305. Milton's Uriah R. Chavers Sr. 1861

Updated: Mar 28, 2022

On April 26 1865, the Army of Tennessee was officially surrendered at Greensboro, North Carolina and the soldiers marched off to Salisbury where they would be disbanded by their officers. As the men walked home from Greensboro, hungry and ragged, they were unsure as to what they would be facing when they got home. They found little food along the way as they crossed those areas where Sherman’s army had burned all the houses and crops. Even the civilians were starving, along with their defeated armies. And to make matters worse, the men of the 24th Alabama had over 600 miles to travel just to reach their unknown future. One of those soldiers was Private Uriah R. Chavers Sr. (1838-1915) from Company "I" of the 24th Alabama Infantry Regiment. Waiting for him 569 miles away was his wife Mary Elizabeth Jane Smith from Conecuh County, Alabama and their one-year old daughter. He had been a farmer before the war near the community of Burnt Corn in Monroe County. After arriving home, he set about putting his farm back in shape and trying to plant what they could so they could eat. He and Mary would raise seventeen children on their meager farmy and income. By 1880, they had moved their farm to Pineville, just north of Burnt Corn. Ten years later his wife Mary passed away in 1890 and was buried in the Indian Springs Baptist Cemetery in Pineville (now Beatrice). In October 1895, Uriah married a woman twelve years his junior by the name of Susan Orea McMillan in Butler County, Alabama. The couple moved to Santa Rosa County in January 1897 to an eighty acre farm, valued at $1,000. As the old soldier began to age, he found he could no longer keep up with the work so he applied for his Confederate pension in 1909. Born on November 6, 1838 in Lee County, Georgia he enlisted in the 24th Regiment in November 1861. Based on his service to the Confederacy, he was granted a pension of $120.00 per year on July 1, 1913. Private Chavers would pass away two years later on February 14, 1915 and was buried in the Milton Cemetery.

One of his sons was Uriah R. Chavers Jr. (1872-1925) who married Addie Lou Gene Morgan (1874-1964) in 1891. The two would bring nine children into the world while Uriah Jr. supported them as a retail grocery merchant. He would pass away in 1925 and was also buried in the Milton Cemetery. In the latter part of her life, Addie moved to Panama City, Florida where she passed away in 1964 and was buried in the Evergreen Memorial Cemetery.

One of Uriah Jr.'s children was Clark Chavers (1897-1973) who enlisted in the US Army during World War I on April 13, 1917. He set sail from Hoboken, NJ with the Sanitary Detachment, 124th Infantry Regiment of the 31st Infantry Division. Once they arrived in France, the regiment was split up to fill vacancies in other units. Having survived, he set sail for home on the USS Manchuria on June 9, 1919 from St. Nazarene, France with the 323rd Ambulance Company, 306th Sanitary Train, of the 81st Infantry Division. After the war, he worked as a furniture merchant in Milton then in Panama City where he passed away in 1873 and was buried in the Evergreen Memorial Cemetery. Another of Uriah Jr.'s sons was Clarence Bazell Chavers Sr. (1896-1982) who married Mary Alice Harter (1900-1991). Clarence supported his family as the manager of a transfer company and passed away on in 1982 and was buried in the Milton Cemetery.

Their son Clarence Bazell Chavers Jr. (1917-1996) enlisted in the US Army on June 22, 1943 and served during World War II with a discharge in 1946. He would return home from the war and marry Ruby Christine Hall and later was remarried to Necia L. Aynes. He would pass away in 1996 and was buried in the Serenity Gardens in Milton, Florida. His sister Wanda Louise "Lou" Chavers was born in 1922 and became the bookkeeper for the Fowhand Furniture Store in Panama City. She would marry Robert Hicks Carswell and joined him in 2019 in the Bonifay Cemetery, Bonifay, Florida.