The Real Ellen Levasay

Ellen Levasay is a woman soldier mentioned as having served in a Confederate Missouri unit and captured at Vicksburg. 


Recently, I set out to find more information on Ellen.  I started by examining muster rolls and noticed that another soldier in the same unit was named William Levasay. They were more than likely related, so I thought I'd try to find more information on William in the hopes of him leading me to Ellen. Not only was I able to find William's service records, but I was surprised to find Ellen's as well. There were quite a few variations in the spelling of Ellen's name: Ellen Levasay, Ellin Lavasay, Eller Levasay, Elin Lievasay, Elias Liveisay, and Ellis Livesay. However, the records for all of these pointed to the correct one under which the service records were filed: Elin Lievsay. Elin and William had nearly identical experiences. Both enlisted in Co. A, 6th MO Cavalry in September, 1862, in Newton County, Missouri. After being taken prisoner on January 11, 1863 during Marmaduke's Raid, they were sent to Gratiot Street Military Prison in St. Louis. From there, they ended up in Alton and finally exchanged at City Point on April 1st, 1863, only to end up captured again at Vicksburg a few months later. Back to Gratiot Street they went and then on to Camp Morton where Elin was released on oath on April 19th, 1864. William galvanized and served in the 6th Indiana Cavalry.

After I read over their service records, I tried to find them in the 1860 census (see photo). I located both of them in Lawrence County, Missouri. Elin was born in Tennessee and was married to Julia. They had one child.  That's right. Elin was a man. William was his brother. You can also view a picture of him on Find a Grave: 

 http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Lievsay&GSfn=Elin&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSob=n&GRid=41898102&df=all&

While this new information seems counterproductive of documenting women soldiers, we, as historians, should always seek the truth and have an open mind to it.

 

UPDATE:  10/24/16:  A little over a week ago, I was contacted by Sammy Lievsay who reinforced my research that Elin Lievsay was indeed a male.  Sammy is his great-great grandson so he should know!  He got a kick out of learning that his great-grandfather had been erroneously labeled as a woman soldier simply because of his name.  Ha!  Sammy was kind enough to share with me some pictures of his relatives as well as a little more information about them.  The Lievsay family was extremely loyal to the South.  So much so that Elin's brother, William, suffered a severe punishment for his decision to galvanize in order to escape prison following his capture.  After he returned home from the war, his family drug him by a team of horses for turning against them.

Here is a picture Sammy shared with me of Elin, who is sitting in a chair off to the right.  His wife, Julia, is sitting on the porch in a dark skirt and is surrounded by their children and grandchildren:

Courtesy Sammy Lievsay

Sammy also informed me that Elin and William had a brother named Martin who was a bushwhacker in Lawrence and Jasper Counties, MO during the war.  He was killed and his death recorded in the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion:

Courtesy Sammy Lievsay