Macon: Mercer University Press, 2000. {{ISBN|0865546975}}.
• Sherman, William Tecumseh, Memoirs of General W.T. Sherman, New York: Penguin Books, 2000. {{ISBN|978-0-14-043798-0}}.
• Smith, Gordon Burns, History of the Georgia Militia, 1783-1861, Volume One, Campaigns and Generals, Milledgeville: Boyd Publishing, 2000. ASIN:B003L1PRKI.
• Waite, Frederick Clayton, The First Medical College in Vermont, Castleton 1818-1862, Montpelier: Vermont Historical Society, 1949.
• Wheeler, Joseph, Campaigns of Wheeler and His Cavalry, 1862-1865, From Material Furnished by Gen. Joseph Wheeler, to Which is Added His... Account of the Santiago Campaign of 1898..., Hudgins: Hudgins Publishing Company, 1899, W.C. Dodson editor. ASIN B002YIHU72.
• US War Dept., The War of the Rebellion, A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Washington: Government Printing Office, 1895.

• [http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/CollectionsA-Z/zlgl_information.html Georgia Legislative Documents]
• [http://sgnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/sgnewspapers/search South Georgia Historical Newspapers]

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Category:1829 births

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