Category Archives: volunteers

George Hollister, 6th U.S. Cavalry

08 Sunday Jan 2023

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George Newton Hollister was born in Hartford, Connecticut on September 27, 1843. During his childhood he moved with his family to St. Anthony, Minnesota.

George answered his state’s first call for volunteers at the outbreak of the Civil War. Captain George Morgan enlisted him as a private into Company E, 1st Minnesota Infantry at Fort Snelling, Minnesota on April 29, 1861. He served through all of the regiment’s engagements during the next year and a half. He remained unwounded after 1st Bull Run and Antietam, where the regiment suffered 20% and 28% casualties respectively.

After the battle of Antietam, George was one of several members of the 1st Minnesota to transfer to the regular cavalry. Lieutenant Ira Claflin enlisted him into Company F, 6th U.S. Cavalry on October 28, 1862 in Knoxville, Maryland. His enlistment documents describe him as 19 years old, 5′ 6″ tall, with hazel eyes, dark hair and a dark complexion.

Private Hollister served the remainder of his enlistment with the 6th U.S. Cavalry. After time in the regiment’s dismounted camp to learn his new trade, he participated in Stoneman’s Raid, Brandy Station, the Gettysburg campaign and picket duty during the winter of 1863. He was extremely fortunate, avoiding wounds and capture in the regiment’s fighting at Fairfield and Funkstown. He was discharged at the expiration of his term of service at the 6th Cavalry’s camp on April 29, 1864.

Like many veterans, George travelled west after the war. He spent most of his postwar years on the border of Washington and Idaho. He married Elmira Camp in Waitsburg, Washington on November 5, 1872. They had three daughters together before she died in 1914.

George Hollister died in Lewiston, Idaho on November 30, 1926 at the age of 83. He is buried in the Genesee City Cemetery, Genesee, Idaho, next to his wife.

Joseph Frederick, 6th U.S. Cavalry

02 Saturday Jan 2021

Posted by in 6th U.S. Cavalry, battle of Trevillian Station, recruiting, volunteers

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Joseph Frederick was born to German immigrants on January 15, 1837 near Pittsburgh, PA. He worked as a barber in Pittsburgh prior to the war.

Jospeh mustered into Company C, 37th Pennsylvania Volunteers on April 17, 1861. Raised in the Pittsburgh area, the regiment was ordered to Washington, D.C. on July 30th, and initially served near Tennallytown, MD. It moved to Camp Pierpont near Langley, VA in October, where it spent the winter. After service near Fredericksburg in the spring of 1862, the regiment moved to White House in early June. It arrived just in time for the Seven Days’ Battles, where it lost 230 men killed, wounded and missing in the course of little more than a week. In August, it moved north to join General John Pope’s army and fought at Groveton and Second Manassas, it lost another 52 men. The regiment lost another 54 at South Mountain, and over 50 more at Antietam.

Joseph had seen enough, and he was not alone. He was one of over a dozen members of the 37th Pennsylvania who joined the 6th U.S. Cavalry over a two week period from the end of October to mid-November. Joseph enlisted into Company G near Knoxville, MD on October 28th. His enlistment documents describe him as 5’9″ tall, with light hair, blue eyes and a light complexion.

After time spent in the regiment’s dismounted camp learning to be a cavalryman, Private Frederick joined the regiment in its winter camp near Belle Plain, VA. He, like the rest of the regiment, spent the winter rootating from the camp to picket duty at various fords along the Rappahannock River.

Jospeh’s first real action as a cavalryman came during Stoneman’s Raid in May 1863, which he weathered without incident. He was not so fortunate the following month during his first cavalry fight at Beverly Ford, becoming a prisoner of war. He was most likely captured during the fighting near the Welford house between his squadron and the 100th Virginia Cavalry of W.H.F. Lee’s brigade on Yew Ridge.

After a relatively short stint in prison on Belle Isle, Frederick was exchanged and returned to his regiment after the Gettysburg campaign. He served with the regiment through the fall and spring campaigns at the headquarters of the Cavalry Corps. Almost a year to the day after being captured, misfortune struck again. The regiment left Private Frederick as a hospital attendant with the wounded following the battle of Trevilian Station. This time he was sent to Andersonville Prison. He was fortunate enough to survive the experience, unlike several of his regimental comrades. To make the experience worse, his enlistment expired on July 29, 1864, but he wasn’t exchanged and released from service until February 13, 1865.

Joseph returned to Pittsburgh after his discharge, where he married Catherine Schneider laterr in the year. They settled in Bridge Street in Etna and he lived there for the rest of his life. In 1905, he returned to Andersonvillle to attend the cermonies at the dedication of a memorial there.

Joseph Frederick died in Etna on August 9, 1915 of arterio sclerosis and hepatic cirrhosis. He is buried nearby in St. Mary’s Cemetery, Sharpsburg, PA.

Thomas Wathey, 6th U.S. Cavalry

04 Saturday Apr 2020

Posted by in 6th U.S. Cavalry, battle of Antietam, battle of Fairfield, Uncategorized, volunteers

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A Union Deserter Settles in Winchester

Wathey grave 6US

Photo courtesy of Krista Al Qirim Thompson

Thomas Wathey was born on February 2, 1841 in Londonderry, Ireland to Thomas and Mary Wathey. His mother was Irish and his father a Scot. In 1855, Mary, Thomas and his younger brother Will emigrated from Liverpool on the ship American Union. The family had a lower deck non-cabin berth. They arrived in New York City on June 16, 1855 en route to Rhode Island. According to the 1860 census, Thomas worked as a machinist in Providence, but by the following year the family moved to Northbridge, MA.

On May 25, 1861 Thomas was one of 64 men from Northbridge who enlisted in Company H, 15th Massachusetts Infantry. The regiment mustered into Federal service on July 12, 1861 and moved to Washington the following month. On October 21st the regiment saw its first action at Ball’s Bluff and suffered the heaviest losses of any of the Union regiments engaged. Thomas was wounded in the leg and sent home to recover from his wound. While he was home, he married Harriet Elizabeth Smith in Northbridge, MA on November 23, 1861. Minister William Merrill presided over the ceremony.

The following spring the 15th MA was assigned to the II Corps and accompanied the rest of the Army of the Potomac to the peninsula. The regiment fought at Seven Pines, Savage’s Station, and Glendale with modest losses. One of the last regiments to depart the peninsula in August, the 15th Massachusetts missed the battle of Second Bull Run. Military service agreed with Thomas, and he rapidly progressed through the enlisted ranks from private to first sergeant of Company H.

The regiment was brigaded with the 1st Minnesota, 34th and 82nd New York under Brigadier General Willis A. Gorman during the Maryland Campaign. In heavy fighting at the battle of Antietam it fought against the brigades of Semmes, Early and Barksdale and was savagely flanked by the Confederates not far from Dunkard Church. It suffered 52% casualties, losing 320 killed, wounded or missing of 606 engaged. Eleven men were killed in Wathey’s Company H alone. For the second time in less than a year the 15th Massachusetts suffered the heaviest losses by a Union regiment in a battle.

This was enough for Thomas. A month later he transferred to Company M, 6th U.S. Cavalry on October 24, 1862 in Knoxville, MD. His enlistment documents described him as 5’ 8 ½ ” tall, with blue eyes, brown hair and a fair complexion. When the regiment returned to Virginia the following month, he and the other volunteers were sent to a camp of instruction outside of Washington to be mounted and trained.

Private Wathey quickly completed the training and rejoined the regiment. He spent the winter rotating off and on picket duty along the Rappahannock River. Cavalry life evidently agreed with him, as he was promoted to corporal before spring campaigning started.

Corporal Wathey participated in Stoneman’s Raid and the regiment’s heavy engagement at Brandy Station without injury, as well as the long march and skirmishes on the way to Gettysburg. At Fairfield on July 3, 1863, he fought dismounted in Lt. Adna Chaffee’s squadron behind a fence in an apple orchard on the regiment’s left flank. Unable to reach their horse holders when the regiment was overrun, Wathey was one of the majority of his company captured by the Confederates. When his first sergeant conducted roll call the following day, only two privates in the company were present for duty.

Corporal Wathey marched on foot south with the rest of the prisoners to Harrisonburg in the Shenandoah Valley, then travelled by rail the rest of the way to Richmond. After being processed at Castle Thunder in Richmond, they were incarcerated on Belle Isle on the James River. Wathey was fortunate, as Company M’s were in the first group of prisoners paroled and sent north the following month. Wathey returned to duty with the regiment at the beginning of September.

Corporal Wathey was re-enlisted in Company M by Lt. Tullius Tupper on February 8, 1864. The documents say Brandy Station, but more than likely this happened at the Reserve Brigade’s encampment at nearby Mitchell’s Station. His fortunes in battle improved greatly, as he fought in all of the regiment’s major engagements of 1864 and 1865 without incident.

Thomas didn’t serve long after the end of the war. Following the Appomattox campaign, the regiment was sent to Pleasant Valley, MD to recruit and re-fit. As the regiment prepared to head west to the frontier, he deserted on July 23, 1866. He did not return home to Massachusetts, and his first wife Hattie remarried to Frank A. Cross in Northbridge, MA on August 6, 1868.

Oddly enough, the former Union cavalryman returned to the Shenandoah Valley. He settled in Winchester, VA and eventually joined the Masonic fraternity. He married Winchester native Marietta Clark, daughter of Willis B. and Emily Z. (nee’ Pierce) Clark. The couple’s first three children died in their first year, but the next three survived. Their final child also did not survive his first year in 1881.

Thomas remained in the Winchester area of Frederick County for the rest of his life. In 1880 he lived in Stonewall township, in 1890 Shawnee, and in 1900 on his son Thomas Norval Wathey’s farm as a laborer. He moved in with his son following his wife’s death on October 28, 1898.

On the 1890 veteran’s schedule, Thomas listed his service as a sergeant in Company H, 2nd U.S. Cavalry from 1858 to 1866. When he applied for a disability pension on July 25, 1892, he again cited service the wrong regiment and omitted his desertion. Understandably, the processing of his claim was greatly delayed by the inaccuracies of the filing.

Thomas Wathey died after a brief illness of pleurisy in Winchester on March 3, 1907. He had finally received a back payment for his pension of $1,100 just a month before. He was buried in the German Lutheran Church Cemetery next to his wife. His obituary in the Winchester Evening Star read:

“Obituary: Mr. Thomas Wathey, a well-known and highly-respected citizen of Winchester, who had made this city his home ever since the Civil War, passed away about 10 o’clock on Sunday morning at his home on North Kent street, near the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad passenger station, after a brief illness of pleurisy, aged 66 years.”

 

Sources:

Adjutant General of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines in the Civil War, Volume VII. Boston: Norwood Press, 1931.

Caughey, Donald C. and Jimmy J. Jones. The 6th United States Cavalry in the Civil War. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc.: 2013.

Clemens, Thomas G., ed. The Maryland Campaign of September 1862. Vol. II: Antietam. El Dorado Hills: Savas Beatie LLC, 2012.

Ford, Andrew E. The Story of the Fifteenth Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry in the Civil War 1861-1864. Boston: W.J. Coulter Press, 1898.

National Archives, Record Group 94, U.S. Army Register of Enlistments, 1798-1914.

National Archives, Record Group 94, U.S. Returns from Regular Army Non-infantry Regiments, 1821-1916: 6th U.S. Cavalry.

National Archives, Record Group 15, Records of the Veterans Administration, Pension record #67724.

“Thos. Wathey Dead; Just Got Pension.” Evening Star, Winchester, VA, March 4, 1907.

U.S. Federal Census, 1860, 1880 and 1890. Accessed on Ancestry.com, March 2020.

Jared R. DeRemer, 6th U.S. Cavalry

19 Tuesday Feb 2019

Posted by in 1862, 1863, 6th U.S. Cavalry, cavalry, Civil War, volunteers

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I nearly titled this post “Down the Rabbit Hole.” It started as a brief, quick post about a private from the 6th Cavalry, but quickly assumed a life of its own. A story started in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, it spends much of its time in my home of Colorado. A long weekend later, it is finally complete.

Jared Russell DeRemer was born on July 2, 1843 in Milesburg, Pennsylvania. He was the second child and eldest son of Isaac and Matilda DeRemer, both born in New Jersey. The family moved around Pennsylvania as Jared grew up, his father working as a carpenter. In 1850 they lived in Mauch Chunk, Carbon county, according to the census. In 1860 they lived in Dennison township, Luzerne County. Jared, age 17, was working as a machinist and living with his parents.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, Jared joined the 28th Pennsylvania Infantry. It was a somewhat unusual regiment, in that it originally had 15 companies. Company N was raised in Luzerne county, and Jared enlisted on August 30, 1861. The regiment received its initial training at Oxford Park in Philadelphia, and was serving in the area of Harpers Ferry before the end of the year. It spent the majority of its time before the battle of Antietam serving in this region. The regiment suffered heavily at Antietam, with 266 casualties. On October 28, 1862, the 147th Pennsylvania Infantry was formed from five companies of the 28th Pennsylvania and three new companies. All assigned personnel from these companies were transferred to the new regiment, but DeRemer had departed days before.

On October 25, 1862, Jared transferred to Company B, 6th U.S. Cavalry at Knoxville, Maryland. His enlistment documents describe him as 19 years old and 5’ 10” tall, with blue eyes, light hair, and a light complexion.

Private DeRemer’s service with the 6th U.S. Cavalry was brief but eventful. Once he left the dismount camp and joined the regiment, his company served as General Sumner’s escort during the battle of Fredericksburg in December. After a long winter of picketing fords across the Rappahannock, he was part of Stoneman’s Raid in May 1863. The following month he fought at Brandy Station, and then several weeks of fighting and hard riding on the way to Gettysburg. Jared was one of the very fortunate few to not be killed, wounded or captured in the regiment’s fatal encounter at Fairfield, Pennsylvania on July 3rd. He continued to serve with the regiment during the pursuit back to Virginia and on Cavalry Corps headquarters escort duty for the remainder of the year, including a second fight at Brandy Station in August. The cumulative effects of this campaigning took their toll, however. DeRemer was discharged due to disability on December 18, 1863 at McClellan Hospital, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He applied for an invalid pension on February 13, 1864, and received his certificate.

Jared returned to his family, who had moved to Hampton, New Jersey. In 1869, he married Nancy Macrina Wass. She was born in April 1857, a native of Easton, Pennsylvania. After several years, Jared and his brother James Richard Deremer left the family in New Jersey and moved to Colorado to seek their fortunes.

The two were very successful, and moved most of the rest of the family to Pueblo, Colorado over the following years. James Richard was a very prominent civil engineer and real estate investor. He built Pueblo’s first opera house, which burned to the ground several years later, and the DeRemer Hotel. This building still stands, and is currently the home of Schwabe Real Estate at 230 South Union Avenue.

Jared, on the other hand, worked for the railroads on survey crews, and lived across the state. Jared and Nancy welcomed their son, named James Silas after his brother, in 1880. In 1885, Jared and Nancy lived in Chaffee County, according to the state census. In 1887, Jared was assigned to oversee the construction of the South Pacific Railroad Company railroad through Glenwood Canyon, and the family moved to Glenwood Springs.

Glenwood Springs was very good to the DeRemer family, and Jared decided to put down roots. In 1893, he built a house at 1008 Colorado Avenue in Glenwood Springs that is still in use today as an apartment building.

Jared not only was able to complete the difficult railroad survey through the canyon, he was the locator and mastermind behind the Shoshone hydroelectric plant in Glenwood Canyon. This power plant is still in operation today, with the oldest and biggest water right on the upper Colorado River. It provides fifteen megawatts of electricity and is a cornerstone of the management of the upper Colorado River. In Colorado, precedent of water rights is determined by age, not size. Even though small by today’s power plant output measurements, Shoshone has the right to its water flow. This ensures that it retains flow even with the water diverted from the Colorado basin to supply Denver and eastern Colorado.

The family resided here during the 1900 census. In 1904, his son married Josephine Agnes Heichner, born in Colorado of German parents.

In 1908, he patented the DeRemer Ball Bearing Water Wheel, a valve used in hydroelectric plants. He subsequently formed the DeRemer Water Wheel Company with his son and served as its manager and president until 1916.

His wife Nancy died on March 24, 1910 in Glenwood Springs, according to the local newspaper and the Colorado Springs Gazette. She was initially buried in Rosebud Cemetery in Glenwood Springs, then later moved to be with her husband. According to the 1910 census in June, Jared was a widower, with his son and daughter in law residing with him.

In 1916, his son accepted a position in Salida, Colorado working as an engineer for the Durango & Rio Grande Railroad. With nothing left to tie him to Glenwood Springs, Jared sold his house to a promising young lawyer and returned to the family homestead in New Jersey the following year.

Jared Russell DeRemer died in Hampton, New Jersey in 1918. He is buried next to his wife in Union Brick Cemetery, Blairstown, New Jersey.

William H. Burns, 6th U.S. Cavalry

21 Monday Jan 2019

Posted by in 6th U.S. Cavalry, battle of Antietam, battle of Brandy Station, cavalry, Civil War, Stoneman's Raid, volunteers

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William H. Burns was born in Toronto, Canada in 1839. He and his family moved to Wisconsin during his childhood. At the beginning of the Civil War, Burns enlisted as a sergeant in Company A, 3rd Wisconsin Infantry in Watertown, Wisconsin on April 18, 1861.

The 3rd Wisconsin was a very active unit during the first year of the war. Their first engagement was a skirmish with forces under Turner Ashby on Bolivar Heights on October 16, 1861. They fought in the Shenandoah Valley in the spring of 1862, and at Cedar Mountain in August. The battle of Antietam was particularly hard on the regiment, fighting near the Cornfield. The 3rd Wisconsin lost 27 enlisted men killed and 173 wounded of 340 engaged, as well as 8 of 12 officers wounded. Sergeant Burns, wounded slightly from a gunshot wound in the left leg during the battle, had seen enough of the infantry.

He transferred to Company C, 6th U.S. Cavalry as a private on October 23, 1862. His enlistment documents describe him with hazel eyes, brown hair, a florid complexion and 5’6” tall. He served on picket duty along the Rappahannock during the winter after training as a cavalryman in the regiment’s dismounted camp. He must have performed well, as he was promoted to corporal prior to Stoneman’s Raid in May 1863.

On June 9, 1863, Corporal Burns was again in a pitched battle, this time at Brandy Station, Virginia. His old unit was there as well, as the 3rd Wisconsin and the 2nd Massachusetts both fought on the Union right wing near Beverly Ford during the battle. Burns was again wounded, this time with a gunshot wound in the left breast. Fortunately his companions helped him from the field, and he was sent to Washington, D.C. with the other seriously wounded. After a long and difficult recovery, he was discharged because of disability from Lincoln Hospital on December 26, 1863. His disability pension was $10.14 per month.

Burns returned to Wisconsin after living briefly in St. Louis. By 1882, he was once again residing in the Milwaukee area, alternating between Wauwatosa and Milwaukee. His wound continued to cause him issues periodically, and he spent time in and out of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, North-western Branch, in Milwaukee between 1882 and 1890. He worked as a watchmaker and jeweler before and after this period.

William H. Burns died in Milwaukee in April 1913. He was survived by his wife Eliza. He is buried in Forest Home Cemetery, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Abram V. Race, 6th U.S. Cavalry

28 Sunday Jan 2018

Posted by in 6th U.S. Cavalry, cavalry, Uncategorized, volunteers

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Abram V. Race was born on February 2, 1838 in Belfast, Allegheny county, New York. He worked as farmer on the family farm until the outbreak of the Civil War.

On June 22, 1861, he enlisted into Company I, 42nd New York Infantry on Long Island. He was transferred to Company K the same day. The regiment fought well but lost heavily at Ball’s Bluff before the end of the year, losing 133 killed, wounded and missing. It served during the Peninsula campaign the next spring, losing over fifty men at Glendale during the Seven Days’ battles. At Antietam the regiment was heavily blooded again, losing 181 killed, wounded and missing out of 345 engaged. Most of these were lost during the charge under Gen. Sedgwick.

After the battle of Antietam, Abram transferred to Company K, 6th U.S. Cavalry. He was enlisted by Lieutenant Albert Coats at Knoxville, Maryland. His enlistment documents describe him as 5’6 ½” tall, with blue eyes, brown hair, and a dark complexion. He apparently didn’t inform his former company of his intentions, as the records of the 42nd NY show him as deserting the regiment on November 5, 1862 at Warrenton, VA.

Abram served well through the winter and during the regiment’s 1863 campaigns. He was one of the few not to be wounded or captured during the fighting at Brandy Station and Fairfield. He completed his original enlistment period on April 24, 1864 at the Camp of the 6th Cavalry near Brandy Station, Virginia. Perhaps tired of Cavalry Corps headquarters escort duty, he chose not re-enlist in the regiment and returned home to New York. Over the summer he undoubtedly read in the local papers of the heavy cavalry fighting in the Overland Campaign and during Sheridan’s raids.

On September 19, 1864, he enlisted into the 1st New York Dragoons at Belfast, NY for one year. He was mustered in Company K as a private on October 1st. Ironically, he was headed right back to the Cavalry Corps of the Army of the Potomac. He arrived in time for the battle of Cedar Creek on October 19th. He remained with them through the end of the war, mustering out with his regiment at Cloud’s Mill, Virginia on June 30, 1865.

After the war, Abram moved to Michigan, where he married Ann Sissens in 1866. They lived in Kent county, near Grand Rapids, and had five children. He worked as a laborer in Algoma, and they later rented a ten acre farm. In 1890 he filed for an invalid pension, complaining of rheumatism, piles, loss of hearing and sight.

In 1900, Abram is listed a single boarder with a family in Wheatland, Michigan. The following year he married Hanna Widdifield Bryant in Grand Rapids on April 15, 1901. He was 63, and she was 70. On April 18, 1908, he married Harriet McGee in Wheatland, Hillsdale county, Michigan. His age is listed as 71 and hers as 64.

Abram was admitted to the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in Bath, New York on April 27, 1916. He died there on November 24, 1916, and is buried at Bath National Cemetery, Steuben county, New York.

Private John Sirrine, 2nd U.S. Cavalry

06 Saturday Jan 2018

Posted by in 2nd Dragoons/ 2nd Cavalry, 2nd U.S. Cavalry, Battle of Winchester, cavalry, Civil War, photos, Uncategorized, volunteers

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John Surine 2nd US Cavalry and 17th NYVI fom Michigan

Photo used with permission of Dale Niesen.

This is the second attempt to post this article to the blog, hopefully I will have better luck this time. I am deeply indebted to Dale Niesen for allowing me to use the image of John Sirrine from his private collection, and to Bob O’Neill for retrieving his pension record from the National Archives to add detail to the post.

John Sirrine was born in Williamsfield, Ashtabula county, Ohio on May 27, 1841. His family was Methodist, and his father a Sunday school superintendent for his church. John noted in his pension record a certificate he received at age seven for learning 73 verses of scripture. During his childhood, his family moved to Paw Paw, Van Buren county, Michigan, just west of Kalamazoo. His father died when he was 10. In his own words,

“My father went to Paw Paw Michigan in the year 1851 and purchased a nice tract of land, but two days later was called from this world to that better one, and where he had laid up greater treasures. Not having paid in full for the land in Michigan, my Mother lost nearly everything. My Mother having several children, I went to live with a neighbor farmer until I should be twenty one.”

At the outbreak of the Civil War John and many of his neighbors tried to enlist as volunteers in the Union Army. The local militia company, known as the La Fayette Light Guard, had formed in Van Buren county in 1859, and its ranks soon swelled with volunteers. The problem was that Michigan had already provided her share of the volunteers requested by President Lincoln. Not to be deterred, the company’s officers persisted in their efforts and the company became Company C, 70th New York Volunteer Infantry. John enlisted in the company on April 25, 1861, five days after his cousin Arthur.

The company departed for New York City on June 13, 1861, and mustered into federal service on June 30th. It remained on Staten Island until boarding a train for Washington July 23rd, arriving the next day. The regiment encamped on Meridian Heights through the winter, and embarked on ships for the peninsula with the rest of McClellan’s army in April 1862. It lost several men to typhoid fever during the winter, and John was nearly one of them. He was so sick that his brother travelled to Washington to care for him while he was in the hospital. He was offered his discharge, but refused it and was back on his feet in time for the spring campaign.

The company was heavily blooded during the spring and summer’s fighting. One hundred twelve men enrolled in the company, including the officers. In its first battle at Williamsburg on May 5, 1862, it lost 8 men killed and 23 wounded and missing. One soldier drowned at Harrison’s Landing, and a few weeks later at Fair Oaks it lost two more men killed and three who would later be discharged due to their wounds. Several more were wounded at Second Bull Run in August and Antietam in September. The company’s losses weighed so heavily on its commander, Captain James M. Longwell, that he resigned on November 21st and returned to Paw Paw.

When the order was published in October that volunteers could join regular army units for the remainder of their enlistments, it is unsurprising that John, his cousin Art, and six others volunteered for what they expected to be easier duty in the regular cavalry. All eight were enlisted into the regiment by Captain Samuel Starr in Alexandria, Virginia on October 28, 1862. John’s enlistment documents describe him as 5’ 5” tall, with light hair, blue eyes and a light complexion. He listed his occupation as a farmer. John and two others, Henry Crandall and Samuel Garver, were assigned to Captain Starr’s Company D. Arthur and the others were assigned to Company B.

All eight survived the heavy fighting of 1863, including the grueling Gettysburg campaign. John thought so much of service with the cavalry that he re-enlisted at Leonardstown, Maryland on March 25, 1864. The Michigan men all survived the intense fighting of the Overland campaign during the summer of 1864 more or less intact. Unfortunately, they did not fare as well in the Shenandoah Valley.

John was shot in the right shoulder during the fighting at Winchester on September 19, 1864, and nearly lost his arm. The ball entered two inches below his right clavicle and exited through the deltoid muscle, fracturing the humerus and injuring the nerves controlling the forearm and hand. As he describes the event in his pension records:

“After wounded was next day taken to a church in Winchester, where after examination by a surgeon, was labeled (sic) “Operation.” I saw other surgeons taking men out of back door marked same way, and I investigated what took place in back yard. … I quarreled with the two surgeons who came to take me to the operating table the next day. They said, ‘Then lie there and die if you would rather do that than have that arm amputated.’”

Three days later John was evacuated to McClellan Hospital in Germantown, PA. He was forwarded with the remainder of the regular cavalry wounded to Carlisle Barracks about a month later. He was discharged for disability at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania on December, a week after the other seven were discharged by order of the Adjutant General’s Office since their volunteer enlistments had expired.

John returned to Paw Paw after his discharge. He filed his pension claim in January 1866. By 1870 he was working as a painter and married to his wife Rosetta, a woman seven years younger from New York. She died childless before the next census, and John never remarried. In 1880 he was working in a furniture store in Paw Paw and living in a boarding house. His mother died there in 1887.

John entered the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on July 21, 1896. At the time he was receiving $8 per month from a disability pension. He was discharged at his own request February 3, 1899 and moved to nearby River Falls. In 1908, his pension was increased by Congress to $30 per month. His cousin Art had passed away the year before at the Michigan Soldiers Home. By 1912 John had returned to live in Paw Paw.

John continued to lobby the government for higher disability payments, without much success. Local doctors would examine him and recommend a higher rate, only to be denied by the Bureau’s surgeons when they examined his records. In one letter he noted bitterly:

“The trouble seems to be with some of us that we enlisted too early in the war, served too long, kept out of hospital too much, didn’t give ourselves up to be prisoners of war, didn’t drink enough “Plantation Bitters” and haven’t drank enough “Personal” or the stuff that made Milwaukee famous since.”

By 1920 John had moved to California. His brother and sister had both died in Paw Paw the year before, so there were few remaining ties to keep him in Michigan. His half-brother, B.W. Bonfoey, lived in Los Angeles. In the 1920 census he was living at 926 Wall Street in Los Angeles, with no occupation listed.

John Sirrine died chronic myocarditis and arterio sclerosis on March 5, 1923 in Los Angeles, California. He is buried in Los Angeles National Cemetery, plot 44 16.

The Civil War service of the other seven members of his company:

Abrams, James E. Resident of Paw Paw, MI. Enlisted Company C, 70th New York Infantry May 14, 1861, at Paw Paw, Michigan as a private. Transferred to Company B, 2nd U.S. Cavalry October 28, 1862 by Captain Samuel Starr in Alexandria, VA. Discharged at the expiration of his term of service on October 28, 1864 as a private. Born Clarendon county, New York. Farmer.

Crandall, Henry. Resident of Keeler, MI. Enlisted Company C, 70th New York Infantry May 14, 1861, at Paw Paw, MI as a private. Transferred to Company D, 2nd U.S. Cavalry October 28, 1862 by Captain Samuel Starr in Alexandria, VA. Discharged by order of the Adjutant General’s Office at Camp Russell, Virginia on December 6, 1864 as a private. Born Hillsdale county, MI. Farmer.

Garver, Samuel. Resident of Lawton, MI. Enlisted Company C, 70th New York Infantry April 27, 1861, at Paw Paw, MI as a private. Wounded in action at Williamsburg, VA on May 5, 1862. Transferred to Company D, 2nd U.S. Cavalry October 28, 1862 by Captain Samuel Starr in Alexandria, VA. Discharged by order of the Adjutant General’s Office at Camp Russell, Virginia on December 6, 1864as a private. Born Seneca county, Ohio. Farmer.

Reese, Henry. Resident of Porter, MI. Enlisted Company C, 70th New York Infantry April 30, 1861, at Paw Paw, MI as a private. Transferred to Company B, 2nd U.S. Cavalry October 28, 1862 by Captain Samuel Starr in Alexandria, VA. Discharged by order of the Adjutant General’s Office at Camp Russell, VA on December 7, 1864 as a private. Born Kalamazoo, MI. Farmer.

Robinson, Lyman. Resident of Paw Paw, MI. Enlisted Company C, 70th New York Infantry April 22, 1861, at Paw Paw, MI as a private. Transferred to Company B, 2nd U.S. Cavalry October 28, 1862 by Captain Samuel Starr in Alexandria, VA. Discharged by order of the Adjutant General’s Office at Camp Russell, VA on December 6, 1864 as a private. Born Van Buren county, MI. Cooper.

Ryan, Michael. Resident of Lawrence, MI. Enlisted Company C, 70th New York Infantry May 22, 1861, at Paw Paw, MI as a sergeant. Transferred to Company B, 2nd U.S. Cavalry October 28, 1862 by Captain Samuel Starr in Alexandria, VA. Discharged by order of the Adjutant General’s Office on December 6, 1864 as a private. Re-entered service in Company B, 10th Michigan Cavalry, discharged November 7, 1865. Born in Ireland. Wagon maker.

Sirrine, Art. Resident of Paw Paw, MI. Enlisted Company C, 70th New York Infantry April 20, 1861, at Paw Paw, MI as a private. Transferred to Company B, 2nd U.S. Cavalry October 28, 1862 by Captain Samuel Starr in Alexandria, VA. Discharged by order of the Adjutant General’s Office at Camp Russell, VA on December 6, 1864 as a private. Born Trumbull county, Ohio. Farmer.

Sources:

National Archives, Record Group 94, U.S. Army Register of Enlistments, 1798-1914.
National Archives, Record Group 94, U.S. Returns from Regular Army Non-infantry Regiments, 1821-1916: 2nd U.S. Cavalry.
National Archives, Record Group 15, Records of the Veterans Administration, Pension record #67724.
Rowland, Captain O.W. A History of Van Buren County Michigan, Volume 1. Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1912. Pages 300-307.

Medal of Honor – Timothy O’Connor, 1st U.S. Cavalry

26 Wednesday Jun 2013

Posted by in 1864, 1st Cavalry, battle of Deep Bottom, medal of honor, research, volunteers

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Special thanks to Craig Swain and Jimmy Price for bringing this man to my attention.  There’s all too little data out there on the 1st U.S. Cavalry in the Civil War, so every bit of detail unearthed is a victory.  Readers will see more on the 23rd Illinois and the 1st U.S. Cavalry shortly.  This is another of those threads that lead far afield once it is pulled and followed.

Timothy O’Connor was born in County Kerry, Ireland on August 15, 1842.  After immigrating to the United States, he settled in Chicago, Illinois.

At the outbreak of the war, O’Connor joined one of the many volunteer units forming in the Chicago area.  He enlisted in Company F, “somebody’s Guard, Rifles, etc” 23rd Illinois Infantry at Camp Douglas, Illinois on March 15, 1862. The regiment was raised entirely in Cook County, Illinois.  He was mustered in by Captain Moriarty when the regiment officially mustered in Chicago on May 14, 1862.  Like so many soldiers, his name is incorrectly entered in his enlistment documents.  Timothy “Conner” is described in his enlistment papers as 22 years old, 5’9” tall, with light hair, blue eyes, and a fair complexion.  He reported his residence as Chicago and his occupation as a laborer.

The regiment was assigned to Colonel James A. Mulligan’s “Irish Brigade,” not to be confused with the Army of the Potomac storied unit of the same name.  The regiment initially operated in Missouri, near Jefferson City and Lexington.  At the time O’Connor joined the regiment, it was guarding prisoners at Camp Douglas.  In June 1862 it was ordered to Harpers Ferry, where its duties principally involved guarding the railroad lines in the area until the end of the year.

Timothy took quickly to the life of a soldier, earning promotions to corporal and sergeant within months of enlisting.  By December, O’Connor had apparently had enough of guarding railroads.  On December 24, 1862, he took advantage of a War Department order issued after the battle of Antietam which authorized volunteer soldiers to join regular army regiments.  Given the experience of the year’s campaigning, hundreds of volunteers chose to join cavalry regiments.

Sergeant O’Connor was enlisted as a private into Company E, 1st U.S. Cavalry by Lieutenant Judson Haycock at New Creek, Virginia.  Four others from his company and at least three others from other companies in his former regiment joined the 1st U.S. Cavalry the same day.  His new enlistment documents described him as 22 years old, 5’8 ½” tall, with fair hair, gray eyes and a ruddy complexion.

During fighting at the first battle of Deep Bottom, Virginia on July 28, 1864, Private O’Connor captured the regimental colors of the 18th North Carolina Infantry.  He was subsequently awarded the Medal of Honor in General Orders dated January 5, 1865.  His citation reads “for extraordinary heroism on 28 July 1864, while serving with Company E, 1st U.S. Cavalry, in action at Malvern, Virginia, for capture of flag of the 18th North Carolina Infantry (Confederate States of America).”

Private O’Connor was discharged from the army at the expiration of his enlistment on December 24, 1865 in New Orleans, Louisiana.  He returned to Chicago, where he lived the rest of his life.

Timothy O’Connor died in Chicago on March 26, 1915, at the age of 72.  There is a memorial headstone at Arlington National Cemetery because he is a Medal of Honor awardee, but his remains are in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Chicago.

Sources:

Civil War Centennial Commission of Illinois, Illinois Military Units in the Civil War, 1962.

Dyer, Frederick, A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion

NARA, RG 94, Register of Enlistments in the U.S. Army, 1798-1914

Regimental roster, accessed on June 20, 2013 at http://civilwar.illinoisgenweb.org/reg_html/023_reg.html

Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Illinois, 9 vols., 1900-1902, accessed on June 19, 2013 at http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/archives/databases/reghist.pdf

16th Pennsylvania Cavalry Connections

16 Thursday Aug 2007

Posted by in 6th Cavalry, volunteers

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Eric was kind enough yesterday to send me directions to the 16th Pennsylvania Cavalry monument at Gettysburg. This caused a few synapses to fire (or misfire, depending on one’s outlook), as I had a couple of distant relatives who served in this regiment. A bit of research turned up a couple interesting family and 6th US Cavalry connections.

The first commander of the newly-raised 16th Pennsylvania Cavalry, and its commander during the Gettysburg campaign, was J. Irvin Gregg. Gregg was detached from regular service as the captain of Company G, 6th US Cavalry, and mustered into the regiment on November 11, 1862. He was selected to command the new volunteer regiment after service in the Peninsula and Maryland campaigns. Although detached from his regiment following brevet promotions to brigadier and major general, Gregg mustered out with them on August 11, 1865. (Gregg’s life will be covered more fully in an upcoming Fiddler’s Green entry.)

Six months after taking command of the regiment, Gregg brought his former first sergeant in Company G to join him. According to the 6th US Cavalry muster rolls, Andrew F. Swan was discharged from the regiment on May 22, 1863 by order of General Pleasonton. I would imagine that his former commander had something to do with that, since Swan had apparently mustered into the 16th Pennsylvania as captain of Company C ten days earlier on May 12th. He was wounded at Hawes’ Shop on May 23, 1864, and promoted to major on September 4. He apparently never fully recovered from the wound, and was discharged on a surgeon’s certificate of disability on March 7, 1865. He received a brevet promotion to lieutenant colonel on March 13, 1865.

This is where my distant relatives join the story. Robert C. Caughey mustered into the regiment as a first lieutenant in Company C on September 6, 1862. Following Swan’s promotion to major, he was promoted to captain of Company C. He was promoted to major by brevet in the avalanche of brevet promotions on March 13, 1865 (might have to do a post on that event someday), and discharged by general order on July 24, 1865.

Lockwood Caughey mustered into the regiment as the first sergeant of Company C on the same day that Robert did. He was promoted to second lieutenant on January 2, 1863 and first lieutenant on May 21, 1864. I have no idea if these promotions were due to merit or nepotism, as I’m unsure exactly how the two were related. Lockwood was mortally wounded in a mounted charge at Deep Bottom, Virginia on June 29, 1864. He died nearly three weeks later, on August 16th.

A history of the regiment as well as company rosters can be found on Alice Gayley’s excellent Pennsylvania in the Civil War website.

And to think, all of this snowballed from an innocent comment about a monument….