To: Descendants of Amos McGowan
Compiled by: Pamela (McGowan) Tippy, April 1, 1968.
Revised by: Perry McGowan, March 23, 1996.

While organizing the papers left by Granny and Grandpa McGowan, I came upon this paper I had written while in school. I was surprised someone had saved it, but upon reading found that it contained information about our family which I had forgotten. I now remember Grandpa telling me these stories and hope you get as much pleasure from the reading as I have. Pamela (McGowan) Tippy

Throughout these family stories are several statements which do not agree with historic fact. With the permission of Pam and Perry, I have placed factual data in the color blue at these places. In other places, I have included data which I hope will give a fuller understanding of the stories. If anyone can add to these or any other family stories, please do. Thanks, John B. McGowan

Amos McGowan is my great grandfather. Although I never met him, I have heard my father and grandfather speak of him many times. He spent the remaining years of his life in Caldwell County, Kentucky, following his four years of service during the Civil War for the Confederacy in the army of Tennessee; 22 Infantry Battalion, Company A. He married twice and had eight children; two girls, four boys, and a set of twins. However only four children lived to adulthood.

Amos M. McGowan was born July 2, 1840 in Tullahoma, TN (?) [White County, TN] Here he lived with his mother Rebecca (maiden name: Clark) and his father Bryant until they moved to Alabama when he was two (born July 2, 1840). His father was employed at a watermill and Amos stayed at home with his mother. [NOTE: Bryant, Rebecca and family appear in the 1840, 1850 & 1860 censuses of White Co., TN, and in the 1870 & 1880 censuses of Caldwell Co., KY. Amos' younger sister, Mary Jane "Mollie" (McGowen) Dunning, was born ca. 1846 in Alabama according to the 1880 census. No records show them living in Tullahoma, Tennessee at any time.]

There was a fence around the house which was built in a small clearing in the woods. The wild deer would come up to the fence and Amos' little dog would bark at them. Amos, thinking the deer would hurt his puppy, would throw rocks at them. He spent many hours doing this while his mother would watch from the stoop.

One day a neighbor made Amos a small flutter-wheel like the one his father used at the mill where he worked. He set it up in a creek branch that ran down out of the hills, and the running water would cause the tiny wheel to turn. The neighbor told Amos that when the little mill grew up to be big like his daddy's, he would be able to grind cornmeal too. This soon became Amos' dream and everyday he would go down to the creek to see if it had grown any bigger. He was very faithful in checking on it for several days until he discovered it wasn't getting any bigger; and having an Irish temper, he smashed it to pieces. His temperament may have come from his father's side of the family.

Bryant McGowan had lived at home with a sister and older brother named Walter. [NOTE: Bryant (b.c.1815) had older brothers named Amos (b.c.1796), James (b.c.1801) and Samuel (b.c.1808) and a younger brother named Walker (b.c.1818). The names of any sisters are unknown.] Walter was several years older than Bryant and had been in an accident with some machinery which left him without his left hand. Walter developed his talent for playing the fiddle with his left hand and soon became well known in the area around Tullahoma, TN (?) [White County, TN]. Every Saturday all the neighbors would gather in the McGowan's barn and have a dance. Walter fell in love with one of the girls in the neighborhood and after they married moved to Alabama. [NOTE: Bryant's brother Samuel McGowen married Sarah Markham in 1828 in White Co., TN and they moved to Mississippi in the early 1840s. Samuel & Sarah McGowan bought and sold property in 1842 & 1844 in Okitbbeha Co., MS. Also, a Samuel McGowan was pastor of the Salem Baptist Church in Oktibbeha Co., MS in 1846 & 1848. Bryant's brother Walker McGowen is believed to have married Jane Markham c1838 and they soon moved to Marion Co., Alabama. Samuel had also moved there by 1850.] His family lost contact with him at that time. Later, Bryant married and moved to Alabama also, but made no effort to look for his brother, assuming he was dead. Bryant was not a church man and seldon attended, but one night he was walking along a dark road when he saw the lights of a tent meeting and he decided to go in to get warm. He had been sitting there only a few minutes when the minister arrived. He was dressed in a tall black hat and a frocked coat; looking very dignified he climbed into the pulpit. Bryant thought there was something familiar about him, but it wasn't until the minister turned to the audience that he realized this was his long-lost brother [probably Samuel]. Bryant was so shocked that he fell over on the floor in a dead faint and had to be taken outside and revived.

When Amos was four years old (ca.1844) the family moved back to Tullahoma, TN (?) [White County, TN], where he lived until he was fourteen (ca.1854). He was then old enough to leave home to work and got a job cutting wood for the fueling of steam engine trains. He was employed for six years unitl the Civil War broke out and he volunteered to fight for the Confederacy at age twenty (1861 ?). He was often heard to boast there was not a Yankee made who could kill him.

[NOTE: There is no record or evidence that Bryant ever lived in Tullahoma, Cannon Co., TN, but we know that he lived in White Co., TN.]

One of the first battles he encountered was the infamous nine-day battle of Stones River, near Murfreesboro, Tennessee [from Dec. 31, 1862 to Jan. 2, 1863]. The story picks up near the end of this major conflict prior to the Confederates [under Gen. Braxton Bragg] making one final push in hopes of routing the Union's left flank. The line of Confederate troops comprised of a group of men, primarily from the 22nd Infantry Battalion, closed out the far right flank of the entire rebel defensive. With its strength compromised by the lack of troop numbers and artillery support, this group managed well just to hold its own.

All this was soon to change, however. It occurred during a cold sleet storm when the men took refuge along a gorge area, held there in check by an opposing Union artillery line. The company was on the verge of surrendering this position in favor of reconsolidating their numbers elsewhere, when an officer on horseback came riding through. As he passed by, he yelled, "Cheer up boys, Breckenridge is coming and he's bringing six hundred of the best trained men in the south." Soon after, the order was given, "Draw your bayonets." With the support of reinforcements, the company of men surged ahead on the offensive. As the group approached a battery of Union artillery, the defenders dropped their weapons and abandoned their positions, not at all desiring any hand-to-hand action. Taking possession of the cannons, the men took no time in turning the guns, loading, and returning fire towards the fleeing Yankees. Before joining in the pursuit, some men took time to jam the gun barrels with logs and chains, rendering them useless. Chasing the retreating Union soldiers as they moved up the hill, Amos stopped to rest near the top, at the ruins of an abandoned farm house, now serving as a depot for casualties from both sides. Wounded soldiers could be heard crying out for water. No sooner were they administered this, than to only have it spill out of their open wounds. Amos specifically recalled a conversation he had with a fatally wounded Union officer. Lying propped up, the man had been treated for a bullet wound passing through his entire abdomen. The standard treatment for such a body wound was that a silk cord would be drawn through the body. This would serve to only prolong life for a short time longer. As Amos approached the man, he spoke out, "You daring boys - you charged right into the face of the cannons." Before Amos left, the officer told him that he had a wife and child at home that he hoped he would see before dying. With tears in his eyes, Amos said that he hoped he would too.

When the men were not actually fighting, they camped in groups of eighteen or less. One time they had made camp on the Stones River; the Yankees were camped on the other bank. Each side had been given strict orders not to shoot unless the enemy came across the river. While the soldiers fighting for the North had plenty of good food to eat, the Southern Rebels did not fare so well; they had only some blue beef and week-old cornbread. They were very hungry. There was a farm nearby on their side of the river where a farmer lived who was a northern sympathizer. One day while Amos was on guard duty a cow belonging to the farmer came wandering into the camp. Amos saw she needed milking and began to fill his canteen, but before he could finish the job, the farmer came along looking for his cow. After watching for a minute he said, "Huhay" meaning "Come on," and Amos said, "Sa" meaning "Hold still." The old man said. "Huhay" again and Amos said. "I said 'Sa'" and he continued to milk until his canteen was full. Then he let the man take his cow back home. The cow never came back to their camp again.

Another day one of the old man's pigs got loose and came into camp. The pig seem to like it there and hung around for a while. Each time a new man went on guard the soldiers would beg him to kill it so they could eat, for they were half-starved. When it was Amos' turn to pull guard duty he did not need much persuasion; he was hungry also and just loved to do things to spite the Yankee farmer. They knew the officers would come down and investigate if a shot was fired so the men promised they would have all the evidence out of the way by the time someone came into camp to check on the commotion. So Amos shot the pig, reloaded his gun and continued marching back and forth in front of the tents as though nothing had happened. The men quickly tied cords around the legs of the pig and dropped her down into the river, after tying the other end of the cord to a bush out of sight. They cleaned up the blood, sprinkled dirt around the area and went back to their places in the shade. They didn't have long to wait before three or four men came riding up to the tents asking what the shooting was about. The men all acted as though they didn't know anything. "No, Sir, There hasn't been any shooting. It wasn't any of us." Amos just kept on walking and didn't say anything. An officer said that someone down the river had reported the noise had come form up there. One rebel soldier raised up out of the shade where he had been pretending to sleep and said, "It does seem to me like I did hear the sound of a gun up the river." This was altogether true since the guns report would have echoed up the river.

Well, after a lot more questions and riding back and forth the officers saw they weren't going to find out the truth so they went back to headquarters. When the soldiers were sure they would not be coming back three or four men ran up the river and pulled the hog out. They quickly skinned her, wrapped her insides and skins around a rock and threw the rock into the river. They found a big iron kettle used to wash clothes in, but it was rusty since it hadn't been used in a long time. Several men used sand stones to scrub out the rust while another man went to all the men and collected money. Taking the money, he went to town to buy some bread. The meat was allowed to cook for several hours while the men fed the fire beneath the kettle, praying all the while that no one would show up in their camp to check on them. When the meat was done, the eighteen men gathered around the kettle to eat. They finished the entire hog and used the bread to sop the bushel of grease that was left in the kettle.

Another day the men had been marching since sun up in the sweltering heat and they had finished all the water in their canteens. It kept getting hotter and hotter and some of the men were so thirsty they drank the muddy water where the hogs were lying. Amos couldn't make himself drink it so he went without. He later told how his tongue became thick and felt like cotton. His throat felt like a million tiny men were stabbing it from the inside with their knives. He felt like he was constructed of putty and jelly. After hours of this kind of torture, they came to a small farmhouse in the northern territory. An old man was sitting on the porch in a rocking chair. In front of the house was a large hand-dug well. The captain rode up to the porch and asked the man for some water, but the man said he didn't have any. When asked what they did for water in that part of the country he said that there was a little down in the well but it was for his family and stock, not for rebels. He was told to get two buckets out there as fast as he could and when the buckets were brought the men tore the top completely off the well and threw it in the yard. There was a split-rail fence nearby and several rails were removed to be used as a ladder to get down into the well for the water. Soon there were buckets of water for the thirsty men and about two hundred soldiers drank all they wanted and filled their canteens. Then the captain ordered them to work and with with a company of that size it didn't take long for the men to shove the entire split-rail fence down the well. They returned the buckets to the man leaving his without water or a fence.

Another time the company was assigned to go around Lookout Mountain. The men had to march the two or three day trail. But the men who were sick and those who had no shoes were provided a boxcar train to ride. Amos and a buddy couldn't come up with any acceptable illnesses and they had good shoes, so it looked like they would have to walk. But they both decided they wanted to ride, so they hid their shoes in an old tree trunk.. They were permitted to ride and were pleased with themselves thinking they had a free ride and would get a new pair of shoes when they arrived. But they were surprised to find out when they got around the mountain that they weren't getting shoes. Neither of them had gone barefoot since they were children, but they had to go without shoes all summer.

When they stayed in an area for a long time, Amos would make friends with the "locals." One friend was an old lady who baked pies to sell to the soldiers. He bought a pie from her and some buttermilk to fill his canteen. When he got back to his tent he found that his friend, Lynn, had been wounded and was weak due to loss of blood. He gave his pie and milk to Lynn because he couldn't eat the food they were issued. A few days later, Lynn asked for some more of the good food, so Amos slipped out under cover of darkness. He arrived just as the woman was getting up to start cooking. He stayed until the pie was ready and filled his canteen and started back.

Now, the Captain of their company was named Taylor, a man who was considered a coward by most of the men. [Captain Thomas E. Taylor, Co. A, 22nd Inf. Batt., Resigned: June 7, 1864] When there was a battle to fight, the Captain would usually be ill and Lieutenant Gleason had to lead the men into battle. [Lt. James F. Gleeson] Jim Gleason had been Amos' friend since schooldays in Tullahoma, TN (?) [White County, TN]. [NOTE: James Gleason was from White Co., TN; Amos' grandfather, Joseph McGowen, Jr., was living with the family of Edward Gleason in White Co. in 1850. Edward was the father of James Gleason.]

Amos was on the way back to camp with the food for his friend when he met Taylor and Gleason coming back from drill. After Amos explained why he had missed the drill Taylor told him he would have to dig stumps for being AWOL. Amos cursed and said he would never dig stumps for a coward like Taylor. The Captain reached for his pistol amd Amos grabbed his rifle. When Gleason saw what was about to happen he said, "Put that gun away. If anyone digs stumps, I will." So once again, Amos got out of work.

When Amos got out of the army he was twenty three (25?) years old (1863?-1865?). He found a job splitting fence rails for seventy-five cents a hundred. He averaged about a hundred a day, so he made good money for that time.

His family decided to move to Wright County, Missouri where several of Amos' uncles from his father's side lived. [NOTE: We know that the family of his Uncle Amos McGowen's lived there. However, after leaving White Co., TN in the mid 1840's, Uncle Amos had died in northern Arkansas and his wife Louisa and their ten children moved to Wright Co., MO. The area of Wright Co. where they lived became part of the newly formed Webster Co., MO in 1855. By 1860, most of the children han moved next door to Texas Co., MO.] They left their home on Tennessee in the early Fall with all their possessions in a covered wagon, planning to reach Missouri before the Winter set in. They left (Celia) Caroline, Amos' [older] sister and her husband [Richard Hames] behind. After traveling over the mountains and rough roads for a month and a half, they came to Princeton, [Caldwell Co.] Kentucky. Winter was coming; the only shelter they had was in the wagon, and the roads were too rough for the horses. They were forced to stay in Princeton until Spring. They rented a house outside of town. The money spent in rent left them too broke to travel on in the Spring. They decided to stay the Summer and put out a tobacco crop. Then they would continue to Missouri in the Fall.

All Summer Amos and his brother Joe (or Bob as he was called), worked in the fields to make money. Meantime Bob fell in love with a girl nearby. They married and moved to Princeton. [NOTE: Amos' sister Mary Jane "Mollie" McGowen married to James C. Dunning on April 11, 1871 at her father's house and his brother Joseph T. McGowen married to Florence Owen on Nov. 28, 1871 in Caldwell Co., KY.] By the time Fall came, Rebecca, Amos' mother, had decided that she wanted to stay in Kentucky with her son Bob. She told Amos and his father, Bryant, to go on without her and she would follow later with Bob and Mary Jane. The men wouldn't leave without Rebecca so they used the money to buy a large farm in Princeton.

Amos began to make wagons and barrels for neighbors. He liked the work so he went into business doing such odd jobs. After a while he got homesick for Tullahoma, TN (?) [White County, TN] and his sister there. He saved his money, built himself a covered wagon, and set out for Tennessee in the early Spring. As he went along, he ran out of money and got into horse trading to earn cash. Soon he had the money he needed and set out again for home. One night, while sleeping under his wagon, he saw a man walk around and then jump up into the wagon. Amos jumped up and wrestled with the man and found out he had tangled with a heavyset black man. The man grabbed a hammer and knocked Amos out with a blow to the head. When Amos came to, all his money most of his other possessions were gone. So he began horse trading again to earn his way, and after a few weeks, was able to travel on to Tullahoma, TN (?) [White County, TN].

He stayed for a year or so before he and his sister and her husband set out for Kentucky. They had little money and often found they had no food to eat. Amos thought of a way to get some food. They parked the wagon in the road in front of a farmhouse and Amos went to the door. He told the woman of the house that he had a very sick man in the wagon and that he didn't have any food for him. The lady was a good Christian, and soon Amos had a basket full of delicious food for the "sick man." They all had a hardy meal and Amos returned the basket. When asked how the "sick man" ate, Amos said he enjoyed it very much and thanked her, then went on his way without a twinge of guilt.

After they arrived in Kentucky, Amos began to make wagons again. He worked several years before he met and married a young girl. [NOTE: Amos married Alma Chambers on Dec. 24, 1878. About 1881, Alma had a child which died. Not long after, they divorsed.] His marriage lasted only two years. Amos then married Frances Smiley. [NOTE: On May 18, 1890, Amos remarried to Sarah Frances Smiley.] My grandfather, Robert Ramey McGowan, was born on December 1, 1898, the youngest of seven children. At birth, he was a small baby, and the doctor said not to bother to dress or feed him as he would not expect such a small baby to survive. But the baby thrived. Amos was proud of his son and was with him almost constantly.

Amos and Frances lived with their children on a 450 acre farm purchased for seven hundred and fifty dollars. As money was needed, they sold off land a few acres at a time. And thirty years later, Amos sold off the remaining 226 acres for sixteen hundred dollars.

Robert Ramey married Anna Mae Stewart on November 22, 1928. Amos died May 11, 1929, at the age of 88. His wife, Frances, lived with her son, Robert Ramey, until her death in January of 1940. She died from injuries suffered from catching fire, as she stood in her calico dress, with her back to the fireplace, in Robert Ramey's home. Her son rushed to her putting the fire out with his hands, but she was badly burned and died the next morning. Bob had badly burned his hands and had to take off work for four weeks while they healed.

At the time of this writing, my grandfather, Robert Ramey, was still alive. He told these stories to me as he recalled his father telling them to him. Grandpa passed away on November 18, 1977, followed by his wife, Anna Mae, on April 16, 1988.
See: Amos McGowan family photos.

NOTE: All through this narrative, Tullahoma is mentioned as the home of Bryant McGowan's family. Tullahoma is in Coffee Co., TN, about 50-60 miles southwest of White Co., TN where Bryant's father Joseph McGowen, Jr. and his brothers Amos, James, Samuel and Walker and his cousin Wiley McGowan lived from 1819 to 1860. I have not found any records of any of them living in Tullahoma or Coffee County. From my own McGowan line, I have learned from experience that family stories often get misconstrued as they are handed down from generation to generation, which might have also happened in this case.

Many thanks to our cousins Pamela (McGowan) Tippy and Perry McGowan for sharing their family stories and photos with the rest of us. For those of you who descend from this line, I have also posted information on the White Co., TNGenWeb sote on Burgess Clark, the grandfather of Rebecca (Clark) McGowan, wife of Bryant McGowan. Burgess Clark was a veteran of the Revolutionary War.  If any of you from any other McGowan / McGowen have family stories handed down from your ancestors, please share them with the rest of us. Thanks, John B. McGowan

McGowan Family History