Life As Mrs. Erwin
Born in Fulton, Missouri, she was a daughter of William Henry Russell (1802-1873). In 1853 Josephine Deborah Russell married a grandson of Henry Clay named Andrew Eugene Erwin.
Prior to the Civil War, the couple had three daughters. During the war, Erwin served in the Confederate Army, rising to the rank of Colonel and commanding of the 6th Missouri Infantry Regiment. In 1863 Josephine Erwin brought the couple's nine-year-old daughter, Lucretia (Lula), to join Andrew Erwin who was part of the force defending Vicksburg. Andrew Erwin was killed in the Battle of Vicksburg, one week before the end of the Union siege. On July 18, 1863, the pregnant Josephine Erwin met with General Ulysses S. Grant to obtain passes allowing Lula and her to return to Missouri. Josephine Erwin bore her fourth daughter in 1864, but the girl died shortly after her birth.
Read more about this topic: Josephine Russell Clay
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“The woods were as fresh and full of vegetable life as a lichen in wet weather, and contained many interesting plants; but unless they are of white pine, they are treated with as little respect here as a mildew, and in the other case they are only the more quickly cut down.”
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