On Saturday, November 29, 2014. Members of the Cunningham family installed a grave marker memorializing the Civil War service of First Lieutenant Littleberry Leftwich, CSA. Thanks to Vann Cunningham for organizing the event.
On Saturday, November 29, 2014. Members of the Cunningham family installed a grave marker memorializing the Civil War service of First Lieutenant Littleberry Leftwich, CSA. From left to right: John D. Cunningham, GGgrandson; Michael Cunningham, GGGgrandson; Frank Cunningham, GGgrandson; Tracy Cunningham and Ron Hatchett, GGGgrandsons, Zachary Cunningham, (my child) GGGGgrandson; Vann Cunningham, organizer of the effort and GGGgrandson, and Ethan Holt, (Ron Hatchett’s grandson) GGGGGgrandson. Not shown, Kevin Cunningham, photographer and GGGgrandson. Four generations were represented.
Biographical Sketch for Littleberry Leftwich (1819-1902)
Littleberry Leftwich (1819-1902), born in Virginia only son of John Hopkins and Jane Stevens Gill Leftwich, inherited the Leftwich home at Charity, Moore County, Tennessee. He was a planter, owned slaves and maintained a typical home of the Old South. He enrolled as First Lieutenant in Co. A 41st Tennessee Infantry Regiment on 4 Nov 1861 at Camp Trousdale, Tennessee. 1st Lt. Leftwich was taken prisoner at the Battle of Fort Donelson on Feb. 16, 1862 and temporarily interned at Camp Chase, Ohio before being transferred to the officer’s POW camp at Johnson’s Island, Sandusky Ohio on April 26, 1862. Records indicate he was shipped out of Johnson’s Island, probably on September 1, 1862; possibly through Aiken’s Landing, Virginia and was reported as being among 1,104 prisoners of war on board Steamer Jno. H. Done, near Vicksburg, Mississippi where he was released, Sept 20. 1862. He was declared officially exchanged at Aiken’s Landing 10 Nov 1862. He rejoined his reorganized unit and served throughout the remainder of the War Between the States, being paroled 1 May 1865 upon surrender of the army at Greensboro North Carolina.
Following his release from the Union POW Camp, 1st Lt. Leftwich served as an officer in most of the major battles in the Western Theater, most notably at Chickamauga where the 41st played a significant role in breaking the Union line at Brotherton Farm. His unit was one of a handful that held the line at Missionary Ridge protecting the Bragg’s retreat. After the fall of Chattanooga in 1863 till the end of the war in 1865, the 41st as a part of the consolidated unit fought in every major battle in the Atlanta, Middle Tennessee, and Carolina Campaigns.
After the war, he returned home where he was highly active in business and community affairs. On Saturday, April 13, 1872, elections were held to establish the county of Moore. The organizing commissioners then appointed Littleberrv Leftwich and four other men to divide the county into civil districts. Subsequently, in the first election after the organization of the county, he was elected to the office of magistrate for the Charity civil district, a position he held for many years. He was a farmer and merchant most of his lifetime. In 1885, he joined his son, Charles W., in operating a successful merchandising business at Talley in Marshall Co., Tenn.
Church and home also played an important part in his life. An account by a granddaughter states that “when a fanatic burned the old church which his father had erected, he replaced it with a frame building, which still stands and continues to be known as Charity Church. He was always the chief strength and support of this church.” He died at the home of his daughter, Louisa Jane Leftwich Prosser, and her husband, Mark, on Union Hollow Road in Lincoln County in 1902. He is buried at the Charity Cemetery where his father, his children and many of his grandchildren rest in the old family cemetery in this church yard. According to his granddaughter, “He loved flowers and vegetables, taking great pride in having the rarest plants in the most beautiful garden in the community. He was gentle and good, and loved the higher and better things of life.”
It is a privilege to gather on this 29th day of November, 2014 to honor his service, his life and his memory by installing this marker.
Compiled by Vann Cunningham