Stacker Lee Confederate calvary saber

The 150th annivesary rememberance of the Battle of Shiloh also known as the Battle of Pittsburg landing, will be celebrated over the next week at the Shiloh National Park.  Stacker Lee on March 15 1864 enlisted as a 16 year old Private in Co. A McDonalds Tn. Cavalry in Tupelo Mississippi and on May 4th 1865 surrendered with Nathan Bedford Forrest’s cavalry at Citronelle Alabama. On May 11th 1865 he was paroled and made his way back to Memphis.   This information was provided by William O’Keefe whose great great grandfather was a brother of James Lee Sr.  The book Memphis Down in Dixie recounts Stacker’s involvement in the Civil War.   Stacker worked for the Lee Line Company and served as Captain of the JAMES LEE (first).  The ballad about a bad rouster named Stagger Lee likely had its origin in the reputation of Stacker Lee who had a far different temperment than his scholarly older brother James Lee Jr.   Stacker contracted Yellow Fever during one of several outbreakes that ravaged Memphis in the 1870’s.  He died in 1890 leaving one son Samuel Stacker Jr. who moved to California with his mother sometime shortly after his fathers passing.   Stacker’s saber belongs to my cousin Marcus Lee.