PRIVATE GOODMAN SEAGRAVES - 4th REGIMENT TENNESSEE CAVALRY (MCLEMORE'S)

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 My great great grandfather Goodman Seagraves fought for the Confederacy. He was a private in the 4th Regiment Tennessee Cavalry (Mclemore's). He was born in 1829 in Wake County North Carolina near Raleigh. Goodman died in 1904 in Cherry Hill, Polk County western Arkansas which is near the infamous town of Mena. I am not sure when he enlisted but the unit was formed in May 1862 at Camp Robertson and I am assuming that he fought with the unit until it was surrendered to William T. Sherman in Durham North Carolina. It was assigned to Nathan Bedford Forrest's cavalry and fought at Parkers Crossroads, Chickamauga, the Atlanta campaign and the battle of Franklin. The men in the unit came from Wilson, Marshall, Bedford, Rutherford, Smith, Marion, Coffee and Franklin counties.


 Goodman was married twice. A family story says that his first wife, and my great grandmother Narcissa Ellen Turner supposedly heard that he had been killed in battle. Thinking that she was a widow she remarried. When Goodman rode up to his home here in Rutherford County Tennessee he saw Narcissa feeding a baby through a window and a strange man sitting at the kitchen table. He simply remounted his horse and rode away. The woman in this picture is his second wife Margaret. So far I have found that more of my relatives on both sides of the family fought for the Union. The Civil War truly was a war of brother against brother. The Segroves family is famous for going by different spellings of our last name. I always thought that Segroves was English but our branch originated in Ireland. Frances Segraves migrated here from Ireland in the 1700's. Goodman's son Joseph, who was my great grandfather went by Joseph Segroves. His son, who was my grandfather went by Claude Segroves but his brother James Guy spelled his last name Seagroves. I had a cousin named Fred Seagroves but his brother William spelled his last name Seagraves.

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