Levi Newton Scott, In War and in Peace

I found another great story on my latest client’s tree…  This one concerns one of his 3^rd great grandfathers, Levi Newton Scott. 

Levi was born in Tennessee in 1841, fourth son of Anthony “Hanty” and Lucinda Barnes Scott.  (Family tradition has it that Lucinda was Cherokee Indian, but that remains to be proven.)  He grew up in a large farm family that moved from Wayne County, Tennessee to Dallas County, Missouri in 1854.

Levi served in the Union forces during the Civil War (as did his father).  Familysearch.com turned up three different service records for Levi.  The first shows him in Company G of the Dallas County Regiment of the Missouri Home Guard, where he served from June to September 1861.  The Missouri History Museum website (www.civilwarmo.org) tells us this about the Missouri Home Guards:

Created in the summer of 1861 by General Nathaniel Lyon, the Home Guard were to stay at home and go into action only to defend their neighborhoods. Around 15,000 Home Guard were enlisted.  They were armed by the Union government but received no pay unless on active duty.  They wore no uniforms, and only 10,000 troops actually received weapons—the rest used their own.  Camp gear and food were supplied for some when on active duty.  Approximately 241 Home Guard companies were formed, but they were disbanded in late 1861. 

By 1862 Levi was married for the first time, to Elizabeth Ann Box.  They had at least three children in the next six years. 

In the meantime, Levi ended up back in the military—pressure must have been strong for volunteers, even married men.  This time, he was in Company M of the 8^th Cavalry Regiment, Missouri State Militia.  The regiment saw action all over Arkansas and Missouri—scouting, attacking trains, capturing a fort, and other operations.  He also spent some time in Company H of the 14^th Cavalry Regiment in April 1862 to March 1863.  The 1890 veteran’s census tells us that  he served three years (1862-65) during the “war of the rebellion” and that he was injured—but at least he survived.  Civilwararchive.com tells us that the 8^th Cavalry Regiment lost 77 enlisted men to war injuries and 131 enlisted men to disease during the course of the war. 

A few years after the war, Elizabeth died at age 25.  Levi found himself a widower at age 27 with three young children—Sarah, Melissa Ann, and Henry.  As was often the case in those days, within a year the young father had found a new mother for his children.  His second wife, Mary Catherine Hoover, helped him raise his three children, and they had two more—James and Cora.  By the 1870 census they had settled down to spend the rest of their lives farming in Dallas County, Missouri. 

The Veteran’s Schedule of the 1890 Census lists Levi as a Civil War veteran with an invalid pension.  His disabilities included catarrh (chronic sinus problems) and “injured with powder, right leg.”  Pension index cards indicate that he received a pension starting in 1880, and it was increased in 1912.

 Mary Catherine died in 1904, but Levi was a widower for only a few years, marrying a third time in 1907, to Caladonia Russell Engle, who outlived him.

Levi and his family must have been proud of his wartime service to his country; his gravestone proudly displays the details.  He died in 1915 at age 74 and was buried at Reynolds Cemetery, next to his second wife.

Photos:   Connie Chrisman Hatch on findagrave; ancestry.com; Amanda424 on findagrave.

James Edward Larkin, Delayed Casualty of War

Not all casualties of war are immediately apparent.  My father, for instance, began smoking in the front lines at Normandy to steady his nerves, and the habit stuck with him, killing him 49 years later.  Another example is my friend Suzanne’s great-great-grandfather.

James Edward Larkin of Concord, New Hampshire was an officer in Company A of the 5^th New Hampshire Infantry.  He enlisted on September 28, 1861 and was mustered out on October 12, 1864.  During that time he and his unit were in the thick of many battles, including Antietam, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and Cold Harbor.  He wrote this on December 13, 1862, two days after the Battle of Fredericksburg: 

“Saturday morning I thought there was little prospect of my ever writing to you again.  I wrote a few lines on a card and left it with Calvin to send you in case I should fall—and what saved me but kind Providence.  We advanced for a half mile in the face of Batterie and Infantry where it was almost impossible for a mouse to live, yet I came off safe.  We lost three Captains killed and two Lieutenants—every commissioned officer was killed or wounded except three—Capt. Pierce, Lieut. Sanborn, and myself.  The night after the battle I was in command of the regiment or all there was now of them.  We expect a fight tomorrow.  All the regiment we have now is 72 men and if we have to go in again we shall do the best we can…  I am in an old house tonight and have but a small piece of candle, so you must excuse me for not writing more.  Yours in life and death, J.E. Larkin”

 Two years later, he wrote this: 

“I write you tonight with great anxiety and feelings you can never know and I could not describe them should I try.  I am confident that the great struggle for Richmond is at hand, and a desperate battle is about to be fought…  It has just been decided by orders to proceed to Deep Bottom and that means Richmond.  I think sure if we take it, it will be a glorious thing, but if we fail I cannot tell the results.  I don’t know what force besides our corps is to be engaged.  I trust I shall come out safe but should I fall, you must do the best you can.  I am conscious of the charge and responsibility you have and I feel your great loss should I fall—but the Great Dispenser of Events does all things well and we must be governed by His will; our destinies are in His hands.  I have made arrangements with Doctor Weber to sell my horse and furnish you with the money should you need it and he said he would do it, until you can get the insurance and my back pay.  I shall leave this with the Doctor to send you in case I fall.  God bless you all.  How I long to embrace you and our little darlings once again.  James E. Larkin”

James survived the war to come home to his wife and son and daughter and worked as a painter and then a postmaster.  He wrote this to his daughter in 1872:  

“Fourteen years ago today, you came to us to gladden our life.  It seems but a short time, but in the brief space you have lived, has transpired the most important events of our history.  You can never know what it cost me in feelings to leave you for those three long years of war, every day feeling you might be left fatherless.  But I thank God I was spared to come back and see you develop into womanhood... You can never know until you have children of your own how closely your life and happiness is interwoven with ours.  I send you this ring.  May you live long to wear it and may it remind you of the never ending love of your affectionate father.  James E. Larkin.” 

Sadly, his beloved daughter died in 1884.  His wife followed in 1907.  Who knows what pain he carried?  When he had to bear it alone, it apparently became too much for him.  In 1911 James’ life ended at age 79, at his own hand. 

I suppose only a soldier can understand the pain of a soldier.  My father would tell us stories, terrible stories sometimes, usually late in the evening when his guard was down.  I always sensed that what he told us was just the tip of the iceberg.  It makes my little problems and disappointments and so-called hardships seem so trivial...  God bless our soldiers, one and all.

Military Monday: Jacob Heilman

My husband’s mother has three great-grandfathers who served in the Civil War.  One died (Charles Alwood, whom I wrote about previously), and two others survived.  One of those who survived was Jacob Heilman.

Jacob was born in Bavaria in 1819 and came to the United States in 1844, according to a book of historical sketches published in 1976 by the Henry County, Ohio Historical Society.  (A New York Passenger list I found supports this.)  He came to Ohio in 1847 with a brother and married Maria Baker there in 1850.  They had twelve children—four sons and eight daughters—eight of whom survived him. 

According to his service record on ancestry.com, Jacob was a Private in Company F of the Ohio 68^th Infantry Regiment, and his grave marker confirms that fact.  He would have been in his forties at the time—not a young man!  It was said that his unit marched over 7,000 miles and rode trains or steamboats another 6,000 miles, and that his regiment was in every Confederate state except Florida and Texas.    

There are good histories of his unit, and they bear this out.  I consulted “Dyer’s Compendium” online and got some details.  The 68^th started out at the Battle of Fort Donelson and took part in nearly every major battle and siege of the war, including the Battle of Shiloh, the siege of Vicksburg, and Sherman’s March to Atlanta.  The regiment lost two officers and 48 enlisted men in battle, and another one officer and 249 enlisted men to disease, for a total of 300 deaths.

The actual dates of Jacob’s service are sketchy.  The 1975 biographical sketch (written by Jacob’s great-grandson Lyle Heilman) says that Jacob enlisted in 1861 when the war broke out and served until the war was over.  Maria had a daughter in May 1862, but the baby could have been born after Jacob left for the war.  Dyer’s history shows that his unit had a long furlough in early 1864—but judging by the birth date of Jacob’s son John (June 1864), Jacob was home by September 1863.  A draft register listing him as “discharged” in June 1863 bears that out.  So the extent of action Jacob actually saw is uncertain—but whatever his length of service, it was enough for Jacob to apply for, and receive, an Civil War veteran invalid pension in March 1873. 

It is said in the family that he was blind the last twelve years of his life; he died in 1907, with his wife following in 1912.

I found Jacob’s grave a few years ago at Florida Cemetery in Henry County, Ohio.  My husband and I put a flag on it before taking a photograph.  I was pleased to see the G.A.R. marker there.  In an original photo of him which survives, and which I was fortunate enough to borrow from my husband’s cousin Dale Garver, even in his old age Jacob looks brave and strong—a survivor. 

Ezra Alger, Prisoner at Andersonville

George, an old friend of my husband’s, lost his father when he was just a teenager.  He wanted to know more about his father’s family history and I offered my help.  Going back a few generations, I found the story of Ezra Alger, who fought in the Union Army during the Civil War.

Private Ezra B. Alger was a member of Company I of the 7^th New York Artillery, enlisting on December 16, 1863 in Hudson, New York.  According to the New York State Military Museum website, the 7^th New York Artillery Regiment fought at Spotsylvania Court House, North Anna River, and Totopotomoy Creek, Virginia in May of 1864, suffering over 200 casualties during that month.

The 7^th then fought at the Battle of Cold Harbor, Virginia from June 1-12, 1864.  They suffered 418 casualties there, either killed, wounded, or missing in action—including Ezra Alger.  He was captured by the enemy on June 3, 1864 and was sent to the infamous Andersonville Prison at Andersonville, Georgia.

Andersonville is now a National Historic Site with a huge military cemetery.  According to wikipedia.com, about 45,000 Union prisoners were kept on its 26.5 acres, and nearly 13,000 of them died of starvation and disease and were buried there.  One Union soldier described arriving there like this:  “As we entered the place, a spectacle met our eyes that almost froze our blood with horror… Before us were forms that had once been… stalwart men, now nothing but mere walking skeletons, covered with filth and vermin.  Many of our men, in the heat and intensity of  their feeling, exclaimed, ‘Can this be hell?’”

Wikipedia goes on to say that Andersonville was frequently undersupplied with food, and the prisoners suffered from hunger, exposure, and disease.  The water supply was polluted due to overcrowding and poor sanitation, and the desperate conditions made some of the men turn to violent infighting. 

In the autumn of 1864 after the capture of Atlanta, the surviving prisoners were taken to other, better prison camps, but it was too late for Ezra Alger.  He never came home, and was reported to have died at Andersonville.

Ezra, who was a shoemaker, left a widow and ten children.  In the 1870 federal census for Cohoes, Albany County, New York, his widow lives with nine of their children, and the six oldest work in a cotton mill—the youngest worker being only eleven years old.  In 1880 she is a housekeeper and six of her children still live with her, all working to support the family.  She died in 1888 at age sixty.

Historians are still arguing as to whether the high number of deaths at Andersonville were a result of incompetent prison officials, the general food shortages in the Confederate states, deliberate war crimes, or bad Confederate government policies.  But at any rate, the commandant of the camp, Henry Wirz, was court-martialed and tried for conspiracy and murder after the war, found guilty, and hanged—the only Confederate official to be tried and convicted for war crimes.

A Civil War Widow Applies for a Pension

Recently my fold3.com subscription was about to expire.  I rarely used it, finding it hard to navigate and not very useful.  But I decided to give it one last chance to prove itself.  

I started poking around the Civil War records, since that’s their specialty.  After a few misses, I had a hit.  My husband’s great-great-grandfather Charles Alwood, who died in a Civil War camp from typhoid fever, had a wife who applied for a widow’s pension just weeks after he died.  I downloaded and printed out the 18 pages of records, and it was a gold mine!

I spent the next few hours analyzing what I’d found.  It included:

• The Declaration, partially shown in the photo.  It was an sworn affidavit which gave a detailed background of Elizabeth and Charles, his service, his death, and their family.  Her parents were the sworn witnesses.  One thing they had to swear to was that Elizabeth “has not, in any manner, been engaged in, or aided or abetted the rebellion in the United States.”  Elizabeth had to sign all the documents with an “X”—she couldn’t read or write.
• As proof of these facts, a letter from the Adjutant General’s Office which gave the details of Charles’ army service, from enrollment until death.  Very handy to have!
• A letter from the Surgeon General’s Office that is the equivalent of a death certificate for Charles.  Priceless!  I’d never been able to narrow down exactly when and where he died.
• An affidavit from Tuscarawas County, Ohio, stating the details of Charles and Elizabeth’s marriage—the equivalent of a marriage certificate, signed by a judge.
• An affidavit from Elizabeth’s mother, stating that she was present at the birth of all six underage children being listed on the pension application.  She gave the details about each birth.  A great substitute for official birth records, which the government did not keep in the 1850s!
• Paperwork for Elizabeth’s later application (and approval) for a pension increase; in addition to her $8 per month, she was entitled to an additional $2 per month for each child under age 16.  The children are again listed, with birth dates and dates on which they will turn 16, along with many other details.
• A “Drop Pensioner” card which states the details of Elizabeth’s death in 1912, at which time she was receiving $12 a month.  Not a death record, but pretty darn close.  Better than anything I’d been able to find previously.

I found it interesting that, on these forms created in the middle of the Civil War, the conflict is referred to as “The War of 1861.”  I’d never heard it called that before.

So, maybe fold3.com had its place in my toolbox after all...  I have written for a Civil War pension record before—to the National Archives—and it was an expensive hassle.  This was easy and free!  So, I did one more thing that day—I renewed my subscription to fold3.com.

Lewis Mosey—Civil War Survivor

My husband has a great-grandfather who fought in the Civil War and lived to tell about it (although barely).  His name was Lewis Alpheus Mosey (1843-1925).

A few years ago I found Lewis’ Civil War Pension Index Card and 1890 Special Veteran’s Census Schedule on ancestry.com.  The census said that he had a “rifle wound in hip left” and was a “prisoner at Libby.”  I was intrigued! 

Eventually I obtained his Civil War pension file from the National Archives, and it was well worth the $135 it cost me.  It was a treasure trove of information.

Lewis Mosey enlisted on September 12, 1861 for a three-year tour of duty.  On February 15, 1862, during the Battle of Fort Donelson, he received a rifle wound in the hip.  He rejoined his unit in April or May of 1862 but was then captured on December 31, 1862, during the Battle of Stones River.  But his bad luck was just beginning…  On his way to the infamous Libby Prison of Richmond, Virginia, the train derailed, and he was further injured while jumping from the car.  He was released from prison on February 3, 1863 as part of a prisoner exchange, but was hospitalized again in April for an ailment he had developed in prison called “fistula” (internal injuries), perhaps from the train accident. 

Upon his recovery, he was not well enough to fight—but not injured enough to send home.  So he was assigned to hospital duty (the Invalid Corps) in Indiana for the remainder of his time in the army.  He was discharged on November 22, 1864.

After the war he married the sweetheart of his youth, Hanna Wilkinson, and they settled down first near his parents in Allegan County, Michigan, and then near hers, in Huron County, Michigan, and they had five sons.   

Shortly after Hannah’s untimely death from cancer in 1898, Lewis married Ruth Leeper, a widow.  Apparently this was ‘love on the rebound’ and Lewis lived to regret it—he and Ruth divorced, according to his pension records. 

Lewis was married a third time in 1904 to Sarah Armstrong Brooker, but this marriage was not a long one.  In a 1915 pension application, written in his own hand, he says, “I am alone in the world, that is I have no wife and but 2 children, Willy and Rowland Mosey by first wife.”  He also says that his other three sons (“Mark, Johnnie, and Mark”) have died.

His grandson Norman told me that in his later years, Lewis lived alternately with his two surviving sons, William and Rowland, to whom he had given his land, and the census records bear this out.  Lewis died in 1925 at his son Rowland’s home and was buried in Huron County, Michigan. 

In the end, Lewis was a survivor.  He lived into his eighties and was the patriarch of a family that, three generations later, gave me my husband—who, when called upon to do so, also served his country.

Four Civil War Soldiers in the Family

I wish I had a Civil War veteran in my family tree!...  But my ancestors came from Sweden and Germany quite a few years after the Civil War ended.  My husband is more fortunate in that regard—I’ve found two of his direct ancestors who fought for the Union.  But one of my clients turned out to have four!  Peggy (not her real name) hired me in 2011 to do a binder on her mother and a binder on her father. 

·       Walter Blanchard (1807-1863), pictured above, was a probate judge who fought in the 13^th Illinois Infantry, rising to the rank of Captain.  He was fatally wounded in Georgia during the Battle of Ringgold Gap in November 1863, and he died seven days later.  He is buried in Downers Grove, Illinois.

·       Charles Carpenter (1833-1910, not pictured) also fought in the 13^th Illinois Infantry as a private.  At the Battle of Chicasaw Bayou he was captured by the rebels when his unit was ordered to retreat, but he was too far forward to hear the command.  After his release he returned home to Illinois to marry his sweetheart—then returned to his unit to serve out the rest of his three-year term of enlistment.

·       Arthur Ducat (1830-1896), pictured above, was an Irish immigrant, but better educated than most.  He was a civil engineer before the war, whose hobby was to read every book he could find on military science and the art of war.  (Source:  Biographical Sketches of the Leading Men of Chicago by Carbutt & Meredith.)  When war broke out, he volunteered in the 12^th Illinois Infantry and eventually rose from the rank of private to the rank of Brigadier General.  He was said to be an excellent soldier, organizer, tactician, and negotiator.  After the war he became a very successful insurance agent and authored a book on Fire Underwriting.  Arthur outlived his first two wives, and had children with all three.

·       James Edward Larkin (1832-1911), seen in this tintype,  rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the 5^th New Hampshire Infantry.  His unit fought in some of the worst battles in the war, including Antietam, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and Cold Harbor.  Somehow, he survived his three-year enlistment and went home to his trade as an ornamental painter, and he later became the local postmaster.

What a wonderful heritage!  And how fortunate that so many records are online for me to find!

Grave Hunting in the Heartland

It was my Grandma Wallin who first took me to a graveyard—as a recreational activity—when I was about eight. I’ve liked graveyards ever since.

Recently my husband and I were traveling to Holmes County, Ohio, and I thought we might as well visit a few graveyards on the way. His maternal ancestors are buried in a string of graveyards stretching from northern Indiana to central Ohio. So, armed with my “graveyard kit,” we spent a day hunting tombstones.

First stop: Eddy Cemetery, DeKalb County, Indiana—resting place of Charles and Elizabeth Alwood, my husband’s great-great-grandparents. Charles was a private in the Indiana Volunteers during the Civil War. He left seven children at home, the oldest a boy of twelve. His unit fought its way through the south, eventually ending up in North Carolina, where they occupied Raleigh and then cooled their heels waiting for the war to end. After it did, but before he could get back home, Charles died of typhoid in an army camp there. Elizabeth lived forty more years as a widow, running their farm as well as she could. We left a flag at his grave.

Second stop:  Independence Cemetery, Defiance County, Ohio—resting place of John Jr. and Mary Ann Garver, my husband’s great-great-grandparents.  There we had the great pleasure of meeting up with the woman who cared for this church cemetery along with her husband.  We had corresponded with her ahead of time and determined that her husband is a distant cousin of my husband, and she surprised us with an envelope of photographs which were ours to keep.

Third stop:  Florida Cemetery, Henry County, Ohio—final resting place of Jacob Heilman and his family—once again, my husband’s great-great-grandparents.  Jacob, an immigrant from Bavaria, was in the 68^th Ohio Infantry in the Civil War, and theirs is an incredible tale.  His unit fought in every Confederate state except Florida and Texas, and during the course of the war, he marched over 7,000 miles and rode trains or steamboats another 6,000.  He lived to tell the story, going on to have twelve children—six before the war and six after—and he died at 88.  After taking some photographs, we put a flag on his grave and were on our way.  We had a long drive to our next stop.

Fourth stop:  Walters Cemetery, Morrow County, Ohio—final resting place of John Garver Sr. and his wife Elizabeth—my husband’s great-great-great grandparents.  John Sr. was born in 1795 and died in 1879.  He fought in the Pennsylvania Militia in the War of 1812, and was given a 40-acre piece of government homesteading land (“bounty land”) for his service and a pension in his old age.  Three of their daughters predeceased them and are buried with them—all three died in the 1840s, at ages 20, 16, and 2.

Not every husband would spend an entire day finding cemeteries and cleaning gravestones for his wife, especially on vaction...  Kudos to mine for being such a good sport!