Marcus B. Toney
Marcus B. Toney (c. 1840 - November 1, 1929) was an American Confederate veteran, Klansman and Masonic leader who worked for the Tennessee Central Railroad. He was the author of The Privations of a Private, a memoir about his service in the Confederate States Army. He was the founding president of the Home for Aged Masons.
Marcus B. Toney | |
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Born | c. 1840 |
Died | November 1, 1929 Nashville, Tennessee, U.S. |
Resting place | Mount Olivet Cemetery |
Occupation | Railroad employee |
Known for | Confederate veteran, Masonic leader, memoirist |
Spouse(s) | Sallie Claiborne |
Children | 2 daughters |
Relatives | Edward Bushrod Stahlman (brother-in-law) |
Early life
Toney was born circa 1840 in Buckingham County, Virginia.[1]
Career
During the American Civil War of 1861–1865, Toney served in the Confederate States Army, under generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson.[2] He was captured and sent to Elmira Prison.[1] After the war, Toney joined the Ku Klux Klan, under the leadership of Nathan Bedford Forrest.[1][2][3]
Toney authored a memoir about his Civil War and postbellum experience, The Privations of a Private, in 1905.[1] In a review for the Tennessee Historical Quarterly, Gary D. Joiner of Louisiana State University Shreveport acknowledged that the book sounded "offensive" to modern-day readers, but he suggested that Toney "was in the norm for his time and place."[4] Joiner added that Toney was a "white supremacist", and that the book promoted the Lost Cause ideology.[4]
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Toney began his career at the Southern Express Company.[1][2] He worked for the Tennessee Central Railroad for five decades, and retired in 1917.[1][2]
Toney was a Masonic leader. He was "one of the oldest members of the Cumberland Lodge of Masons", and the founding president of the Home for Aged Masons in Nashville.[1]
Personal life, death and legacy
Toney married Sallie Claiborne in 1871; she died in 1874.[1] They had two daughters.[1] His brother-in-law, Edward Bushrod Stahlman, was the publisher of the Nashville Banner.[2] He resided at 1805 20th Avenue South in Nashville, Tennessee.[1]
Toney died on November 1, 1929 in Nashville, Tennessee, at the age of 89.[1][2] He was buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery.[1]
The University of Alabama Press was awarded the General Basil W. Duke Award from the Military Order of the Stars and Bars for its re-publication of Toney's memoir in 2006.[5]
References
- "Toney Funeral Set For Today. Civil War Veteran; Was Native of Virginia". The Tennessean. November 2, 1929. p. 20. Retrieved May 25, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
- "Famous Confederate Soldier, Held in Elmira Prison, Dies; Spoke in City 16 Years Ago". Star-Gazette. November 4, 1929. p. 2. Retrieved May 25, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
The veteran often boasted of having been one of the few survivors of the original Ku Klux Klan. [...] He and his brother-in-law, Major E. B. Stahlman, publisher of The Nashville Banner, both started their careers as employees of an express company.
- "A Johnny Reb's Vain Journey". the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. August 7, 1926. p. 6. Retrieved May 26, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
- Joiner, Gary D. (Summer 2008). "Reviewed Work: Privations of a Private: Campaigning with the First Tennessee, C.S.A. and Life Thereafter by Marcus B. Toney, Robert E. Hunt". Tennessee Historical Quarterly. 67 (2): 166–167. JSTOR 42628068.
- "History Honors Given to UA Press". The Montgomery Advertiser. September 17, 2006. p. 69. Retrieved May 25, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.