Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Lucas County's Civil War dead


The Iowa Soldiers and Sailors Monument, completed during 1894-96, is the largest and most elaborate of the state’s tributes to those who served and died. It is located just south of the state capitol building in Des Moines (photo taken June 1, 2008).

This is the beginning of an effort to account for Lucas County’s Civil War dead. Although I’ve been working at it for some time, the post coincides with the beginning of the first sesquicentennial year of that most costly of our wars.

Only a few names at the beginning of the alphabetical sequence are here now, but that number will grow as the year advances. I currently have preliminary information about 125 Lucas County men who died, and there are considerably more to be tracked down. There is no single source or master database to go to, so it all takes time.

Iowa was sparsely settled when the Civil War began --- total population of roughly 675,000. More than 76,000 Iowa men served, the largest per capita contribution of any state to the Union effort. Of the 76,000, 13,000 died.

Roughly a third of Iowa’s losses were sustained in combat; the remainder died of disease or infection. And nearly all were buried where they died and remain there.

Some families sustained terrible losses. Among just these few names here now are those of two sets of brothers. The story of two of my Lucas County uncles, half-brothers James M. Rhea and Robert Etheredge, is not that uncommon. Robert, who idolized his elder brother, lied about his age to enlist at 16 and died of disease at 17. Jim died of wounds sustained at Vicksburg.

The memories of many of these men are nearly extinguished. Baley Chaney, for example --- post office Lagrange but a resident of Cedar Township’s Ireland neighborhood --- enlisted at 18 and was severely wounded in the foot at Shiloh. Sent home to recuperate --- or die --- he died and most likely was buried in what now is Bethel Cemetery. After the war, his family moved on, his grave was not marked and no one was left to tell his story.

As this project continues, anyone with input is welcome to contact me by commenting on this post or by e-mail (you’ll find that address under “view my complete profile”).

A

ABLES, JOHN B., age 18 at enlistment, of English Township, Private, Co. L, 9th Iowa Cavalry; enlisted 14 July 1863; died 15 August 1864 of chronic diarrhea at the Marine General Hospital, St. Louis; buried Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, St. Louis (Section 34, Site 3353).

John B., a son of Alexander and Lucy (Underwood) Ables, was born about 1845 in Illinois and was living with his family in Mount Pleasant, Henry County, Iowa, when the 1850 federal census was taken. By 1860, the family had moved to English Township, Lucas County (P.O. Chariton). Alexander was a carpenter by trade. John’s elder brother, Theodore (which see), who died aboard a hospital ship at St Louis on 2 or 3 June 1862, also was a Civil War fatality and also is buried at Jefferson Barracks. By 1870, Alexander and Lucy had returned to Mount Pleasant, then moved soon thereafter to Parsons in Labette County, Kansas, where she died 23 January 1878. Alexander died 31 March 1898. Both are buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Parsons.

ABLES, THEODORE, age 21 at enlistment, of English Township, Private, Co. K, 15th Iowa Infantry; enlisted at Knoxville 20 January 1862; mustered 13 February 1862; died 2 or 3 June 1862 of pneumonia aboard the hospital ship Louisiana at or near St. Louis; buried Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, St. Louis (Section 51, Site 759).

Theodore, son of Alexander and Lucy (Underwood) Ables and a native of Illinois, was living with his family in Mount Pleasant, Henry County, Iowa, in 1850. By 1860, the family had moved to English Township, Lucas County (P.O. Chariton). Alexander was a carpenter by trade. He enlisted at Knoxville and may or may not have been living there at the time. Theodore's younger brother, John (which see), also was a Civil War fatality and also is buried at Jefferson Barracks. Theodore is carried officially as a Marion County fatality because he enlisted there. He probably was a veteran of Shiloh, 6-7 April 1862. His remains were buried initially at Wesleyan Cemetery, St. Louis, then relocated upon establishment of Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery. By 1870, Alexander and Lucy had returned to Mount Pleasant, then moved soon thereafter to Parsons in Labette County, Kansas, where she died 23 January 1878. Alexander died 31 March 1898. Both are buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Parsons.

ARMSTRONG, JOHN W., age 29 at enlistment, Fifth Sergeant (promoted Fourth Sergeant 10 January 1862), Co. B, 6th Iowa Infantry; wounded 6 April 1862 at Shiloh, died of wounds 8 May 1862 at Mound City, Ill; buried (perhaps) among the unknowns at Mound City National Cemetery. Nativity Illinois; residence at enlistment Chariton; enlisted 1 July 1861, mustered 17 July 1861. (Widow was Eliza J. Armstrong, later Eliza J. Kirsch.)

B

BACON, GEORGE W., age 16 at enlistment 14 August 1862, Chariton (lied about his age and passed for 18); Private, Co. G, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry, mustered 15 October 1862; died of typhoid fever 28 January 1863, Helena, Arkansas; disposition of remains unknown.

George, born 22 February 1846 in Henry County, was a son of Dwight and Phoebe (Benson) Bacon. In 1860, following the death of his father and his mother's remarriage, he was living at age 14  with his mother and stepfather, A. Lynch, in Liberty Township, Clarke County, when the federal census was taken.

BADGER, JOHN WYANT., age 23 at enlistment, of rural Chariton; Private, Co. I, 8th Iowa Infantry; enlisted at Chariton 10 August 1861; mustered 10 August 1861; killed in action 6 April 1862 at Shiloh; buried among the unknowns at Shiloh National Military Park.

John, son of Ebenezer and Margaret (Wyant) Badger, was born 22 September 1838 in Grant County, Indiana, and came to Lucas County with his family during the fall of 1850, settling along the Mormon Trail just southeast of Chariton. He was living with his siblings when both the 1856 state and 1860 federal censes enumerations of Lucas County were made, occupation given as "farmer." By 1860, however, he owned $200 worth of real estate in his own right.

BARKER, VERLIN, age 30 at enlistment, Private, Co. E, 34th Iowa Infantry; died 27 March 1863 at St. Louis of disease; buried Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery (Section 1, Number 7115). Nativity Indiana; residence Chariton; enlisted 20 August 1862; mustered 15 October 1862.

There’s a good deal of confusion regarding Verlin. He apparently is buried at Jefferson Barracks under the name Verlin Barkley with death date given as 1 April 1863, but other records give as his death date 27 March 1863 which actually seems to be a “mustered out” date. Verlin’s widow, Martha E. Barker, with three minor children, Johnson Barker, John C. Barker and probably Cynthia Barker, received a pension after his death. Verlin Barker apparently is the Verlin “Baker” who married Martha Ellen Triggs on 19 December 1857 in Keokuk County.

BECHTOL, ABRAHAM, age 24 at enlistment, Private, Co. K, 34th Iowa Infantry; died 22 January 1863 of disease “on the steamer Iatan”; place of burial unknown. Son of Polly Bechtol, nativity Ohio, residence 1860 White Breast Township (post office Chariton), farmer, enlisted 11 August 1862, mustered 15 October 1862.

BELL, NELSON, age 26 at enlistmen, Private, Co. B, 6th Iowa Infantry; died of disease Dec. 21 (or 20), 1862, at Camp Yocona, Miss.; place of burial unknown. Husband of Rebecca (Hobson) Bell/Plimpton, father of Cyrus Nelson Bell, Residence 1860 White Breast Township (post office Chariton), farmer, enlisted 11 September 1862, mustered 11 September 1862.

BLUE, WILLIAM RAPER, age 29 at enlistment, of LaGrange, Captain, Co. C, 18th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; died of combat wounds 13 January 1863, Springfield, Missouri; buried Springfield National Cemetery. cenotaph at Greenville Cemetery, Washington Township, Lucas County.  Enlisted as 3rd Sergeant on 9 July 1862 at Chariton, mustered 6 August 1862 at Camp Kirkwood, Clinton; promoted to 2nd Sergeant 8 August 1862; promoted to captain 19 November 1862.

Capt. Blue, apparently known to family and friends by his middle name, Raper, was a native of Miami County, Ohio, son of Uriah H. and Charity (Chaney) Blue. According to the 1856 census of Iowa, he had lived in the state for 15 years during that census year --- suggesting arrival ca. 1841 as a child. In 1856, he was living with the family of his elder brother, James M. Blue, in Wayne Township, Monroe County. On 21 October 1860 in Monroe County Raper married Melissa Stoddard, daughter of John and Sarah (Kirkpatrick) Stoddard. They had one son, named Asbury R. Blue, born on or about 16 December 1862.

Capt. Blue was leading his men in defense of an artillery emplacement during the Battle of Springfield when he was critically wounded on 8 January 1863. He died five days later at the general military hospital, Springfield, and was buried nearby. His grave was marked with a headboard, so his remains were identifiable when they were moved after the war to what now is Springfield National Cemetery.

Little Asbury R. Blue died on 18 August 1864 and was buried in the Greenville Cemetery. His mother, the widowed Melissa, married Mathuselah Croddy Burns on 6 March 1866, but died little more than a year later on 26 July 1867, her infant daughter, Edith, dying the next day. They, too, were buried in the Greenville Cemetery where a large stone bearing inscriptions commemorating the lives of Raper, Asbury, Melissa and Edith was erected.

BOYCE, JOHN W., age 22 at enlistment, Private, Co. B, 6th Iowa Infantry; died of unspecified causes 3 November 1862 at Memphis, Tenn.; probably buried among the unknowns at Memphis National Cemetery. Son of John Harper and Nancy R. (Sanderson) Boyce, nativity Ohio, residence 1860 Union Township (post office Argo) in the household of John A. and Mary A. Sanders, farmer, enlisted 1 July 1861, mustered 17 July 1861. Note that John’s brother, Samuel (which see), also was a Civil War fatality.

BOYCE, SAMUEL, age 18 at enlistment, Private, Co. I, 8th Iowa Infantry; missing in action, wounded and taken prisoner 6 April 1862 at Shiloh; died 13 February 1863 of unspecified causes at St. Louis; buried Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery (apparently among the unknowns). Son of John Harper and Nancy R. (Sanderson) Boyce, nativity Ohio, residence 1860 White Breast Township (post office Chariton), enlisted 10 August 1861, mustered 12 September 1861. Note that Samuel’s brother, John (which see), also was a Civil War fatality.

BROCKWAY, LYNAS, age 22 at enlistment, Private, Co. B, 6th Iowa Infantry; died of disease 16 December 1862 at Memphis, Tenn.; buried among the unknowns at Memphis National Cemetery. A veteran of Shiloh and other engagements, Lynas died of chronic diarrhea. Son of Titus and Nancy Brockway, nativity Lee County, Iowa, living there with his widowed mother and siblings in 1860, enlisted 1 July 1861, mustered 17 July 1861. Commemorated on family tombstone in Fairview Cemetery, Washington Township, Lee County.

BROWN, OTIS P, age 31 at enlistment, of New York (Wayne County) or Warren Township (Lucas County. Enlisted 12 August 1862 at Chariton as a private in Co. E, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; mustered at Camp Lauman in Burlington 15 October 1862; died of disease 9 February 1863 on Arsenal Island, St. Louis. Buried first on Arsenal Island, unidentifiable remains relocated after the war with 469 others from the cemetery on Arsenal Island to Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery (Sections 63, 64 and 68).

Otis was a native of Indiana who married Sarah N. Moore, daughter of Burris and Julia Ann (Gardner) Moore, on 26 October 1854 in Bartholomew County, Indiana, where they still were living when the federal census of 1860 was taken. By that time, they had become parents of three sons, Burris J., born 1 April 1855; Robert T., born 15 February 1858; and Frank, age 7 months when the census was taken. Frank died young.

Sarah's parents had moved to Iowa by 1860, when they were residents of Warren Township, Lucas County, after having lived briefly in Davis County. Soon after 1860, Otis and Sarah and their sons joined them, but may have established their home in Union Township, Wayne County, post office New York. Burris Moore was a surveyor and farmer by trade.

Otis enlisted on 12 August 1862 as a private in Co. E, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; and was mustered into the service on 15 October 1862 at Burlington. He became ill with smallpox during late January or early February of 1863 while stationed in or near St. Louis and died of that disease at a hospital on Arsenal Island on 9 February. Buried initially in the cemetery on Arsenal Island, his unidentifiable remains were transferred with those of 470 other soldiers to Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery after the war. These remains were buried in Sectionss 63, 64 and 69 of the national cemetery.

Sarah's post office address was New York when she applied for a widow's and dependents' pension later that year at Chariton. And at some point during that year, her parents moved from Lucas to Wayne County.

On 16 August 1866, Sarah married as her second husband Horace E. Goodell, who had arrived in Wayne County from Indiana during 1865, at her parents' home. Together, they had three children, Carrie M., Lewis E. and Earnest E., and became prosperous Union Township farmers. Her son, Robert T. Brown, died 21 February 1878 at age 20 and was buried in the New York Cemetery. Sarah died just short of her 78th birthday on 15 January 1916 and was buried in New York Cemetery.

C

CALLAHAN, JOHN THOMAS, age 32 at enlistment, of Whitebreast Township; Private, Co. C, 13th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted at Chariton 28 September 1861; mustered at Burlington 28 October 1861; died of disease (chronic diarrhea) 23 June 1862, U.S. General Hospital, Keokuk; buried Keokuk National Cemetery (Section B, Site 181).

John, a son of Jeremiah R. and Harriet (Leach) Callahan, was a native of Indiana, born 12 April 1829 in Johnson County. He married Mary Ellen Admire on 8 November 1849 in Brown County, Indiana. John and Mary apparently came west to Lucas County ca. 1855 with other extended family members. They had five sons --- Jeremiah R., born ca. 1853 in Indiana; James M., born 28 May 1857, Francis M., born 19 October 1859, Jacob, born 16 May 1861, and John Thomas Jr., born posthumously on 9 November 1862, all in Lucas County.

The family was living in Whitebreast Township, Lucas County, when both the 1856 state census and 1860 federal census were taken. John Apparently survived the Battle of Shiloh, but became ill soon thereafter and may have been transported upriver to Keokuk for treatment. 

Following John's death, Mary married as her second husband Philip Wolf on 23 May 1865 in Chariton and had three additional children, Eliza, George and Jesse, before being left a widow again prior to 1870. She married a third time, on 15 September 1878, to Evan Morgan Ward, then died on 30 January 1882 in Chariton. She was buried in the Chariton Cemetery.

CARSON, HARVEY L., age 21 at enlistment, resident Chariton; Private, Co. K, 34th Iowa Infantry; enlisted 3 August 1862; mustered 15 October 1862; died 15 February 1863 of pneumonia at New House of Refuge General Hospital, St. Louis; buried initially at Christ Church Cemetery in St. Louis, reburied perhaps at Monmouth Cemetery, Harrison County, Illinois.

 A son of Franklin and Sarah (Hines) Carson, Harvey was born 19 September 1841 in Harrison County, Ohio, and reportedly was visiting his brother, John B. Carson, in Lucas County when he enlisted (two other Carson brothers, William F. and Isaac Newton, also settled in Lucas County). There is some confusion about where Harvey is buried. He definitely was among approximately 200 Union soldiers buried in Christ Church Cemetery in St. Louis, which later was closed and the remains removed. His name is not among those buried or reburied at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery. However, both his service gravestone and an “in memory of” inscription on a family stone are located on the lot of Harvey’s uncle, Walter Carson, in the Monmouth Cemetery, Warren County, Illinois. So it is possible, but not certain, that the Illinois Carson family claimed Harvey’s body when it was disinterred at Christ Church Cemetery and took it upriver to Warren County.

CHANEY, BALEY, age 18 at enlistment, post office Lagrange; Private, Co. C, 13th Iowa Infantry; enlisted 28 September 1861; mustered 28 October 1861; died at home in Cedar Township, Lucas County, of wounds sustained at Shiloh 20 (or 30) May 1862; perhaps buried in unmarked grave, Bethel Cemetery, Cedar Township.

Baley, born in Indiana, was living with his parents, Francis and Rachel Chaney, and siblings, in the Ireland neighborhood of Cedar Township when the 1856 and 1860 census enumerations were taken. The 1856 census suggests the family had moved from Indiana to Iowa ca. 1851. He enlisted 28 September 1861 and was mustered 28 October 1861. Severely wounded in a foot at Shiloh, he was sent home to recover or die --- and died. Later, Francis and Rachel and children moved from Iowa to Walnut Creek Township, Bates County, Missouri, where they were living when the 1870 census was taken.



CHRISTY, HENRY C., age 20 at enlistment, resident of Lucas County, Private, Co. G, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 14 August 1862, mustered 15 October 1862, received disability discharge 30 March 1863 at St. Louis, died at home in Lucas or Monroe County on 25 or 27 April 1863; buried Evans (aka Hannam) Cemetery, Jackson Township, Monroe County.

Henry, born in Indiana, was a son of the Rev. Isaac and Susannah Christy (or Christie). He was living with his parents and brother, William, on a farm near Gentryville, Gentry County, Missouri, when the 1860 census was taken. Isaac Christy, a supporter of the Union who was living and working in a hotbed of secessionist sympathies, reportedly was told to leave Gentry County in the fall of 1860 or risk losing his life. He brought his family to south central Iowa where he became affiliated with the Eden Baptist Association, a group of scattered Baptist churches in several counties, including Lucas. It isn’t known exactly where the Christys lived or which church or churches he served. Henry was among soldiers in Co. G, 34th Infantry, taken from the riverboat Sam Gaty on 25 Jan 1863 to a hospital on Arsenal Island, St. Louis, suffering from smallpox. He survived, but was discharged for disability and sent home where he died a few weeks later. His was buried in Evans Cemetery, located where the corners of Lucas, Monroe, Appanoose and Wayne counties meet and his name is inscribed on the Civil War memorial there. Isaac Christy died in 1865 and Susannah, in 1880. Both are buried, too, at Evans.


CHRISTY, JONATHAN, age 42 at enlistment, resident Lucas County; Private, Co. K, 36th Iowa Infantry; enlisted 17 October 1864, mustered 20 October 1864, died of typhoid fever 24 December 1864 at Little Rock, Arkansas; buried Little Rock National Cemetery (Section 1, Site 285).

 Jonathan, a farmer born in Indiana, was living in Lick Creek Township, Davis County (post office Floris) with his second wife, Catharine, and children Alexander, William H., Mary E., George W. and Margaret J. when the 1860 census was taken. His first wife, Charlotte, had died during 1855 in Indiana and he married Catharine during 1856 in Bartholomew County. That Jonathan was a resident of Lucas County, Post Office LaGrange, when he enlisted suggests the family had moved west soon thereafter. They may have lived on either, or both, sides of the Lucas-Monroe County line near LaGrange, although Jonathan is attributed in Iowa records to Lucas County. His widow, however, was a resident of Monroe County when she first applied for a pension. Far older than the usual recruit, Jonathan may have enlisted as part of an effort to reconstitute the 36th Iowa Infantry, three-fourths of whom had been killed or captured during the April 1864 Battle of Marks Mills, Arkansas. Children born after the 1860 census was taken were John S., Charlotte and Isabell, born the year of his enlistment (and death) so he left eight children ranging in age from newborn to 15 behind. Following the war, the Christy family moved for a time back to Davis County and then, apparently, on to Kansas.


COFFMAN, OLIVER W., age 29 at enlistment, resident of Chariton, Saddler, Co. C, First Iowa Cavalry; enlisted and mustered 31 August 1862; died of disease at home in Chariton on 26 December 1863, buried Douglass Cemetery.

Oliver, born in Ohio, had arrived in Chariton by 15 August 1855 when he married Elizabeth J. Ross. His residence as given in both 1856 and 1860 census records was the city of Chariton and his occupation, painter and plasterer. By 1860, Oliver and Elizabeth had a daughter, Dora, age 5. He enlisted in the First Iowa Cavalry at a time when it was engaged in campaigns in Arkansas and southwest Missouri. His final engagement would have been the Little Rock Campaign which ended when that city fell to Union forces on 10 September 1863. The unit, encamped near Little Rock during the following winter, sustained few casualties but was hit hard by illness. A victim of “chronic diarrhea,” he was sent home to Chariton to recuperate or die --- and died. He was buried in what now is called the Douglass Pioneer Cemetery and a fragment of his tombstone is mounted in the memorial area of that cemetery although his grave has been lost. Elizabeth married John Alexander at Chariton on 9 April 1867 and they apparently left the area.

COLVER, GEORGE B., age 30 at enlistment, of Cedar Township (post office Lagrange); Private, Co. K, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 9 August 1862, mustered 15 October 1862, died of smallpox 6 February 1863 at Mound City, Ill.; probably buried Mound City National Cemetery.

George, a son of Edmond and Sarah (Brotherton) Colver, was born in Greene County, Ohio, but had arrived in Lucas County with his family prior to 1850. He married Mary Margaret Sellers 30 October 1851 and they farmed in Lucas County for 11 years. There were six children: Sarah Margaret (Parkin), James Joseph, Susan L. (Wood), Douglas and Johnson (twins) and Georgeanna (born posthumously). 

George was a member of the 34th Iowa’s initial muster at Burlington and served with it in early engagements in Arkansas. During the period 17 January through 5 February, 1863, the 34th Iowa was assigned to escort prisoners of war from Arkansas to Chicago. George apparently became ill while thus deployed and was taken from a river boat and hospitalized at Mound City, Ill., when he died on 6 February. There is no record of George’s burial in the Mound City National Cemetery, but he most likely is there among more than 2,400 “unknowns.” 

Mary Margaret did not remarry. She continued to live in Cedar Township until her own death on 4 August 1901. She is buried in Bethel Cemetery.


D

DAVENPORT, NELSON, age 24 at enlistment, resident Lucas County but no other record of him found here, Private, Co. G, 34th Volunteer Iowa Infantry, enlisted 12 August 1862, mustered at Burlington 15 October 1862, died of smallpox 20 February 1863 at St. Louis.

Nelson was among soldiers from Company G taken from the riverboat Sam Gaty on 25 January 1863 to a hospital on Arsenal Island, suffering from smallpox (his unit was engaged in transporting prisoners of war). He died on 20 February 1863, presumably at that hospital and was buried nearby. His unidentified remains were transferred later to Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery. Born in Ohio, Nelson was married to Rebecca, who was living in Oskaloosa with children when he wrote a surviving letter to her on Nov. 25, 1863. Samuel Shepherd, who received a dependent's pension, may have been a stepson.

DAWSON, ZADOCK, age 19 at enlistment; Private, Co. K, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 9 August 1862 Chariton; mustered 15 October 1862 at Burlington; died of disease 9 February 1863 at St. Louis; buried as “unknown” in Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery.

Zadock, eldest son of Thomas S. and Elizabeth (Prickett) Dawson, was born in Grant County, Indiana, ca. 1843 and came with his family to Whitebreast Township, Lucas County, in 1855. His occupation was given as farmer in the 1860 census and at 17 he was living with his parents and six younger siblings, William, Solomon, John, Henry, Austin and Rosanne. His father enlisted on 30 July 1862 as a private in Company K, as did Zadock on 9 August. They were mustered together and shipped downriver, but Zadock became ill and was hospitalized in St. Louis, where he died six months after enlisting. His unidentifiable remains were collected after the war and reburied in Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery. His father served until war’s end.

DAY, AMRAH, age 21 at enlistment; First Sergeant, Co. K, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 30 July 1862 Chariton; mustered 15 October 1862 at Burlington; died of disease 19 January 1863 at Memphis, Tennessee; buried (as “unidentified”) Memphis (aka Mississippi River) National Cemetery.

Amrah probably was a son of William and Julia (Perry) Day, born 6 February 1842 in Belmont County, Ohio, who came west to join his uncle, Henry H. Day, who was living during 1860 in Jackson Township, Lucas County, with his wife, Rebecca, and children Mahlon and Jessie. Amrah survived Shiloh and other engagements, but died of disease the following January at Memphis, Tenn. Several sources state that he is buried in the Memphis National Cemetery, but no marked grave exists for him there. Most likely, he rests among the “unknowns.”

DIXON, JAMES, age 22 at enlistment; Private, Co. B, 6th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 7 October 1861; mustered 7 October 1861; died of pneumonia 25 or 26 December 1861 at Sedalia, Missouri; probably buried at Jefferson City National Cemetery.

James was a son of Isaac and Rebecca Dixon who had moved west with his father and stepmother, Nancy, to Chariton Township, Lucas County, ca. 1855. He was living there with his family, including a full brother, Jesse, and six half-siblings when the 1860 census was taken, occupation given as farmer. The 6th Iowa, deployed in Missouri, had yet to have combat experience when James died at Sedalia, Missouri, on Christmas day, 1861. His remains most likely were reinterred some years after death at Jefferson City National Cemetery, but if so he rests there among the “unknowns.”


DOOLEY, CHARLES LEWIS, age 19 at enlistment, Private, Co. C, 13th Iowa Volunteer Infantry, killed in combat April 6, 1862, at the Battle of Shiloh, buried Shiloh National Cemetery, 13th Iowa Section, Grave No. 493.

Charles was born ca. 1845 in Jackson County, (West) Virginia, and by 1855 had moved west with his family to Union Township, Lucas County. About 1860, the family moved very briefly to Iowa Point Township, Doniphan County, Kansas, but were living in Lucas County again by the fall of 1861 when both Charles and his father, Jonathan, enlisted as privates in Co. C, 13th Iowa Volunteer Infantry. Charles was killed in combat on April 6, 1862, during the battle of Shiloh. His father, having survived the battle, died a month later of dysentery at a military hospital in Keokuk.


 DOOLEY, JOHN WESLEY, age 40 at enlistment, Private, Co. C, 13th Iowa Volunteer Infantry, died May 28 or 29, 1862, of dysentery at a military hospital in Keokuk, Iowa. Buried Keokuk National Cemetery, Section C, Site 52.

Jonathan, born March 10, 1821, probably in Kanawha County, (West) Virginia, married Mary Fisher Oct. 18, 1844, in Jackson County, (West) Virginia, where their three oldest children --- Charles Lewis, William Monroe and Rebecca Mahala, were born. Ca. 1855, the family moved to Union Township, Lucas County, where they were living when the 1856 state census was taken. Daughters Sarah Ann and Hester Ellen were born here. Ca. 1859, the family moved to Iowa Point Township, Doniphan County, in extreme northeast Kansas Territory, but remained only briefly. By 1861, the Dooleys were living in Lucas County again. On Sept. 28, 1861, both Jonathan and his son, Charles L., enlisted as privates in Co. C, 13th Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and they were mustered in together at Davenport on Oct. 28. The 13th sustained substantial losses at the Battle of Shiloh on April 5-6, 1862. Charles was killed in combat on April 6. Jonathan survived, but died of dysentery at a military hospital in Keokuk a few weeks later, on May 28 or 29 (records vary, but Keokuk National Cemetery records show May 28). The widowed Mary Dooley was living with other family members in near Chelsea in Poweshiek County during 1870, but the family moved soon thereafter back to Lucas County. Mary reportedly died at Chariton on Aug. 11, 1873, but there is no record of her burial here. Reports that she was buried with Jonathan at Keokuk are in error.


DUCKWORTH, JACOB ASBURY, age 28 at enlistment, Private, Co. F, 36th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 28 March 1864; mustered 24 April 1864; died of disease 1 June 1864 at Little Rock, Arkansas; buried Section 2, Site 1591, Little Rock National Cemetery.

Jacob was a native of Indiana, son of John M. and Sophia (Peck) Duckworth, who married Elizabeth Foster June 19, 1856, in Lucas County. Jacob and Elizabeth were living in Pleasant Township where he was employed as a carpenter when the 1860 census was taken. They had four children ranging in age from 7 to 2 --- Lewis M., Andrew O., Harriett R. and Matilda F. --- when Jacob enlisted. Disease claimed his life little more than two months later. Elizabeth did not remarry. She died 10 February 1931 and was buried in Zion Cemetery where his name also is inscribed on the family tombstone.


E

EASTER, JACOB, age 21 at enlistment, Private, Co. G, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 11 August 1862; mustered 15 October 1862; died of smallpox 29 January 1863 at St. Louis. Buried Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery (among the "unknowns").

Jacob, born ca. 1841 in Jennings County, Indiana, was a son of George Easter and his first wife, Eliza. They moved west during the 1850s to Monroe County, where Eliza died. George then married his second wife, Mary. When the 1850 federal census was taken, the family was living in Jackson Township, Monroe County. Jacob's home county is given as Lucas in military records, but his family continued to live in Monroe County. Fellow Lucas Countyan William Goltry noted in a diary entry that Jacob was among six smallpox-stricken soldiers of Company G, 34th Iowa, removed on Jan. 25, 1862, at St. Louis, to the hospital on "Smallpox Island" from the ship the unit was using to escort prisoners upriver. He died there four days later and would have been buried nearby. After the war his remains, by then unidentifiable, were removed to Jefferson Barracks. Jacob is, however, commemorated on the Civil War memorial in Evans Cemetery, located at the "four corners," where Monroe, Lucas, Appanoose and Wayne counties join.


EDWARDS, ABEL T., age 22 at enlistment, of Otter Creek Township, Private, Co. C, 13th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 28 September 1861 at Chariton, mustered 28 October 1861; critically wounded 6 April 1861 at the Battle of Shiloh; died of wounds 20 April 1862, 4th Street Military Hospital, Cincinnati, Ohio; buried military section of Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati (right); commemorated at Clore-Wells Pioneer Cemetery, Otter Creek Township, Lucas County, Iowa (left).

Abel, a son of Abel T. Edwards Sr. and Lucy E. (Bennett) Edwards, was 23 when he was killed. Here's the biographical paragraph composed by a relative, "Kathy S.," for his Find-A-
Grave memorial: "Abel enlisted in Co. C, 13th Iowa Infantry, 28 Sept 1861. The company was formed in Lucas Co. Iowa, and included several men from the Norwood area including Elias Mills, who later married Abel's sister, Elizabeth. They (were) mustered into service 28 Oct 1861 at Keokuk, Iowa. The men spent the winter in camp at Jefferson City, Missouri, where three died of disease. On 6 April 1862, the company experienced it's first and bloodiest battle --- Shiloh, also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing (Tennessee) --- under Ulysses S. Grant. Abel was shot in the lungs and removed to the 4th Street Military Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio. He survived the wound for two weeks."

ETHREDGE, ROBERT, age 16 at enlistment, of Cedar Township, Lucas County; Private, Co. F, 36th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 9 August 1862 at Iconium (Appanoose County); mustered 4 October 1862; discharged for disability 20 February 1863, Helena, Arkansas; died at home in Cedar Township on 9 April 1863, age 17; buried Bethel Cemetery.

Robert, born 24 January 1846 in Jefferson County, Iowa, was the third of four children born to Elizabeth (Rhea) Rhea and her second husband, Thomas Etheredge. Elizabeth also had three children from her first marriage to a Sangamoun County, Illinois, farmer and preacher named Richard Rhea. They were Mary, Elizabeth Rachel and James M. Rhea. The Etheredge family moved west to the Lucas-Marion county line south of Columbia ca. 1851, then during 1854 to Cedar Township, where they lived just east of what became Bethel Cemetery --- the oldest part of which was on their farm.

Robert's elder brother, James Rhea, enlisted for service in Company I, Eighth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and perhaps to emulate him, Robert lied about his age (he said he was 19) and on 9 August 1862 enlisted at Inconium in Co. F, 36th Iowa Volunteer Infantry. Plagued by illness through the following months he finally became so ill that on 20 February 1863 he was discharged for disability at Helena, Arkansas. He managed to make it home where he died less that two months later, on 9 April 1863, age 17. He was buried in Bethel Cemetery. Three months later, on 25 July 1863, his brother, James, died of wounds at Vicksburg.

EVANS, JAMES CUNNINGHAM., age 36 at enlistment, of Washington Township, Lucas County; Private, Co. F. 36th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 9 August 1862; mustered 4 October 1862; died of acute dysentery 6 August, 1864, Little Rock, Pulaski County, Arkansas. Buried Little Rock National Cemetery, Section 2, Site 1894.

James, like many of his Lucas County neighbors, was an Indiana native, born 19 February 1826. He married Sarah Hancock, daughter of Henry Henderson Hancock and his second wife, Mary "Polly" Gaithrite, on 6 April 1848 in Owen County, Indiana. She had been born there on 26 April 1830. The newlyweds lived at first in Owen County where their two eldest sons were born, William H. on 9 July 1849 and James P. on 17 August 1851. By the time the third son, David Owen, was born on 2 August 1854 they had moved west to Iowa. Marion Putnam Evans completed their family on 17 May 1861. By 1860, the family was living near Greenville in Washington Township, Lucas County.


James, who enlisted when his youngest was little more than a year old, was serving with his unit in Little Rock, Arkansas, when he became critically ill with acute dysentery during July 1864. He was taken to the U.S. General Hospital in Little Rock on 29 July and died there on 6 August.

Sarah remained a window for four years, then on 29 March 1868 married a longtime neighbor, Philip Heck, at her home near LaGrange. Philip, also an Indiana native, had married Susannah Steinebarger, daughter of Isaac and Anna, in Shelby County on 9 September 1852. They accompanied her parents west to Greenville in Lucas County ca. 1854, where Isaac became the village blacksmith. Philip and Susannah had no children and she died on 1 July 1867 at age 36 and was buried beside her father and a sister in Greenville Cemetery. Philip, Sarah and the Evans children were living at Greenville in 1870, then prior to 1880 relocated to Webster County. At some point between 1885 and 1900, Sarah and Philip moved to Manhattan in Riley County, Kansas, where she died 24 April 1910 and he died 8 December 1920. Both are buried in Sunset Cemetery, Manhattan.

EVANS, WILLIAM A., age 37 at enlistment, of Chariton; Private, Co. K, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 9 August 1862; mustered 15 October 1862; died of disease 18 March 1863 at Memphis, Tennessee; no information available about disposition of remains, perhaps buried among "unknowns" at Memphis National Cemetery.

William may have been a native of Indiana, born ca. 1830, but the circumstances of his arrival in Chariton and the details of his life here are elusive. We do know, however, that he married Sarah Ann Anderson, age 20, on the 24th of November, 1853, at the home of Vincent Anderson in Lucas County. They were living or visiting in Putnam County, Indiana, when their only child, Martha Ellen, was born on 30 January 1860, but returned to Chariton a few months later. Sarah Ann died in Chariton on 23 December 1861.

William left Martha Ellen in custody of relatives, perhaps James Anderson who was later appointed her guardian, when he enlisted in Co. K, 24th Iowa Volunteer Infantry of 9 August 1862. During the winter of 1862-63, William was stationed at Youngs Point near Vicksburg, Mississippi, in charge of a team of horses, when he became ill (his commanding officer, Capt. William Boyle, testified later that William had been ailing when placed in charge of the team). He developed pneumonia and was taken to the military hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, where he died on 18 March 1863. Boyle added to his affidavit that he had visited William's grave in Memphis although that grave cannot now be located.

Little Martha was taken from Chariton to Albia and placed in the care of her uncle, Col. Daniel Anderson, and then her aunt, Mrs. Casper (Lucinda Anderson) Dull. She remained with the Dulls until her marriage on 8 June 1878 to George N. Ewers. She became mother to his four children from a previous marriage and went on to have three of her own. George died at Albia during January, 1918, and Martha died 30 September 1926, also at Albia, age 66. Both are buried in Oakview Cemetery, Albia.

F

FANSHER, SAMUEL M., age 26 at enlistment, of Chariton; 7th Corporal, Co. K, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 21 July 1862 at Chariton; mustered 15 October 1862 at Camp Lauman, Burlington; died of pneumonia 8 February 1863, most likely aboard the hospital ship City of Memphis, bound for a military hospital upriver from Vicksburg, Mississippi; disposition of remains unknown.

Samuel was a native of Indiana, born ca. 1836 --- but little is known of his background. He was living in Linn County, Kansas, when he married Elizabeth (Goodpasture) Ford  on 3 March 1859. She was a daughter of Hamilton and Hannah Goodpasture and had arrived in Linn County with her parents and first husband, Tom Ford, from Sangamon County, Illinois, a few years earlier. Ford died during 1857. Samuel and Elizabeth were residents of Poe Township, Linn County, with their first child, Lloyd Watson Fansher, when the 1860 federal census was taken, his occupation listed as farmer. Daughter Kate Ellen Fansher was born two years later.

At some point between 1860 and 1862, the Fanshers arrived at Chariton, but it isn't known what drew them here. After enlistment and muster, Samuel served honorably with his unit until late January or early February, 1863, when he contracted a cold that "settled in his lungs" while stationed at Vicksburg. His commanding officer dispatched him to an upriver military hospital, apparently aboard the hospital ship City of Memphis, where he died. Disposition of remains is unknown.

Elizabeth applied for a widow's pension while living at Chariton after Samuel's death, but by 1867 was living in Valley Township, Polk County. She had settled in Lane County Oregon by 1873 when she married G.W. Wilson as her second husband on 22 January of that year. Elizabeth Wilson died 30 August 1925 in South Bend, Washington.


FINLEY, DAVID, age 28 at enlistment, of Warren Township, Lucas County; 4th Sergeant (promoted to full sergeant 1 May 1863), Co. E, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted at Chariton 9 August 1862, mustered at Camp Lauman, Burlington, 15 October 1862; died aboard hospital ship City of Memphis off Vicksburg, Mississippi, 9 July 1863; disposition of remains unknown.

David, among the younger in a family of 16 children, was born 29 April 1834 in Monroe County, Indiana, where he married Julia Ann Dillman on 21 May 1854. They arrived in Lucas County during 1855 and were living in Liberty Township, not far from the current Oakley, when the 1856 state census was taken. By 1860, they had moved south into Warren Township and had a Chariton post office address. The Finleys had four children, all born in Lucas County --- Frances Emeline, born ca. 1856, who died young; Sarah Jane, born 12 October 1858; David E., born 1 September 1860; and Alice, born 1 June 1862, little more than a month before her father enlisted.

David served honorably with his unit, earning promotion from 4th to full sergeant during May of 1863, and was deployed at Vicksburg when he became ill during early July 1863. He was taken aboard the hospital ship City of Memphis for transport upriver to a military hospital, but died aboard ship on 9 July, reportedly not far from Vicksburg. Disposition of remains is unknown. The family apparently was told that he died of "inflammation of the brain caused by sunstroke" after military engagement. Official records list the cause of death as typhoid fever.

Julia Ann had returned to her family in Monroe County, Indiana, with her three surviving children prior to January, 1864, when she applied for a widow's pension. She married her second husband, Daniel Butcher, there on 28 March 1867. They had one son, Martin Luther Butcher, but Daniel died not long thereafter leaving Julia widowed for a second time. About 1882, she married as her third husband the widower James Douglas Finley, David Finley's younger brother. They eventually moved to Custer County, Nebraska, where Julia Ann died 17 November 1920. She is buried with J.D. Finley, who survived until 1934, in Mount Hope Cemetery at Sargent in Custer County.

FISHER, JOSEPH, age 20 at enlistment, of Washington Township, Lucas County; Private, Co. E, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted at Chariton 11 August 1862, mustered 15 October 1862 at Camp Lauman, Burlington; died of disease 14 or 15 February 1863 at St. Louis; buried Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, Section 38, Grave No. 258.

Joseph, whose parents were Joseph Sr. and Catherine Fisher, was born ca. 1842 in Morrow County, Ohio. He had five siblings, older half-brother and half-sister, Maria (Row) Noble and Samuel S. Row and John, George and Catharine Fisher. His father was a native of England; his mother, of New York. By 1854, Maria and Samuel S. both had married and moved west to Chariton. The remainder of the family followed during 1855 and settled on a farm in Washington township where they were living when both the 1856 state and 1860 federal censuses were taken.

When Joseph's younger brother, George, died 11 January 1861 and his mother, Catherine, died a few months later, on 7 October 1861, age 55, their bodies were taken into Chariton for burial. These graves most likely were moved into the new Chariton Cemetery upon its establishment in 1863 and a large family stone (at left) erected. This stone also serves as a cenotaph for Joseph and bears the inscriptions of a total of nine family members. One of those inscription, on its north face and barely legible now, reads, "Joseph, died at St. Louis, Mo., Mar. 14, 1863, Aged 21 Ys."

The precise circumstances or cause of Joseph's death are unknown, but he most likely had been transported upriver from Vicksburg to St. Louis for medical treatment. There are varying dates of death. Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery records give the date as March 5; official records, as March 15; and his cenotaph in the Chariton Cemetery, as March 14.

FISHER, MILTON R, age 20 at enlistment, of Union Township, Private, Co. G., 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 12 August 1862 at Argo; mustered 15 October 1862 at Camp Lauman, Burlington; killed in combat 11 January 1863 during the assault on Arkansas Post, Arkansas; identifiable remains not recovered, but he may rest with the unknowns at Little Rock National Cemetery.

Milton was among the youngest of 11 or 12 children of Leonard (1789-1865) and Sarah (Casey) Fisher (1800-1855). He was born in Amelia County, Virginia, but came with parents and siblings to Union Township, Lucas County, in 1852. The family settled about a mile and a half south of the current location of Goshen Church and Cemetery where Sarah died in 1855 and became perhaps the first buried in Fisher-Webb Cemetery, along Highway 14. Milton, age 14, was living with his widowed father and four siblings at that location during 1856; and still was living at age 18 with his father when the 1850 census was taken. His occupation was given as farmer.


FODGE, DAVID. age 39 at enlistment, of Argo, Union Township, Private, Co. G., 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted at Chariton 10 August 1862; mustered at Camp Lauman, Burlington, 15 October 1862; died 19 February 1863 at the Convalescent Hospital, Benton Barracks, St. Louis, Missouri, of pneumonia and pleurisy; buried Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, Section 50, Site No. 626.

David was an Ohio native, born 24 November 1822 in Lawrence County. By 1844, he had moved to Delaware County, Indiana, where he married Martha Jane Mansfield on 28 November of that year. Martha and David became the parents of five children while living in Delaware County --- James M., Eliza Jane, Rebecca Ann, John Riley and Eolina Ursula. During the fall of 1853, the family moved west, first to Allamakee County, Iowa, and soon thereafter to Giard Township, Clayton County, west of McGregor, where they were living when the 1856 state census was taken. Their youngest child, Charles W., was born there.

During 1857, the family moved to southern Iowa, locating near the Iowa-Missouri boarder in Howard Township, Wayne County, where they were living when the 1860 federal census was taken. Their daughter, Rebecca, died there on 6 June 1859 and was buried in the Medicineville Cemetery. Soon after 1860, they relocated again, this time to Union Township, Lucas County, where their post office was Argo.

David was 39 and described as 5 feet, 8 inches tall with fair skin, blue eyes and dark hair when he enlisted as a Private in Co. G, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry, at Chariton on 10 August 1862. Somewhat confusingly, a Union Township neighbor with a similar name, David M. Fudge, had enlisted in the same unit a few days earlier. David Fudge would survive the war; David Fodge would not. 

The unit mustered at Camp Lauman in Burlington on 15 October 1862 and David served honorably during engagements at Chickasaw Bayou, Mississippi, in December of 1862, and at Arkansas Post, Arkansas, during January of 1863. He reportedly became ill near St. Louis while escorting Confederate prisoners upriver after their surrender at Arkansas Post and was taken to the Convalescent Hospital at Benton Barracks, where he died.

Following David's death, Martha and her children returned to Wayne County, locating in Warren Township near the current town of Allerton, then soon after 1870 moved west into Nebraska to exercise veteran homestead rights extended to Martha and to her eldest son, James, a veteran of Co. H, 1st Iowa Volunteer Cavalry. She died in Custer County on 21 August 1899 and is buried at Broken Bow.

FRENCH, GEORGE W. age 23 at enlistment, of rural Chariton; Private, Co. C. 13th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted at Chariton 21 September 1861; mustered 28 October 1861 at Camp McClellan near Davenport; re-enlisted as a veteran 1 January 1863; severely wounded 20 July 1864 during the advance on Atlanta; died of that wound 23 November 1864, U.S. General Hospital Chattanooga, Tennessee; buried Chattanooga National Cemetery, Section G, Site No. 8439.

George, born ca. 1838 and a native of New York, was enumerated at age 22 in the 1860 federal census as a farm laborer living with James and Martha Marsh and family in Benton Township, southwest of Chariton. He enlisted 21 September 1861 at Chariton, was enrolled as a Private, Co. C, 13th Iowa Volunteer Infantry, at Camp McClellan near Davenport on 24th October that year, then mustered on the 28th. Some records show that he was promoted to full corporal on 10 April 1862, but he is carried as a private on most records, including those related to his death.

George returned to Chariton on furlough during the early spring of 1864 and on 31 March married here Mary E. Courtney, age 20. Then had only a few days together before he returned to active duty and the union produced no children.

George was shot through a knee joint on 20 July1864 during the advance on Atlanta. That same day, Dr. William H. Gibbon, also of Chariton and surgeon attached to the 15th Iowa Volunteer Infantry, amputated the leg above the knee, then a few days later sent George to a military hospital at Rome, Georgia, to recuperate. When Gibbon visited George in the hospital three months later he discovered that the stump had "mortified" and a second amputation had been performed. By that time, however, George was suffering from septicemia. Transferred to Chattanooga, he died there as a result on 23 November.

Mary (Courtney) French married as her second husband William F. Cluster during 1868 after the Courtney family had relocated to Oregon. Mary and William relocated during 1871 to old Walla Walla County, Washington, where they took up a claim near the town of Pomeroy, where they became quite prosperous. He died during 1915 and she died on 6 November 1922 in Yakima, Washington, leaving a family of seven children. Both are buried in the Pomeroy City Cemetery.

G

GARDNER, LAMBERT B., age 21 at first enlistment, of Warren Township, Lucas County; Private, Co. B, 6th Iowa Volunteer Infantry, enlisted 1 July 1861, mustered 17 July 1861, mustered out because of disability 20 December 1861, Lamine Bridge, Missouri.

Age 22 at second enlistment, Private, Co. D, 23rd Iowa Volunteer Infantry, enlisted 23 August 1862, promoted immediately to full corporal, to 4th sergeant on 16 March 1863, and to 3rd sergeant on 11 April 1863; died of wounds 15 or 16 July 1863, Milliken's Bend, Louisiana; remains recovered and buried at Vicksburg National Cemetery, Section H, Site No. 68.

Lambert Bowman Gardner, a son of Joshua and Catharine (Neighbor) Gardner, was born ca. 1840 in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, and arrived in Lucas County during 1859 with his brother-in-law and sister, Burris and Julia Ann (Gardner) Moore. They were living in Warren Township with a Chariton post office address when the 1860 federal census was taken. The Moores later moved to a farm in the New York area of Wayne County where the remainder of their lives were spent.

It's not known what sort of disability caused Lambert to be discharged from his first enlistment after only a few months, but most likely he returned to Chariton to recover, then enlisted again --- this time in Co. D, 23rd Iowa Volunteer Infantry, where he rose rapidly through the ranks. Co. D was engaged on June 7, 1863, in the Battle of Milliken's Bend, Louisiana, when he was shot in the right hip and arm. He was taken to Van Buren General Hospital on what formerly had been the Marshal Plantation in Madison Parish, Louisiana, where he died on 15 or 16 June. His remains initially were buried with many other Union dead in a graveyard on the plantation. They were recovered and identified during January of 1867 and reinterred at Vicksburg National Cemetery.

GARDNER, STEPHEN D., age 25 at enlistment, of Chariton; 1st Sergeant, Co. C, 13th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted at Chariton 28 September 1861; mustered 28 October 1861; died of disease at Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee, 29 May 1862. Disposition of remains unknown, but most likely buried with the "unknowns" at Shiloh National Military Park.

Sadly, very little information is available about Stephen. He had arrived in Lucas County prior to 13 July 1860 when he was enumerated in the federal census of that year while living in Warren Township (post office Chariton) with Joel H. and Eliza (Threlkeld) Adams and Eliza's brother, Washington Threlkeld. Stephen was listed as age 23, a native of North Carolina and a carpenter. The Adams had arrived in Warren Township during 1855 and, according to Eliza's obituary (Chariton Leader, 15 April 1892), "For many years entertained travelers and were widely known and highly respected." Most likely Stephen was a paying guest in the Adams home and not a family member. There would have been plenty of work in nearby Chariton for a carpenter at that time.

The fact that Stephen was appointed 1st sergeant upon enlistment 28 September 1861 in Co. C, 13th Iowa Volunteer Infantry, suggests --- but does not guarantee --- that he might have had previous military experience. He apparently survived the great battle of Shiloh (aka Pittsburg Landing) on April 6-8, 1862, but was reported to be in the vicinity of Pittsburg Landing when he died of unspecified disease on 29 May 1862. By that time, the 13th Iowa had been assigned to Third Brigade of the Sixth Division and totally engaged in the advance upon and siege of Corinth. There seems to be no record of the disposition of his remains, so there are puzzles here still to unravel.

GARTIN, CUMBERLAND W., age 16 at enlistment, of Washington Township, Wayne County, previously Warren Township, Lucas County; Private, Co. C, 13th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 28 September 1861 at Chariton; mustered at Burlington 28 October 1861; re-enlisted and remustered 1 January 1864; wounded in left hand near Atlanta, Georgia, July 1864; reported missing in action and presumably killed 19 February 1865, Columbia, S.C.; identifiable remains never found.

Cumberland was a son of Allen and Mary A. (Webb) Gartin, born ca. 1845 in Gentry County, Missouri, where he was living with his mother and younger sibilings, Sarah and Parkinson, when the 1850 federal census was taken. Allen had followed the Gold Rush to California, reportedly returning home later with $500 in gold. Gentry County could be an uncomfortable place prior to the Civil War for those with union sympathies and this may have been a factor in the family's relocation to Warren Township, Lucas County, by 1856. By 1860, however, the family had moved to a farm in Washington Township, Wayne County, with the post office address Bethlehem. 

Cumberland lied about his age when he enlisted for service in Co. C, 13th Iowa Volunteer Infantry, at Chariton on 28 September 1861. He survived his company's various engagements without incident until July, 1864, when he was wounded in the left hand near Atlanta. A few months later, as the war was winding down, he was reported missing in action and presumed dead after an engagement near Columbia, South Carolina, on 19 February 1865. Identifiable remains never were recovered.

His father, Allen, had enlisted in Co. I, 4th Iowa Cavalry, on 21 December 1863 and served until honorable discharge at Atlanta on 8 August 1865. After his return home, the family moved deep into Missouri, locating in the Wright-Texas county area in the far south central portion of the state. Mary died 15 October 1895 in Wright County and Allen, 13 January 1907, in Texas County. Both are buried in Pleasant Hill Cemetery, Texas County.

GERTHAFFER, JOSEPH, age 44 at enlistment, apparently a resident of Clarke County but attributed to Lucas because he enlisted at Chariton; Private, Co. H, 7th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 23 February 1864; taken prisoner near Atlanta 5 September 1864; paroled; died at Annapolis, Maryland, of tuberculosis on 9 December 1864. Buried Annapolis National Cemetery.

Joseph, a native of Bavaria and locksmith by trade, brought his wife, Catharine, and their large family to St. Louis from Germany in 1848, then ca. 1855 moved to Clarke County, Iowa. His surname here reflects the spelling on his tombstone at the Annapolis National Cemetery. In official records, it is spelled variously as Gardover, Gerthoffer and perhaps more. He also is attributed in some records to Co. U, 1st Iowa Volunteer Cavalry, as an unassigned recruit. This may reflect a temporary assignment made while he was receiving treatment at Annapolis.

GILBERT, GEORGE, age 18 at enlistment, of LaGrange; Private, Co. C, 18th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 11 July 1862; died of wounds at Springfield, Missouri, on 20 January 1863; buried Springfield National Cemetery.

George, a native of Indiana and son of Wells and Elizabeth Gilbert, was living with his parents and siblings in Jackson Township, Monroe County --- just east of Lucas County's LaGrange --- when the 1860 federal census was taken. He was severely wounded in combat near Springfield, Missiouri, on 8 January 1863; and died of those wounds on 20 January.

GOLTRY, AARON H., age 33 at enlistment, of Cedar Township, Lucas County; Private, Co. G, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 12 August 1862; mustered 15 October 1862 at Burlington; died of malaria on 10 April (or 30 April) 1863 at the Marine Hospital, Chicago; buried Rosehill Cemetery, Chicago; cenotaph located in the Russell Cemetery, Lucas County.

Aaron, son of William and Alcemena (Heddon) Goltry, was born 14 February 1829 in Steuben County, New York, where he married on 10 September 1854 Sarah Landon. They arrived in Cedar Township, Lucas County, during December of 1854 and all of their children were born there: Anna Jeanette, 11 June 1855; Edwin Lewis, 19 April 1858; Emma Elizabeh, 6 May 1860; and Aaron William, on 22 February 1863, four months after his father's deployment.

Co. G was deployed along the lower Mississippi River until January-February, 1863, when it was assigned to escort prisoners of war to Chicago. Aaron apparently became critically ill with malaria while in Chicago and was taken to Marine Hospital, where he died during April. Military records give the date of death as 10 April; records related to his burial at Rosehill Cemetery give the date as 30 April.

On 7 December 1867, Sarah married as her second husband, David S. Force whose death on 19 January 1880 left her a widow for a second time. Her pension in Aaron's name was restored during the late 19th century and daughter Anna "Nettie" Goltry, disabled since her early teens, also was granted a "helpless child" pension during those years. Sarah died 6 August 1908 and was buried in the Russell Cemetery where a cenotaph commemorating Aaron also is located. This stone may have been moved to Russell from the Lagrange Cemetery.

GOODPASTURE, WILLIAM H., age 19 at enlistment, of rural Chariton; Sergeant, Co. C, 13th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted at Chariton 28 September 1861; mustered at Burlington 28 October 1861; died 9 August 1864 at Marietta, Cobb County, Georgia, of wounds sustained at the Battle of Ezra Church; buried Marietta National Cemetery.

William, a son of Hamilton and Eleanor (Ellison) Goodpasture, was born during February of 1842 in Morgan County, Illinois, and moved west to Lucas County, Iowa, during the later 1850s with his family. He served honorably with his unit, earning promotions to corporal and sergeant, until 28 July 1864 when he was shot in the side of his head during the Battle of Ezra Church in Fulton County, George. He died of those wounds two weeks later later.

William's father, Hamilton, and brother, Andrew J. Goodpasture, also were Civil War veterans. Andrew, afflicted with tuberculosis, enlisted with his brother 28 September 1861 in Chariton, but was mustered out due to disease at Keokuk in August of 1862 and died six years later in Madison Township, Polk County, as a result of that disease. Hamilton served from Kansas, survived the war and died during 1888 at Bay Center, Washington.

GOOKIN, ALEXANDER, age 23 at enlistment, of Benton Township; private, Co. C, 18th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 6 August 1862, mustered 14 July 1862; discharged "for disability" 24 January 1863 at Springfield, Missouri. Died at home in Benton Township 11 December 1863; buried Salem Cemetery.

Alexander, born 10 February 1838 in Noble County, Iowa, was among the children of Langdon and Martha (Marshall) Gookin. His "disability" was not specified, but it most likely was one of the diseases Civil War soldiers were highly susceptible too, perhaps tuberculosis or dysentery. If treatment in military hospitals was not proving effective, troops often were discharged and sent home to recover or die. Alexander died.

GRAY, ZEBULON J., age 24 at enlistment, of Chariton; 3rd corporal, Co. K, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted at Chariton 9 August 1862; mustered 15 October 1862; killed in action during the siege of Fort Gaines, Alabama, on 6 August 1864; disposition of remains unknown.

Zebulon, a native of Indiana, was a son of Zebulon Gray Sr., a carpenter and cabinet maker, and his wife, Elizabeth. The family arrived in Chariton prior to 1850 and Zebulon still was living at home when the 1860 census was taken. He served with distinction during the opening years of the Civil War, winning promotions to 5th, 4th and on 24 March 1864 to 3rd corporal. Engaged with his unit during the siege of Fort Gaines, Alabama, July 29-August 6, 1864, he was the only soldier of the 34th killed in combat --- on 6th August --- during that battle. Disposition of his remains is unknown.

H

HALL, JOHN, age 26 at enlistment, Private, Co. C, 13th Iowa Volunteer Infantry, of Cedar Township; enlisted at Chariton 28 September 1861, mustered 28 October 1861 at Burlington; wounded in the leg 6 April 1862 at Shiloh, died of wound complications 20 April 1862, Cincinnati, Ohio, buried Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati (Lot 21A, Grave 160).

John was a native of Indiana who was living in both 1856 and 1860 in Cedar Township, Lucas County, post office address LaGrange. Others in the 1856 household were James M. Hall, 80, native to North Carolina; James Hall, 60, also a native of North Carolina; Elizabeth Hall, 24, and John, 21. All were single except James the younger, enumerated as a widower.

HANNON, WILLIAM, age 35 at enlistment, Private, Co. K, 36th Iowa Volunteer Infantry, of LaGrange (probably a resident of Wayne Township, Monroe County; attributed to both Lucas and Monroe counties); enlisted 14 August 1862, mustered 15 September 1862; died 21 August 1863 at regimental hospital, Clarendon, Arkansas of "congestive chills"; disposition of remains unknown.

William, a farmer and native of Ireland, was living in Wayne Township, Monroe County, post office LaGrange, with his wife, Margaret, and six children ranging in age from 11 to 7 months --- Edward, William Jr., Ann, James, George and Martha --- when the 1860 federal census was taken.

HANSON, JAMES, age 36 at enlistment, Private, Co. G, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry, of the Last Chance community but a resident of Franklin Township, Clarke County; enlisted 11 August 1862 at Chariton, mustered 15 October 1862 at Burlington; died of "bilious fever" aboard the riverboat Sam Gaty at or near St. Louis on or before 25 January 1863; buried most likely among the "unknowns" at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery.

A native of Ohio, James was born 27 November 1822 and on 3 November 1844 in Ross County, Ohio, married Mary Ross. They moved west in 1856 to an area of Franklin Township, Clarke County, just west of the Lucas County line, with their children Austin, Margaret and William. During January of 1863, the men of the 34th were ordered to escort more than 4,000 captured Confederate soldiers upriver after the Battle of Arkansas Post --- approximately 5,000 men crowded onto three riverboats. Hundreds became ill and many died, James among them. His remains were brought ashore on Arsenal Island, St. Louis, on Jan. 25 and buried in a temporary grave. They most likely were relocated after the war to Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery where he probably rests among the unknowns. 

Following the death of his widow, Mary, in 1906, his name was inscribed on her tombstone in the Last Chance Cemetery. The date of death given is 17 January 1863, which may or may not be accurate because we have no way of knowing how long he had been dead before his remains were brought ashore at St. Louis.

HARDEN, MONROE, age 18 at enlistment, of Chariton, Private, Co. B, 6th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted at Chariton 1 July 1861, mustered at Burlington 17 July 1861, killed in combat 6 April 1862 during the Battle of Shiloh; buried among the "unknowns" at Shiloh National Military Park.

Monroe, born in Hamilton County, Indiana, was a son of George and Bathsheba (Lightner) Harden. The family moved in 1856 to a farm near Chariton and continued to live here through the war years. After the war, the family moved to Daviess County, Missouri, where Bathsheba died during 1886 and George, during 1891.

HARVEY, JOHN G., age 22 at enlistment, of Warren Township, First Corporal, Co. C, 13th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted at Chariton 28 September 1861, mustered at Camp McClellan, Davenport, 28 October 1861; died of lung disease 15 January 1862 at Jefferson City, Missouri; buried among the "unknowns" at Jefferson City National Cemetery.

John, born in Indiana, was a son of William D. and Polly (Mary) Harvey, who brought their family to a farm in Warren Township, Lucas County, ca. 1857. On the 29th of October 1861, the day after his unit was mustered in Davenport, John wrote a will leaving 40 acres of Lucas County land and two horses to his younger brother, William M. Harvey. The will was witnessed by his first sergeant, Stephen D. Gardner, and a friend, Pvt. John H. Stanley. Both Gardner and Stanley died in the aftermath of the April, 1862, Battle of Shiloh --- Gardner of disease and Stanley, of complications from wounds. The will was proved in Lucas County on March 3, 1862.

HAYS, JENNINGS, age 18 at enlistment, of LaGrange, Private, Co. C, 18th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 15 July 1862, mustered 6 August 1862; accidentally shot to death near Cassville, Missouri, on 9 May 1863; burial Springfield National Cemetery (originally buried Crane Creek, Missouri), Section 10, Grave 647; cenotaph LaGrange Cemetery, Cedar Township, Lucas County, and also commemorated on the Evans Cemetery "four-corners monument" at the intersection of Lucas, Monroe, Appanoose and Wayne counties.

Jennings was a son of farmer/physician John and Elizabeth (Spiller) Hays, whose home was near LaGrange but actually located in Jackson Township, Monroe County. He was born 6 January 1843 in Illinois. His brother, Josephus (which see), also was a Civil War fatality.

HAYS, JOSEPHUS, age 19 at enlistment, of LaGrange, 4th Sergeant, Co. H, 1st Iowa Volunteer Cavalry; enlisted 13 June 1861, mustered 3 August 1861, promoted 6th sergeant 5 November 1862, 5th sergeant, 1 January 1863, and 4th sergeant, 1 March 1863; died at home at LaGrange while on furlough from Cape Girardeau General Hospital from acute dysentery on 25 November 1863; buried LaGrange Cemetery, commemorated on the Evans Cemetery "four-corners monument" at the intersection of Lucas, Monroe, Appanoose and Wayne counties.

Josephus, too, was a son of farmer/physician John and Elizabeth (Spiller) Hays, born 11 November 1841 in Illinois. He enlisted in Albia, but is buried in Lucas County. His brother, Josephus (which see), also was a Civil War fatality.

HESTER, ROBERT M., age 24 at enlistment, of Lucas County, Private, Co. G, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted at Chariton 13 August 1862, mustered at Burlington 15 October 1862; died of smallpox 18 February 1863 at "Small Pox General Hospital," St. Louis; remains most likely buried among the "unknowns" at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery.

Robert, a native of Indiana, was a son of William A. and Nancy Hester, and married Lucinda P. Teas on 4 March 1858 in Albia. By the time of his enlistment, they had three children, William B., Anna L. (who died during September 1863) and Robert Jr.

 Robert's regiment was assigned to escort Confederate prisoners of war upriver from Arkansas to Chicago during early 1863 and was among those who became ill aboard one of the riverboats used and was brought ashore at St. Louis for treatment, where he died.

Lucinda, now living in Albia with her two sons, married as her second husband on 4 March 1869 Edward Kirsky, nativity Poland and a recent arrival in Monroe County. This was a disaster --- Edward also had a wife in Columbia, Missouri. Divorced, Lucinda did not experiment again with marriage. She died 7 September 1921 in Lincoln, Nebraska, where her son, William B., also lived.

HOLMES, ANDREW, age 21 at enlistment, of Lucas County; Private, Co. C, 13th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 28 September 1861, mustered 28 October 1861; died of disease 21 October 1862 at Corinth, Mississippi; buried Corinth National Cemetery (Section A, Site 2105); also commemorated on cenotaph at Wayick Cemetery, Lucas County.

Andrew was a younger son of Andrew and Polly (Rowland) Holmes, brother to Fergus G. Holmes, killed 6 April 1862 during the Battle of Shiloh (which see).

HOLMES, FERGUS G., age 32 at enlistment, of Lucas County, First Corporal, Co. C, 13th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 28 September 1861, mustered 28 October 1861; killed in action at Shiloh 6 April 1862; buried among the unknowns at Shiloh National Memorial Park; commemorated on cenotaph at Waynick Cemetery, Lucas County.

Fergus was the eldest son of Andrew and Polly (Rowland) Holmes, moving west to Warren Township, Lucas County, with his parents from Indiana between 1850 and 1860. He married Mary Badger on 30 June 1859 in Lucas County and they had two children at the time of his death --- Emma J., age 3, and John A., age 1. Seven years after Fergus was killed, Mary married George H. Bowers on 7 March 1869 in Lucas County and had two additional children, Charles A Bowers, born late that year, and Harriet S. Bowers, born 1878. In 1879, Mary sued George for divorce, alleging habitual drunkenness and cruel and inhuman treatment at his hands, allegations he denied. The divorce was granted during November of 1880 and Mary lived single for the remainder of her life. She died  November 1914. Fergus was the elder brother of Andrew Holmes (which see), another of Lucas County's Civil War losses.

HOLMES, OSCAR F., age 18 at enlistment, Private, Co. C, 13th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 28 September 1861, mustered 28 October 1861; died of dysentery 23 December 1862, Corinth, Mississippi, buried most likely among the "unknowns" at Corinth National Cemetery; commemorated on cenotaph at Waynick Cemetery, Lucas County.

Oscar, born 8 April 1844 in Jackson County, Indiana, was the eldest child of Daniel and Mary (Hamilton) Holmes, who brought their family to Warren Township, Lucas County, prior to 1860. He was a first-cousin to brothers Andrew, who died of disease at Corinth on 21 October 1862, and Fergus G. Holmes, killed at Shiloh on April 6, 1862.

HUGHES, WILLIAM, age 22 at enlistment, Private, Co. K, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 2 December 1863, mustered 25 December 1863; died of dysentery 14 October 1864 in a regimental hospital at Morganza, Louisiana. Disposition of remains unknown.

HUNT, CHARLES A., age 19 at enlistment, of Chariton, Private, Co. G, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 12 August 1862, mustered 15 October 1862; died of "remittent fever" 20 July 1863, General Hospital No. 3, Vicksburg, Mississippi; buried among the "unknowns" at Vicksburg National Memorial Park.

Charles, born in Virginia, was a son of Richard M. and Elizabeth (Whitehead) Hunt, who were farming near Chariton in 1860. Charles, however, was working as an apprentice in Chariton during that year and living independently. His mother died in 1866 and was buried in Goshen Cemetery. His father then remarried and moved on to Nebraska.

I

ISEMINGER, DANIEL W., age 47 at enlistment, of Chariton; Captain, Co. B, 6th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted Lucas County Union Guards 3 May 1861 at Chariton and was elected captain; ordered into quarters 1 July 1861; mustered into U.S. service and commissioned Captain 17 July 1861 at Burlington; killed in combat while commanding the 6th Regiment on 6 April 1862 during the Battle of Pittsburg Landing/Shiloh; identifiable remains not recovered; buried with the "unknowns" at Shiloh National Cemetery.

Daniel William Iseminger, born 30 May 1813 in Butler County, Ohio, Ohio, moved as a child to Monroe County, Indiana, where he grew up. When he was 23, he married Susan (or Susannah) Ribble on 2 December 1836 in Jackson County, Indiana. Their only surviving child, George O., was born four years later, on 16 May 1841 at Bloomington.

During June of 1846, Daniel was mustered as a volunteer into Co. A, 3rd Indiana Infantry, as a corporal for service during the Mexican War, and saw action during the Battle of Buena Vista and other engagements before his honorable discharge. During 1855, Daniel, Susan and George relocated to Chariton, Lucas County, Iowa, where he entered the general mercantile business. Upon adoption of the town's first charter during February of 1857, he became the city's first mayor. 

Almost immediately after the outbreak of the Civil War, Daniel became principal recruiter and captain of the unit mustered into U.S. service on 17 July 1861 at Burlington as Co. B, 6th Iowa Volunteer Infantry. He was commissioned captain on the same date.

On the opening day of the Battle of Pittsburg Landing, or Shiloh, 6 April 1862, Daniel was placed in command of the 6th regiment after its former commanding officer, Lt. Col. Markoe Cummins, had been relieved of duty by Col. John A. McDowell for incompetence. He was leading his troops when shot and killed by a enemy sharpshooter. Identifiable remains were not recovered and so he rests among the "unknowns" at Shiloh National Cemetery.

Not long after Daniel's death, Susan joined her son in Indiana where he had been attending the University of Indiana at Bloomington. They settled together at Bedford, Indiana, where George practiced law for many years. Susan did not remarry and died at age 91 on April 6, 1907, the 45th anniversary of Daniel's death. She is buried at Green Hill Cemetery in Bedford. When the Chariton Grand Army of the Republic post was organized during October of 1878, it was named Daniel Iseminger Post No. 18 in his honor.

J

JAMES, LORENZO, age 20 at enlistment, of rural Chariton, 5th Corporal, Co. E, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 9 August 1862, Mustered 15 October 1862; died 2 September 1863 at Carrollton, Louisiana, of disease; buried first at Camp Lewis, Louisiana, reinterred Chalamette National Cemetery (Section 86, Grave No. 7045).

Lorenzo was the eldest child of Curtis H. and Julia (Mauk) James who brought their family west from Ohio to a farm west of Chariton in White Breast Township during 1852. He was living with his parents and working as a farmer when the 1860 federal census was taken.

K

KELLS, HILAS LINDLEY, age 18 at enlistment, of Lagrange; Private, Co. E, 6th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 1 July 1861; mustered 17 July 1861; wounded at Shiloh 6 April 1862; died St. John Hospital, Cincinnati, 24 or 26 April 1862; buried Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati (Section A, Grave 138). Also commemorated on the Evens Cemetery monument, Jackson Township, Monroe County, Iowa.

Hilas, born 23 April 1843 in Defiance County, Ohio, was a son of Robert and Lavina (Bay) Kells, but orphaned as a child. His mother died when he was 4 and his father, when he was 10. By the time the 1856 state census was taken, Hilas and three of his younger siblings were living with their uncle and aunt, Hilas and Lucy Bay, across the Des Moines River from Eddyville in Pleasant Township, Monroe County. Soon thereafter, the children came to Lagrange in Cedar Township, Lucas County, to live with their brother-in-law and sister, Francis M. and Mary Jane (Kells) Trowbridge. 

Hilas reportedly sustained a shoulder wound on 6 April 1862 during the Battle of Pittsburg Landing (Shiloh) and was transported up the Ohio River to St. John Hospital in Cincinnati for treatment. He died there on either 24 or 26 April 1862 and was buried in what now is Spring Grove National Cemetery.

This soldier's name has proved to be a great challenge to military record-keepers and those in charge of memorializing the fallen. He is buried as "H.L. Kills" in Spring Grove National Cemetery. His inscription on the Evens Cemetery monument, "H. L. Kells," is accurate.

KNEFF, JOHN, age 22 at enlistment, of Liberty Township, Private, Co. E, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 14 August 1862 at Chariton, mustered 15 October 1862 at Burlington; died 15 October 1863, of disease, at Carrollton, Louisiana; disposition of remains unknown but most likely buried first at Camp Lewis, Louisiana, then reinterred among the "unknowns" at Chalamette National Cemetery.

John, age 20 and a native of Indiana, was working as a farm hand in Liberty Township, Lucas County, when the 1860 federal census was taken. He married Mary "Polly" Barker on 28 February 1861 in Chariton and she collected a widow's pension in his name. There were, however, no children.

KNIGHT, ALLEN W., age 35 at enlistment, of Chariton, 6th Sergeant, Co. H, 1st Iowa Volunteer Cavalry; enlisted as a private at Albia 13 June 1861, mustered at Burlington 3 August 1861, promoted to quartermaster sergeant 1 November 1862, to 6th sergeant 1 March 1863; died 5 January 1865, Little Rock, Arkansas, of dysentery; buried Little Rock National Cemetery.

Allen, who had arrived in Lucas County prior to 1850, married Mary E.H. Jenkins on 1 January 1850 in Chariton and was enumerated as a teacher in the 1860 census of the city. The couple had four children, Martha Ann, Edwin O., Mary Eliza and James Wiley, born after his father had been mustered into the service. Mary died 18 August 1894. Her last known residence was Magnolia, Harrison County, Iowa.

KRUTSINGER, MARTIN, age 40 at enlistment, of Otter Creek Township, Private, Co. E, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 9 August 1862 at Chariton, mustered 15 October 1862 at Burlington; died 5 March 1863 of smallpox at "Small Pox Hospital," St. Louis; remains reinterred after war's end among the "unknowns" at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery; cenotaph, Parr-Wheeler Cemetery, Otter Creek Township.

Martin and Mary (Smith) Krutsinger, married 23 March 1843 in Lawrence County, Indiana, brought their family west to Otter Creek Township, Lucas County, ca. 1856. Martin was among many soldiers of the 34th, assigned to escort Confederate prisoners of war from Arkansas to Chicago, who became ill en route during February of 1863 and were taken from riverboats at St. Louis for treatment. He left behind at death his widow and a family of eight sons, the youngest of whom was a year old. Mary died eight years later, on 29 November 1871 in Otter Creek Township, and following her death, a tombstone commemorating both herself and Martin was erected at her grave in Parr-Wheeler Cemetery.

L

LANE, LEWIS L., age 21 at enlistment, of Chariton, Private, Co. I, 4th Iowa Volunteer Cavalry; enlisted 2 December 1863, mustered 22 December 1863; died of the measles (congestion of the lungs) 17 February 1864 at Clear Creek near Vicksburg, Mississippi; remains most likely reinterred among the "unknowns" at Vicksburg National Military Park. Given name also spelled, upon occasion, "Louis."

Lewis, a son of Malachi and Elizabeth (Ryun/Ryan) Lake, was a native of Ohio who removed in 1856 with his parents and siblings to Benton Township, Lucas County, where they were living when the state census of that year was taken. The family had moved across the county line into Union Township, Wayne County (post office Bethlehem) by the time the 1860 census was taken and Malachi and Elizabeth seem to have spent a majority of the remainder of their lives there. Lewis was listed as a resident of Chariton when he enlisted, however. His parents seem to have died and are buried in Chariton.


LARIMER, CYRUS, age 30 at enlistment, of Chariton. Private, Co. K, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 30 December 1863 at Chariton, mustered 30 December 1863 at Des Moines, died of enteritis (inflammation of the intestine) on 23 September 1864 at the regimental hospital, Morganza, Louisiana. Disposition of remains unknown (no identifiable marked grave); cenotaph, Chariton Cemetery, memorial window at First United Methodist Church.

Cyrus, among the younger children of Hugh Larimer Sr. and his second wife, Nancy McDowell, was born 10 November 1833 in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, and removed to the vincinity of Chariton during 1851 with his parents and siblings. On 8 December 1853 he married in Chariton Christiana (Barkley) Larimer, widow of his elder brother, William McDowell Larimer, who had died in Noble County, Indiana, on 14 October 1853. Thus, he became stepfather to a niece, Mary E., and a nephew, William George W. Larimer, only a few months old. Cyrus and Christiana had four children of their own, Annetta, born 1 September 1856; Emma, born 26 April 1858; Clara, born 1860 and died young; and Harry, born 23 May 1862. When the 1860 federal census was taken, Cyrus was working as a clerk in a Chariton store.

Records in the pension file of his widow state that Cyrus enlisted variously on 25 December or 30 December 1863 at Chariton as a private in Co. K, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and was mustered on 30 December in Des Moines. He reportedly became ill, a condition attributed to excessive exposure and exhaustion, during the siege of Fort Morgan, Alabama, during August of 1864 and traveled with his unit on 18 September to Morganza, where he was hospitalized, and died a few days later on 23 September. His remains most likely were buried nearby, but if and when recovered could not be identified.

LAUGH, SAMUEL, age 23 at enlistment, of Newbern, Private, Co. E, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 12 August 1862, mustered 15 October 1862; died of smallpox on 4 February 1863 at "Small Pox Hospital," St. Louis. Remains reinterred after the war at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery.

Samuel, age 17, was enumerated with four other family members, John Laugh, 38, Elizabeth Laugh, 35, William Laugh, 17, and Thomas Laugh, 15, as residents of Dallas Township, Marion County, in 1856. He left behind a widow, Nancy J. Laugh, and at least one child, but I've not been able to track these people down in part, I suspect, because of spelling issues with the name "Laugh." Samuel was among soldiers of the 34th Iowa who contracted smallpox while escorting Confederate prisoners of war upriver from Arkansas to Chicago. He appears consistently as "Laugh" in official records.

LEFFLER, DAVID J. age 19 at enlistment, of rural Chariton, 3rd Sergeant, Co. H, 1st Iowa Volunteer Cavalry; enlisted at Albia 13 June 1862, mustered at Burlington 3 August 1862; promoted from private to 6th sergeant 1 September 1862, to 5th sergeant 5 November 1862, to 4th sergeant 1 January 1863 and to 3rd sergeant 1 March 1863; discharged for disability (chronic dysentery) 13 July 1864 at Little Rock, Arkansas; died en route home 1 August 1864 aboard a train between Monmouth, Illinois, and Burlington, Iowa; buried Aspen Grove Cemetery, Burlington.

David, son of Isaac and Lethenia (Mitchell) Leffler, was born ca. 1841 in Burlington and came west to Chariton in 1853 when his father was appointed receiver of public funds at the new Chariton Land Office. He was farming the family farm in Whitebreast Township for his disabled father prior to enlistment. David excelled in the military, but became ill with chronic dysentery/diarrhea during 1864 while stationed in Arkansas. He reportedly was in a "dying condition" when discharged on 13 July 1864 at Little Rock in the hope he could make it home to Chariton. He died, however, aboard a train travelling between Monmouth, Illinois, and Burlington on 1 August 1864. His remains were carried onward to his old hometown and buried in Aspen Grove Cemetery. Isaac Leffler died at Chariton during 1866 and at his request his remains were taken to Burlington to be buried beside David's.

LISTER, ANDERSON, age 18 at enlistment, of Chariton, Private, Co. H, 1st Iowa Volunteer Cavalry; enlisted 1 December 1863, mustered 19 December 1863; died of Dysentery 21 July 1864 at Little Rock, Arkansas. Buried Little Rock National Cemetery (Section 2, Site 1823).

Anderson, age given as 11, nativity Pennsylvania, was living in the Chariton household of John P. and Nancy Ross when the 1860 federal census was taken. John Ross's occupation was given as clothier. If the census age is correct, Anderson was considerably younger than the allowable age when he enlisted for Civil War service.

LYMAN, EUROTAS C, age 18 at enlistment, of rural Chariton, Private, Co. H, 1st Iowa Volunteer Cavalry; enlisted 24 February 1864, mustered 24 February 1834; shot dead by guerrillas near Memphis Tennessee 28 February 1865; buried Mississippi River National Cemetery, Memphis (Section A, Site 1998).

Eurotas, born in Illinois to George and Sophia R. (House) Lyman (she died 1858), was living with his father, stepmother Charlotte and elder sister at Chariton when the 1860 federal census was taken. His father was a farmer and his stepmother, a milliner. The family had moved on by 1870. George died during 1880 in Clay County, Kansas.

M

MAIWALD, JOHN A., age 28 at enlistment, of Chariton, nativity German, Private, Co. E, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 9 August 1862, mustered 15 October 1862; died 31 October 1863, New Orleans; disposition of remains unknown.


A John Andrew Maywald entered government land in Ringgold County during 1859 and, when the 1860 federal census was taken, Andrew Maiwolde, 25, single and a native of Prussia, was enumerated as a farmer at Chariton. These probably were the same man and also the John A. Maiwald/Maywald who enlisted in Co. E, 34th Iowa, on 9 August 1862 at Chariton. Sadly, I could find nothing more concerning him.

MALONE, ALKANA, age 54 at enlistment but given falsely as 44, of Chariton, Wagoner, Co. C, 13th Iowa Volunteer Infantry, enlisted 28 September 1861, mustered 28 October 1861, killed in action at Shiloh on 6 April 1862. Buried originally with 21 others (13 identifiable, 8 not) southwest of Jack Perry's house on the Shiloh battlefield; relocated to Shiloh National Military Park, Grave No. 485.

Born ca. 1808 in Virginia, Alkana moved as a young man to Ohio and married Elizabeth Freese on 14 July 1831 in Fairfield County. They settled in Guernsey County, then moved to the frontier, Chariton, Lucas County, Iowa, in 1853. Alkana built an hotel, later known as the Hatcher House, and saloon on the square in Chariton and became widely known for some of his exploits. He knocked 10 years off his age in order to enlist as a Wagoner in Co. C on 28 September 1861 in Chariton. His 21-year-old son, Lewis, also enlisted in Co. C on the same date. According to legend, Alkana left his team and wagon on 6 April 1862 as the Battle of Shiloh was about to begin and walked to the area where infantrymen of Co. C were gathered, seized his son's musket and insisted that Lewis remain with the horses and wagon. Alkana entered combat with the infantrymen and was killed by a bullet to the head. Lewis survived. Elizabeth Malone remained a resident of Chariton until her death during 1874. The couple had a dozen children, three of whom died young in Ohio and three of whom died soon after the family located in Chariton. None of the Malone graves in Chariton are marked.

MARSH, ISAAC, age 40 at enlistment, of Benton Township, Corporal, Co. K, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 23 July 1862 at Chariton, mustered 15 October 1862 at Burlington, promoted from private to first corporal, furloughed because of sickness, died 17 June 1863 at home in Benton Township; buried Freedom Cemetery.

Isaac, born 19 August 1821  in Guernsey County, Ohio, married Martha Thompson 9 March 1843 in Grant County, Indiana, and brought his family to a farm in Benton Township, Lucas County, during 1858. Isaac served honorably in the taking of Arkansas Post, accompanied Confederate prisoners from Arkansas to Chicago with his unit without incident during January of 1863, then accompanied his unit to Pilot Knob, where he became ill. He was furloughed home to Lucas County, hoping that he might recover there, but died a home on 17 June 1863, having been at home only 17 days. He was buried in Freedom Cemetery. There were six children, two of whom died young. Martha continued to farm with assistance from her children. She died 29 December 1894 while living with a daughter at Humeston and is buried in the Humeston Cemetery. Isaac and his brother, James, enlisted and were mustered into Co. K together, but James died of the measles while still in Davenport. Isaac's Freedom Cemetery tombstone also serves as a cenotaph for James.

MARSH, JAMES, age 26 at enlistment, of Chariton, Private, Co. K, 34th Iowa volunteer infantry; enlisted 9 August 1862 at Chariton, mustered 15 October 1862 at Burlington, died of the measles 30 October (or November 1) 1862, regimental hospital, Burlington; disposition of remains unknown; brother's tombstone in Freedom Cemetery, Lucas County, also serves as a cenotaph for James.

James, younger brother of Isaac (above), was born 29 March 1836 in Guernsey County, Ohio, and apparently joined Isaac and his family in Lucas County soon after 1860. Both were sons of Jesse A. and Rachel (Borton) Marsh. The brothers enlisted in Co. K together and were mustered into federal service together in Davenport. James, however, became ill as measles swept the Company K encampment and died at the regimental hospital. Isaac's tombstone in Freedom Cemetery also serves as a cenotaph for James.

MARTS, PETER (carried as Martz on official records), age 28 at enlistment, of Cedar Township, Lucas County (LaGrange); Co. C, 13th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 28 September 1861; mustered 28 October 1861 at Burlington; killed in action (gunshot wound) 22 July 1864, Atlanta, Georgia; disposition of remains unknown.

Peter, son of Charles and Elizabeth (McGill) Marts, was born ca. 1834 in Fayette or Hamilton County, Indiana; and married Rebecca Jane Richards 29 January 1852 in Hamilton County. Peter and Rebecca came to Cedar Township, Lucas County, Iowa, ca. 1856 with her parents, Isaac and Margaret Richards, and other members of that extended family. Peter, Rebecca and their first daughter, Mary, were living with her parents when the 1856 state census of Cedar Township was taken. Rebecca's mother died during 1860 and when the federal census of Cedar Township was taken on June 17, Peter, Rebecca, daughters Mary and Margaret, Isaac Richards and John Riley (relationship unknown) were living in the same household, the men identified as farmers.

Peter was among Lucas County's early enlistees, enrolling at Chariton on 28 September 1861 and mustering at Burlington on 28 October. Although he probably hadn't been discharged, he was listed as such when a census of men of draft age was taken in Cedar Township during June of 1863. Whatever the case, he returned to his unit and served honorably until 22 July 1864 when he was killed in action at Atlanta, struck by a gunshot. The disposition of his remains is unknown. His nephew, young John A. Richards (which see), also was serving in Company C, 13th Iowa, when Peter was killed. He survived only to die of disease on 6 June 1865 at Alexandria, Virginia.

Rebecca married as her second husband Daniel Salyers on 5 February 1865 in Appanoose County and lived there as well as in Missouri before being widowed for a second time ca. 1880. By 1885, Rebecca, daughter Margaret, and her brother, Christopher Richards. were living together --- again in Cedar Township, Lucas County. Margaret died in 1887 and Rebecca, during 1891. Both are buried in Bethel Cemetery where it may be that her mother had been interred in 1860 although there is no marked grave for her there.

MASON, AMOS, age 39 at enlistment, of rural Newbern, Private, Co. E, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 14 August 1862, mustered 15 October 1862; died of disease 28 January 1863, St. Louis, Missouri; buried Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery.

MAYDOLE, EDWIN H., age 32 at enlistment, of Cedar Township, Private, Co. H, 1st Iowa Volunteer Cavalry; enlisted 13 June 1851, mustered 3 August 1861; died 11 September 1863  of dysentery at Brownsville, Arkansas; disposition of remains unknown but most likely interred as an "unknown" at Little Rock National Cemetery.

Edwin Holmes Maydole, son of John Joseph and Christina (Holmes) Maydole, was born 15 July 1829 in Broome County, New York, but moved to Medina County, Ohio, with his family. He married Martha Jane Pelton there on 1 May 1851 and ca. 1854, they moved west to Lucas County, Iowa, locating on a farm in Cedar Township near Lagrange. Their only child, a son named Elmer W. Maydole, was born in Chariton on Jan. 12, 1858.

Edwin's assigned duty with his unit was blacksmith. He fell ill during the Little Rock Campaign, which led to the capture of that city on Sept. 10, 1863, and died in a military hospital at Brownsville, Arkansas, east of Little Rock, the day after the city fell. Cause of death was given as chronic diarrhea and hemorrhage of the bowels.

Martha, who by this time had moved back to Medina County, applied for a widow's pension a month after Edwin's death --- during October of 1863. The pension ended, although benefits for Elmer continued, when she married as her second husband Daniel Belden on 14 July 1870 at Medina. He died on 21 January 1874 in Grafton, Ohio, and Martha married as her third husband Dorastus Waite 18 December 1874. He died on the 31st of December, 1893, after which Martha requalified for a pension as Edwin's widow. She died on the 23rd of June, 1912.

McDERMOTT, DANIEL, age 23 at enlistment, of Cedar Township, Private, Co. C, 13th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 28 September 1861, mustered 28 October 1860, died of disease at Jefferson City, Missouri 30 December 1861; remains most likely interred Jefferson City National Cemetery; cenotaph, Bethel Cemetery, Cedar Township, Lucas County.

Daniel, born ca. 1838 in Illinois, arrived in Cedar Township with his parents, William and Nancy McDermott, and siblings during the fall of 1847 --- the first permanent settlers in the township.

McNEW, Carlton, age 24 at enlistment, Private, Co. E, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted at Chariton 11 August 1862, mustered 15 October 1862; shot in the leg at the Battle of Arkansas Post 11 January 1863, leg amputated, died of complications 17 February 1863 in a St. Louis, Missouri, military hospital; buried initially in Christ Church Cemetery, reinterred after the war at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery (Section 38, Grave 4276).

Carlton, born in Illinois, was a son of William H. and Lucinda (Williams) McNew. His father died ca. 1848 and his mother remarried Allen Williams prior to 1850. The family was living in Mahaska County during 1850 and by 1860 had moved to Chariton although Carlton was working as a laborer in Andrew County, Missouri, that year. He married Emaline Turner there on Sept. 5, 1860, and they joined his family in Lucas County. Emaline returned to her home in Missouri after his death; there were no children.

McPHEETERS, JOSEPH C., age 24 at enlistment, of Chariton, Private, Co. B, 6th Iowa Volunteer Infantry, enlisted 1 July 1861, mustered 17  July 1861; died of disease 2 November 1861 near Warsaw, Missouri (southwest of Jefferson City); remains reburied after the war at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery (Section 37, Site 3965); cenotaph, Danville East Cemetery, Hendricks County, Indiana.

Joseph, son of Samuel and Elizabeth A. (Garrett) McPheeters, was born 2 January 1837 in Hendricks County, Indiana. He probably came west to Lucas County with other family members, including his brother, Welcome, who was a resident in 1860. Company B was the first unit recruited in Lucas County and marched away from Chariton on Monday morning, July 8, 1861, to be mustered at Burlington. Daniel Iseminger commanded the company.

MELVIN, WILLIAM H.H., age 18 at enlistment, of Liberty Township, Private, Company E, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 12 August 1862 at Chariton, mustered 15 October 1862 at Burlington; died 28 January 1863 at Memphis, Tennessee; disposition of remains unknown.


William was a son of Andrew J. and Nancy (Van Meter) Melvin, who had arrived in Liberty Township, Lucas County, prior to 1850, and still were living there in 1856. They may have moved over the line into Clarke County, however, by the time William enlisted. He was among men of the 34th who became ill while transporting rebel prisoners of war upriver from Arkansas to Chicago during January of 1863 and was taken off a riverboat at Memphis to receive treatment.


MERCER, JAMES A., age 18 at enlistment, of Warren Township, Private, Co. C, 13th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 21 October 1861, mustered 28 October 1861; died of chronic diarrhea 4 August 1862 at the 6th Divisional Hospital, Corinth, Mississippi; remains most likely reinterred after the war among the "unknowns" at Corinth National Cemetery.

James Andrew, son of David and Catherine (Hammer) Mercer, was born 3 June 1845 in Putnam County, Indiana; moved west with his family to Mahaska County, Iowa, in 1849; and a year later settled northeast of what now is Derby in Warren Township, Lucas County. Only 16 at the time, he lied about his age in order to enlist. Having survived the Missouri campaign and on 6 April 1862 the bloody battle of Shiloh, James became fatally ill while stationed at Corinth between the siege of that city April-June 1862 and the later Battle of Corinth during October. David was the first of three Mercer sons to die in the war. See also John and Joseph Mercer.

MERCER, JOHN A., age 28 at enlistment, of Warren Township, Private, Co. I, 4th Iowa Volunteer Cavalry; enlisted 1 December 1863, mustered 16 December 1863; captured 11 April 1864 near Ripley, Mississippi; died 14 October 1864 of scurvy while imprisoned at Andersonville, Georgia; buried Andersonville National Cemetery.

John Atwell, eldest son of David and Catherine (Hammer) Mercer, was born 6 November 1835 in Putnam County, Indiana; moved west in 1849 with his family to Mahaska County, Iowa; married Mariah Jane Whited 22 March 1855 in Mahaska County; and joined his parents and siblings in Warren Township, Lucas County, soon thereafter. They had five children --- Sarah E., Lavina, Amanda, William J. and Abraham Lincoln. John was captured by Confederate forces near Ripley, Mississippi, on 11 June 1864; imprisoned first at Cahaba Prison near Selma; then transferred to Andersonville, where he died and is buried. Mariah returned to live near her family in the vicinity of Eddyville and died there 14 October 1908.

MERCER, JOSEPH, age 17 at enlistment, of Warren Township, private, Co. I, 4th Iowa Volunteer Cavalry; enlisted 5 January 1864, at Chariton, mustered 15 January 1864; died 6 June 1865 of a stomach ailment at Nashville, Tennessee; buried Nashville National Cemetery (Section J).

MILLAN, STANTON B., age 23 at enlistment, probably a resident of Liberty Township, Lucas County; enlisted 3 September 1861 at Newbern as a private in Company K. 3rd Iowa Volunteer Cavalry; mustered 14 September 1861, Keokuk; promoted 25 September 1861 to full regimental sergeant-saddler; killed in combat 29 May 1862 in the vicinity of Slyamore, north central Arkansas. Buried 30 May in lone grave (lost) in the vicinity of a guerrilla camp near Slyamore and the White  River, Arkansas; cenotaph, Chariton Cemetery.


Stanton was a native of Palmyra, Missouri, born during 1838 in that small town just northwest of Hannibal, the latter made famous by Samuel Langhorne Clemens, aka Mark Twain, born three years earlier. During 1845, when Stanton was 7, the Millan family moved upriver to Canton, midway between Hannibal and Keokuk.

His parents were Henry S. and Caroline (Farr) Millan, a couple of modestly distinguished lineage and accomplishment who brought their young family west to Missouri from Fairfax County, Virginia, during 1835. He was the fifth of their eight children and the first born in Missouri.

Henry Millan was a farmer, a lawyer and a justice of the peace, widely respected but never especially affluent.

By 1860, as war clouds were gathering and a federal census was being taken, Henry, at 21, still was living in Canton with his parents and six siblings. Only the eldest in this family, Susanna, had married. She, along with husband, James Brafford Custer, had moved northwest to Lucas County, Iowa, in 1848, the year after their marriage. It was their practice to return to Canton for a visit every fall after crops had been harvested. This was a closely knit family.

Soon after the 1860 census was taken, Stanton headed for Iowa, too.

By this time, James and Susanna as well as Edward K. Gibbon, widowed uncle of Stanton and Susannah, had moved into Chariton from their first land claims along White Breast Creek in Liberty Township, just southwest of Newbern. That mighty hill now crowned by the old Newbern Cemetery would have been a part of their view toward sunrise.

Edward, however, still owned a Liberty Township farm and it appears that Stanton settled there to work the land. By trade, he may have been a harness and saddle maker, although that is speculation that cannot be verified. The few personal accounts that survive describe him as a fine-looking, energetic young man.

We know for sure than on Sept. 3, 1861 --- a Tuesday --- he rode into Newbern where recruiters for Company K of the new 3rd Brigade, Iowa Volunteer Cavalry, were at work and enlisted as a private. Later that month, after the 3rd Brigade had been mustered at Keokuk, he was promoted to sergeant-saddler and joined the brigade's non-commissioned staff.

Saddlers were responsible for maintaining the saddles, harness and other leather gear of cavalry units and generally worked behind the lines.

Later that fall, the 3rd Iowa headed south to fight in campaigns then underway in southern Missouri and northern Arkansas.

+++

Stanton apparently was a memorable young man and certainly made an impression on Cyrus Bussey, who ended the war a brigadier general but began his military career as organizing colonel of the 3rd Iowa and went on to command the regiment.

Nearly 30 years later, Bussey still remembered this young Lucas Countyan and told a little of his story during a speech at Columbia University in New York City upon the occasion of a July 8, 1888, flag presentation ceremony.

After praising the valor of the men he had commanded, Bussey began to speak of some who had feared going into battle, then transcended those fears:

"I had one such man in my regiment at the beginning of the war," Bussey said. "He was one of the finest looking men in the command, but would not go where any fighting was to be done. This weakness was observed by the men, who frequently made remarks in his presence calculated to wound a sensitive nature.

"This caused Millan, for that was his name, to come to me one night, when I was ordered to send out a part of my command to march againist a force reported in camp about fifty miles distant, and ask permission to go on the expedition.

"I said to him, 'Millan, it is something new for you to want to go where there is any fighting to be done.' He answered, 'I know that the men of the regiment have questioned my courage, and it is for that reason I come; I have always believed that I would be killed the first time I went into an engagement, and have not been able to drive that feeling out of my mind. At the same time, I have made up my mind to go, be the consequences what they may. I expect to be killed.'

"He then gave me instructions how to communicate with his family, and left with me some articles which were to be sent them in the event of his death. I made light of his presentiment, and told him he would come back all right. He left me to get ready to march with the expedition at daylight the next morning."

Col. Bussey learned of the outcome of the expedition --- and of Stanton's fate --- via a dispatch written by Horace D.B. Cutler, then adjutant, dated May 31, 1862, and written from Headquarters, Third Iowa, Batesville, Arkansas:

"Col. Bussey: The detachment from your command for the recent expedition has returned. Major Bower, as commander of the expedition, has made his report to the proper authorities, and I transmit the following as a matter of record of the doings of the detachment of the 3rd Iowa Cavalry in the expedition.

"In obedience to your order, the detachment of 150 men, under command of Major Drake, reported to Major Bowen, at the ferry, on the morning of the 28th and were crossed over White River without delay, and soon after were on the march. Major Bowen's battallion consisted of about the same number of men, and two mountain howitzers.

"During the second day's march we captured one of the enemy's pickets, and learning from him that a band of guerrillas were encamped on the Kickapoo bottoms, we were induced to vary from our instructions and turn from our course, to endeavor to kill, capture, or disperse them before proceeding onward.

"Consequently we turned off to the right for Slyamore, which place we reached about dark, a distance of sixty miles from Batesville. The camp was about two miles up the river, and Major Bowen determined upon a surprise. After proceeding to within half a mile of the camp the men were dismounted, and directions given to surround the rebels; but, owing to the extreme darkness of the night, we were not able to hit upon the exact locality, and while cautiously feeling our way we were fired upon by their pickets of 25 or 30 men. We returned the fire, and for a few minutes nothing could be heard but the rapid shots from our revolvers. 

"The enemy had run, after deliverinig their fire. Pursuit was made, resulting in the capture of twenty-five prisoners, forty horses and mules and forty stand of arms. Other property found in their camp was destroyed for want of transportation, we having no wagons.

"Our loss was: Stanton B. Millan, Battalion Saddler Sergeant, killed; Captain Israel Anderson, Co. C, shot through thigh; Private Joseph T. French, Co., A, shot through thigh.

Sergeant Milan was buried the next day (30th) on the field. The wounded we brought with us with great difficulty --- having no means of transportation --- till we were able to press a buggy."

The Union detachment involved in this engagement had spent what remained of the night of May 29-30 in the rebel camp, tending to the wounded, wrangling prisoners and livestock. The next morning, property that could not be carried away was destroyed and Stanton's remains were buried by his comrades in a lone grave somewhere in the vicinity of the camp, where they remain.

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Col. Bussey, after learning of Stanton's death, arranged to have his belongings forwarded to his family, still living in Canton, Missouri. Then, a letter from Stanton's father, Henry, addressed to his son, arrived. Bussey opened it, read it and held onto it for the remainder of his life.

"A few days prior to this time," he told that crowd at Columbia University during 1888, "Millan's father, who lived at Canton, Missouri, wrote his son a letter which I have in my possession. He, too, seemed to have had a presentiment that his son would never receive the letter. After addressing it, as he had always done before, to the regiment, division and Army of the Southwest, he wrote (on the envelope): 'If General Bussey sees this letter, and the one to whom it is addressed cannot see it, he will confer a favor by opening the letter and informing the writer of the facts.' No such endorsement had ever been made on any of Millan's letters."

Cutler concluded his May 31 report to Col. Bussey with the following:

"Of Millan it is unnecessary for me to speak, for his well-known morality and attention to his duties must have long before this commended him to your notice, as well as to that of the regiment at large. Poor fellow! It was his first and last scout, and his loss is sincerely mourned by all who knew him."

+++

Later in the year of Stanton's death, Henry and Caroline Millan sold out in Canton and moved their family to Chariton, where the remainder of their lives were spent.

The large stone that commemorates Stanton probably was erected after the 1888 deaths of Caroline and Henry. Inscriptions for the senior Millans are located on its south face and one for their daughter, Levinia, who died during 1864 at the age of 15, is carved into its east face. The lines commemorating Stanton face the sunset.

Horace D.B. Cutler's report to Col, Bussey may be found on pages 947 and 948 of Report of the Adjutant General & Acting Quartermaster General of the State of Iowa, Jan. 11, 1864-Jan. 1, 1865; Des Moines: F.W. Palmer, State Printer, 1865.

The text of Gen. Bussey's 1888 remarks were published on pagess 386 and 387 of Julia M. Crowley's Echoes from Niagra; Buffalo: Charles Wells Moulton (Bigelow Press), 1890.

MILLER, OLIVER B., age 19 at enlistment, of Whitebreast Township, private, Co. B, 6th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 1 July 1861, mustered 17 July 1861; killed in action during the Battle of Shiloh 6 April 1862; buried among the unknowns Shiloh National Military Park.

Oliver, born ca. 1842 in Bartholomew County, Indiana, moved to Lucas County with his parents, John C. and Elizabeth (Edwards) Miller, in 1855, and settled on a farm near Chariton. Six years later, he was among the first young men from the county to volunteer for Civil War service --- on July 1, 1861. As such, he was assigned to what became Company B, 6th Iowa Volunteer Infantry.

That unit, commanded by Capt. Daniel Iseminger, marched out of Chariton, bound for Burlington, on July 8 after an elaborate leave-taking ceremony, and was mustered there on July 17.

Nine months later, on April 6-7, 1862, Company B was engaged in the great Tennessee battle near Pittsburg Landing on the Tennessee River that became known as Shiloh. Capt. Iseminger was fatally wounded on the morning of April 6 by a shell fragment that struck him in the abdomen. Oliver, Monroe Hardin, William Sheets, Charles J. Cheeny (or Cheney), James H. Spurling, John M. Sayre and John W. Weaver also were killed outright. John W. Armstrong and Zara M. Lanning died of wounds soon after.

On the morning after the battle, surviving members of Company B returned to the battlefield and buried their comrades together. After war's end, these remains were collected and reinterred in what now is a national cemetery. By that time, however, it was impossible to identify the dead and so all are buried there as "unknowns."

MITCHELL, DAVID T., age 19 at enlistment, living at Mount Pleasant, home of record Chariton; Private, Co. F, 17th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted at Mount Pleasant 2 April 1862; mustered 10 April 1862 at Keokuk; died of typhoid fever 13 October 1862; buried as "D.T. Mitchell" in Mound City National Cemetery (Section B, Grave 885); cenotaph in the Chariton Cemetery, Lucas County, Iowa. His brother, James (which see), also died in service during the Civil War.

David, born 12 February 1843 in Monroe County, Indiana, was the youngest son among 13 children of Joseph and Eliza (Henderson) Mitchell. He was about 10 when the entire family moved west to Chariton in Lucas County, Iowa, probably during the fall of 1852, and settled just northwest of town. David's eldest brother, James, died in St. Louis on 8 September 1861 while serving with Co. A, 6th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; and their father died in Chariton on 14 November of the same year. 

David may have been teaching school in Mount Pleasant at the time of his enlistment the following spring. He served honorably with his unit during the siege of Corinth, battle of Iuka and battle of Corinth, all in Mississippi. The family apparently believed for a time that David died of wounds sustained while his unit was engaged in the Battle Corinth on Oct. 3-4, 1862, and is entirely possible that he was wounded there. Official records show, however, that he died of typhoid fever while receiving medical treatment upriver at the military hospital in Mound City, Illinois.

Following the war, David's mother collected a military pension in his name until her own death in Chariton on 28 November 1884.

MITCHELL, JAMES, age 32 at enlistment, of rural Osceola (Clarke County, Iowa); Private, Co. F, 6th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted at Osceola 1 July 1861, mustered at Burlington 12 or 17 July 1861; died of typhoid fever at St. Louis 6 September 1861; buried Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery (perhaps as J.B. Mitchell, Section 27, Site 6297), cenotaph, Chariton Cemetery, Lucas County, Iowa. His brother, David (which see), also died in service during the Civil War.

James was the second child of Joseph and Eliza (Henderson) Mitchell, born 2 December 1828 in Monroe County, Indiana, where he married Susannah Berry on 27 January 1848. James and Susannah moved west to Lucas County, Iowa, in 1852 with their two oldest children, Joseph C. (born 23 January 1849) and Eliza F. (born 14 October 1851). They settled northwest of Chariton and built a cabin near the current site of the HyVee frozen foods distribution center, where two more children were born, John M. Berry Mitchell on 15 January 1854 and Bennett H. Mitchell, on 3 March 1856.

During late 1856, apparently, the family moved to a farm one county west near Osceola in Clarke County, where they were living when the 1860 federal census was taken and when James was among the first to enlist for Civil War service on 1 July 1861. He was mustered at Burlingon on 12 or 17 July 1861 and transported downriver from Keokuk to St. Louis with his unit on 9 August. He became ill with typhoid fever and died at St. Louis on 6 September.

Susannah (born 11 August 1827 in Lincoln County, Kentucky) did not remarry and continued to live at Osceola until her death on 16 December 1902. She is buried in Maple Grove Cemetery there with her daughter, Eliza Mitchell, and son John M.B. Mitchell. Her son, Joseph C., became an attorney and practiced in Chariton for 20 years before relocating to Ottumwa. He died in 1918 and is buried in the Chariton Cemetery.

MOORE, LITTLETON R., age 20 at enlistment, of Chariton; private, Co. K, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 9 August 1862, mustered 15 October 1862; wounded Battle of Arkansas Post 11 January 1863, died of wounds at Arkansas Post on 14 January 1863; disposition of remains unknown.

MUNDELL, SOLOMON, age 18 at enlistment, of Jackson Township; private, Co. G, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 14 August 1862, mustered 15 October 1863, died 26 February 1863 at Benton Barracks, St. Louis, Missouri; buried Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, St. Louis (Section 38, Site 4184).

MUSSELMAN, JOHN S., age 25 at enlistment, of Whitebreast Township; private, Co. B,, 6th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 1 July 1861, mustered 17 July 1861, died of bilious fever 14 June or 14 July 1862 at La Grange, Fayette County, Tennessee; buried Memphis National Cemetery.


N

NETTLETON, SAMUEL A., age 28 at enlistment, of Chariton Township; private, Co. K, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 2 August 1862 at Chariton, mustered 15 October 1862 at Burlington, died of "congestion of the brain" at Marine Hospital, Burlington, 22 November 1862; cenotaph, Brownlee Cemetery, English Township, Lucas County, Iowa.

O

OVERTON, JOSEPH, age 31 at enlistment, of Lucas County; private, Co. F, 8th Iowa Volunteer Cavalry; enlisted at LaGrange 24 June 1863, mustered 21 August 1863, wounded and captured during engagement at Mussel Shoals, Alabama, 30 October 1864; paroled 17 December 1864; died of complications resulting from gunshot wound that fractured right femur 19 May 1865 at Crittenden General Hospital, Louisville, Kentucky; buried Cave Hill National Cemetery, Louisville.

Joseph and his family actually lived in Lucas County for only a very short time. He was Tennessee born, on April 4, 1832, and moved with his family into Missouri during the 1850s. By 1855, the Overtons had settled not far from Princeton in Mercer County, not far south of the Iowa line, and he was married there on Jan. 31, 1859, to Elizabeth Lindsey.

Shortly after 1860, the couple relocated to a farm in Cedar Township, Lucas County, near the village of LaGrange, where they were living with their two small children, Nancy and Robert, when Joseph enlisted at LaGrange on June 24, 1863, in Company F, 8th Iowa Volunteer Cavalry. Nancy then returned with her children to Mercer County and lived out the remainder of her life there.

On Oct. 30, 1864, the 8th Cavalry and other units were involved in a skirmish with Confederate forces at Mussel Shoals, Alabama --- near Florence --- and Joseph sustained a gunshot wound that shattered his right femur and then was taken prisoner.

He was paroled on Dec. 17 and transported to Louisville, where he was taken for treatment to Crittenden General Hospital where he remained until his death six months later on May 19, 1865, of complications related to his wound.

By now, Lee had surrendered (on April 9) at Appomattox and the Civil War was winding down across the South.

Cave Hill Cemetery, which takes its name from a spring that emerges in a hillside cave in the cemetery grounds, was dedicated in 1848 as one of the earlier "garden cemeteries" in the United States, intended to be both a burial place and an uplifting spot of natural beauty to engage visitors.

In 1861, the Cave Hill Cemetery Co. donated a section of the cemetery for the burial of Union soldiers who died in and near Louisville and what now is the National Cemetery consists of several Cave Hill sections added to the original section as the years passed. Because there is no room for expansion, the National Cemetery is closed to future burials.

But it was to this lovely spot that Pvt. Joseph Overton's remains were brought and buried during the spring of 1865.

P

PARR, DAVID R., age 18 at enlistment, of Liberty Township; Private, Co. D, 39th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 14 August 1862, mustered 20 November 1862, died of disease 28 January or 1 February, 1863, Corinth, Mississippi; buried Corinth National Cemetery (Section D, Grave 3126).


PAYNE, JONATHAN C., age 27 at enlistment and a resident of LaGrange, corporal (promoted to full sergeant), Co. I, 8th Iowa Volunteer Infantry (a company raised largely in Monroe County); enlisted 10 August 1861 at LaGrange; mustered 12 September 1861 at Burlington; captured by Confederate forces 6 April 1862 during the Battle of Shiloh; imprisoned at Macon, Georgia; exchanged November 1861; died apparently of disease in St. Louis on 18 March 1863. Buried among the unknowns at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery; commemorated in Allen Cemetery, Cedar Township, Lucas County.

Jonathan was born ca. 1833 in Owen County, Indiana, to Samuel and Nancy (Craddick) Payne. Samuel (Lucas County's first sheriff) and Nancy (whose death during August 1849 is the first of a permanent settler recorded in the county; buried Greenville Cemetery) brought Jonathan and his sister, Sarah, to Lucas County during 1848 or May of 1849. A carpenter by trade, Jonathan married Lucy M.S. Olmsted on 12 March 1854 and they settled in Chariton where Lucy have birth to a son, Charles, ca. 1858, then died. Jonathan married as his second wife Angeline Turner on 17 February 1860 and they settled in the village of LaGrange, near the farm of her parents. Their son, James H., was born there during 1861. 

Jonathan enlisted as corporal, but was promoted to full sergeant on 31 March 1862, just before the deadly Battle of Shiloh. Although he survived Shiloh, he was captured by Confederate forces on 6 April 1862 --- along with most surviving troops of his regiment --- and imprisoned until November of that year in Macon, Georgia, when the Iowa prisoners were exchanged. Apparently too ill to rejoin his unit, Jonathan died at St. Louis, perhaps taken from a northbound transport ship to a military hospital. His remains would have been buried in the city of St. Louis, but apparently were unidentifiable when moved after the war to Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery. A commemorative tombstone was erected soon after his death on the Turner family lot in Allen Cemetery. 

The widowed Angeline (Turner) Payne married Spencer Hardy, an older widower with children, on 7 November 1864 and they became the parents of six children in rapid succession prior to his death on 22 September 1872, near Melrose. By 1880, Angeline had moved her family to Harrison County, Missouri. She died 17 March 1902 in Placer County, California. Son James Payne still was living in 1880 but hasn't been traced beyond that year. What became of Jonathan's son, Charles, isn't known.

PHILLIPS, DANIEL, age 18 at enlistment, of English Township; private, Co. K, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 2 August 1862 at Chariton, mustered 15 October 1862; died of unspecified causes at New Orleans 6 October 1863; disposition of remains is unknown.

PLYMATE, BENONI Y., age 24 at enlistment, of Freeland, Warren Township. Enlisted 12 July 1862 at Chariton as private in Co. C, 18th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; mustered 6 August 1862 at Camp Kirkwood, Clinton; promoted to 3rd sergeant 8 August 1862; wounded 8 January 1863 at Springfield, Missouri; promoted to 2nd sergeant 7 February 1864; killed in combat 18 April 1864 during the Battle of Poison Springs, part of the Camden Campaign, in Ouachita County, Arkansas; disposition of remains unknown.

Benoni Y., a son of James Talmadge and Mary (McCoy) Plymate, arrived in Lucas County during 1851 and settled with his parents and siblings along the Mormon Trail southwest of Chariton in Section 5 of Warren Township where James T. established during 1854 a post office named Freeland and was named its first postmaster. James died during April of 1857 and was buried in a nearby family cemetery known today as Gay-Plymate. Family members succeeded James as Freeland postmaster and Benoni served as such from July 1860 until October of 1861.

On 6 January 1861, Benoni married Mary Mundell in Lucas County and they settled down to farm at Freeland. Their first child, Moulton Howard Plymate, was born 3 April 1862 and was only 3 months old when his father enlisted at Chariton on 12 July 1862.

Benoni was wounded on Jan. 8, 1863, when rebel forces attacked Springfield, Missouri, then held by the 18th Iowa and a few hundred militiamen. He recovered and sometime during the fall of 1863 returned home to Lucas County on leave. During that visit, Mary became pregnant.

On April 18, 1864, the 18th Iowa was moving from Camden, Arkansas, to support the First Kansas (Colored) as it escorted a large forage train. Union forces were ambushed by some 6,000 rebels under the command of Gen. John S. Marmaduke. Benoni was shot dead during this engagement.

The engagement at Poison Springs remains infamous because of the brutality shown by Confederate forces to the black soldiers of the First Kansas Colored. The wounded and captured of the First Colored were slaughtered.

Two months after Benoni's death, his second son --- Benoni Calvin H. Plymate --- was born to Mary at Freeland on June 30, 1864.

After the war, on 14 September 1865, the widowed Mary married in Chariton as her second husband Silas Shinn, a widower with children of his own, and they settled on a farm near Woodburn where two children were born, Edward and Junetta. Silas died at Woodburn on 3 April 1877 and thereafter Mary and her children moved frequently --- to Kansas, then Missouri, back to Lucas County and then to Missouri again. She spent her final years with Benoni C.H. Plymate and his family in Palmyra, Missouri, where she died on 30 September 1926 at the age of 87.

POSTON, NEWTON J., age 25 at enlistment, of Chariton; private, Co. I, 4th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; drafted 6 October 1864 at Des Moines, mustered 6 October 1864; died of typhoid fever 31 December 1864 at Savannah, Georgia. Disposition of remains unknown.

POWERS, COOPER, age 18 at enlistment, of Warren Township; private, Co. C, 13th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 28 October 1861, mustered 18 October 1862, died of disease 7 April 1862, General Hospital, Jefferson City, Missouri. Disposition of remains unknown. Younger brother of Peter C. Powers, below.


POWERS, PETER C, age 22 at enlistment, of Warren Township; sergeant, Co. C, 13th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 28 September 1861 at Chariton, mustered 28 October 1861, died of disease  5 December 1862 at La Grange, Tennessee, buried initially at La Grange, reinterred Memphis National Cemetery (Section A, Grave 17014). Older brother of Cooper Powers, above.

PRATHER, ANDREW, age 25 at enlistment, of Cedar Township; private, Co. F, 36th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 9 August 1862, mustered 4 October 1862; died of disease 31 October 1863, Little Rock, Arkansas; buried Little Rock National Cemetery (Section 2, Grave 1192).

PRATHER, MARTIN, age 27 at enlistment, of LaGrange; private, Co. C, 18th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 6 August 1862; died of disease 25 November 1862 at Springfield, Missouri, buried Springfield National Cemetery (Section 9, Grave 559).


R

RAGSDALE, GABRIEL, age 22 at enlistment, of Chariton Township; private, Co. C, 13th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 28 September 1861, mustered 18 October 1861, died of disease 10 July 1862 near Corinth, Mississippi; buried initially near Corinth, reinterred Corinth National Cemetery (Section A, Grave 2138).

Gabriel, eldest son of Amos and Sarah Jane (Lindsey) Ragsdale, was born 23 April 1839 in Owen County, Indiana. He would have been about 12 when he moved with his parents and younger siblings to Lucas County, settling in Benton Township where the small and loosely organized village (or neighborhood) known as Ragtown was named for his father, a substantial landowner. This family moved west to Kansas after the Civil War.

RARIDEN, JAMES, age 19 at first enlistment, age 20 at second enlistment, of Chariton; private, Co. B, 6th Iowa Volunteer Infantry, then private, Co. H, 17th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted in the 6th Infantry 1 July 1861, mustered 17 July 1861, mustered out 15 October 1861, Syracuse, Missouri; enlisted in the 17th on 11 March 1862, mustered 11 April 1862, promoted to 5th corporal, killed in combat 19 September 1862 during the Battle of Iuka, Mississippi; disposition of remains unknown.

RATLIFF, JAMES (or Ratcliff), age 18 at enlistment, of Jackson Township; private, Co. K, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 9 August 1862, mustered 15 October 1862, died of typhoid fever 4 March 1863 at St. Louis, Missouri, buried as James Ratcliff at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery (Section 38, Grave 4202).


REYNOLDS, FRANCIS M., age 21 at enlistment, of Whitebreast Township; private, Co. E, 34th Iowa volunteer infantry; enlisted 4 January 1864, mustered 1 February 1864, furloughed and died at home in Whitebreast Township on 19 October 1864; buried Grimes Cemetery.

RICHARDS, JOHN A., age 18 at enlistment, of Cedar Township; Private, Company C, 13th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted at Chariton 29 March 1864; mustered at Davenport 18 April 1864; died 6 June 1865 at Slough General Hospital, Alexandria, Virginia, of acute dysentery; buried Alexandria National Cemetery (Section B, Site 3001).

John, born ca. 1846 in Hamilton County, Indiana, was a son of Christopher and Sarah Jane (Hackleman) Richards, who arrived in what now is the Bethel Cemetery neighborhood of Cedar Township ca. 1856 with his parents and older siblings, Mary and Lewis. In 1860, when John was 14, his father abandoned the family, eloping with a woman described later as "a strumpet from Peoria." Sister Mary had by this time married Thomas N. Goltry, in 1858, and older brother, Lewis, had left home. That left John as the sole support of his mother. In order to support her, he worked out while living at home and then, after enlistment soon after his 18th birthday, gave her his enlistment premium and forwarded to her a substantial share of his military wages.

John survived a number of the 13th's great engagements late in the war, including the advance on and capture of Atlanta, Sherman's March to the Sea, capture of Savannah and the march through the Carolinas. The 13th arrived in Alexandria, Virginia, on 19 May, 1865, and joined the triumphant march down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., a few days later. John, however was ill, and soon was hospitalized with acute dysentery at Slough General Hospital in Alexandria, where he died on June 6. His remains were interred in what now is the Alexandria National Cemetery.

Back in Lucas County, John's mother received a pension in John's name and continued to live with or near the family of her daughter and son-in-law, Mary and Thomas N. Goltry, through 1880. Soon after 1880, the Goltrys moved west to Mills County, Iowa. It isn't known if Sarah accompanied them or if she had died previously in Lucas County. 

By 1891, Christopher, after a considerable career of hooking up with and/or marrying a series of women, was back in Cedar Township, living with his sister, Rebecca Salyers, whose first husband had been Peter Marts (which see), also a Civil War fatality. After her death in 1891, he returned to Indiana and died there on 9 May 1905. He is buried in Arcadia Cemetery, Hamilton County, Indiana.

ROACH, JAMES D, age 26 at enlistment, of Warren Township; enlisted 28 September 1861, mustered 28 October 1861; critically injured May 1862 in the vicinity of Corinth, Mississippi, when run over by a wagon, died 10 June 1862 at Monterey, Tennessee, of complications from that injury; disposition of remains unknown.

ROBERTS, REUBEN C., age 22 at enlistment, of Otter Creek Township; private, Co K, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 26 July 1862, mustered 15 October 1862, died of measles 22 October 1862 at Burlington; disposition of remains unknown, cenotaph at Walker Cemetery, Lucas County. Younger brother of Thomas Roberts, below.

ROBERTS, THOMAS, age 27 at enlistment, of Otter Creek Township; private, Co. K, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry, enlisted 26 July 1862, mustered 15 October 1862; died of liver abscess 30 April 1863 at Keokuk as a "discharged soldier"; disposition of remains unknown, cenotaph at Walker Cemetery, Lucas County. Elder brother of Reuben C. Roberts, above.

ROLAND, LUTHER C., age 21 at enlistment, of Cedar Township; private, Co. F, 36th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 9 August 1862, mustered 4 October 1862; died of disease 19 August 1863, Mound City, Illinois; buried Mound City National Cemetery (Section E, Grave No. 4143).


RONEY, GRAHAM D., age 22 at enlistment, of Chariton; wagoneer, Co. B, 6th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 1 July 1861, mustered 17 July 1861, died 20 December 1861 of typhoid fever at St. Louis; buried Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery (as J.H. Roney with death date of 26 December 1861).


ROSEMAN, MARTIN

RUNYAN, HUGH, age 29 at enlistment, of Chariton, Private, Co. K, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 5 August 1862 at Chariton, mustered 15 October 1862 at Burlington; died of chronic diarrhea 14 December 1862 at St. Louis; buried initially Wesleyan Cemetery; reinterred Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery (Section 50, Grave 584).

Hugh, born 1833 in Decatur County, Indiana, and a son of Robert and Rhuby (Sanderson) Runyan, had arrived in Lucas County prior to 24 February 1861 when he married Abigail L. Daugherty here. They had one child, Cynthia Anna. Hugh contracted measles in camp at Burlington after he was mustered into service but accompanied his regiment south to Helena, Arkansas, during December. He was so ill by the time the transport boat reached Helena, however, that he remained aboard and was taken back to St. Louis for hospitalization and died there.

S

SAMS, GEORGE, age 26 at enlistment, of Talahoma, Private, Co. E, 24th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 15 August 1862, mustered 15 October 1862; died of erysipelas 27 January 1863, St. Louis; buried Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery (Section 50, Grave 616).

George, born 11 June 1836 (or 13 July 1857) in Richland County, Ohio, was the third son of William J. and Margaret (Oliver) Sams. He moved west with his family to the Freedom neighborhood of Warren Township in 1851 and married Hannah C. Edwards on 14 December 1861 in Lucas County. They had one child, George Samuel Sams, born 7 October 1862 just before his father was mustered into federal service, and were living near Talahoma post office when he enlisted. The widowed Hannah (Edwards) Sams married John Wright during 1867 and reportedly died during 1894 in or near Rohnerville, California.

SAMS, SIMON, age 28 at enlistment, of Freedom, Private, Co. C, 18th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted at Chariton 7 July 1862, mustered 6 August 1862; mortally wounded 8 January 1863 during the Battle of Springfield, died 12 January 1863 of wounds at Springfield, Missouri; buried Springfield National Cemetery, Section 9, Site 560.

Simon, son of William J. and Margaret (Oliver) Sams, was born 1 July 1835 in Richland County, Ohio, and moved west with his family to the Freedom neighborhood of Warren Township in 1851. He married Harriet M. Cumpston 12 December 1858 at Freedom and they became the parents of three children, Sylvester R., born 1859; Sarah M., born 1861; and Simon A., born posthumously during March of 1863 (he died 19 February 1866). Harriet married three times after Simon's deah --- to Alexander U. Cox and Joel B. Scott, who predeceased her; and to John B. Knowles, who survived her. She died 6 June 1910 in Des Moines.

SCHWORM, GEORGE, age 23 at enlistment, of Chariton, a native of Germany, Co. K, 46th Iowa Volunteer Infantry (100-day); enlisted Chariton 18 May 1864, mustered Davenport 10 June 1864; died of "congestion of the brain" while deployed near Collierville, Tennessee, 15 or 16 August, 1864; disposition of remains unknown, probably reinterred after the war in Memphis National Cemetery.

George was working as a grocer in Chariton when he registered for the draft during July of 1863. He seems to have been a fairly recent emigrant from Germany and most likely was a brother of Martin Schworm, post-war Chariton grocer who eventually settled in Ottumwa. The 46th was a 100-day regiment, intended for relatively brief service. Company K, raised in Lucas County, was deployed near Collierville, Tennessee, to guard railroads when George became ill and died. The unit was mustered out a month later in Davenport. George had very bad luck and seems to have been largely forgotten by the extended Schworm family.

SEWARD, JOHN B., age 30 at enlistment, of English Township (post office Newbern), Private, Co. K, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 9 August 1862 at Chariton, mustered 15 October 1862 at Burlington; died 25 December 1862 of "remittent fever" at Regimental Hospital, Helena, Arkansas; disposition of remains unknown; cenotaph Newbern Cemetery.

John, son of John Sr. and Phoebe Seward, was born 12 May 1832 in Warren County, Ohio, and came to English Township prior to 1856 with his brother, Jacob, and sister-in-law, Margaret. His occupation was given as carpenter in the 1856 census of English Township. On 8 April 1858 he married Lydia A. Graves in Marion County and they had two children, John C. and Martha R., prior to his enlistment. John became ill at Helena during December of 1862 and was left behind in the regimental hospital there when the 34th was redeployed on Dec. 21. He died four days later. The widowed Lydia married Finley L. Wilson on 8 February 1866 in Marion County, and he died in a tornado near Lacona during 1888. She died 24 May 1897 in English Township. Both Finley and Lydia also are buried in the Newbern Cemetery.


SHEETS, WILLIAM, age 24 at enlistment, of Lucas County; enlisted 1 July 1861, mustered 17 July 1861; killed in action during the Battle of Shiloh 6 April 1862; buried among the "unknowns" at Shiloh National Military Park.

William, an Indiana native, is sometimes identified as a son of George and Roxalina (Mowery) Sheets, but I can find no trace of him in Lucas County records, other than in relation of Company B, and there he is definitely identified as a Lucas County resident. It would appear that he arrived after the 1860 census was taken, however.

SLAGLE, ADAM S., age 18 at enlistment, residence uncertain, Private, Co. K, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 1 January 1864; died of disease 29 February 1864, New Orleans; buried Chalmette National Cemetery (Section 43, Site 3310, as "A.S. Slagle").

Adam, a son of Absalom and Elizabeth Jane (Henkel) Slagle, was living with his family in Missouri during 1860, but the Slagles seem to have moved up into southern Iowa soon thereafter (his parents were living in Appanoose County during 1870). They later moved on into Kansas. It is possible that Adam was living with family in Lucas County at the time of his enlistment.


SPURLING, JAMES H., age 29 at enlistment, of LaGrange, Corporal, Co. B, 6th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted at Chariton 1 July 1861; mustered 17 July 1861, promoted to corporal 1 April 1862; killed in action at the Battle of Shiloh 6 April 1862; buried (among the "unknowns") at Shiloh National Military Park.

James was a Virginia native who married Ann Eliza Bevins on 17 April 1852 in Bartholomew County, Indiana, then moved west soon thereafter to the LaGrange neighborhood, where he operated a sawmill. He apparently lived in Jackson Township, Monroe County, just across the county line. Upon enlistment, he left behind Ann Eliza and three sons --- Charles W., Edwin L. and James E.E.  Charles died on 14 July 1864. Ann Eliza married twice after the war --- to Samuel Chadd on 9 March 1868, who deserted her a year later; and on 19 December 1894 to the much younger Joseph Hughes, who committed suicide in 1897 after they had moved to Brookings, S.D. She died in Brookings on 30 November 1918 at the age of 88.


STANLEY, JOHN H., age 23 at enlistment, of Chariton; Private, Company C, 13th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 28 September 1861 at Chariton, mustered 28 October 1861 at Burlington, wounded in the shoulder April 6, 1862, during the Battle of Shiloh; died of complications from that wound on 27 May 1862 while hospitalized at Keokuk. The family apparently claimed the body; Chariton Cemetery records indicated that he is buried there and that the stone on the family lot marks his grave rather than serving as a cenotaph (he is not buried in the Keokuk National Cemetery).

John, born 23 March 1838 in Indiana, was the youngest son of Robert H. and Nancy (Scott) Stanley. He moved as a child with his family to Pike County, Illinois, where his mother by some accounts died during 1856. At some point prior to 1859, Robert H. and his children came west to Chariton. John was living with the family of his brother, Robert Stanley Jr., when the 1860 federal census of Chariton was taken.

STUART, WILLIAM, age 41 at enlistment, of Newbern, Private, Co. G, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 14 August 1862 at Chariton, mustered 15 October 1862 at Burlington; died of chronic dysentery 19 September 1864, Baton Rouge, Louisiana; buried Baton Rouge National Cemetery (as William "Stewart," Section 34, Site 2242); cenotaph, Columbia Cemetery, Marion County, Iowa.

William was a native of Indiana who married Minerva Blair on 3 April 1845 in Parke County. They moved west to Dallas Township, Marion County, post office Newbern, during 1855. There were five children, Sarah, Lewis, James, John and Mary. Minerva did not remarry and died in 1888 in Dallas Township.

STONEKING, LEWIS, age 21 at enlistment, of Pleasant Township, Private, Co. K, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 22 July 1862, mustered 15 October 1862; died 2 April 1863 of pneumonia at Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis; buried Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery (Section 5, Site 7302).

Lewis, son of Adam and Sarah E. (Park) Stoneking, born 17 March 1841 in Wetzel County, (West) Virginia. He was the primary support of his mother and handicapped father at the time of enlistment. He became while stationed with his unit near Helena, Arkansas, and after failing to respond to treatment there was transferred upriver to the hospital at Jefferson Barracks where he died.

STORY, TRUMAN A., age 32 at enlistment, of Cedar Township, Saddler, Co. K, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 9 August 1862, mustered 15 October 1862; died of disease aboard the transport riverboat Iatan as it approached Memphis on 17 January 1863; buried (reportedly) at Memphis National Cemetery.

Truman, a son of Freedom W. and Alice Story, was a native of New York who arrived in Jackson County ca. 1856 then moved on to Cedar Township, Lucas County, where he married Jane L. Hill at LaGrange on 15 July 1858. They had two children, Emma L. and Newton. Truman became ill at Helena, Arkansas, and died aboard the Iatan, then serving as a hospital ship, as it approached Memphis a few days later. Jane married the Rev. Wilson Robb on 1 April 1865 and died at Osceola, Clarke County, on 8 January 1917.

SUMMERS, ELIJAH, age 32 at enlistment, of rural Chariton, Private, Co. G, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 11 August 1862, mustered 15 October 1862; died of pneumonia 29 January 1863 at Good Samaritan General Hospital, St. Louis; remains reinterred after war at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery (Section 51, Site 862).

Elijah, native to (West) Virginia, arrived in Lucas County soon after 1850 and on 8 August 1851 married here Mary E. Robinson. They were farming in Union Township at the time both the 1856 state and 1860 federal censuses of Lucas County were taken and eventually had six children, three of whom lived to become adults. Elijah had participated with his regiment in the 11 January 1862 battle of Arkansas Post, then became ill while deployed to accompany prisoners of war upriver to Chicago. He was removed from a riverboat at St. Louis for treatment and died there. Mary married as her second husband Richard M. Hunt during 1864 in Lucas County and they moved to Nebraska, where he died in 1888. Mary died at Silver City in Mills County, Iowa, on 1 March 1914.

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THRELKELD, OLIVER, age 24 at enlistment, of rural Chariton, Private, Co. 3, 13th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted at Chariton 20 September 1861, mustered 28 October 1862 at Burlington; died of chronic diarrhea 7 September 1862 at Bolivar, Kentucky; disposition of remains unknown, most likely reinterred after the war among the "unknowns" at Memphis or Corinth national cemetery.

Oliver, son of Stephen W. and Martha Jane (James) Threlkeld, was born 8 August 1836 in Jackson County, Indiana. In 1840, his mother in Jackson County died following the deaths of two younger siblings. Stephen married as his second wife Susanna Holeman in 1845 and the family then moved to Warren County, Illinois, and finally in 1855 to the neighborhood east-southeast of Chariton. Oliver still was living at home, occupation given as farmer, when the 1860 federal census was taken. He survived the battle of Shiloh on April 6, 1862, but became ill and died while stationed with his unit in the neighborhood of Bolivar, Kentucky, a month before the Battle of Corinth.


Steve Hanken
TULL, WILLIAM D
., age 24 at enlistment, of Lucas County, Private, Co. B, 6th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 1 July 1861; mustered 17 July 1861; died of wounds 18 May 1864 at Resaca, Georgia; buried Chattanoona National Cemetery, Section K, Site 10003.

William D. Tull has, to date, not been linked to any of Lucas County's Tull families, or found in pre-Civil War records of the county. He was critically wounded on 14 May 1864 during the Battle of Resaca, Georgia, the first major engagement of the Atlanta campaign. As many as 2,800 union and 2,800 Confederate forces died during that three-day engagement. William died on 18 May 1864 of gunshot wounds and was buried on the battlefield, located some 25 miles southeast of Chattanooga, Tennessee, and 75 miles northwest of Atlanta. After the war, his remains were relocated with those of all other Union KIA to the Chattanooga National Cemetery.

V

VAN METER, ALEXANDER, age 18 at enlistment, Private, Co. K, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 2 August 1862 at Chariton; mustered 15 October 1862; discharged for disability 20 April 1863 at St. Louis; died 4 May 1863 at Chariton; first burial in the Veterans' Section, Chariton Cemetery.

Alexander, son of Miles and Nancy (Phillips) Van Meter (alternatively VanMeter or Vanmeter), was born ca. 1844 in Illinois, perhaps in or near Jasper County, where his parents were married on 21 November 1842. Ca. 1848, Miles and Nancy brought Alexander and his sister, Hannah, to Lucas County, Iowa, settling in English Township, near Chariton. A son, Lewis, was born ca. 1849. Miles was active in and around Chariton during the early 1850s, helping to survey and plat Chariton during April-May 1850, running for constable in April 1851 and voting in a February, 1852, election. A second Iowa-born son, Eli, arrived on April 14, 1852. Miles seems to have died soon thereafter, as did little Lewis. When the 1856 state census and the 1860 federal census were taken, Nancy, a widow, headed a household that included her children Alexander, Hannah and Eli. Nancy married an older widower, John Daniels, on 14 August 1862, 12 days after her son had enlisted, and moved to his home in Whitebreast Township.

Alexander apparently became critically during the spring of 1863 and was discharged for disability in St. Louis on 20 April. He made it home to Chariton, where he died on 4 May. His burial was the first in the Veterans' Section of the new Chariton Cemetery (his father and little brother most likely had been buried in what now is Douglass Pioneer Cemetery). John Daniels died at 71 on 25 August 1868, leaving Nancy widowed for a second time. Between 1870 and 1880, Nancy and her two surviving children, Hanna (now married) and Eli, moved to the vicinity of Beloit, Mitchell County, Kansas, where Nancy died at age 80 on 16 March 1902. She and Eli are buried in Pleasant Valley Cemetery near Beloit.


VINCENT, JAMES M., age 22 at enlistment, of Chariton, 4th Sergeant, Co. C, 13th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 28 September 1861, mustered 28 October 1861; mortally wounded during the Battle of Shiloh on 6 April 1862, died of wounds at Paducah, Kentucky, 13 April 1862; disposition of remains unknown.

James, born 26 August 1839 in Clermont County, Ohio, was a son of the Rev. John and Elizabeth (Pratt) Vincent. His mother died in 1849 in Ohio and in 1853 his father, a Methodist preacher, and stepmother, Margaret, brought the family west to Lee County, Iowa. James's brother, John Pratt Vincent, moved on to Chariton, Lucas County, in 1855 and, soon after 1860, James and his brother, Joshua, joined him. Both James and Joshua served in the 13th Infantry from Lucas County, Joshua surviving.

W

WADE, JUSTUS E., age 25 at enlistment, of English Township, Private, Co. G, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted at Chariton 13 August 1862, mustered at Burlington 15 October 1863; died of pneumonia 29 January 1863 at a St. Louis hospital; buried initially at Wesleyan Cemetery, reinterred Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery (Section 50, Grave 614).

Justice, born 7 January 1837 in Greene County, Pennsylvania, was among the many children of Waitman T. and Ruhma (Eakin) Wade, early settlers in the Chariton vicinity. He married Nancy Cain 26 November 1857 in Lucas county and by 1860 they were farming in English Township where their three children were born, Ruhma in 1858, George W. in 1860, and Justus E. Jr, on 29 December 1862 while his father was deployed in Missouri. Justus became ill while escorting prisoners of war upriver from Arkansas to Chicago during late January, 1863, and was "left sick in hospital, St. Louis" on 27 January. Nancy (Cain) Wade married as her second husband Greenbery Willis on 1 September 1865 and moved to Knoxville, Marion County, with her children.

WAGONER, JAMES, age 34 at enlistment, of Whitebreast Township, Private, Co. E, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 9 August 1862 in Chariton, mustered 15 October 1862 at Camp Lauman, Burlington; died of disease 3 March 1863 (or March 6) in St. Louis; buried Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, Section 38, Grave 198.

James was a native of Ohio who married Permelia Sydbotham on 24 December 1858, then settled on a small farm in Whitebreast Township, near where Oakley now is located, soon thereafter. They became the parents of three children in quick succession --- Ira, born 1859; Mary "Molly," born 1860; and John J., Born 1861. The widowed Permelia married Frederick F. Barlow in Lucas County on 24 April 1864. They had a son, Stanton C. Barlow, but the marriage did not endure; Permelia resumed use of the surname "Wagoner"; and Frederick died at Beloit, Kansas, during 1880. Permelia lived in Chariton with her three Wagoner children, none of whom married, until her death on 5 February 1907. The children continued to live together thereafter, dying as follows: Mary in 1924; Ira in 1929; and John in 1930. All are buried in the Chariton Cemetery.

WARFORD, SIMEON B., age 22 at enlistment, Private, Co. D, 8th Iowa Volunteer Cavalry; enlisted at Chariton 14 August 1863; died of consumption 29 April or 1 March 1864 (records conflict) at Nashville, Tennessee; buried Nashville National Cemetery, Section H, Site 10035.

Simeon, born ca. 1841 in Jackson County, Ohio, was a son of Lot Warford and his second wife, Sibyl Briggs. The family moved from Ohio to Liberty Township, Clarke County, ca. 1854, and Simeon was enumerated as a member of his father's household in both the 1856 state census and 1860 federal census of Clarke County. Liberty Township is adjacent to northwest Lucas County's Otter Creek Township. Simeon apparently was living in Lucas County at the time of his enlistment in Chariton on 14 August 1863. He died of consumption on either 29 April or 1 May 1864 at Cumberland General Hospital (generally believed to have been a field hospital) at Nashville, Tennessee. He was buried initially in the U.S. Burial Ground - Southwest City Cemetery, Nashville, then reburied in Nashville National Cemetery upon its establishment.

WATERHOUSE, WILLIAM HENRY, age 19 at enlistment (some records show 29, but he was only 19), of Chariton, 4th Sergeant, Co. K, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted at Chariton 8 August 1862; mustered 15 October 1862 at Burlington; died of disease in St. Louis, Missouri, on 22 March 1863; buried (presumably) among the unknowns at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery.

William, a son of George and Massey Waterhouse, was born about 1843 at Walton on Thames, Surry, England, and grew up in the village of Cranford, Middlesex, where his father was a watch manufacturer. About 1852, the Waterhouse family emigrated to Dubuque County, Iowa, where the father died almost immediately, on Nov. 28, at Cascade. Soon after 1860, William came to Chariton to live with his sister, Emily, who had married Joseph Braden during 1854. William's remains most likely were unidentifiable when relocated to Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery.

Doris Christensen
WAYLAND, ELIJAH M.,
age 21 at enlistment, of Chariton, Private, Co. E, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted at Chariton 9 August 1862; mustered 15 October 1862; died of wounds 1 July 1863 at Vicksburg, Mississippi; buried among the unknowns at Vicksburg National Cemetery; commemorated on the tombstone of his twin brother, Austin, in the Chariton Cemetery.

Elijah was a son of Joseph (1784-1851) Wayland and his second wife, Patsy Threlkeld. Elijah and his twin brother, Austin S., were born on 13 April 1841 in Johnson County, Indiana. Following Joseph's death, Patsy brought her children west to Lucas County, Iowa, where many members of the extended Threlkeld family also settled. When the 1860 federal census of Lucas County was taken, Elijah was living in Benton Township with Keziah and Holmes Rowland and their two small children. Elijah's commanding officer, Capt. Nelson B. Gardner, also of Chariton, testified by sworn affidavit dated 28 March 1864 that Elijah's right leg was shot off on 1 July "by the explosion of a shell thrown from the enemy's battery at the siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi," and that he died the same day from effects of the wounds. Elijah is buried among the unknowns at Vickburg, but is commemorated on the tombstone of his brother, Austin, who died during 1877, in the Chariton Cemetery.

WEAVER, JOHN W., age 23 at enlistment, of Cedar Township, Private, Co. B, 6th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 2 October 1861; mustered 24 October 1861; killed in action 6 April 1862 during the Battle of Shiloh. Buried among the unknowns, Shiloh National Military Park; commemorated on tombstone in Allen Cemetery, Cedar Township, Lucas County.

John was a son of George and Harriet (Yergey) Weaver, who brought their family of four children from Pickaway County, Ohio, to Cedar Township, Lucas County, Iowa, in 1851. John, born 21 December 1837 in Pickaway County, was living and farming with his family when both the 1856 state and 1860 federal census enumerations of Lucas County were taken. George died 12 September 1869, age 53, in Cedar Township and was buried in Allen Cemetery. During 1876, Harriet married Hugh Larimer, but he pre-deceased her, too, during 1884. Harriet died 10 January 1901, age 84, and was buried beside George in the Allen Cemetery.

WEBB, SAMUEL E., age 23 at enlistment, of rural Chariton, Saddler, Co. L, 3rd Iowa Volunteer Cavalry; enlisted and mustered 30 March 1864 at Des Moines; died of chronic diarrhea 14 or 15 August 1865, Crittenden General Hospital, Louisville, Kentucky; remains probably interred among the "unknowns" at Zachary Taylor National Cemetery.

Samuel, son of Elijah and Elizabeth Webb, was a New Jersey native to arrived with his family to settle in Warren Township, Lucas County, prior to 1860. He married Mary J. Budd on 21 December 1859 in Lucas County and they became the parents of a daughter, Emma (or Emily), born 3 January 1862. The widowed Mary Webb married her husband's younger brother, John Webb, on 21 October 1865 in Lucas County. At that time, Samuel Niswinder was named Emma's guardian.



WELLS, JESSE, age 20 at enlistment, of Otter Creek Township, Private, Co. C, 13th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted at Chariton 28 September 1861; mustered 28 October 1861; killed in combat on 6 April 1862 during the Battle of Shiloh; remains, buried first on the battlefield, presumably were reburied with the unknowns at Shiloh National Military Park. Jesse is commemorated on a stone at Clore-Wells Pioneer Cemetery, Otter Creek Township, shared with his elder half-brother, Silas, who also died while in Civil War service.

Jesse, a son of John and Ruth (Huffman) Wells, was born Jan. 17, 1842, in Monroe County, Ohio, and settled in Otter Creek Township, Lucas County, Iowa, at age 14 during 1856 with his family. He was living with his parents in Otter Creek township when both the Iowa 1856 and federal 1860 census enumerations were made. 


WELLS, SILAS, age 24 at enlistment, Second Corporal, Co. K, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 9 August 1862; mustered 15 October 1862; promoted to full Corporal; became critically ill before deployment to the front and was sent home to Otter Creek Township to recover or die. He died on 3 November 1862 and his remains were buried in Clore-Wells Pioneer Cemetery. His younger half-brother, Jesse, killed at Shiloh on 6 April 1862 and buried there, also is commemorated on his tombstone.

Silas, a son of John and Susannah (McBride) Wells, was born 7 February 1838 in Monroe County, Ohio. His mother died when he was an infant and during 1840, his father married Ruth W. Huffman. Most of the large Wells family, including Silas, settled in Otter Creek Township, Lucas County, Iowa, during 1855-56. Silas was living with his brother, Aaron, sister-in-law, Elizabeth, and niece, Lydia E., during 1856; in 1860, he was enumerated as head of the household of his widowed sister, Christina Curtis, and her family.

WESTON, CYRENUS L., age 25 at enlistment, of Warren Township, Private, Co. G, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 12 August 1862; mustered 15 October 1862; died of disease 11 February 1863 at St. Louis, Missouri; buried Section 50, Site No. 633, Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery.

Cyrenus, a native of Pennsylvania, was farming in Warren Township, Lucas County, when the 1860 federal census was taken; living with his wife, Jane (Moore) Weston, and son, James W.L. Weston, age 5 months on the date of enumeration, 14 July. The widowed Jane married Ransom Alden on 14 June 1863 in Lucas County and pension records suggest that James may have taken his stepfather's surname. The family was living south of Seymour in Wayne County, Iowa, when Ransom died on 29 January 1874 (according to transcribed Wayne County cemetery records) or 29 January 1877 (according to online family records). He was buried in Harris Cemetery there. Later census records state that Jane gave birth to a total of nine children, three of whom were living in 1920, just before her death. Jane seems to have spent the later part of her life with her daughter, Angeline (b. 1868) and son-in-law, Grant Johnson. The Johnsons (and Jane) were living in Appanoose County, Iowa, in 1900; in Monroe County, Iowa, in 1910; and by 1920 had moved to Columbia County, New York. Jane died 6 August 1921 in Columbia County and is buried in Gallatin Reformed Church Cemetery in that county.

WHEELER, FRANCIS M., age 18 at enlistment, of Liberty Township, Private, Co. K, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 28 July 1862, mustered 15 October 1863; died of smallpox at "Small Pox General Hospital," St. Louis, 6 February 1863; buried among the "unknowns" at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery.

Francis, born in Perry County, Ohio, was a son of Samuel Davis and Elizabeth (Mathews) Wheeler and accompanied his large family west to Liberty Township, Lucas County, during 1856. The "Wheeler Bridge" over White Breast Creek in Liberty Township commemorates this family. Francis, and many other men of the 34th, contracted smallpox while accompanying prisoners of war upriver to Chicago following the January 1863 Battle of Arkansas Post.

WHITE, JAMES W., age 27 at enlistment, of Cedar Township, Private, Co. I, 8th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 29 March 1864 at Centerville, mustered 24 April 1864 at Davenport; died 22 December 1864 at Adams General Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee, of chronic diarrhea; buried Memphis National Cemetery (Section A, Site 2074).

James, a native of Indiana, was the eldest son of Nancy White and an unidentified husband who died ca. 1849-50 soon after the family had moved to Marion County, Iowa. She married Vardeman Fletcher in 1852 in Marion County and soon thereafter they brought their blended family to Cedar Township, Lucas County, where they were living when the 1856 census was taken (Vardeman abandoned the family ca. 1858). James was the sole support of his mother and two youngest sisters when he enlisted. 

According to military records, James was missing in action for a time after he was taken prisoner on 21 August 1864 at Memphis by troops led by Nathan Bedford Forrest during a raid that sometimes is called as the Second Battle of Memphis.


WILLIAMS, JOHN, age 18 at enlistment, of Freedom, Private, Co. I, 4th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 2 August 1861, mustered 31 August 1861; died of dysentery at or near Rolla, Missouri, 23 February 1863; disposition of remains unknown.

John was a son of Samuel and Susannah (Swinney) Williams who accompanied his family west from Indiana through Davis County, Iowa, to settle in Warren Township, Lucas County, during 1850. John and his father, Samuel (which see), enlisted and were mustered into Co. I on the same dates, and both died.

WILLIAMS, PLEASANT, age 33 at enlistment, private, Co. E, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 9 August 1862 at Chariton; mustered 15 October 1862 at Burlington; died of chronic diarrhea 30 January 1863, Overton General Hospital (Union), Memphis, Tennessee; probably buried among the unknowns at Memphis National Cemetery.

Pleasant was a native of Indiana who on 19 November 1846 married Martha Jane Cain, daughter of George and Rebecca Cain, at their home in Pleasant Township, Monroe County. About 1851-2, Pleasant and Martha, their children and other members of the extended Cain family moved to Liberty Township, Lucas County. Pleasant and his brother-in-law, Isaac C. Cain, are credited with building the first saw and grist mill in Lucas County on White Breast Creek in Liberty Township, commencing in 1851. The mill was described in Lucas County's 1881 history (page 619) as follows: "A dam was constructed across the creek, and the water thus utilized for motive power. The mill was a small structure rudely put together. The burs were made of boulders. One of them was very irregular in shape, and when in motion, seemed all the time as though it would jump out of the frame."

The Williams became the parents of eight children in rapid succession: Abraham Monroe, 22 November 1847; Rebecca E., 2 March 1849 (died young); Mary E.J., 12 February 1850 (died young); George R., January 22, 1851; Margaret D., 13 December 1852; Thomas F., 16 January 1855; Nancy E., 13 January 1857; and Frances J., 6 October 1859.

Soon after Nancy's birth, Pleasant and Martha moved their family to Jefferson Township, Andrew County, in far northwest Missouri, where they were living when the 1860 federal census was taken. Soon thereafter, however, they moved backed to Lucas County where they were living when Pleasant enlisted in Co. E, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry, on 9 August 1862 at Chariton. Mustered on 15 October at Burlington, Pleasant became ill with dysentery the following January and was hospitalized at Overton General Hospital, a hotel building at the intersection of Main and Poplar streets in Memphis, Tennessee, which had been first converted to a military hospital during 1861 by Confederate forces. He died there on 30 January. There is no record regarding disposition of his remains, but they most likely were re-interred after the war among unknowns at Memphis National Cemetery.

The widowed Martha Jane married as her second husband Benjamin Richards on 17 August 1864 in Monroe County, but was dead herself prior to 5 September 1866 when her minor children were placed under the guardianship of their grandmother, Rebecca Cain, in Lucas County.

WILLIAMS, SAMUEL, age 39 at enlistment, of Freedom, Private, Co. I, 4th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 2 August 1861, mustered 31 August 1861; shot dead at the Battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas, 7 March 1862; disposition of remains unknown.

Samuel was a native of Monroe County, (West) Virginia, who moved with his family to Decatur County, Indiana, where he married Susannah Swinney. The couple moved to Davis County, Iowa, in 1847; then moved on to the Freedom neighborhood of Warren Township, Lucas County, in 1850. Samuel and his son, John (which see), enlisted and were mustered into Co. I on the same dates, and both died. Samuel and Susannah were the parents of at least eight children. She died 8 June 1881 and is buried in Sharon Cemetery, just over the line into Wayne County.

WILSON, ALLEN J., age 27 at enlistment, of Cedar Township, Private, Co. G, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 12 August 1862 at Chariton, mustered 15 October 1862 at Burlington; died 3 February 1863 at "General Hospital Chicago" of a fever or jaundice or both after having accompanied with the 34th Infantry a large contingent of prisoners of war upriver from Arkansas; Disposition of remains unknown.

Allen, whose parents were John S. and Martha Ann (Young) Wilson, had arrived in Cedar Township with his family prior to 1850 and was married there on 27 March 1856 to Nancy J. (surname unclear, perhaps Colver). They had two children Serrepta, born 14 February 1858, and Quintilla, born 1860. Allen died in Chicago during February 1863; Quintilla at age 3 on 11 April 1863; and on 15 June 1863, Nancy herself died. The orphaned Serrepta was taken in and raised by her Wilson grandparents and by 1870 had moved with them to Missouri. 

WISE, WILLIAM M., age 20 at enlistment, of English Township, Private Co. K, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 30 March 1864, mustered 30 March 1864; killed in combat 9 April 1865 during the Battle of Fort Blakeley, Alabama, the final major battle of the Civil War; buried Mobile National Cemetery (Section 1, Site 246).

William, a native of Polk County, Tennessee, was a son of David and Rhoda Jamison Wise. The Wise family had moved to a farm in English Township, Lucas County, between 1856 and 1860. David was living with his family in 1860 and working as a farmer.

WOOD, ISAAC C., age 18 at enlistment, of English Township, Private, Co. E, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry; enlisted 12 August 1862, mustered 15 October 1862; died of acute dysentery New Orleans, Louisiana, 19 or 27 November, 1863 (records conflict); disposition of remains unknown.

Isaac, a son of Seth and Eliza Jane (Newman) Wood, was living with his family in English Township, Lucas County (post office Newbern) when the 1860 federal census was taken. The Wood family apparently had moved there from Belmont County, Ohio, after 1856,

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