Eli G. Fleming, my second great uncle, was a colorful character compared to my other Fleming ancestors. He was frequently in trouble with the law and obviously had a temper. I obtained his pension file while at the National Archives this month. His compiled military service record is available on Fold 3 as well as a general correspondence file showing his many petitions to Congress to have his Civil War service record reversed so he could obtain a pension. According to his pension file, he had many health problems which he attributed to his Civil War service and was penniless at the end of his life.
Eli G. Fleming (abt 1827-1896) was a son of James Fleming (1782-1844) and Nancy Clawson (b. abt 1798 to 1800-d. Dec 1862 to Jan1863). His father left his three sons, James, Eli G. and William, his land in his will when he died in 1844. Eli sold his portion to his brothers, James and William, on 16 March 1852 in Conemaugh Township, Indiana County, Pennsylvania for $1000. According to The Indiana Weekly Messenger (Indiana, Pennsylvania) dated 9 May 1888, he sued his brother James Fleming but the suit was later settled. It is not known what the suit was about.
Eli appears with his wife Elizabeth in the 1860 census in Warren County, Tennessee, with a post office address of McMinnville. He enlists in the Civil War as a captain in Company F, 5th Tennessee Cavalry on 24 July 1862. He was court marshaled on 23 January 1863 and sentenced to death for shooting and wounding his commanding officer, Colonel William B. Stokes, in the leg after an altercation over his candidacy for major in a regimental election and over charges of being absent without leave. The sentence was later reduced to dismissal from service by General Rosecrans but his name appears on a muster out roll for his company on 25 June 1865. The book, The Papers of Andrew Johnson: 1862-1864, states "Both before
and after his Army service, Captain Fleming was a scout and guide for
Union commanders operating in Warren and adjacent counties." The book, Homegrown Yankees: Tennessee's Union Cavalry in the Civil War, also mentions Captain Eli G. Fleming and Colonel William B. Stokes.
Captain Eli G. Fleming ran against Colonel William B. Stokes in the election for Congress in Tennessee's Third Congressional District in 1867. The book, Tennessee's Radical Army: The State Guard and Its Role in Reconstruction, describes the acrimonious election between them. Stokes accused Fleming of trying to assassinate him and Fleming accused the militia of trying to kill him. Colonel Stokes won the election.
He had two children by his first wife, Mary Elizabeth Bradford, whom he married about 1856 in Tennessee. They had two sons, James T. (1861-1912) and William Bradford (1864-1926). Mary Elizabeth separated from him in 1867 and divorced him in October, 1868. She gave an affidavit on 7 December 1891while living in Dallas, Texas that is in his Civil War pension file. She died in Dallas on 28 February 1911. According to the newspaper, The Tennessean (Nashville, Tennessee) dated 8 March 1874, Captain E. G. Fleming became intoxicated on "busthead whiskey" and "forcibly entered the residence of Mrs. Lizzie Fleming...and taking all the china and glassware from her table, together with some articles of silverware, highly prized as souvenirs of Mrs. Fleming's mother, and tying them up in the tablecloth, swung the same on his shoulder, breaking them and shivering them, mounted his horse, and left town with them. A warrant was procured for his arrest...and Fleming made good his escape."
He had at least two other incidents where he was arrested after the Civil War. According to the newspaper, Nashville Union and American (Nashville, Tennessee) dated 30 September 1869, George Fisher was allegedly stabbed by Capt. E. G. Fleming about 20 September 1869 in Huntsville, Alabama but there were no witnesses to the incident. Capt. Fleming was charged and was bound over for the next term of the Circuit Court. His bail was reduced from $2500 to $1500. No other information is available regarding this incident. According to The Tennessean (Nashville, Tennessee) dated 16 July 1870, Captain E. G. Fleming was placed in the Rutherford County Jail on 11 July 1870 for stabbing Henry Primm, who was his rival for the affections of Betty White, whom he also stabbed. Henry Primm was "colored" and Betty White was a "mulatto girl" with whom he had allegedly "been living on terms of intimacy." No further information is available regarding this incident.
He was living in Murfreesboro, Rutherford County, Tennessee in the 1870 census. He was married to Sallie D. Hoover on 30 April 1872 by Rev. Smith Bolin in Bedford County, Tennessee at her father, Jno P. Hoover's home. He was living in District 1, Bedford County, Tennessee, in the 1880 census with his wife, Sallie, and two children, Lottie and Theodore. Eli and Sallie had three children: Lottie, born about 1874; Belmont or Theodore born about 1878; and Joe Ivie, born 7 March 1886. They were living together as late as 6 October, 1885 when Eli's niece, Nannie Eightney, stated in an affidavit in his pension file that he and his wife with his son were living with her and her parents in Brady, Indiana County, Pennsylvania. Eli's daughter was living with Nannie's brother, Eli Johnson. Nannie said "his wife is hired by the week and he is pennyless. I have let him have five dollars to enable him to prosecute his claim."
He and his wife were divorced on 10 December 1885 in Bedford County, Tennessee. Their son, Joe Ivie, was born after they were divorced. Sallie D. Fleming applied for a Civil War widow's pension on 5 July 1900 but her widow's claim was rejected since she was divorced in 1885. According to The Indiana Progress (Indiana, Pennsylvania) dated 16 June 1887, "...Mrs. E. G. Fleming, now separated from her husband E. G. Fleming and living in Kentucky, desired the possession of her two children, now in the hands of the husband in this county, she accordingly sent a man from Kentucky to capture them..." The alleged kidnap attempt was not successful.
He applied for an invalid pension on 13 October 1885 claiming he was disabled since he "was injured in the right leg by riding eleven days in succession, below Nashville, in pursuit of Gen. Wheeler's rebels, exposed to very severe weather, sleeping in the snow, without shelter. Also, on the same scout contracted rheumatism of back, shoulder, and breast." His claim was rejected because "at the specified date of origin of alleged disabilities claimant was willfully disobeying his superior officers and was not in line of duty, as is shown by the record." His repeated attempts to get a pension between 1891 and 1894 were rejected each time. There were three Bills for Relief introduced in the House on his behalf: HR No. 11368 in July 1890; House No. 8624 in May 1892; and House No. 5156 in January 1894. He never received a pension due to his court marshal and the order dismissing him from service.
He lived in Washington, D.C. from about 1890 until at least 1894 when he is listed in a city directory. He worked for the federal government for awhile but more information is not available as to where he worked or for how long. He died on 10 January 1896 according to the application for widow's benefits filed by Sallie D. Fleming and the card record for his headstone provided for deceased Union veterans of the Civil War .
The following timeline was taken from information given by him and others in his pension file:
was a grocery merchant prior to his enlistment
lived in Murfreesboro, Rutherford County, Tennessee from January, 1863 to 1870
lived in Bedford County from 1870 to 1885 (Post Office Bell Buckle) where he lost several crops due to his disability contracted in the service
was in mercantile business from latter part of 1863 to spring of 1865
grew cotton on the East Fork of Stones River in Rutherford County, Tennessee from the spring of 1865 and continued farming until 1869
went to Alabama four miles from Huntsville and put in 600 acres of cotton in that State (1869)
after above crop was gathered lived in Rutherford and Bedford Counties, Tennessee (sometimes in Rutherford County and sometimes in Bedford County near the line of the two counties; lived on rented land and hired labor and farmed but did not do the work himself
moved to Indiana County, Pennsylvania in March, 1885
lived with Charlotte and John Johnson, (sister and brother-in-law) and niece, Nannie Eightney, from 1 April to at least October 1885 in Brady, Indiana County, Pennsylvania
lived with Clark Fleming, second cousin, during winter of 1886-1887 until at least April, 1887 in Atwood, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania
lived in Indiana County, Pennsylvania until June, 1888 when he went to Leavenworth, Kansas
spent the month of June, 1888 in Leavenworth, Kansas
went to Dallas, Texas where he visited his sons and remained there until October, 1889
lived at National Temperance Home, Washington, D.C.; 516 13th St., NW, Washington, D.C.; and 1726 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C. from at least 1890 to 1894
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