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Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research.

Preferred Citation

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], [box], [folder], John R. Cason Papers, Ms2008-026, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.

Source of Acquisition

The John R. Cason Papers were purchased by Special Collections in 2004.

Processing Information

The processing, arrangement, and description of the John R. Cason Papers commenced and was completed during May 2008.

Biographical Note

John R. Cason was born ca. 1843. He lived in Watson, Marshall County, Mississippi, and enlisted as a private on 1 June 1861 in Company 'I' of the 17th Mississippi Infantry during the American Civil War. He was in and out of hospitals throughout his military career, but despite that he was promoted to third Lieutenant on 27 April 1862. He was captured by Union forces in the Battle of Gettysburg on 2 July 1863. He spent the next three years in various Union prisons, and was one of the officers in the "Immortal 600" group of 600 prisoners of war who were used by Union troops as human shields for 45 days during the assault on Charleston. Cason took the oath of allegiance and was released on 12 June 1865.

On 14 August 1866, he may have married Susan M. Bryant (conflicting information in the Confederate Veteran article suggests that it may have been a different John R. Cason who married Susan M. Bryant). In 1905, at the age of 61, he entered the Confederate Soldiers Home in Higginsville, Missouri, which was established to house indigent veterans of the Confederate military. He died in 1909 and was buried in the cemetery associated with Higginsville.

Scope and Content

The John R. Cason Papers consist of only one journal with copied letters and lists as well as signatures of Confederate officers at Point Lookout, Maryland, during the American Civil War. The journal is divided into four sections.

The first section, starting on page [ii], is a list of the "Names of officers confined at Point Lookout Md. Feb 22nd/64." Fifty-nine officers signed their names, ranks, units, and sometimes places of capture in this section, including John O. Murray who would go on to write a book about the Immortal 600.

The second section, starting on page 21, contains five letters addressed to Cason written on March 2 and 3, 1864.

The third section, starting on page 31 contains "A list of Confederate States officers under fire on Morris Isle Sept 7th to Oct. 21st 1864." This list contains the name, rank, regiment, place of capture, and place of residence for every officer in the Immortal 600, ordered by state and name. This section also includes lists of the men who were hospitalized after their experience on Morris Isle, who escaped before reaching Morris Isle, and who were exchanged or removed from Morris Isle. At the end of the third section is a table tabulating the fates of the Immortal 600 by state.

The fourth section, starting on page 58 contains another seven letters addressed to Cason written February 28-March 1, 1865.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Adams, Richard Henry, Jr.
• Akers, Peter B.
• Arbuckle, David
• Ballantine, William Duncan
• Civil War
• Cobb, James Edward
• Davis, Joseph B.
• Eakins, Felix G.
• Ewing, Z. Whitefield
• Fraetas, Canazio
• Humes, Andrew R.
• Lewis, Oliver Hazard Perry
• Perkins, Thomas Fear, Jr.
• United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865
• United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Prisoners and prisons

Rights Statement for Archival Description

The guide to the John R. Cason Papers by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 ( https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/ ).