submitted by Carol Toyama

Thomas Jeptha Spruill enlisted at Pickens County, August 1863 and served until he was paroled at Elmira, New York at the end of the War. He held the rank of Private in Co. C, 41st Reg't. Alabama Infantry, Confederate Army. He was captured at Petersburg, VA on June 15, 1864 and confined June 16, 1864 at Bermuda Hundred, VA.( Bermuda Hundred, VA Register No. 191. page 32.) He was received at Elmira N.Y. on July 12, 1864 and released June 16, 1865. He signed an oath of allegiance to the United States at Elmira N.Y. on June 16, 1865.

My mother tells me that Tom was only 15 or so years when he ran away to join the army. His father and uncles had already enlisted and left Tom home to run the farm. When the slaves were freed they all ran away and Tom didn't want to stay home and work the farm, so he ran away and joined the army. The enlistment dates above suggest that this must have been family lore, but not fact.

A letter from one of Tom's granddaughters says she remembers "Poppa" saying that he was taken in a boxcar to prison in NY. Because he was just a young kid, the guards at the prison would give him a leg up over the fence and send him into town to get things for them. When he returned they would open the gate to let him in. The guards were under orders not to open the gate to let anyone out. They were not under orders to not let anyone in.