William Franks (Lemuel ) was born Mar 1841 in Marion County, Alabama.

William Franks enlisted with Company A of the First Alabama Calvary of the United States Army on December 15, 1862 at Glendale, Mississippi, along with his brothers, James, Peter and Jeremiah. His tenure of service was one year. He was mustered into service on December 31, 1862 at Corinth, Mississippi. He was listed as present on all muster rolls during his tenure. During November of 1863 he was listed as in detached service at the refugee camp at Corinth, Mississippi and was entered on the mustered-out roll dated December 22, 1863 at Memphis, Tennessee. His military medical records show that he was treated from February 27 toMarch 31, 1863 for Rubeola and From April 8 to April 17, 1863 for pneumonia at the General Hospital in Corinth, Mississippi. Earlier on Febrary 2, 1863, William's older brother James, died in the army hospital at Corinth.

For the first few months of service, the First Alabama Cavalry was headquarted at Glendale, Mississippi. They were largely engaged in successful scouting and foraging expeditions in northern Mississippi and Alabama oweing to their acquaintance with the area. In early May of 1863, Brigadier General Grenville M. Dodge in a report to Major General Stephen A. Hurlbut praised the First Alabama Cavalry for bravley charging Colonel Phillip D. Roddy's Confederates at Bear Creek with unloaded muskets. Colonel Florence M. Cornyn, who had been closer to the Alabamians in their baptism of fire than his Brigadier General, was less complimentary in his report: "I ordered a charge by the First Alabama Cavalry, which I am sorry to say, was not obeyed with the alacrity it should have been. After charging to within short musket-range of the enemy, they halted for a cause I cannot account for, and the enemy escaped into the woods..."

What Cornyn probably couldn't understand was that when these men came into musket-range of the Rebel forces and could see the enemy face to face, it came home to them that they weren't fighting some unknown enemy but friends, neighbors and in many cases members of their own families.

Two companies of the First Alabama Cavalry were attached to Colonel Abel D. Streight in his famous charge across Alabama against Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forest which ended in a battle near Gasden, Alabama. In October, 1863 the First Alabama under the command of Colonel George E. Spencer, a force of about 650 men, was ordered to move out ofCorinth toward Columbiana, Alabama. It's objective was to destroy the railroad from Line Station to Elyton. However, about 40 miles out of Glendale at Jones' Crossroads (present-day Red Bay, Alabama), the regiment was attacked by 2000 Confederates.

During the remainder of 1863 the main body of the First Alabama Cavalry remained in the Memphis, Tennessee area recuperating. From time to time, a regiment, a picked patrol or a company of this unit was sent out on reconnaissance expeditions, sometimes skirmishing with Confederate cavalry patrols.

After leaving the United States service in late 1863, William went back to Marion County, Alabama, where his wife and young son, James W. were living. His brother-in-law, sister and nephew had all died during the war (Enoch, Sarah Franks and James W. Cooksey). He took in his two nieces, Sarah and Cynthia Cooksey. Times were hard in Marion County during this time as people were starving. He took his family, along with his two Cooksey nieces, travelled to Memphis, Tennessee and boarded a river boat for Cairo, Illinois. Aboard the river boat, Sarah Cooksey became ill with smallpox and died. During the middle of the night the authorities came on a "dead boat" and took her body away. Cynthia Cooksey, her sister, always hoped that they buried her or dumped her in the river, but rumor was that they burned her body to keep the disease from spreading. William Franks continued to raise Cynthia Cooksey as his own child until she married Floyd Washington Wigginton on January 3, 1875 in McNairy County, Tennessee. (The Wiggintons moved to Itawamba County, Mississippi along with the Franks and lived in Itawamba County until 1908 when they moved to Norman, Oklahoma. The Wiggintons later moved on to central Texas where they lived out their lives. Cynthia Cooksey Wiggington along with her husband Floyd W. are buried in Dyess Grove Cemetery near Temple, Texas).

William Franks and his family lived in or near Cairo, Illinois for four years and about 1868 moved back to Marion County, Alabama where he lived for about two years. He then moved his family to McNairy County, Tennessee where his other brothers' families were living. The Franks brothers were familiar with the McNairy County area being that they were stationed in nearby Corinth, Mississippi during the Civil War. The Franks families continued to live in McNairy County, Tennessee until about 1879, when they moved to Itawamba County, Mississippi.

He died 27 Dec 1911 in Itawamba County, Mississippi.

Database created and maintained by Ryan Dupree.

Service records compiled by Glenda Todd and used with her permission. This and other information about the history of the First and the men who fought with the unit can be found in her book, First Alabama Cavalry, USA: Homage to Patriotism.

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