John H. Culpepper, Company K

The soldier and his younger sister were born to a freeborn woman in northeastern North Carolina. Their father enslaved by a Virginian was for many years too ill to work. The soldier who died in Corps d’Afrique Hospital, New Orleans, Louisiana had been his mother’s sole support.

Mother — 392,359 / 261,461, Fannie Culpepper

Declaration for an Original Pension of a Mother, Fannie Culpepper, 27 March 1889
72 years old;
“[John Culpepper] died while in service in hospital in New Orleans, La. … [claimant’s husband] Miles Culpepper, aged 75 years who died 9th of May 1888 … that there were surviving at date of said son’s death his brothers and sisters … Mary ”

Memo from J.C. Kelton, Adjutant General’s Office, War Department to Commissioner of Pensions, 11 June 1889
“Final Statement shows him: Died Sept. 12, 1865 at Corps d’Afrique Hospital, New Orleans, La. … born in Craven Co., NC. Age at enrollment, 20 years. Occupation, farmer. Eyes, hair, and complexion, black. Height, 5 feet 6 inches.
“Name John H. Culpepper not borne on rolls of Co. K, 1st US Col’d Cav’y.”

Proof of Dependence, John Cornish and Isaic Manning, 4 June 1889
[Cornish] 54 years old;
[Manning] 63 years old;
“[Each said] I have been for 30 years intimately acquainted with Fannie Culpepper … [her son] considered it his duty to aid and assist her … Miles Culpepper the father of said soldier died on the 9 day of May AD 1888 at Craven Co. in the State of North Carolina … These statements are made from personal knowledge, derived from long and intimate acquaintance with said claimant and family for the past 30 years”
“Witnesses: W.R. Drury and S. Cherry“

Proof of Dependence, David Nichols and John Cornick and James Normans, 11 June 1889
[Nichols] 65 years old; Currituck Co., NC
[Cornick] 60 years old; Norfolk, Va.
[Normans] 64 years old; Currituck Co., NC
“Miles Culpepper [was a] sober & temperate man”

General Affidavit, John Cornish, 27 June 1889
post-office address, Norfolk, Va.
“That he knew Miles Culpepper before the war … and that he knew his son John before he enlisted … [Miles and Fannie] had only 2 children, one was John, one was girl by name of Mary Anne now living in Norfolk aged 20 years having been born in 1869 in Pasquotank Co., NC, don’t know what day or month but I know it was in 1869 …. don’t know John’s age exactly but think he was about 20 or 21 when he enlisted, think he was born in 1842 or 1843”

Proof of Dependence, John Cornish, 11 July 1889
“I have been for 35 years intimately acquainted with Fannie Culpepper … [Miles Culpepper] unable to perform labor of any kind … setting and lying about a wreck of himself … prior to [the soldier’s] enlistment [the soldier] working for and maintaining the family paying rent and supplying food etc as far as his means would allow him to do for his mother, sister, and father until his death in 1865 … I’ve heard his mother say that he assisted & supported her and spoke of him as a good son and child”

General Affidavit, Fannie Culpepper, July 1889
73 years old; residence, 116 Nicholson st
“That she was married … on or about Feby 1838 in Pasquotank Co., NC, that she never had any owners or masters as she was freeborn. Her husband Miles was a slave and belonged to a Mr. Willoughby Wilson of Virginia. Her son John was born about 1840. That her husband for many years before the war was a cripple from rheumatism and unable to support himself … Her son John the soldier was her only support from time he was able to work until his death in service at New Orleans Hospital 1865. That since then she had one other child Mary born on January 14th 1869 in Pasquotank Co., NC. That after her birth she did not live with her husband Miles C. as he was unable to to support her and she being unable to support him he stayed with his friend who kindly looked after him and she lived with first one friend and then another to present time … She declares that all those who were present at marriage of herself & Miles now dead also at birth of children.”
“Witnesses: W.R. Drury and J.T. Wilson”

General Affidavit, Mark Morris and James Washington, 1 August 1889
[Morris] 53 years old;
[Washington] 49 years old;
“That they knew Fannie and Miles Culpepper for about 15 years before the war … Also knew Miles Culpepper … was an invalid from time of breaking out of war a cripple from rheumatic afflictions. She was not a slave and her son was her own and only support belonging to no master and worked for and supported his mother for several years before war and continued to contribute to her support until he was ordered away to Texas …. Miles Culpepper died in Portsmouth, Va. on the 9th day of May 1888 ... we lived close neighbors to and saw and conversed with often”
“Witnesses: W.R. Drury and S. Cherry”

General Affidavit, Fannie Culpepper, 1 October 1889
73 years old; residence, 125 Norfolk St., Norfolk, Norfolk Co., Va.; post-office address, 125 Hawk St., Norfolk Co., Va., c/o W.R. Drury, 16 Bank St., Norfolk, Va.
“with the natural infirmities attending age, she is a great sufferer and totally dependent on the community for every comfort and the food necessary to her maintenance, as far as medical treatment is concerned she is unable to provide for as she is penniless … prepare for winter which is so rapidly approaching and enable her to keep out of the almshouse of which she stands in so much dread”
“Also personally appeared John Cornish, residing at No. 125 in Hawk street, in Norfolk, and Margaret Harrison …residing in Norfolk County”
“Witnesses: James Coleman and B. Griffin“