Andrew Martin Gooing Fought
For Confederacy Without Pay
By Helen B. Wasson
Author of “Our Kith and Kin”
326 Kenwood, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 70806
Andrew Martin Gooing, son of Pleasant Going and Temperance
Cooper Going, was born November 23, 1823 in Dallas
County, Alabama. Somehow his surname was changed to
“Gooing” in adulthood.
He was enlisted June 13, 1846 in the U.S. Army at Mobile,
Alabama for one year’s service. He fought in the Mexican
War as a private in Capt. William Coleman’s Company in the
First Alabama Regiment under Col. J. R. Coffey. His service
record describes him as “5’10,” fair complexion, black eyes
and light hair.” He was discharged at New Orleans May 27,
1847.
The next record we have of Andrew Martin Gooing is an affidavit,
dated September 27, 1847, sworn to in Marion, Perry
County, Alabama, preparatory to filing for bounty land.
On October 27, 1847, in a letter headed Perryville, Alabama,
he requested that his warrant for bounty land be sent “to my
address at Maplesville, Bibb County, Alabama.” On April 25,
1848, he was awarded 160 acres of land in Bibb County.
On November 30, 1848, Andrew M. Gooing married Miss Areminta
Barnett, according to Perry County, Alabama marriage
records. She was the daughter of Thomas Barnett and Phebary
Bishop Barnett.
According to the 1850 Census, Andrew and Areminta Gooing
resided in Perry County, Alabama in Perryville Beat. This is in
the eastern part of the county. Andrew is listed as being 26
years old, a pumpmaker, Areminta is 24, and they have one
child, William, age 1.
In 1858, the estate of Thomas Barnett, Areminta’s father, was
settled. In Minute Book I, page 43, State of Alabama, Perry
County, we find Areminta and her husband mentioned. Their
part was $1,272.95.
Shortly thereafter, Andrew and Areminta Gooing came to
Louisiana. They first lived at Old Shiloh in Union Parish.
Emest Edward Ballard, grandson of Andrew M. Gooing, told
me that Andrew M. Gooing had a gin, a blacksmith shop, and
that he was a carpenter.
We have a certified copy of Conveyance Record K, page
190Ä191, Union Parish Deed, dated February 27, 1863, a deed
from Alfred Honeycutt to ‘A. M. Goings’ for 360 acres of land.
This deed confirms the following story that was told to me.
Alfred Honeycutt had a son, Bob, who was of army age.
Honeycutt could not bear to see his son to go to war. He told
Andrew M. Gooing he would deed 360 acres to him if he
would take the boy’s place. Andrew agreed to do this. On the
day of his enlistment, the deed was made.
Following is Andrew M. Gooing’s Confederate States war
record, taken from Booth’s ‘Records of Louisiana Confederate
Soldiers and Commands,’ Book 1, Page 44:
“Going, Andrew M. Pvt. Co. I, 31st Infantry. Enlisted February
27, 1863, Monroe, Louisiana. Federal Rolls of Prisoners
of War, captured and paroled at Vicksburg, Mississippi, July
4, 1863.”
It shows he enlisted for three years, or for the duration of the
war. There are two interesting notes; ‘he has never been paid,’
and ‘the duplicate roll carries his name as Going instead of
Gooing.’
Martha A. Gooing Ballard, his daughter wrote, “Father went
through the Vicksburg hard battle and was wounded in head
and shoulder which shortened his life . . .”
Aunt Rosalie Ballard White has heard Areminta Gooing say
that during the war, in the middle of the night, some Yankees
came and burned the cotton gin and cotton bales. They took
all their chickens, livestock and bed covering.
Andrew M. Gooing returned from the war on a horse someone
had let him have. It is said he was so ill when he returned that
he could hardly climb down from the horse. He died December
9, 1867.
On September 14, 1957, I visited Andrew M. Gooing’s grave
at Old Tennessee Graveyard in Union Parish, Louisiana. The
gravestone is Masonic, shaped like a pyramid and in perfect
condition. On the side opposite the Masonic insignia there is
sculptured an ear of corn. The front of the stone is marked
“Andrew M. Gooing Born November 15, 1823, Died December
9, 1867. Erected by his Wife.”
Andrew M. Gooing deeded the 360 acres to William Sanders
Gooing, his son whom he had taught the carpentry trade.
William took over the shop after his father’s death. In 1890,
William S. Gooing was murdered by a man named Deas. His
death, we are told, caused Areminta, his mother to grieve for
him for the rest of her life. William S. Gooing’s grave is adjacent
to his father’s and is marked.
Areminta in her widowhood made her home with her son-inlaw
John Ballard. I have heard my father speak of her many
times and said he had ridden into town with her to get her
pension check.
This pension check was a great puzzlement to me. I had been
told it was a CSA widow’s pension. I made many fruitless efforts
to verify it. The CSA Pension Act was not approved until
1898 — then, one day, upon reÄreading Martha A. Ballard’s
letter, it occurred to me that perhaps it was a widow’s pension
from Andrew’s service in the Mexican War. This proved to be
true, and as a consequence, I was able to acquire from National
Archives Andrew’s military records which gave me
much valuable information.
Areminta died March 4, 1902, while she was visiting in Union
County, Arkansas in the home of her daughter, Phebery Jane
Tugwell. She is buried there at Blanchard Springs, Arkansas,
where she died.
Children born to them include:
William Sanders Gooing born August 25, 1849
Phebery Jane Gooing born January 16, 1851
Sarah Agnes Gooing born April 4, 1852
Pleasant Thomas F. Gooing born April 15, 1854
[infant] born Sept. 10, 1856
Mary Alabama Gooing born March 14, 1858
Martha Angeline N. Gooing born August 19, 1860
Andrew Jackson Gooing born Sept. 24, 1863
Goyen Family Tree 