Melbourne Carter (1842-1863) was born in Augusta, Georgia, the son of Dr. John Flournoy Carter (1795-) and Martha Milledge Carter (1806-1872), who married on January 30, 1822. Melbourne's grandfather, Captain John Carter had commanded a cavalry troop during the Revolutionary War. As a young boy, Melbourne had been miraculously rescued when he and three companions had ventured into the water. Melbourne was rescued while his companions perished. His parents had always said that he had been saved for some great and glorious life and destiny. That destiny came in 1861 when the clouds of war descended on the nation and sent its young men from the north and the south into battle! Melbourne would enlist in Augusta with Company "A," called the Clinch Rifles, that was attached to the 5th Georgia Infantry Regiment. Their first duty assignment was Pensacola, Florida under the command of General Richard H. Anderson. Upon arrival, he and his friends were assigned to the 3rd Battalion encamped in the vicinity of Ft. Barrancas. On October 9, 1861 at midnight, they were transported by boat to Santa Rosa Island where they attacked the Union Fort Pickens. The Confederate forces were repulsed with 30-40 killed and a like number wounded. Two of his buddies, Joseph H. Adams and Frederick J. Cook had been killed in the battle.
In early 1862, the regiment was withdrawn from Pensacola and sent north to Knoxville, Tennessee. As they pulled out, the regiment marched gaily down its streets of Pensacola to the cheers of the few residents that remained before General Braxton Bragg abandoned the city in May 1862. But in town that day was a 24-year-old attractive young lady by the name of Mary Byrd Willis Dallas (1838-1923). At this point in the war, the women of the South stated that they were well aware that the best blood of the land was serving in the ranks, therefore they made no distinction as to a soldier's official rank or position. To them they were all heroes in the eyes of their mothers, wives, sweethearts, sisters, and other admiring ladies. So, as they marched up Palafox Street, receiving the enthusiastic ovations, Mary rushed out of the crowd and handed Private Carter a red and white silk crape "lisse" scarf that had been cut in half. As she presented the token to him, she stated, ""take it, and when you return home, bring it with you" (and the two halves will be united). Apparently, the two had only known each other a few days but something must have sparked between them for her to act so impulsively contrary to the customs of the day!
But who was this impulsive young lady that had given her heart so freely to a mere private from Georgia and then asked him to return to her? For one, this young lady was not just anybody but was someone that was highly connected to many of the "who's who" in the country. First of all, she was the daughter of Commodore Alexander James Dallas, USN (1791-1844) and Mary Byrd Dallas (1813-1901). Her father is said to have fired the first shot of the War of 1812, served in the Second Barbary War, and fought pirates in the West Indies. He commanded the Pensacola Navy Yard, from 1832 to 1843 and went on to serve in the Second Seminole War. Mary's grandfather, also named Alexander James Dallas, was the United States Secretary of the Treasury, under President James Madison and her uncle was George Mifflin Dallas (1792-1864), Vice President of the United States, under President James K Polk. Her father's first wife of 1821 was Henrietta Constantia Meade, daughter of Richard Worsam Meade and Margaret Coats Butler Meade. This union made Mary the niece of Union General George Gordon Meade of Gettysburg fame. But sadly, Henrietta had died in Pensacola in 1831 and it is assumed buried here. Her father would remarry in New York in 1836 to Mary's mother Mary Byrd Willis (1813-1901).
But, her and her mother were further connected on the maternal side of the family! She was a descendent of Colonel Fielding Lewis and Betty Washington, sister of President George Washington thus becoming the great-grandniece of the President. Also, through the marriage of her grandfather Colonel Harry Willis of Fredericksburg to Matilda Washington (Aunt of General Washington) she became doubly related to the President. However, the elite connectivity does not stop there! Mary's aunt was also Mary Willis Lewis (1872-1934) who was the first wife of Colonel Byrd Charles Willis (1781-1946), a well-connected brick maker in Pensacola and personal friend of President Andrew Jackson. Sadly, her aunt contracted Yellow Fever in 1834 and died in Pensacola and was buried in Clinch Cemetery in Brownsville. She was later exhumed and moved to St. John's Cemetery in Pensacola.
Also, her mother's sister was Catherine Dangerfield Willis (1803-1867) who married Charles Louis Napoleon Achille Murat, Crown Prince of Naples and son of Emperor Napoleon I's sister Caroline. Achille Murat's father was Napoleon's greatest cavalry commander, Marshal of the Empire, Grand Duke of Berg and Cleves, and King of Naples, Joachim Murat. Tchaikovsky's famous "1812 Overture" is said to have been written to commemorate Murat's thundering cavalry charge at the Battle of Borodino. After her husband's death, Catherine Willis Murat, daughter of Pensacola's Mary W. Willis, was recalled to France from Florida by Emperor Napoleon III and made a Princess of France. She returned to Tallahassee where she lived out her years, and is buried beside her prince in Tallahassee's St. John's Cemetery. Her simple wood-frame home has been relocated from its original site to the grounds of Tallahassee's Museum of History and Natural Science, a far cry from the glittering palaces of France.
But as the "who's who" list continued to lengthen, Private Carter went about fighting for his life in such battles as the Kentucky Campaign, Murfreesboro, and the Tullahoma Campaign. In September 1863, the regiment was back on their native Georgia where they fought in the bloodbath Battle of Chickamauga on September 19. Afterwards, Melbourne received leave to return home to his family in Augusta before he had to return for the next battle just over the horizon. Still in his possession was his half of the scarf given to him by his true love, Mary. But just for safe keeping, he left it with his sister Sophia Flournoy Carter Johnson (1845-1917) with her promise to keep it for his return. However, he never revealed to her the name of the young girl and it remained with Sophia, an interesting souvenir without an explanation. In the meantime, Melbourne returned to his unit where he was killed in action on November 25, 1863 along with 360 of his comrades at the Battle of Missionary Ridge and buried in the trenches that he died in.
Fifty-three years later, Sophia searched and searched and finally found the young girl who so long ago had given her heart to a young Georgia private in hope of him returning to her. She was now Mrs. Mary Byrd Willis Dallas Strong of Washington, D. C. and after receiving Sophia's letter she wrote back telling her the entire story of the scarf. It had been given to her by her sister Princess Murat and she still remembered cutting the scarf in half and giving it to Melbourne. She begged Sophia to come visit her at her home in Washington but whether she did or not is unknown nor did she reveal if she still had the other half!
Sophia would pass away from diabetes on May 17, 1917 and was buried in Sewanee, Tennessee while Mary would pass in 1923 in Washington, D. C. One last distinction to this story was another sibling of Sophia and Melbourne was US Army Major Mason Carter (1834-1909). Their brother would lead a heroic charge against the Nez Perce Indians on September 30, 1877 of which he received the nation's highest award, the Medal of Honor. He would retire as a Major in 1898, and served as a professor of military science at the University of the South at Sewanee, Tennessee.
Postscript: Confederate Veteran Magazine 1913 page 538

Battle of Missionary Ridge, TN Casualties: Killed USA 753 and CSA 361
Photo by Library of Congress

Carter's brother, US Army Major Mason
Carter (1834-1909) Fought in the Indian
Wars and awarded the Medal of Honor


Pensacola News Journal 8-20-1913 page 5

Richmond Daily Times 11-30-1901 page 2

Washington, D.C. 2-21-1923 page 2 Washington, D.C.
Buried with husband in Congressional Cemetery

Brother of Mary Dallas, CSA Trevanion Barlow
Dallas (1843-1902)

Sister of Mary Byrd Willis Dallas Quicksall.
Also the great grand niece of George Washington.
She was the widowed wife of Prince Charles Lewis
Archille Murat, nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte III
thus making her Princess Catherine Murat.
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