Fort Mill times. [volume] (Fort Mill, S.C.) 1892-current, 1910-03-24
CAPT. THOMAS ]. CURET0N
PASSES AWAY in WINNSB0R0
Former Fort Mill Citizen Who Was a
Veteran Of the Gallant Twenty
Sixth N. c. Infantry.

older residents of this section of
the State will be saddened to
learn of the death of Capt.
Thomas j. Cureton, who passed
away at his home in Winnsboro
last Tuesday afternoon. Capt.
Cureton had been in declining
health for some time, but the
immediate cause of his death was
heart failure. He was 72 years
old and is survived by his wife,
who was Miss Rosa Wallace, of
Pineville, n. c., and two daugh-
ters, Mrs. j. w. Mayo, of
Philadelphia, Pa, and Miss
Elizabeth Wallace, of Wins
boro. The interment was in
the Winnsboro cemetery Friday
morning.
Capt. Cureton moved to Fort
Mill from WaXhaw, Union coun-
| ty, N. c., in January, 1873, and
became a member of the firm of
Cureton, Massey & Co., which
did a general mercantile business
until 1875. The firm was then
reorganized as Cureton, Ardrey
& Co., but did not meet with the
success its promoters had hoped
for and in the fall of 1877 failed.
In the failure of the firm Capt.
Cureton lost practically every
thing he possessed. He then
moved to Charlotte, but lived
there only a few years, going
thence to Winnsboro, where he
had since been engaged in the
cotton business.
At the outbreak of the war
Capt. Cureton enlisted in a COM
pany which was organized in
Union county, N. G. Upon being
mustered into the Confederate
army, the company was assigned
to the Twenty-siXth North Caro-
lima regiment of infantry as
Company B, the regiment being
a part of Pettigrew's brigade,
Heth's division, Hills corps. The
first colonel of the regiment was
Zeb Vance. This is the regiment
whose bravery and heroism at
the battle of Gettysburg has been
the subject of nationwide COM
ment since the memorable July
days in 1868 when it was re-
duced from one of the finest and
strongest commands in the Con-
federate army to a mere skeleton
OF what it was when the fight
began. No other regiment on
either side lost as heavily dur
ing the war as did the Twenty
sixth North Carolina infantry at
Gettysburg. The muster rolls of
the regiment on June 30, 1863,
the day before the fight began at
Gettysburg, showed 1856 men and
officers present for duty. At the
end of the third days fighting
7O8 of this number had been
killed or wounded, over 81 per
cent. Thirty-four of the 80
officers of the regiment who had
entered the fight were killed or
wounded. Capt. William Wilson
was the commanding officer of
Company B when the battle of
Gettysburg opened but was
killed in the second days fight
and was succeeded by his first
lieutenant, Thos. J. Cureton.
who continued in command of
the company until Appomattox.
Another officer of the Twenty
sixth North Carolina regiment
who was citizen of Fort Mill
some years ago was Capt. N. c..
Bradford, who was desperately
wounded in the third days fight
at Gettysburg. Capt. Bradford
was carried from the battlefield
to one of the Confederate field
hospitals, in which he was short
ly afterwards captured by the
Yankees. He was held in vari-
Gus Northern prisons until the
close of the war. Capt. Brad
ford was one of, the 600 Confed-
crate officers who as prisoners of
war were taken by the Yankees
to Morris Island, S. c., and
placed on the Federal breast
works to keep the Confederates
from shelling the Unionists lest
the gray-clad soldiers kill their
comrades. The act was consid-
cred a violation of civilized war
fare and was the subject of bitter
denunciation throughout the en-
tire South. Capt. Bradford died
in Leesburg, Fla, on Sept. "a,
1889.
Thrty-two alleged blind tigers