No. 13 Lafayette Coile: Raised to the rank of Captain

Lafayette Coile, like many young men from the mountains of Tennessee and parts of the mountains of North Carolina were sympathetic with the northern causes. They held no slaves, they were simple farmers and in the case of Lafayette, some were descendants of Quakers who rejected slavery and actively opposed it. At the time of his role in the war Lafayette already had children. He was a young man of 22 years when the war began. He mustered into the Union Army at Nashville on 14 December 1863 at 24 years of age. By this time the northeastern part of Tennessee was already under Union control. Prior to this time enlisting could have put his family at risk. The following information is compiled from his service records provided by the Government Service Administration along with a History of the 3rd Tennessee Cavalry, Union Army.

It was common practice for the officers of volunteer units to be elected by the men themselves. We have little information about Lafayette's first days in the army. Muster roles indicates that he was serving in the role of First Sergeant for Company D, 3rd Tennessee Cavalry. This is the highest enlisted rank in a company. The only soldiers outranking him in the company would be the commissioned officers (lieutenants and a captain). To be elected into these roles must have meant that Lafayette was a popular and capable leader. On 13 June 1864 the muster role indicates that he was promoted to the rank of Captain. The photocopy of his commissioning papers was hard to read. Below is the document as best as I can read it. Note that it was a Tennessee state volunteer commission authorized by the Union governor of Tennessee, Andrew Johnson. The blanks for dates were just that, blanks where a hand entered date would go. These dates are illegible. Other blanks in the text below were simply illegible.

The Governor of the State of Tennessee, to all who shall see these presents, greetings:

Know ye, that ______ special trust and confidence in the patriotism, calor, fidelity and ability of Lafayette Coile of the County of Jefferson, we do appoint him Captain _____ in the Third Regiment of Cavalry of Tennessee Volunteers in the service of the United States for three years, unless sooner discharged; to rank as such from the ______ day of ______ one thousand eight hundred and sixty = ____.

He is, therefore, carefully and diligently to discharge the duties of Captain by doing and performing all manner of things ________ belonging. And I do strictly charge and require all Officers and Soldiers under his command to be obedient to his orders, and he is to observe and follow such orders and directions, from time to time, as he shall receive from the President of the United States of America, or the General or superior Officers set over him, according to the Rules and Discipline of War.

Given under my hand, in the City of Nashville, this __________ day of June in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and sixty ______, and in the Eighty ________ year of the Independence of the United States.

By the Governor: Andrew Johnson

Edward H. East Secretary of State

In our next blog we will follow Captain Lafayette Coile's military experiences from the point of his commissioning until the end of the war.