Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Samuel Martin, 181 (or 184) OH Infantry

Headstone at Oakland Cemetery

The headstone shows him in the 184th Ohio, but I cannot find his name listed in that unit. He may have been in the 181st Ohio, though, as a "1" or a "4" at the end of the number may have been hard for the engraver to read


He apparently enlisted in the 181st Ohio in August of 1864 and and discharged in July 1865 with heart disease. He lived in Grant's Lick, the small community where he is now buried.


The 181st Ohio was formed at Camp Dennison, Ohio, near Cincinnati, in October 1864 and served in Alabama, Tennessee and North Carolina until July of 1865, It participated in the Siege of Murfreesboro, and was present at the capture of Wilmington, North Carolina, before taking part in the campaign that ended with the surrender of Confederate General Joe Johnston and his army.



The 184th Ohio was organized in early 1865 and spent its service fighting against guerrillas in Alabama and Tennessee before mustering out in September 1865

Rest in peace, soldier.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Herman Theis, 53 PA Infantry

Headstone, section 2, Evergreen Cemetery
Herman Theis was a member of Company D of the 53rd Pennsylvania Infantry regiment. This unit was formed late in 1861. In 1862, it participated in George McClellan's Peninsular Campaign



Herman Theis Kentucky Post 6/25/1906
Herman Theis, by his will probated in the Campbell County Court, leaves his entire estate to his widow, Sophia, as long as she remains single. If she marries again she is only to take the portion allowed by law. At his wife’s death the property is to be divided among his six children. His widow is named as executrix.

Rest in peace, soldier

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

John Clark, part 4 (final)

 Part 3

 (Thanks to a reader who forwarded me this picture. John Clark is on the left)

John was married to Catherine Cummins, with whom he had eleven children. In the mid 1890s he then married Nettie Sarl (or Sorrell) and had seven more children.  Several of his children died at young ages, and more than one was born a mute.

After the war, he returned to rural Bracken County, in the district of Berlin and resumed life on the farm. In 1867, white burley tobacco was produced for the first time, occurring in this very same Bracken County. John may have harvested that new crop in the following decades.

By 1935, he was living in Campbell County and an article in the Kentucky Times Star of May 15 noted the celebration of his 92nd birthday, with fifty family members and friends gathering in his house on Licking Pike. It noted “In spite of his advanced age, Clark enjoys excellent health and makes frequent trips to Newport to visit his daughter.” Music was courtesy of the “Red-Headed Music Makers” and “the aged veteran took an active part in the festivities.”

 I have found no record as to if  he was involved in reunions such as the GAR. A September 19, 1913 article in the Kentucky section of the Cincinnati Times Star did report that, sadly, “so rapid has been the onslaught of death on the veterans of the Tenth and Sixteenth Kentucky regiments that it is probable there will be no more reunions of the old soldiers.” It is very possible that he had attended at least some of these reunions in the Maysville area, one of which occurred on November 30, 1892, and for which a local railroad offered discounted fare for veterans attending the reunion.

 This article reported the following statement issued by Mrs. C.C Degman, wife of the late secretary of the association:
           
The surviving comrades of the Tenth and Sixteenth Kentucky regiments are requested to meet at G.A.R. hall in Maysville on Wednesday, September 24, for a re-organization and considering the rapid depletion of the ranks and a final roll call before ‘crossing the bar.’ During the past year so many members of the association have died that it is impossible to get enough members together to hold a reunion. There were only about thirty members left in both regiments.”

 Time stands still for no-one, not even the brave soldiers of the Civil War, and on April 26, 1940, John Clark passed away, a few days shy of his 97th birthday.

According to the Kentucky Post of the next day, he was the last surviving Civil War veteran in Campbell County. The article includes a picture of him, with his white mustache and carrying a cane, and says that he had participated in Newport’s 1939 Memorial Day Parade and had planned to do so again in 1940.
           
 At his death, he was survived by his wife Nettie, seven daughters, three sons, thirty-two grandchildren and thirty great-grandchildren.

He was buried in Oakland Cemetery in Grants Lick, Kentucky, with a headstone proudly listing his unit information. In 1960, his wife passed away and a newer headstone was placed at the gravesite, but the original headstone also remains.

John Clark lived through a remarkable era in American history. To borrow a description from James Robbins’ book Last in Their Class, they “had lived through an age in which the United States and the world had seen dramatic changes...The era of the musket and the cavalry saber had given way to the machine gun, the tank, the aircraft carrier and the strategic bomber.” Inventions like the automobile, telephone, electric lights, radio and more had transformed the way many Americans lived. World War I had come and gone, and by the time John passed away, this nation that had been “conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal” was soon to face a conflict that would help make this nation a world superpower. It was an amazing century through which he had lived.

Sources for my original paper, most or all of which should be applicable to this article
   E.E. Barton Papers on microfilm at the LDS Family History Center, Lakeside Park, Ky.
             http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/index.html  (This link appears to be no longer valid)
    Military records from the National Archives
      Last in their Class: Custer, Picket and the Goats of West Point by James S. Robbins, © 2006, Encounter Books, New York



Tuesday, June 7, 2011

John Clark, part 3

(Link to part 2 , which includes a link to part 1)

In the aftermath of this victorious campaign, Sherman split his troops, keeping some to go on the "March to the Sea" but sending others to chase down John Bell Hood’s Confederates as they marched westward into Tennessee. The 16th Kentucky, with John Clark, was among the units assigned to head west.

On November 30, Hood ordered his troops to attack the Union Army at Franklin, resulting in defeat for the Rebels, whose losses included several generals. This was a crucial loss for the Southern army, and the 16th Kentucky played an important part, according to (now) Brigadier-General J.W. Reilly in his report in the Official Records: “The line was rapidly rallied by their officers and with the assistance of the Sixteenth Kentucky, that at this moment led by Lieutenant-Colonel White, who…gallantly ordered and led his regiment forward to the breach before orders to that effect could reach him. That portion of the enemy who had gained inside our works were either killed or taken prisoners. The enemy made various and continued assaults upon the line, but were each time repulsed with fearful slaughter.”

The fascinating and informative Battle of Franklin blog, in its 11/24/2010 entry entitled “Franklin after-battle report, 104th Ohio Infantry” publishes a report from Colonel Oscar W. Sterl. Among its information is the following linee describing some of the action in which the 16th Kentucky took part:

Sixteenth and Twelfth Kentucky rushed from the second line simultaneously with them, and joined them and the One hundredth Ohio, on the first line, from which (having overcome all the rebels who had crossed the works) they kept up a constant and destructive stream of fire, cutting down by hundreds the rebels who had accumulated and massed in the ditches and immediately in front.

During this battle, John Clark became a casualty of war, suffering a flesh wound in his left thigh. He was admitted to Jefferson General Hospital in Jefferson, Indiana on December 5. He remained there until discharged on July 29, 1865, when he was ordered to rejoin his company near Louisville. It was in Louisville where he was officially mustered out of service on August 1, 1865.

Jefferson General Hospital, courtesy wikipedia.com


John's military records provide some information about his pay situation. His discharge card noted $26.64 was still owed to him. Earlier hospital records had noted when he received other payments.

On the company muster-out roll, dated July 15, 1865 in North Carolina, remarks indicate John had received $160 in bounty money, with $240 more being due. He had been paid through April 30, 1865 by this point in time, and this form mentioned “no discharge furnished” after noting his injury. At the bottom of the page, however, a note reported: “Mustered out, August 1, 1865” by the “report of Chf. M. and D.” 

During his time in the hospital, John missed out as his comrades took part in more crucial action before the close of the war as the 16th Kentucky participated in the Union route of the Confederates at Nashville. This regiment then traveled east and some of its members were the first troops to enter Wilmington, North Carolina, the final Atlantic port open to the Confederates, after Fort Fisher had fallen to the Yankees.

This unit remained in North Carolina on garrison duty at Greensburg until July.