#64 Medal of Honor recipient at Salem Cemetery (100 Great Things about Jackson County, Florida)

Grave of Private Ira Hough
Salem Methodist Church near Graceville

A final resting place of a Union hero of the War Between the States (or Civil War) is #64 on my list of 100 Great Things about Jackson County, Florida.

Please click here to see the full list as it is unveiled.

Visitors to historic Salem Cemetery in northwestern Jackson County are often surprised to find the grave of a Yankee soldier who received the Congressional Medal of Honor. The peaceful burial ground is the final resting place of Private Ira Hough of Indiana, a recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Ira Hough later in life

Hough was 19 years old when he enlisted in Company E, 8th Indiana Infantry. Nearly 6 feet tall, he had black hair, black eyes and a fair complexion. The young soldier was already a veteran by the time he found himself engaged in the Battle of Cedar Creek, Virginia, on October 19, 1864.

The first hours of the battle had not gone well for the Union army. Storming out of early morning mists and fog, the Confederate soldiers of Gen. Jubal Early had attacked the Federal force of Gen. Philip Sheridan. Early had fewer than 15,000 men compared to the 32,000 Union soldiers in Sheridan's army, but his attack was well-planned and fierce.

In early fighting, the outnumbered Confederates overran the Union VIII and XIX Corps before finally slowing in the face of a desperate stand by the men of the VI Corps. By 10:30 a.m., however, Early had defeated all three corps and the Union army was in retreat.

Sheridan at the Battle of Cedar Creek
Library of Congress

Sheridan had been in nearby Winchester, Virginia, when the battle erupted. In a desperate gallop still remembered as "Sheridan's Ride," he reached the battlefield to find his army shattered and on the verge of complete destruction. Rallying his troops, he led a counterattack that finally turned the tide of the battle and forced Early's hard-fighting Confederates to withdraw.



Grave of Isaac Hough

Among the troops that rallied to the general's flag for the counterattack was the 8th Indiana Infantry. Private Ira Hough, of Company E, was on the main battle line as Sheridan pushed forward and was one of 20 men credited with breaking into the Confederate lines and capturing the flags of their Southern foes.

The act was one of such distinction that all 20 men were named recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor. President Abraham Lincoln personally presented Hough with his medal on October 26, 1864.

The young soldier from Indiana continued to serve with his regiment until the end of the war, when he returned home and resumed his pre-war occupation of farming. He married Elizabeth Moore in 1868 and continued to live in Indiana for more than 20 years.

Salem Methodist Church in Jackson County, Florida

In 1888 and well after the end of Reconstruction, however, he and Elizabeth relocated to a farm in northwestern Jackson County between Graceville and Chipley. They raised their family and lived there until her death in 1902.  Ira mourned his lifelong companion and relocated to Missouri for a few years after she passed away, but by 1907 was back in Florida.

He died at the home of L.J. Collins, Jr., on October 18, 1916. He and Elizabeth rest side by side at Salem Cemetery adjacent to Salem Methodist Church in Jackson County.

To reach Salem Church and Cemetery from Graceville, drive south on State Highway 77 for 5 miles and turn right on Tri County Road. Follow Tri County Road for 3.5 miles and you will see the church on your right at the intersection with Hickshill Road and Christy Lane.

Please click here to see other installments in the list of 100 Great Things about Jackson County, Florida.

New Book - Milly Francis: The Life & Times of the Creek Pocahontas

I'm pleased to announce the release of my new book, Milly Francis: The Life & Times of the Creek Pocahontas.

While this book does not deal in specific with Jackson County, it does include a great deal of information on surrounding locations including the Apalachicola River, Fort Gadsden Historic Site, the Choctawhatchee River, Wakulla Springs and St. Marks.

Milly Francis was a Creek Indian woman who was born in the Alabama (Alibamo) villages of the Upper Creeks in around 1803. She spent her early childhood on the Alabama River not far from today's Montgomery, Alabama.

Milly was the daughter of Josiah Francis, a man also known as the Prophet Francis or Hillis Hadjo ("Warrior of Crazy Medicine"). He ignited a religious movement among the Creek Indians in 1812-1813 that resulted in the outbreak of the Creek War of 1813-1814.

19th century image of Milly saving Duncan McCrimmon

The Red Sticks, a name given to the followers of the Prophet Francis because they displayed red war clubs in their towns, were defeated by Andrew Jackson at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend and the survivors either surrendered or fled south to Spanish Florida.  Milly and her family were among those who fled.

By the time she was 15, in fact, Milly Francis had survived three wars and a desperate flight to refugee camps in Florida.

Despite the hardships she had endured, in 1818 she saved the life of a young American soldier named Duncan McCrimmon (sometimes spelled McKrimmon). He had been captured by warrior's from the Prophet's new town on the Wakulla River in Florida and was about to be executed when Milly intervened and pleaded for his life. In a true Pocahontas like incident, the warriors relented and spared McCrimmon.

Another 19th century image of Milly saving McCrimmon

The soldier later offered to marry Milly in a demonstration of his gratitude, but she refused, telling him that she would have done the same for anyone else in such a circumstance.

The story of how Milly Francis saved Duncan McCrimmon was picked up by newspapers across the United States and in Europe. She became known far and wide as the "new Pocahontas" or "modern Pocahontas." Parents across the United States named their newborn daughters Milly in her honor throughout the 1820s and 1830s.

But Milly's story was far from over. With her children she walked through miserable conditions and freezing cold on the Trail of Tears when the Creeks were driven west to what is now Oklahoma by the U.S. Army. There she lived out her life in a humble cabin on the outskirts of the modern city of Muskogee. In the final days of her life, the United States finally awakened and remembered the debt of gratitude owed her.

Milly Francis subsequently became the first woman ever to be awarded a special medal of honor by the U.S. Congress.

To read her story and the story of her times, please consider the new book. You can order it through Amazon.com by following these links:

Paperback - Milly Francis: The Life & Times of the Creek Pocahontas ($19.95)

Kindle - Milly Francis: The Life & Times of the Creek Pocahontas ($7.99)

You can read a brief version of her story at www.exploresouthernhistory.com/millyfrancis.