Dixie Roots: Hayne Klinck, Special Agent: Part 2

Special Order Number 63/7

Although we don’t know how long Klinck was held captive at Alton Military Prison, by March 16, 1863, he was free. According to Special Order Number 63/7 of the Confederate Adjutant & Inspector General’s Office, Klinck was assigned to special service under Major General Arnold Elzey.

Born Arnold Elzey Jones in Maryland, he dropped the “Jones” after graduating from West Point in an effort to literally stand out from the other Joneses. After fighting nobly in the Seminole uprisings in Florida and the war with Mexico, Elzey was put in command of the U.S. arsenal in Georgia. In April of 1861, he surrendered the arsenal to Confederate forces, resigned his commission with the U.S. Army, and offered his services to the Confederacy. As such, Elzey has the distinction of being one of only a few to have served as an officer on both sides of the Civil War.

19Sep1863 cover of Southern Illustrated News featuring Elzey. The Richmond-published illustrated weekly ran from the fall of 1862 until October 1864 and offered "battlefield reporting, sketches, and literary pieces" similar to Harper's Weekly and the Illustrated London News. According to The Confederate Image: Prints of the Lost Cause, "... the News gamely combined devotion to the cause with resigned acceptance of the harsh realities of a Confederacy perpetually short of manpower, manufacturing, and supplies."

Elzey’s service in the war reads like a Who’s Who of Civil War celebrities as he served alongside greats like P.G.T. Beauregard and Stonewall Jackson. However, on June 27, 1862, he was shot in the skull during the Battle of Gaines’ Mill. Although he miraculously survived the wound, he was relegated to desk work for the remainder of his career, which is where his path crossed with Hayne Klinck’s.

In December of 1862, newly promoted Major General Elzey was installed as the head of the Department of Richmond. As the capital of the Confederacy, Richmond was the epicenter of all rebel-related political movements. As a center for rail, industry, military hospitals, and POW camps, it was also The place to be in the South. Elzey’s position as head of the department essentially puts him in charge of the defense of the city.

Payment records show Klinck reporting to the Richmond office for at least five months from 18Feb to 31July1863. Unfortunately, these records are pay stubs only. They show dates of service and money owed (he made $4 per day), but do not indicate what services he was providing or which assignments came his way.