Sergeant Francis Winters, Co. E US Artillery - controversy at funeral

Headstone in Union Plot at Evergreen Cemetery

Francis Winters was in Company E of the 2nd Regiment of Artillery in the U.S. Regular Army. This unit participated in the spring 1862 Peninsula Campaign in Virginia, and battles at Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, as well as many of the battles in the 1864 Overland Campaign and the Siege of Petersburg, as well as the campaign that ended at Appomattox in April 1865. It was present for Lee's Surrender and took part in the Grand Review of Armies in Washington DC in May of that year

KY Post – 8-28-1905 p.5

Fought Indians – Francis Winters, Who Campaigned Against the Seminoles, Is Dead

            Francis Winters, 80, a veteran of Indian Wars, died yesterday at the home of his daughter, Mrs. M. Young, 816 Central-av., Newport. Winters enlisted in 1854 and served throughout the campaign against the Seminole Indians. He then served in the War of the Rebellion and was under fire no less than 42 times. He leaves two children. The funeral will take place tomorrow morning, with services at the Church of the Immaculate Conception. He was a member of the GAR and the old veterans, with a detachment of the regulars will attend the funeral. The members of William Nelson Post, GAR, will meet at their hall at 9 a.m. to attend the services.

This next story strikes me as being very unusual and especially sad. It may even be termed  "disappointing" to let such politics affect the honoring of a former comrade.

KY Post – 8-29-1905, p. 5

Vets Refused to Follow Regulars – Members of the G.A.R. Declined to Attend Funeral of Comrade Because Firing Squad Marched in Front

Members of William Nelson Post, G.A.R., of Newport, KY., angered because they could not march directly in front of the hearse, refused to participate Tuesday in the funeral of Francis Winters, 80, veteran of several wars. A firing squad of 15 soldiers from the Fourth Infantry, of Ft. Thomas, insisted on marching in front of the hearse, and, as Uncle Sam’s warriors were in position first, the G.A.R. men marched back to the hall before the funeral procession started.

Winters enlisted in the Seminole War in Florida in 1854, fought Indians in the West and again enlisted in the Civil War.

He was noted for having been under hot fire 42 different times, and was considered by some as possessed of a charmed life.

The body was taken from the home of Mrs. M. Young, 816 Central-av., Newport, Ky., to the Church of the Immaculate Conception, and after the funeral service was buried in St. Stephen’s Cemetery, back of Newport. The squad from Ft. Thomas fired a volley over the grave of the departed veteran.