Soldier Information
Name: Alfred McDaniel
Alias: Murphy
Place of Birth: Nelson KY Year of Birth: 1846
Occupation: Laborer
Eyes: Dark Hair: Dark Complexion: Dark
Height in Feet: 5 Inches: 6
View Ledger
Enlistment Information
Enlistment Date: October 12, 1864
Enlistment Place: Louisville
Enlistment State: KY
Compiled Military Service Record
Document: View
Congressional District: 4
Company: A & E Regiment(s): 122nd USCI
Mustered Where: Louisville, Kentucky
Mustered Out Date: February 8, 1866
Rank at Muster Out: Corporal
Notes:
The first page of the CMSR states that Alfred Murphy enlisted at Lexington. This is in conflict with other documents (Ledger, other pages in the CMSR, and Enlistment papers) that state he enlisted at Louisville. It is likely that “Lexington” was a transcription error and that Alfred Murphy enlisted at Louisville. Alfred Murphy was promoted from private to corporal on October 1, 1865. Alfred Murphy was mustered in Co. E 122nd USCI, but was transferred to Co. A 122nd USCI at Corpus Christi, Texas on January 17, 1866. After he was mustered out on February 8, 1866, he changed his name to Alfred McDaniel and used that name for the rest of his life.
Soldier Death Information
Died in war? No
Military Death Date:
Military Death Location:
Military Cause of Death:
Death Date: January 1, 1906
Cause of Death: Unknown
Soldier Pension Information
Pension Card Link: Pension Card
Pension Application Date: June 20, 1896
Application No.: 1178686 Certificate No.: 996039
Alternate First Name: Alternate Last Name: McDaniel
Widow Pension Information
Widow Pension Card: Pension Card
Widow Application Date: February 8, 1906
Application No.: 842851 Certificate No.: 637910
Other Family Pension Information
Pension Card Link:
Application Date:
Application No.: Certificate No.:
Pension File Information
Pension File:
Pensioners:
Pensioner County: Bolivar Pensioner State: MS
Number of Pages:2
Pension Notes:
There were two pages of pension payment records for Alfred McDaniel’s (aka Alfred Murphy) widow Alice McDaniel and three minor children; Oscar W., Bessie O., and Caroline L. The second page listed payments made to Alice McDaniel between 1909 and 1923 and can be found at: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939K-FMSJ-D9?i=299&cc=1832324.
Freedman’s Bank/Freedmen’s Bureau Information
No Freedman’s Bank information found
No Freedmen’s Bureau Documents found
Family Information
Mother First Name: Mother Maiden Name:
Father First Name: Father Last Name:
Siblings:
Wife #1 First Name: Alice Maiden Name: Mason
Wife #2 First Name: Maiden Name:
Wife #3 First Name: Maiden Name:
Children: Willie McDaniel 1881
Florence McDaniel 1882
Matilda McDaniel 1884
Emma McDaniel 1886
Benjamin Alfred McDaniel 1888
Addie 1891 McDaniel
Oscar William McDaniel 1893
Bessie Osceola McDaniel 1895
Caroline McDaniel 1896
Odelia McDaniel 1898
Family Notes:
Alfred McDaniel’s son Oscar William McDaniel (1893-1960) was also an Army veteran. During WWI, Oscar McDaniel served in France as part of the Co. E 803th Regiment Pioneer Infantry. Photographs of the 803rd Pioneer Regiment aboard the USS Philippine (the same ship taken by Oscar McDaniel at Brest, France in 1919) can be found at the Library of Congress (https://www.loc.gov/item/98501232/).
Family Tree: View
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1870 Census
1870 Census information not found
1880 Census
1880 Census information not found
1890 Census
1890 Census information not found
1900 Census
1900 Census Link: View
1900 Profession: Farmer
1900 Ability to Read? Can read Ability to Write? Can write
1900 Own/Rent: Rent 1900 Home Free/Mortgage: Unknown 1900 Farm/House: Farm
1900 Census Notes:
1910 Census
1910 Census Link: View
1910 Profession: Alfred McDaniel’s widow Alice McDaniel was a farmer
1910 Ability to Read? Can read Ability to Write? Cannot write
1910 Own/Rent: Rent 1910 Home Free/Mortgage: Unknown 1910 Farm/House: Farm
1910 Census Notes:
1920 Census
1920 Census information not found
Enslaver Information
Name: Andrew Jackson Armstrong Location: Louisville, Kentucky
Previous Enslaver: Felix Grundy Murphy
Enslaver Notes:
Alfred Murphy (aka Alfred McDaniel) Ledger page provides some insights as to the identities of his enslavers. The original entry for his enslaver was Felix Murphy but was crossed out and replaced with “A. J. Armstrong”—Andrew Jackson Armstrong (1829-1887). The location of Felix Murphy’s farm, “Maywood,” was likely in the vicinity of the present-day “Maywood Country Club,” located on the outskirts of Bardstown. Felix Murphy married well, owned some successful racehorses, served as a Kentucky State Representative 1861-1863, and as a Nelson County judge. It is unknown as to how Albert Murphy came to be enslaved by A. J. Armstrong, but based on the Ledger entry, this transfer appears to have happened after his enlistment, possibly on January 3, 1865 (faintly written beside Armstrong’s name). A. J. Armstrong, like Felix Murphy, married well. Armstrong’s wealth was acquired when he married Charlotte Forman (1838-1894) of Nelson County in 1860. Charlotte Forman inherited real estate and property (including enslaved persons) after the death of her father, Joseph Forman (1794-abt 1858), a wealthy landowner and enslaver in Nelson County. Beyond the fortuitous choice of a spouse, that is where the similarities between Felix Murphy and A. J. Armstrong end. Armstrong was a gambler and “speculator” by trade, and, prior to his marriage to Charlotte Forman, he shared his household with Leonora Armstrong (1835-unknown), a woman (of unknown relation) who owned brothels in Louisville. Like Felix Murphy, A. J. Armstrong owned racehorses. Armstrong’s horses, however, did not grace the winner’s circle of any major races. Unfortunately for A. J. Armstrong’s wife and children, he squandered Charlotte’s inheritance on bad investments and speculation. Despite the economic uncertainty of their childhoods, two of Armstrong’s four sons achieved fame and notoriety, albeit for two completely different reasons. Dee Waddell Armstrong (1868-1914) was a Louisville City detective and one of the primary investigators of the assassination of Gov. William Goebel (1856-1900). A. J. Armstrong’s youngest son, Dr. Andrew Joseph Armstrong (1873-1954), was an internationally known scholar on poet Robert Browning, and had a successful career as a professor at Baylor University. Unfortunately, Dr. Armstrong’s biography, “Boundless Life,” by Scott Lewis (published by Baylor University in 2014), paints an incomplete and inaccurate portrait of the A. J. Armstrong family in Louisville. The book fails to mention that A. J. Armstrong was an enslaver or that Charlotte Forman Armstrong’s wealth was largely the result of the labors of enslaved people in Nelson County, Kentucky.
1850 Enslaver Census
1850 Census Link: View
1850 Slave Schedule Link: View
1850 Number of Enslaved: 16
1860 Enslaver Census
1860 Census Link: View
1860 Real Estate Value: $23,000 1860 Personal Estate Value: $22,000
1860 Slave Schedule Link: View
1860 Number of Enslaved: 29
1870 Enslaver Census
1870 Census Link: View
1870 Real Estate Value: $5,000 1870 Personal Estate Value: $4,000
1880 Enslaver Census
Compensation Information
Compensation Application not found