Digging Down East: Civil War

Showing posts with label Civil War. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

52 Ancestors: #22 Edmund B. Clayton (1833-1864)

Edmund B. Clayton, my 1st cousin 5x removed, was born on this date in 1833, in Freeman, Maine, the third of ten children born to Bartholomew Clayton and Mary Tarr, and their second son.

Edmund stayed close to home in Freeman in his youth, and is enumerated in the 1850 and 1860 U.S. Censuses. However, as the winds of war began to blow across even that northern country, Edmund made a decision that would decide the course of his short life.

Together with his brother, Collamore, he traveled to nearby Farmington, and there enlisted on November 1, 1861, as a private in Captain Constantine Taylor's Company L of the 1st Maine Cavalry. Less than four months later, on February 22, 1862, Edmund was promoted to the rank of Corporal.

Photo credit : Donnie Nunley / Creative Commons

Edmund was wounded on August 20, 1862, at the Battle of Brandy Station, in Virginia. But it was almost two years later, still in Virginia, that Edmund was taken prisoner during the Battle of St. Mary's Church, on June 24, 1864.

Excerpt: History of the 1st Maine Cavalry

The history of the 1st Maine Cavalry during this period of the Civil War recounts the extreme heat and thirst from which both soldiers and horses suffered. It is no wonder, then, that being sent to Andersonville Prison was, for many, a death sentence.

Edmund did not last long at Andersonville. By the time he arrived there, the prison population has risen to over 21,700. He died of scorbutus (often called scurvy), on the 6th of October of 1864. He was 31 years old.

He is buried in the Andersonville National Cemetery.

The Maine Monument at Andersonville
Photo credit: Kevin Frye

There is also a cenotaph planted in the Starbird Corner Cemetery, in Freeman, Maine, just a few paces from my third great grandfather, which I discovered and photographed last summer.

Photo credit:

Union Cavalry

(http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Union_Cavalry_(8673816944)_(2).jpg)

[CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Sources:

1850 US Census; Census Place: Freeman, Franklin, Maine; Roll: M432_253; Page: 229A; Image: 443, Edmund B Clayton.

1860 US Census; Census Place: Freeman, Franklin, Maine; Roll: M653_435; Page: 852; Image: 267, Edmund B Clayton.

A history of Farmington, Franklin County, Maine : from the earliest explorations to the present time, 1776-1885. (Ancestry.com).

Ancestry.com. Andersonville Prisoners of War [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 1999.

Ancestry.com. U.S., Adjutant General Military Records, 1631-1976 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

Ancestry.com. U.S. National Cemetery Interment Control Forms, 1928-1962 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.

E.B. Clayton grave marker, Andersonville National Cemetery, Andersonville (Sumter County), Georgia; courtesy of Kevin Frye, Descendants of Andersonville Prisoners Facebook Group.

E.B. Clayton cenotaph, Starbird Corner Cemetery, Freeman (Franklin County), Maine; photographed by Pamela Schaffner on 5 August 2013.

Historical Data Systems, comp. U.S., Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles, 1861-1865 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2009.

"Maine, Veterans Cemetery Records, 1676-1918", index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/KXQC-2MW : accessed 25 May 2014), Edmund B Clayton, 1864.

National Archives and Records Administration; Burial Registers of Military Posts and National Cemeteries, compiled ca. 1862-ca. 1960 ; Archive Number: 44778151; Series: A1 627; Record Group Title: Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, 1774-1985; Record Group Number: 92.

National Cemetery Administration. U.S. Veterans Gravesites, ca.1775-2006 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006.

National Park Service. U.S. Civil War Soldiers, 1861-1865 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007.

Tobie, Edward P. History of the 1st Maine Cavalry, 1861-1865 (Boston: Press of Emery and Hughes, 1887), pp. 293-300, 633.

***

This is the 22nd in a series, “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks,” coordinated by Amy Johnson Crow at No Story Too Small.

Monday, February 18, 2013

Military Monday ~ Gleanings From A Civil War Pension Record

Chalmette National Cemetery Graves

Charles H. Brackley enlisted on December 1st, 1863, at Augusta, Maine. His uncle, Howard Winslow Brackley, is my 3rd great grandfather and will be the subject of a future post. I have written about Charles previously at “Oh Brave Brackley Boys of Freeman.”

When I discovered there was a pension file available, I ordered it from the National Archives. At 75 pages, it provided a fascinating window on the life of a rural Maine farmer in the late 1880’s.

I was also able to glean a dozen or so genealogical leads from the file itself.

Charles was one of the many Civil War soldiers who died, not from war wounds, but of disease, far from home. He is buried in Chalmette (La.) National Cemetery.

From reading the mostly hand-written pension file, I learned the following about Charles:

He was born on May 2, 1846.

About Charles’ enlistment:

Charles was mustered in to rank at Augusta on December 17, 1863.

His father, Eli, was paid a bounty of $10.00 on December 24th for his son’s enlistment.

After being mustered in, and before he left Augusta, Charles gave his father $75.00.

About his death I learned:

He died on June 6, 1864, from what was called then “Bilious Fever.” (I have also seen it described as “chronic diarrhea.”)

About his father, Eli Brackley, I learned that he was married to Mary Grant on September 7, 1843, by an ordained minister named Simeon N. Pierce, in Freeman, Franklin County, Maine.

About his mother, Mary Grant Brackley, I learned that she died in Farmington, Maine, on October 3, 1850.

About Eli’s 1879 application for his son Charles’ pension:

In 1879, Eli lived and farmed in Salem, Franklin County, Maine. He kept on the farm 60 sheep, 2 cows, 2 horses, and 4 or 5 young cattle, all valued at about $470.

He was dependent on his son Charles financially, and his economic situation had been declining in the years since Charles died in the war.

He was in declining health. Although he gave his age as 59, he seemed much debilitated. He had not been to a physician in the years since his son went to war, because there wasn’t one in town, and appeared to be between 68 and 72 years old. (Another source has him born in 1822, which makes him 57 at this time.)

He was initially paid $8.00 a month, retroactive to the day after Charles’ death, June 7, 1864. This pension, which eventually increased to $12.00 a month, continued to be paid until Eli’s death on May 24, 1904.

Source:
Declarations of and on behalf of Claimant, December 3, 1879 to August 22, 1881, Eli A. Brackley, dependent father pension application no. 255, 239, certificate no. 194, 322; service of Charles H. Brackley (Pvt., Co. K, 29^th Maine Vol. Inf., Civil War); Case Files of Approved Pension Applications …, 1861-1934; Civil War and Later Pension Files; Department of Veterans Affairs, Record Group 15; National Archives, Washington, D.C.

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Oh Brave Brackley Boys of Freeman

Private Orren Brackley¹

They came from a small farming village in rural Franklin County, Maine, poignantly named Freeman, and the neighboring towns of Strong, Avon and Salem, my 3rd great grandfather, Howard Winslow Brackley (1829-1873) among them.

The Brackley boys fought as infantry men and cavalry soldiers, as well as light artillery. Most served as Privates, but one became a Corporal, and another a Second Lieutenant. Each had their own stories to tell, to be sure. One even wrote them down in a journal that survives to this day.

There are three among this generation of Brackley ancestors that have very meaningful stories to tell.

Rufus K. Brackley (1826-1863) was Howard's cousin and a farmer from Strong. A married man of twelve years, he enlisted for a 9-month stint on October 13, 1861, and joined Company D of the 28th Maine Infantry, serving alongside his cousin. The 28th Maine saw action in many hot spots throughout the South, including Chalmette, Louisiana and Pensacola, Florida, and took part in the Siege of Port Hudson, Louisiana on June 14th, 1863. The 28th was mustered out on August 31st of that year, the same day that Rufus is said to have died. Sadly, Rufus died at the age of 37, while walking back to Strong, Maine, because he didn't have a horse to ride.

Orren Brackley (1845-1921) left Avon, Maine, and went to war at 16 years old, encouraged by an uncle's gift of $15 to sign up. Enlisting in the 2nd Maine Light Infantry, he was eventually promoted to Full Corporal. in 1865. During his four years of service to the Union cause, he kept a meticulous journal, which remains as a memorable legacy with his direct descendants.

Charles H. Brackley (1846-1864) enlisted from Salem, Maine, in the 29th Maine Infantry, led by Colonel George Lafayette Beal. The 29th left Maine for New Orleans on January 31st, 1863. It is there that, a year and a half later, Charles died of disease, one of over 190 soldiers of that regiment to do so. There is a cenotaph for Charles in the Mt. Abram Cemetery in Salem, Maine. His body, however, was buried in Chalmette National Cemetery in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Charles H. Brackley's Grave at Chalmette Nattional Cemetery²

Charles H. Brackley's Cenotaph in Salem, Maine³

¹Soldiers of the Civil War, a chapter in “Strong, a Mussul Unsquit Village: A Legacy of Woods and Waters.” Website in partnership with Maine Memory Network.

http://strong.mainememory.net/page/3344/display.html

²Find A Grave, database and images (http://findagrave.com : accessed 14 September 2012), memorial page for Charles H. Brackley (1846–1864), Find A Grave Memorial no. 32430838, citing Chalmette National Cemetery, New Orleans, Louisiana.

³Find A Grave, database and images (http://findagrave.com : accessed 14 September 2012), memorial page for Charles H. Brackley (1846–1864), Find A Grave Memorial no. 50217095, citing Mount Abram Cemetery, Salem, Maine.

Additional information obtained from:

Thompson, George A. and F. Janet Thompson. A Genealogical history of Freeman, Maine, 1796-1938, in three volumes. 3 vols. (Bowie, Maryland: Heritage Books, 1996)

This blog post will be part of the Great Civil War Genealogy Blog Challenge published by Bill West on his West in New England blog at the end of September.

Monday, January 30, 2012

Digging Under My Brick Wall (Part 1) - Olive Seavey and Sylvanus Stetson

Olive was the daughter of Jonathan Seavey (my 2nd Great Grandfather) and Mary Blake, his first wife.* I am a descendant of Jonathan and his second wife.

In an effort to wedge my way under the brick wall of Jonathan Seavey's parentage, I have been researching his offspring. I have come up with interesting connections and fascinating historical tie-ins.

Olive (1834-1903) was one of the four daughters of Jonathan Seavey and Mary Blake. She was born in Bridgton, Maine.

Olive married Sylvanus C. Stetson (1829-1899) on November 7,1860 in Lewiston, Maine.**

Ten years earlier, according to the 1850 U.S. Census, the 21 year old Sylvanus was living, with his older brother Bradford, on the south fork of the American River in El Dorado County, California as a gold miner. They would have traveled to California by way of a clipper ship, via the Isthmus of Panama, a voyage taking upwards of 100 days.***

The discovery of gold in El Dorado County along the American in 1848 was the widely publicized event that precipitated the fabulous gold rush to California in 1849. Soon thousands of gold seekers swarmed over the county, and in the 1850's it was one of the most populous areas in the State. (The 1850 U.S. Census was a disaster in California. It was disorganized and many of the records were lost, requiring California to mandate a state census in 1852 to try to gauge the massive increase in population due to the Gold Rush.)

He may have brought back enough riches from California to establish himself as a well-off citizen. Three years after marrying Olive Seavey, in 1863, he was drafted, but was one of many men with means who paid a commutation fee of $300 to avoid combat.****

By the time of the 1870 Census, Olive, Sylvanus, and a daughter Jennie, were living in North Bridgewater, Mass., and his occupation was "Dealer in fish," or fishmonger. In the 1880 Census, they had returned to Maine, to Bowdoin in Sagadahoc County.

Sylvanus C. Stetson died in Monmouth, Maine, in 1899, aged 70. His widow, Olive, returned to Massachusetts, perhaps living with her sister and brother-in-law, Anna (Seavey) and Harlan Roscoe Mason, who were living in Brockton.

Olive Seavey Stetson died in Brockton, Massachusetts, in 1903, aged 68.

They are buried together in Monmouth, Maine.

* For a timeline of Jonathan's two marriages and his children, see my previous post.
** Intentions of marriage and marriage records, 1837-1878, Lewiston, Androscoggin County, Maine Vital Records (copy from microfilm viewed at Cincinnati Ohio East Family History Center, Montgomery, Ohio, February, 18, 2012).
*** For more on the Maine clipper ship industry, see the Penobscot Marine Museum website.
**** History of Plymouth County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men. Philadelphia, 1884. p. 642. The $300 commutation fee was an enormous sum of money for most city laborers or rural farmers. With these draft laws, the Civil War truly began to be known as a rich man's war and a poor man's fight.