Allen Brownfield, 182 Ohio Infantry

Headstone, Evergreen Cemetery

Allen S Brownfield served in companies D and G of the 182nd Ohio Infantry regiment. This unit mustered into service in October of 1864 after being organized at Camp Chase, Ohio. It served at Nashville and other localities in Tennessee, and fought in the Battle of Nashville December 15 and 16, 1864, one of the more decisive Union victories of the war. The regiment mustered out in July 1865.

Kentucky Post  6-18-1898, 

Bellevue – The funeral of Allen S. Brownfield took place Sunday at 1:30 p.m. from the family residence on Foote Ave. Granville Moody Post, G.A.R., and Joe Hooker Post, of Dayton, attended  in a body

 Rest in peace, soldier

Jacob Aschenback (Ashback), co. H 183 Ohio Infantry

Headstone, Evergreen Cemetery

Jacob Aschenback (also spelled Ashback in some records) was a member of Co H of the 183 Ohio Infantry regiment. This unit organized in late 1864 and spent time in Tennessee until July 1865.

Kentucky Times Star April 24, 1917, p. 7

Jacob Aschenback died Monday at his home, 21 Miller’s Lane, Ft. Thomas. He was a veteran of the Civil War, also a member of Noah’s Dove Lodge of Odd Fellows, of Newport. The funeral services will be held Thursday afternoon at the residence. 

Rest in peace, soldier

Michael Burgman, 37 KY Infantry

Headstone, Evergreen Cemetery

Michael Burgman was a member of Company H of the 37th Kentucky Infantry Regiment.  This regiment was formed in late 1863 and saw action throughout Kentucky, including against John Hunt Morgan. It then moved into southwest Virginia and saw action at the battle of Saltville in October 1864.  The unit returned to Kentucky and mustered out in December 1864.

Kentucky Post  

Sunday May 19, 1929, 

Last rites for Michael Burgman, 83, Civil War veteran will be held Monday at 3 p.m. from the home of his son George Burgman, 15 Sheridan-av. Ft. Thomas. Burial will be in Evergreen Cemetery.

Burgman died Friday at his home following an illness of six days. Bronchitis caused his death, relatives said. 

Burgman was born in Baden, Germany, but had been a resident of Campbell-co. nearly all his life.

During the Civil War, he served with Company H, 37^th Regiment Kentucky Volunteers. He was a member of William Nelson Post, G.A.R. for many years.  Members of the post and Woman’s Relief Corps No. 2 will hold services at 2 p.m. at the home. Mary A. Logan Tent No. 1 will meet for services Sunday at 3:30 p.m. at the home.

Burgman is survived by his son, George, Ft. Thomas, and a daughter, Mrs. W.C. Thomasson, wife of W.C. Thomasson, electrician of the Newport Fire Department.

Following will represent William Nelson Post, as honorary pallbearers: Charles A Solar commander; Jacob Obre senior vice-commander; August Seiter chaplain; and Alfred Matinis adjutant. Burgman was commander of the day of the Nelson post. 

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Rest in peace, soldier

James Nealens, 53 KY Infantry

Headstone, Evergreen Cemetery

James Nealens was a member of Company G of the 53rd Kentucky Infantry regiment. This unit formed in Covington, Kentucky in September 1864 and spent time guarding railroads between Covington and Lexington. This regiment did later participate in George Stoneman's raid into Virginia, and fought at the battle of  Saltville It then returned to Kentucky, serving in various posts until mustering out in September 1865.

Kentucky Times Star

November 1, 1919

James Nealeans, 81, veteran of the Civil War and former well-known resident of Newport, died Friday at the Soldier’s Home in Dayton, O. He was a brother of Miss Alice Nealeans, former teacher in the Newport high school. The body arrived Saturday morning and was removed to the chapel of Charles A.Smith and Son. Funeral services will be held Monday afternoon at the residence of his sister, 131 West Eleventh Street. Another sister, Mrs. Lydia Martin, resides in Cincinnati.

Rest in peace, soldier

August Seiter (Seither), 23 KY Infantry

I originally posted this on my Civil War Obsession blog (see this link ) but think it deserves to be on this site as well, as it was his headstone at Evergreen Cemetery that led me to this find. I had planned to rewrite it for this blog, but think I'll just add it as is, with a couple small edits.

A family member contacted me and thinks the different spelling of his last name may have been an attempt to make it appear "less German" during World War I.

As I was at the library one day, looking up obituaries for various Civil War veterans who are buried nearby and hoping to find something interesting, I made what is probably the most fascinating and intriguing discovery I have ever made.

The story is about August Seiter (or Seither) and is from the Kentucky Post of September 1, 1930. It describes how, August, the youngest of 4 brothers at 15 years of age, snuck into a local Civil War camp, passed what the article described as a "meager physical and mental examination" and convinced the recruiters he was 18 years old, allowing him to sign up for service.

He did so because two of his older brothers had just recently enlisted in this unit, the 23rd Kentucky Infantry, including one who left behind a wife and 5 children.

What they did not realize at the time was the oldest brother, Jacob, who had left home previously to go to New Orleans to work on a boat prior to the outbreak of war, was now a part of the Confederate army, after his boat left Cuba and returned to New Orleans following the declaration of war.

Until 2 years after the end of the war, when Jacob returned home to John's Hill in Campbell County, KY, nobody in the family knew what had happened to him, and presumed him to be dead.

It was a surprise to find out he had been fighting against the rest of the family, but this article says that the family compared battles and figured out they had not been on the same battlefield at any time.

Jacob had lost his right arm at the battle of Malvern Hill, and the others suffered as well. George, who had left his wife and kids to enlist, lost his right arm as well, at New Hope Church in Georgia, and Conrad suffered a wound to his right hand at Round Mountain, Tennessee. August, the baby of the bunch, had a bullet pass through both his thighs during the fight at Missionary Ridge near Chattanooga.

Jacob returned to his home to participate in the Grand Army of the Republic's encampment in September 1898, marching in his gray uniform alongside his three brothers in blue.

According to August, "Of course, the spectators could not understand Jacob in the gray, but we brothers did and we were proud of each other despite the fact that Jacob was against us in the war."

The phrase "brother's war" is often thrown around during discussion of the Civil War, and many examples of this exist - in Kentucky, alone, famous families like the Breckenridges and the Crittendens had family members on both sides, and perhaps no better example of this phenomenon exists than the Todd Family, the in-laws of President Lincoln, who had 5 members side with the Union and 9 with the Confederates (according to "All that Makes a Man: Love and Ambition in the Civil War South" by Stephen William Berry.)

I just never expected to find such a clear-cut example so close to home, and this find has excited me as much as anything else I have ever found. I make no pretense of being a professional historian, but I have done research on several projects, and this story is just as fascinating as any of them. (The only one that might be close is the discovery of John Clark as the last Civil War veteran who lived in Campbell County.) When I found all 4 brothers' names in the soldiers and sailors website this morning (the Union men as "Seiter" and the Confederate as "Seither"), it absolutely thrilled me as that struck me as confirmation of the accuracy of the basic story.

I also found August Seiter's obituary (that's how they spelled it, as does his headstone) and it indicated he was the last surviving member of the William Nelson Camp of the Grand Army of the Republic. I know some people in the Nelson-Garfield Camp of the Sons of Union Veterans fo the Civil War and hope this information will interest them.

Finding this story - of which I had never heard anything at all - really thrilled me. I know I have repeated that sentiment, but I could easily do so all day, as it really is a neat story.

Rest in peace, August, Conrad, George and Jacob Seit(h)er.