William L. Floyd & Tabitha Burton

              Thomas Benjamin Floyd, son of William and Tabitha Burton Floyd, told his descendants about what it was like to live in Georgia during the Civil War.  The following experience reveals the character and fortitude of both the soldiers who fought and those who guarded the hearth and home in their absence. 

            Tradition has it that the family of Floyds started with five brothers coming from Ireland in the early 1800’s.  Most settled in Georgia and Thomas Benjamin descended from one of these.   He was about eight years old when his father, William L. Floyd went to war.  They were living near Lookout Mountain, and his mother decided she would stay there with the children and try to scratch out a living. 

            At one time their cabin was situated between the armies of the north and the south.  A young southern soldier came to the house and informed Tabitha Floyd that a big battle was about to begin.  Fearing for their safety, the soldier put she and the children in a dry cistern and told them that if he lived through the battle, he would return and let them out. 

            For quite some time they heard the sounds of firing, shouting, and cannon balls whizzing overhead, then finally it was quiet.  Much later an officer of the Confederate army came and pulled them up one by one on a rope, from the cistern.  The family inquired about the young soldier who had hidden them, and were told that he was among the wounded, or dead, but that he had reported to the officer prior to that, of the need to return and rescue them from the cistern.

            As the family returned to their cabin, there were bodies strewn all around, and in the house there was chaos.  Everything had been shot through, and many of their things had been ruined.  The large leather-bound Bible was lying on the mantle in its usual place, above the fireplace, but a cannon ball was now sitting on it, having burned through the cover and some of the pages.  For many years, the cannon ball remained in its final resting-place, on top of the Bible.  It was later passed down to Thomas Benjamin, and there occupied a place on his own family’s mantle for many years after. 

           Written by Tamlee Floyd McGary, a Great Great Granddaughter of William and Tabitha Floyd.  (Tamlee McGary, 10261 Russell Road, Mesa, WA 99343.  [email protected])

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