Life History

Notes

• No middle name is known for Oliver.  No record of marriage.  He was 18 when he joined the North Carolina Confederate Forces.  Oliver died as a POW in a Union prison camp in Maryland.  Here is the record of service for Oliver McSwain.
  
  American Civil War Soldiers
  Oliver McSwain
  Residence Cleveland County, North Carolina
  Occupation Farmer
  Enlistment 12 May 1862 Cleveland County, North Carolina
  Served the Confederacy
  Enlisted as a Private on 12 May 1862 at the age of 18; 30 May 1862 mustered into Company D, 55th Infantry Regiment North Carolina
  Died POW Company D, 55th Infantry Regiment North Carolina on 13 Jun 1864 at Point Lookout, MD
  
  "During the Civil War, Point Lookout was one of the largest prisons of CSA POWs. Many men died there from exposure, malaria, scurvy and TB. Originally, the soldiers were buried in two cemeteries near the prison camp. However, because the cemetery land started to erode into the Chesapeake, in 1870 the state of Maryland removed the remains. In 1910 they were moved again and re-interred in a burial trench one mile inland, near where a federal monument was constructed that year. The 80-foot granite obelisk marks the site, just outside Point Lookout State Park, but the actual boundaries of the pit are not marked."
  --  "Point Lookout Confederate Cemetery," Find a Grave, http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&CRid=81385
  
  Oliver is the only Confederate soldier surnamed McSwain.  His memorial on Find a Grave gives more information about his capture, confinemnt, death and burial.
  
  --------------------
  Pvt Oliver McSwain
  Birth 1844 Cleveland County, North Carolina
  Death Jun. 13, 1864
  
  - Born in Cleveland County, NC
  - Pre-enlistment occupation: Farmer
  
  Enlistment:
  - Residing in Cleveland County, NC at time of enlistment
  - 18 years of age at time of enlistment
  - Enlisted on May 12 1862 at Cleveland County, NC as Private
  
  Mustering information:
  - Enlisted into D Company, 55th Infantry (North Carolina) on May 30 1862
  - Died as POW while serving in 55th Infantry (North Carolina) on Jun 13 1864 at Point Lookout, MD
  
  Listed as:
  - POW on Jul 14 1863 at Falling Waters, MD
  - Confined on Jul 16 1863 at Old Capitol Prison, Washington, DC
  - Transferred on Aug 8 1863 at Point Lookout, MD
  
  Parents:
  Louis Hobson McSwain (1814 - 1890)
  Mary Hamrick McSwain (1816 - 1906)
  
  Siblings:
  Martha McSwain Hopper (1836 - 1917)
  Rebecca Elizabeth McSwain Hamrick (1838 - 1867)
  Hannah McSwain Green (1839 - 1931)
  Nancy McSwain Hamrick (1841 - 1929)
  Lucy McSwain Love (1847 - 1914)
  Lewis Moore McSwain (1851 - 1941)
  Elijah Bonaparte McSwain (1853 - 1921)
  Ambrose McSwain (1856 - 1905)
  
  Note: Served in the 55th North Carolina Company D. Name is not listed on monument but appears on a list from Baltimore National Cemetery updated May 25, 2006 located at the monument.
  
  Burial Point Lookout Confederate Cemetery, Scotland, St. Mary's County, Maryland
  
  Created by Hope Jul 02, 2007
  --  Find A Grave Memorial #20233553, http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=20233553
  --------------------
  

Sources

• 1. American Civil War Soldiers
  • Name: Name: 16 Sources;;
• 2. RootsWeb ID: I6287
• 3. 1850 Federal Census, Cleveland County, North Carolina
  • 4 September, p 315 (scan 158), Hse/Fam #596
• 4. Find a Grave Memorial Registry
• 5. 1860 Federal Census, Cleveland County, North Carolina
  • page 72, Hse/Fam #511