Tag Archives: Civil War

Book Review: Small But Important Riots

09 Thursday Feb 2023

Posted by in 1863, book reviews, Gettysburg campaign

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Small But Important Riots: The Cavalry Battles of Aldie, Middleburg, and Upperville. Robert F. O’Neill. January 2023: Potomac Books, 360 pages.

This book provides a definitive account of five days of fighting in the Loudoun Valley during the Gettysburg campaign. O’Neill’s master work not only covers a multitude of engagements, but is able to link them all together coherently while maintaining each in its own context. His analysis includes the larger tactical picture and the intent of the commanders on both sides. The work not only examines the moves of Stuart, Pleasonton and Hooker, but the reasoning behind them that led to the engagements happening where and when they did. In Pleasonton’s case in particular, there are keen insights into why he employed his cavalry corps the way he did.

Small But Important Riots is so exhaustively researched that in some places I spent nearly as much time examining the notes as I did reading the text. The author weaves hundreds of personal accounts from soldiers on both sides together to compose his narrative, many of them previously unpublished.

The plentiful use of Julie Krick’s excellent maps makes it easy for the reader to follow and understand the numerous engagements spread over a large area. The appendices provide additional details concerning order of battle and unit losses. His final appendix on horses and ordnance is so well organized that it could be expanded into a book of its own.

This book should be on the shelf of anyone interested in Civil War cavalry or the Gettysburg campaign.

Levi Bailey Croy, 6th U.S. Cavalry

16 Monday Jan 2023

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

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Photo courtesy of John Boggs, Jr.

Reader John Boggs, Jr. was kind enough to share this picture and letter of his ancestor. This is the first censored letter that I have seen from a regular soldier. A biographical sketch follows the letter. Levi Croy is mentioned numerous times in S.M. Davis’ Uncommon Soldier, Common War as well as in our book on the 6th U.S. Cavalry. I have preserved the letter’s original spelling and punctuation.

“Sixth U.S. Cavalry

Col. Emory Commanding

Letter No. 1, Aug. 2, 1862

My dear family; I rec’d yours of 27 of July, today. I had not rec’d any for so long I began to be uneasy. I was glad to learn of your health & sympathise with you very much in regard to your potatoes. I am very glad to hear you have a cow. Please let me know who of your neighbours was so kind. What did cow cost. I saw young Alexander today in the 10th Pa. reserves. He is well. Nite before last we had a nice spree the rebbels came down on the opposite side of the river & planted 6 or 8 guns & blazed away at our camps. I tell you they threw the shells & solid shot in fast. They had a cross fire on our camp & don no damage but kild one horse & riddled two tents not a man hurt the shell flew about 2 miles as far as the Pennsylvania reserves. A good many horses were kild in different camps but very few men. Our seage guns & gun boats got in action in a few minutes & made them skedaddle in short meetee. We have a heavy force (censored) river. Now I think (censored) no danger of another (censored). You asked when the war (censored). That is a question I am (censored) to answer but I am afraid be some time. However I think we will make a move before long I had made up my mind there would be nothing don this month. But it is my belief now we will haf to fight soon or give it up for a bad job but I believe if they let McClelan have his own way he will take Richmond & do it pretty easy. Pope is in the Shenandoey valley & I have more faith in him than all the others except McClelan he is the pet of the Army of the Potomac. Since writing the above our Regt has bin ordered out whare or for what purpos I don’t know. I am so bothered by diareahe that I have remaind in camp it is dark and I will quit for tonite. – Aug. 3rd a beautiful morn. Our Regt returned about 3 o’clock this morning was out mearly on a reconnaissance. All quiet so far as they went or seen. Our camps has not been disturbed since. I think there will be a move soon& I will be able to send the glad news to you that the Army of the Potomac is in Richmond. I am expecting our pay every day & as there is a chance to send the money by express I will wait a while & send you $25 at once it will cost the same.  I don’t think you receive all my letters so I have numbered this & will continue to no. them as I write. You do the same & still mention the no. of the ones you receive & I will do the same then we can tell if any is miscarried. I have asked you in several letters if you ever recd the letter containing the $5 in & have got no answer. I sent you a book most a month ago & put 2 post stamps on & was told by the P.M. it would go. I have asked you in 2 letters if it came to hand I have got no answer. I got the book at the Battle of Hanover Courthouse as it was taken by me from the nap sack of a fallen rebel & would be very interesting to the children also beneficial to them. I hope it has reached you safe. I recd the stamps and am much obliged for them. I am out again & would be glad if you could send me som more as they cant be had here only as friends sends them. I am glad to hear of Roberts situation what salery does he get. I think you try to get as small sheets of paper as possible & don’t fill them either. I understand there will be drafts made do you think Mercer Co. will rase its quota without. I hope so I would be very sorry to have my native place compeld to draft soldiers to protect its country. If Thomas wishes I will write him a scetch of the proceedings of the army so far as it has come under my my own observation for Publication. But I suppose he has plenty of others. Give my Respects to all the friends & tell Beccy Peirce I am obliged to her & when I com home I shal surely call for the chicken & I am sure if I had it here I would make quick havoc with a verry large one. I had some butter for supper last nite the first I have tasted for months. Please let me receive no. one letter soon. I remain your affectionate

Levi”

Levi Bailey Croy was born on May 16, 1826 in Butler County, Pennsylvania. He was the second son and fifth of seven children. His father was a merchant in Shenango, Pennsylvania in 1850, according to census data. Levi lived worked as a trader and lived with his parents. He married Jennie Irwin the same year and the two had four children prior to the outbreak of the Civil War.

Lieutenant Hancock McLean enlisted Levi into Company F, 6th U.S. Cavalry on July 3, 1861 in Pittsburgh. His enlistment documents describe him as 5’ 10” tall, with gray eyes, light hair and a fair complexion.

Levi served ably through the regiment’s initial campaigns, earning promotions to corporal and sergeant. He was captured at the battle of Fairfield and later imprisoned at Belle Isle. He was fortunate enough to be paroled in late September and was not sent to Andersonville like some of his companions. He returned to the regiment and continued to serve until the expiration of his term of service in the field on July 3, 1864.

Levi returned to his family in Pennsylvania. According to census data, by 1870 he worked as an engineer at oil wells in Venango County. The family now included six children, and they added a seventh before the 1880 census. By 1880 the family settled near the city of Beaver in Clarion County, where Levi worked as a farmer.

Levi Bailey Croy died on August 8, 1880 at the age of 54. He is buried in St. Paul’s Union Cemetery, Beaver, Clarion County. Pennsylvania.

Leroy S. Elbert, 3rd U.S. Cavalry

07 Wednesday Dec 2022

Posted by in 3rd U.S. Cavalry, Civil War, officers, Regiment of Mounted Rifles

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Leroy S. Elbert was born in Logan County, Ohio on September 4, 1837. His parents moved to Iowa early in his childhood. His father, a prominent doctor, convinced Senator Andrew Hall to nominate Leroy to West Point from Iowa in January 1857. Leroy joined his class there on July 1, 1857.

Elbert graduated  near the bottom of the June class of 1861, only six places ahead of George Custer . He was assigned to the Regiment of Mounted Rifles as a brevet second lieutenant upon graduation, all vacancies in the regiment being full at the Adjutant General’s office. Due to the chaos caused by so many officers resigning and declining appointments, however, he was promoted very rapidly. By the time the smoke cleared with General Order #62 from the Adjutant General’s Office in August, Leroy received his appointment, promoted to second lieutenant in Company L and first lieutenant in Company E effective the day of his graduation, June 24, 1861. Over two years would pass before he joined his regiment.  

First Lieutenant Elbert remained very active in the meantime. Since his regiment was in New Mexico, Leroy hurried directly to Washington, D.C. immediately after graduation like most of his class. He participated in the Manassas campaign and worked through the winter of 1862 drilling troops and seeking a staff position. Since his company was disbanded following the surrender at San Augustine Springs, he saw no compelling need to join his regiment in New Mexico and had no orders to do so.  

He initially applied in January 1862 to serve as an aide de camp to Brigadier General Curtis in St Louis. Despite an endorsement from President Lincoln, this request was denied by Major General McClellan and the Adjutant General’s Office because regular officers were not permitted to serve as aides for generals of volunteers. He served with Captain William P. Chambliss’ squadron of the 5th U.S. Cavalry during the siege of Yorktown and battle of Williamsburg. At the battle of Hanover Court House he served on Brigadier General Emory’s staff as an acting aide de camp. He later served on the staff of Brigadier General Alfred Pleasonton in the same capacity during the Maryland campaign from September to November 1862.

He transferred to the Artillery Reserve of the Army of the Potomac before the battle of Fredericksburg. Placed in charge of the ammunition, First Lieutenant Elbert provided nearly 5,000 rounds to the batteries on the army’s right. Brigadier General Hunt cited his performance in his report on the battle.

During the spring of 1863, Major General Stoneman selected him for the staff of the Cavalry Corps. He served here as an aide de camp through Stoneman’s Raid and the beginning of the Gettysburg campaign. On June 27th, word of his promotion caught up to him. Promoted to Captain of Company G, 3rd U.S. Cavalry on March 11, 1863, he was ordered to immediately join his regiment in the western theater.

Captain Elbert joined his company at Camp McRae, near Memphis, Tennessee. He served there until September, when he became ill with typhoid fever. The regimental commander, Captain George W. Howland, granted him sick leave to go home to Iowa and recover on September 11th. He didn’t make it home.

Captain Leroy S. Elbert died on the steamboat “City of Alton” on September 13, 1863 while en route to St Louis. Captain Samuel Gilbert of the 2nd Iowa Cavalry was with him and sent his body and belongings home from St Louis. He is buried in Oak Lawn Cemetery, Keosauqua, Van Buren County, Iowa.

Fiddler’s Green: Michael Lawless

15 Friday Oct 2021

Posted by in 2nd Dragoons/ 2nd Cavalry, 2nd U.S. Cavalry, battle of Brandy Station, battle of Trevillian Station

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Michael Lawless was born in Waterford, Ireland about 1826. He appears to have emigrated from Galway in 1849 on the brig Clarence with his older sister “Biddy” (Bridget?). He listed his occupation as farmer on the passenger list. They arrived in New York on February 10, 1849, and moved to Boston shortly thereafter.

On December 4, 1849, Michael was enlisted into Company I, 1st Dragoons by Lieutenant Charles Jordan. His enlistment documents describe him as 5’7″ tall, with black hair, hazel eyes and a dark complexion. Lawless was working as a laborer at the time of his enlistment. He left the Army at the end of his enlistment on December 4, 1854 as a private at Fort Thorn, NM.

He soon rejoined the Army, enlisting in Company H of the 2nd Dragoons in St Louis, MO on March 13, 1855. This is roughly the amount of time it would have taken him to travel east on the Santa Fe Trail as a civilian from Fort Thorn. Lawless was more successful this enlistment, with promotions to corporal and sergeant. He re-enlisted into the same company on January 13, 1860 at Camp Floyd, Utah Territory. His company commander was Captain Alfred Pleasonton.

Sergeant Lawless accompanied his regiment on its march east at the outbreak of the Civil War, reaching Cantonment Holt in Washington, D.C. by the end of 1861. He served ably in the company during the campaign on the peninsula, rising to the rank of first sergeant by the summer of 1862. On July 19, 1862, he, the regimental sergeant major and several other first sergeants were recommended for commissions by regimental commander Major Alfred Pleasonton through the provost marshal of the Army of the Potomac.

Lawless was promoted to second lieutenant in the same company on July 17, 1862. Interestingly, this was two days before the date of Pleasonton’s recommendation. Due to the pace of operations within the army that summer, he didn’t learn of his promotion until September, just after the battle of Antietam. He accepted his commission on September 23, 1862 at the regiment’s camp near Sharpsburg, MD. There must have been quite a party in the camp that evening, as the sergeant major, quartermaster sergeant and three first sergeants were all notified of their appointments the same day.

Lieutenant Lawless served with Company H through the remainder of the 1862 campaigns, as well as Stoneman’s Raid. He fought well at Brandy Station, where he was one of the few officers of the 2nd Cavalry not killed or wounded. Indeed, he was the only one of the five officers he was commissioned with not to be wounded in the battle. He was promoted to first lieutenant in Company A after the battle, with a date of rank of June 9, 1863. He fought with this company for the rest of the year, frequently commanding it in the absence of its assigned captain.

First Lieutenant Lawless opened the 1864 campaign once again commanding Company A. He led it during the fighting at Todd’s Tavern, Sheridan’s “first raid,” and Old Church. in command of the company. The regimental commander cited him as “distinguished for his personal intrepidity in action and other good qualities as a soldier” during the fighting.

On June 11, 1864, during the opening phase of the battle of Trevillian Station, Lieutenant Lawless was killed while leading his company. In his report on the battle, Brigadier General Wesley Merritt said of him, “he was a fearless, honest, and eminently trustworthy soldier, ‘God’s truth’ being the standard by which he measured all of his actions.”

Originally buried on the battlefield, Lawless was later moved to Culpeper National Cemetery. He appears not to have had a next of kin, as I found no record of a pension claim.

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.

Court Martial Insights

21 Tuesday Apr 2020

Posted by in 1864, 2nd U.S. Cavalry, Civil War, courts martial, references, research, Reserve Brigade, Uncategorized

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Court martialI first realized the possible value of court martial records when I read Dr. Mark W. Johnson’s excellent book, That Body of Brave Men. Intrigued by what he had to say about the value of the records, I did a bit of investigating.

As I perused the War Department’s General Orders for 1863 and 1864, it struck me that relatively few cavalrymen were court martialed, and even fewer regular cavalrymen. I was able to make copies of a few records on a couple of visits to the National Archives, and friend Bob O’Neill was kind enough to copy another dozen or more. Much to my delight, there is a wealth of information in these files. Nothing book worthy in and of itself, but countless smaller details that bring the larger history to life.

As a case study, let’s take a look at the court martial of Second Lieutenant Peter Rinner of the 2nd U.S. Cavalry in January 1864. Rinner was a veteran whose enlisted service started in the Mexican War, and a first sergeant in the regiment when he was commissioned the year before. I will save the other details of his service for a future post. The charge was drunk on guard. The specification was “while on Provost Guard with his squadron did become so drunk as to be unable to perform his duty as an officer. This at or near the town of Culpeper, Va. On or about the 24th day of December 1863.”

To set the stage a bit, during the winter encampment of 1863-1864 the regular cavalry regiments and possibly others rotated on provost guard duty in the town of Culpeper, Virginia. Without going into the details of the testimony, here is a sampling some of the information I discovered from just this one record.

  • A squadron strong, the guard rotated shifts daily. The squadron was responsible for guard posts in town and pickets in vicinity of the town.
  • The headquarters for the squadron on provost guard was a room in the Virginia Hotel. The officers on guard, typically a captain and two lieutenants, slept together in this room.
  • It was not customary for there to be a formal mounting of the guard when the relief happened within the regiment. Guard posts included the hotel, the Orange & Alexandria railroad depot, and “the church.” This was probably St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, built in 1821. Specific identification of guards’ names, ranks and companies validated unit roster.
  • Battery G, 2nd U.S. Artillery was located in Culpeper, and its commander, Lt. William N. Dennison, also had a room at the Virginia Hotel. One of the units of the Horse Artillery Brigade, relations between the officers of the battery and the 2nd U.S. Cavalry were cordial enough that there was a party in Dennison’s room on December 23rd which seven officers attended.
  • It was permissible for an officer of the guard to visit a party, drink and play cards as long as his duties were fulfilled and he did not become incapacitated. In this case his squadron commander was present at the time and it was not considered an offense.
  • Company morning report books were required to be signed by commanders every morning, even when the officer was on guard.
  • The regimental adjutant placed officers in arrest, not the company or squadron commander.
  • Division headquarters appointed general courts martial. Brigade headquarters selected the board members selected from the regiments of the accused’s brigade. Both volunteer and regular officers could sit on the court martial of a regular officer. Court martial duty superseded all other duties, including unit movements. The proceedings of the previous day were read to the accused and the court first thing in the morning after the court convened.
  • The 1st New York Dragoons had already joined the Reserve Brigade before the Christmas of 1863.
  • Justice was swift. The court reached its verdict on January 11th. Only two days later, the proceedings were approved by the division commander and sent to Major General Sedgwick, in temporary command of the Army of the Potomac.
  • The Army of the Potomac was cracking down on professionalism during the winter encampment. By February 18th, army headquarters had already published four general court martial orders since January 1st. Each order encompassed the results of multiple courts. This fourth order included four courts ruling on ten officers for various forms of misconduct. All ten were cashiered.

Not every court martial record contains valuable information, but this is definitely a largely underutilized source of primary source material. Another tool available to bring pieces of history to light.

Source: NARA, Record Group 153: Office of the Judge Advocate General. Folder LL1362: Court-Martial of Second Lieutenant Peter Rinner, 2nd U.S. Cavalry, January 1864.

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.

Book Review: Bloody Autumn

28 Saturday Mar 2020

Posted by in 1864, battle of Cedar Creek, Battle of Winchester, book reviews, reviews, Uncategorized

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Bloody Autumn

Bloody Autumn: The Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1864. Daniel T. Davis and Phillip S. Greenwalt. El Dorado Hills: Savas Beatie LLC, 2013. 148 pgs.

This book by Daniel T. Davis and Phillip S. Greenwalt is part of the excellent Emerging Civil War Series by publishing company Savas Beatie. As a rule, the books provide a good summary of the battle in question, with numerous appendices related to driving tours and additional context for the battle. This book exceeds high standards already set by the series.

Davis and Greenwalt do an excellent job in providing a coherent summary of this complicated campaign. The strategic context for both sides flows into opening moves and through the various engagements to its conclusion. The appendices are delightful, providing multiple driving tours and a section on battlefield preservation as well as an excellent essay on the campaign in memory. The work doesn’t attempt to answer every question about the campaign, but provides a solid foundation for further in-depth study of any of the engagements or the campaign as a whole. I found the historical perspective fair and well-balanced, neither lionizing nor vilifying the leaders of either side.

Cartographer Hal Jesperson’s excellent maps are plentiful and easily understood, a rarity in such works. They not only help the reader follow the campaign from home, but the driving tours make it much easier for people to explore the field today.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the Civil War, both beginners and those well-versed in the war.

 

Fairfield Dead – William Mottern

04 Thursday Jul 2019

Posted by in 1863, 6th U.S. Cavalry, battle of Fairfield, Casualties, cavalry, Civil War

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156 years ago yesterday, the 6th U.S. Cavalry had its biggest fight of the war a few short miles from Gettysburg, outside the small town of Fairfield, Pennsylvania. The understrength regiment had a brief fight with an entire brigade of Confederate cavalry which did not go well for the bluecoats. Among the dead from the battle was Private William Mottern of Company H.
William Mottern was born in Berks County, Pennsylvania in 1833. Prior to the Civil War he worked as a boatman. He enlisted into Company H on August 12, 1861 at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His enlistment documents describe him a 5’ 6 ½” tall, with light hair, blue eyes, and a fair complexion.
Private Mottern served in the regiment’s “flank squadron,” the only squadron equipped with carbines until after the battle of Antietam. On July 3, 1863, his company was partnered with Company C under 2nd Lieutenant and former first sergeant Joseph Bould as the regiment’s reserve. When the Confederate cavalry broke the through the regiment’s thin defensive line, Bould countercharged to stem the attack. Priavte Mottern was killed in the melee.
Private William Mottern is buried alongside his regimental comrades in the cemetery at Gettysburg.

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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.