May 19
On this day in 1863, Private Thornton Sexton (1842-1864) of the 37th North Carolina Infantry deserted alongside 31 other men from his company. A 19-year old, barely literate farmer from northern Ashe County, Thornton had enlisted on August 27, 1861, in the “Ashe Beauregard Riflemen” with his older brother, Marion. Both brothers left the unit without permission at different times–likely due to the harsh discipline and lack of food–but eventually returned. They fought at the brutal battle of Chancellorsville on May 3, 1863, as part of General William Dorsey Pender’s brigade. Their regiment suffered heavy losses, with 34 killed and 193 wounded, though the Sexton brothers emerged unharmed. Yet the toll of war was evident. In a letter home dated May 9, Thornton wrote, “I have not had nothing to eat in two days an I am al moost starved,” pleading with his father to bring food. Only after describing his hunger did he recount the battle, writing, “it was Bad looken times the trees an bushes was coot all to peses With balls an grap shoot,” marveling that he and Marion “was not hirt.” His homesickness was clear: “I would like [to] be at hom if i cood.” Thornton was not the only one who felt that way. Over the course of the next ten days, Thornton and several fellow soldiers from Ashe County began discussing leaving the regiment. The horrors of Chancellorsville, coupled with relentless hunger, convinced them that survival was unlikely if they stayed. On this day, they gathered their weapons and gear, and deserted as a group. Thornton eventually returned under a Confederate amnesty proclamation in September 1863. He continued to serve until he was mortally wounded near Cold Harbor on June 2, 1864. He died three days later, one of countless young soldiers worn down by war and longing for a home to which he would never return.
Photo: A squad of Confederate deserters
Sources:
Thornton Sexton, Compiled Military Service Record; 1860 U.S. Census: Ashe County, NC; Thornton Sexton to parents, May 9, 1863, Thornton Sexton Papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Duke University (transcription at Private Voices); Aldo S. Perry, Civil War Courts-Martial of North Carolina Troops (2012), 25.
