Spotlight #4 Susanna (Smith) Phillips

Susannah (Smith) Phillips
1822-1893

I haven’t had the time to spotlight as many women as I had hoped this month, but I still have several more days.

My Spotlight #4 is my 3rd great grandmother on my father’s side. Susannah (Smith) Phillips. She has quite a story that happened to her during the civil war. Susannah was born in about 1822, the daughter of Thomas Smith and Nancy Williamson. I don’t know a lot about her early life. She would marry my 3rd great grandfather Jonathan Phillips on Christmas Day - Dec 25, 1850 in Franklin County, Missouri. Jonathan was born in 1827 in Tennessee to Nathan Phillips and Hannah Leeks.

Jonathan and Susanna (aka Anna) settled down around St Clair, Missouri around the Anaconda area on the Meramac River. The census and war roster that I’ve found said that Jonathan was a farmer. They started a family and in 1852 Nathan Henry Phillips was born, then Jesse B Phillips in 1857, and finally my great great grandmother Emma Thankful Phillips in 1862. When Susannah was around 6 months pregnant with Emma, Jonathan joined the Union army. He mustered in on December 17, 1861 at Camp Herron in Pacific Missouri with the 26th MO Vol infantry. This would be the last time Susannah would see her husband. He would die on May 21, 1862, just a few months after Emma was born. He passed in the hospital in Farmington, MS and is buried in Shiloh National Cemetery.

Jonathan Phillips
1827-1862
Buried in Shiloh National Cemetery 

I’ve read several accounts of the story I’m about to tell but the ending is always the same. The year is fall 1864 and Susannah was a widow with 3 small children. The Civil War had already taken her husband and Missouri was a very volatile area. Emma, my great great grandmother was only 2 yrs old at the time, but she had heard this story many many times thru out her life. Her mother Susannah had left the children at home with relative while she went to visit her brother John Smith who lived around 5 miles away. It was at this time that the Confederate Army would invade Franklin County in the famous Price’s Raid led by General Sterling Price. While visiting her brother the soldiers surrounded the house. John saw the soldiers coming and fled the house to the backside of his property. He watched as the soldier slaughtered his fattest livestock, stole his horses, and torched his hay, oats, and wheat. John knew he could do nothing about the pillaging and would cross the river to find a safer place with his mother in-law. Some might think of John as being a coward, but he knew they would either kill him or force him to join the confederate army. Typically the soldiers would leave the women and children alone.

Susannah was getting quite worried about her own children at home, but her and John’s wife were being held captive. They ordered the women to fix them something to eat. She was concerned as she looked out the window and saw the soldiers removing her side saddle. She had tears in her eyes as she had a nursing baby at home and without her horse it the 5 mile trip would take quite a bit of time. She went out to plead with them to leave the horse be. The captain of the group showed up at this point and ordered the men to leave the horse alone and put the side saddle back on. The side saddle was a sign that the horse belonged to a woman and they knew that they NEVER robbed or stole from a lady. While her horse was left alone, she did have to watch them ransack the house. They stole anything that was edible like chickens, eggs, vegetables, etc. They also found Susannah’s one picture she had of Jonathan where he was dressed in his Union uniform. I’ve often wondered how they found it as I’m sure she had the picture in a pocket or someplace else on her. Once the soldiers found the picture they took and burned it so my great great grandmother was never knew what her father looked like since he never came home from the war. Some of the soldiers bedded down for the night at the Smith place while others spread out thru the neighborhood. Fortunately they never invaded the home so Susannah was able to mount up and head home.

I cannot imagine how frightened she must have been, yet knew she must be strong so she could get home to her young children. I’ve not found much more about the rest of her life. In the 1880 census it says she was keeping house and I do know she was getting a widows pension from losing Jonathan.
She would pass away in Nov of 1893 at the age of 71 and is buried at the Anaconda Cemetery in St Clair, Missouri. From what I have researched she never did remarry.

Susannah (Smith) Phillips m Jonathan Phillips
Emma T (Phillips) Reed m George Reed
Lucy (Reed) Immekus m Francis “Frank” Immekus
Leo Immekus m Laura Faye “Sally” Clary
Larry Immekus m Donna Turner
Michelle (Immekus) Morgan m Henry Morgan