Joseph G. Sanders

On 13 May 1862, Sgt. Sanders was elected to be the captain and commander of his company.[9] He participated with his regiment in the Seven Days Battle, the Second Battle of Bull Run and the Battle of Antietam, where he was wounded[10] and was subsequently absent sick for 31 days in December 1862.[11] Returning to his unit in January 1863, he accompanied them to Port Royal, Virginia,[12] where he continued to serve until 20 July 1863 (just after the Battle of Gettysburg), when his health allegedly began to fail.[4] Accordingly, he requested and obtained a medical furlough to return to his home in Dale County, which was granted on 9 October.[13][14]

Upon his return to Alabama, Sanders began work on a gristmill, which was welcomed by his neighbors as their area was described a being "quite destitute of mills."[4] Accordingly, they drew up a petition to Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy, to ask that Sanders be allowed to resign his commission and remain at his home. Insisting that he was "patriotic and loyal," and that "only his ill health and shattered constitution keeps him away from his command," the signers earnestly pleaded that Davis approve Sanders' resignation from military service.[4] Thirty-two citizens of Dale County signed the petition, including the Probate Judge, Daniel Carmichael,[4] whose son Jesse had served as a corporal in the 15th Alabama Infantry, losing a hand at Antietam. Ironically, Jesse Carmichael would later play a pivotal role in Sanders' defeat when Sanders attacked his own hometown in March 1865—this time, while wearing the uniform of a Federal officer.

Captain Sanders' resignation was forwarded to his regimental commander, Colonel Evans, who recommended its approval:

Generals Jubal Early (Sanders' division commander) and Richard S. Ewell (his corps commander) concurred,[15] and Sanders' resignation took effect on 29 January 1864.[16]

No one knows for certain exactly what happened between 29 January and 5 July 1864,[2] but for some reason, Joseph Sanders decided to do the unthinkable: not only did he switch sides and join the Federals, but he chose to accept an officer's commission, to boot.[17] He was granted a provisional commission as a Second Lieutenant by Major General Nathaniel P. Banks on 5 July 1864, which he received on 17 July 1864 with orders to report for duty with Company F of the First Florida Cavalry (US) on 23 August, when the regiment was mustered in for Federal service in Florida.[17] Sanders accordingly presented himself at the U.S. outpost at Barrancas, Florida, where he enrolled for a term of three years.[18]

Sanders' Federal records indicate that he was commissioned "from civil life;"[17] no mention is made anywhere in his U.S. file of his former Confederate service. Local histories insist that prior to obtaining this new commission, Sanders was facing conscription back into the Southern army;[2] furthermore, say they, he had already become the leader of a local gang of deserters and Unionists who had begun to terrorize the citizens of lower Alabama.[19]—many of whom had been his own friends and neighbors. "He was known to be a brave man," wrote Jesse Carmichael; "and as a result, his incursions into the county, and they were frequent, were very much dreaded."[2]

Sanders' service with the 1st Florida Cavalry seems to have gone reasonably well until 25 February 1865, when he was ordered to take twenty men and proceed to the East Pass at Santa Rosa Island, where he was to recruit new soldiers for his regiment, as well as 'confiscate' cattle and horses belonging to 'Rebel' civilians in nearby Walton and Holmes counties.[20] He was given fourteen days to perform this mission, after which he was ordered to return to Pensacola.[21] Sanders had performed this duty the previous September, soon after joining his regiment.[22]

But instead of obeying this directive, Sanders and his men made their way into the Forks of the Creek Swamp near Campbellton, where they hid out and waited for an opportunity to attack the small town of Newton, which was then the county seat of Dale County. Sanders knew that the courthouse there contained records of his former Confederate service (and those of other men in his unit), and he apparently wished to destroy them.[19] He and his men accordingly set out for Newton on the evening of 14 March 1865, but their movement was detected, and the citizens of the town were given advance warning.[2] Jesse Carmichael, the one-handed veteran whose father had attested the petition sent to Jefferson Davis on Sanders' behalf the previous Autumn, quickly organized the local Home Guard to oppose his one-time neighbor.

Though Captain Joseph Breare—the Home Guard commander—attempted to take charge of the town's defense, Carmichael defied his orders to gather on the west side of the courthouse square, and instead posted himself and nine friends east of the square, where they ambushed Sanders and his troop as they rode into town. Opening up on them simultaneously in the darkness from in front and behind, the ten Newtonians managed to scare Sanders' men bad enough that they bolted for the edge of town and rode off into the night.[2] The courthouse at Newton was saved, and though completely unimportant in the larger scheme of things, Carmichael and his men could still claim that they'd whipped a 'Yankee' outfit four times their size.[2]

Civil War Monument in Newton. Located just south of the battle site.

Having been absent without leave for four months by the time he returned to Pensacola—and with only eight men[23]—in June 1865, Sanders found himself accused of desertion from the Federal Army, a capital offense.[24] He was equally accused of having "become a terror to the people of west Florida" with his "armed gang of deserters."[24] Asked to explain himself, Sanders ingeniously asserted that sore feet, sickness among his troops, an alleged enemy force of "700 Rebels", lack of provider and rising floodwaters all conspired to keep him from returning to Pensacola at the time specified in his orders.[25] Unable to disprove his statements, the investigators were left with no choice but to exonerate him.[26]

On 20 July 1865, Joseph Sanders resigned his commission in the U.S. Army, citing concerns for the welfare and safety of his family, who were still living in Dale County.[27] As had happened previously when he resigned his Confederate commission, Sanders' request to leave the service was endorsed by his superiors.[28] Sanders' resignation took effect on 13 September 1865, with the discharge granted "for the good of the service."[29]

Brig. General Asboth, in making his final recommendation for approval, made this statement: