Theodore G. Barker biographical note, with photographs of Wade Hampton, an envelope, and a Backward Glances clipping
Book 1, Page 160 ·1860–1932
Transcription
A scrapbook page with several items mounted around it: a sepia photograph at upper left, an envelope at upper right, a handwritten biographical note at left below the photograph, two carte-de-visite portraits in the center, a torn paper fragment at the right, and a small newspaper clipping at lower right.
Photograph (upper left)
A sepia outdoor photograph of mounted men in front of a building, with a pencilled caption beneath:
Maj. Theodore G. Barker at Confederate reunion in Columbia, S.C. — Chris F.S. on his right — Taken in front of house of C.F.S.
Envelope (upper right)
A printed-and-stamped envelope with red two-cent stamp, postmarked Spartanburg.
[Printed return:] After 5 days, return to SOUTHERN COTTON OIL CO., SPARTANBURG, S. C.
[Postmark:] SPARTANBURG, S.C. — APR 26 — 6-PM — 1909
[Addressed:]
Major Theodore G. Barker,
Charleston,
131 Tradd St. S. C.
[Pencil filing note upper left of envelope, rotated sideways and partly faded:] [illegible] / [illegible] / G. S. FitzS[m] — likely identifying the sender as Gaillard Stoney FitzSimons writing to his uncle Theodore G. Barker.
Biographical note (left, beneath photograph)
A handwritten note in brown ink:
Theodore G. Barker entered the service of the State of S.C. on Dec. 27, 1860 in First Regiment of Rifles as Lieut. and Adjutant, entered Confederate service May 1861 in the Hampton Legion and Lieutenant and Adjutant, was promoted to the rank of Capt. and Assistant Adjutant and Inspector General of Hampton’s Cavalry Brigade, and to the rank of Major and A.A. and I.G. with Hampton’s Cavalry Division 1863.
Capt. Theodore G. Barker was with the Infantry of the Legion under Col. Wade Hampton at the battle of Manassas, served to the end of the war with Hampton’s Cavalry, was paroled at Greensboro, after the surrender of Gen. Johnstons Army in April 1865. Was wounded at the cavalry fight near Burgess Mills, Va., on 28 Oct. 1864 and again at Cheraw, S.C. Mar. 2, 1865.
Cartes de visite (center)
Two oval-format portrait photographs:
- Upper: a clean-shaven dark-haired man in a dark coat. Caption beneath in pencil: Gen Wade Hampton 1862.
- Lower: a bearded man in a uniformed coat, three-quarter view. Caption beneath in pencil: Gen. Wade Hampton 1863.
A small pencilled annotation between/beside the two portraits reads:
General Hampton’s mother was Ann Fitz-Simons. He and my grand father, Dr. Fitz-Simons, were 1st cousins.
Fragment (right edge)
A torn slip of paper with vertical handwritten text along the visible edge. The fragment appears to be a torn summary of Barker’s Hampton Legion service:
[illegible] Bn[?] [illegible] Inspector [General?] Brigade of [illegible] [illegible] 1862 promotion to [illegible] Commiss[ion]
[Adjacent strip, partly readable:] Hamp[ton] / [illegible] 18[??]
Newspaper clipping (lower right)
A small clipping under the standing column header Backward Glances, with a sub-line News our grandfathers read in The News and Courier, April 12, 1902.
COLUMBIA, Apr. 11 (Special). — Gen. Wade Hampton died this morning at 8:50 o’clock. The savior of the State and the grand old hero of many a battle, one who had never met defeat, went down before the grim destroyer, like all men must, but without a fear, for he awaited the end which [clipping cut off here]
AI Notes
A multi-element page. Upper left: a sepia photograph of mounted men with a pencilled caption identifying Maj. Theodore G. Barker at a Confederate reunion (taken in front of the house of C.F.S., with Chris F.S. on his right). Upper right: an addressed envelope to Major Theodore G. Barker, postmarked Spartanburg, S.C., Apr 26, 6 PM, 1909, with a faded pencil filing note in the upper-left corner that appears to identify the sender as G. S. FitzSimons. Center left: a handwritten biographical note on Theodore G. Barker’s Confederate service. Center: two cartes de visite of Wade Hampton (1862 and 1863), with a small pencilled note identifying Hampton’s mother as a FitzSimons. Right: a torn fragment listing ‘Inspector / Brigade / promotion / Commission’. Lower right: a newspaper clipping headed ‘Backward Glances’ from The News and Courier, dated April 12, 1902, on Hampton’s death.
Adjacent text in the clipping is upside-down column fragments from another article (“WALLACE”, “HAROLD T”, “JOHN D. H”, “HORACE C”, “Wm. L. R[?]”) and a “British Train Greeks” story; too narrow and rotated to transcribe reliably.
Theodore Gaillard Barker (1832–1917), the subject of the biographical note and the recipient of the envelope, is the compiler’s great-uncle — a brother of Susan Milliken Barker (Mrs. Dr. Christopher FitzSimons), making him the compiler’s grandmother’s brother. His attachment to Hampton’s Legion is the family’s most direct service connection to Wade Hampton III, who is twice cousin through Ann FitzSimons. The two center cartes de visite of Hampton, dated 1862 (clean-shaven) and 1863 (full beard), span his rise from colonel of the Legion to brigadier general of cavalry; the 1902 “Backward Glances” clipping marks the close of the Hampton era. Cartes de visite — small 2½ × 4-inch albumen portraits on card mounts — were the standard mid-century photograph format, exchanged like calling cards within Lowcountry kinship networks and pasted into family albums by the dozen.