Civil War Veterans in Australia

Thomas Mason Francis was born on January 6, 1839 in Columbia, North Carolina. Nothing is known regarding Thomas’s early years, but being in Massachusetts at the outbreak of the Civil War, Thomas decided to join the U.S. Navy in 1862 at Boston, Massachusetts and served as an ordinary seaman aboard the USS “Colorado”, under Captain Bailey, doing blockade duty at Pensacola, Florida. Thomas had family who also served in the Civil War; supposedly in the Confederate Army; reputedly a brother. He served initially transporting the wounded to hospitals.

The “Colorado” was the first of many ships to sail under that name and was a steam screw frigate, launched on June 19, 1856 by the Norfolk Navy Ship Yard and was commissioned on March 13, 1858; with Captain W. H. Gardner in command. Putting to sea from Boston, Massachusetts on May 12, 1858, the “Colorado” cruised the waters off the island of Cuba, preventing the practice of British cruisers stopping and searching ships they encountered; until she returned to Boston in 1861.

On June 3, 1861 the “Colorado” was recommissioned and again left from Boston, Massachusetts to join the Gulf Blockading Squadron on June 18^th, 1861. On September 14^th an expedition under Lieutenant J. H. Russell from the “Colorado” took control of the Confederate schooner Judah, at the Pensacola Navy Yard in Florida, believing it to be preparing for service as a privateer; and spiked one gun of the battery. On December 11^th another small schooner was captured at Pilot Town and the steamer “Calhoun”, or “Cuba”, was taken off the South West Pass at the mouth of the Mississippi River, on January 23, 1862.

Francis was also a participant in the Battle of New Orleans, Louisiana from April 25^th through May 1, 1862. After that Francis transferred to a Union gunboat operating on the Mississippi River and took part in the bombardment and capture of Port Gibson and Port Hudson, from May 1^st through July 9, 1863. From there he went to Vicksburg, Virginia and then south to New Orleans, Louisiana where he transferred to a merchant ship which transported wounded soldiers to hospitals in the north.

After the war Francis was discharged at New York and again returned to the sea on another merchant ship. While serving as Mate on the barque “Howland” out of Boston, Massachusetts, the ships Captain took ill and later died while they were in Surinam; the second smallest country of South America on its north coast. Due to the circumstances, Francis was required to take command of the vessel and successfully returned it to its home port. Afterwards, he continued going to sea, visiting Bristol, England, the Mauritius Islands and Melbourne, Australia; where he disembarked from his ship in 1866. From Australia Thomas sailed east to New Zealand on another ship, remaining until 1873, eventually returning to New South Wales, Australia.

Upon returning to Australia, Francis took up work as a carpenter, working on houses, barns and bridges in the Cobar, Dubbo and Gilgandra areas of New South Wales. On May 12, 1888 Francis married 25 year old Eva Emma Judd at Dubbo, New South Wales and used the address of his son, John T. Francis in Dubbo, until 1927; when he was found living in Gilgandra. Thomas and Eva had ten children; Ruth Emma born in 1888, Thomas Alva Edison born in 1890, John Truitt in 1891, James Samuel in 1892, George Truitt in 1893, William Truitt in 1895, Elenor Mary in 1898, Charles Truitt in 1899, Walter Alwin in 1903 and Eva Mona born in 1904. Thomas used the name “Truitt” many times in naming his children, naming them in honor of his mother’s maiden name. Thomas also once served as a local Justice of the Peace for Gilgandra.

Thomas Mason Francis died at the age of 89 at Gilgandra, New South Wales, on December 7, 1927 and was buried in the Gilgandra General Cemetery, in the Church of England Anglican Section, Row H, Grave Allotment 13 the following day, December 8, 1927. Thomas’s wife Eva eventually died too, in 1949, at the age of 86. Thomas lay for many years with no headstone to mark his grave, until 1989, when a proper headstone was acquired from the American Veterans Administration in Washington D.C. and erected to honor his memory. Thomas is said to have had great-granddaughters and a great-grandson still living in the area; Mrs. Pat Kilburn, a school teacher in Tamworth, New South Wales, Mrs. N. Nagle in Pymble, New South Wales, Mrs. C. Weston in Gunnedah, New South Wales and Mr. Alwyn Wilson in Drummoyne, New South Wales.