Random Thought When Viewing A War Memorial

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Hugh
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Random Thought When Viewing A War Memorial

Post by Hugh »

As a child, I vacationed every summer at my grandmother's place in South Egremont, Mass., a very small town in the Berkshires. In nearly every town up there, there is a war memorial in the village square with the names of battles where the sons of that town had died. I had seen them all of my life but had never really paid much attention to them until a recent visit up there to bury my uncle. I was in Salisbury, Conn., and I looked at the one there. It listed St Lo, Guadacanal, Ardennes, and other WWII battles on one side along with Pork Chop Hill, Chosin, Pusan, Inchon, and other Korean battles. On another side were WWI battles such as Saint Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne and VietNam battles such as IaDrang and Kesanh. Then I came around to the side withth the battles from the War Between the States and I saw Chantilly, Fredericksburg, Bull Run, Winchester, and Petersburg, all names of places in my state and some within a few minutes drive of my home. It gave me a very odd feeling and brought home to me the concept that the War was, indeed, one that was fought all over my home. I had grown up with that, having seen rifleman's pits in the woods behind my parents' house and all, but seeing the battles listed like that was a sort of shock.
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Another Hidden Memorial

Post by JOHN THURSTON »

Hi:

In the course of my pracctice I had to go to the town of Wakefield for a matter which lasted a few days.

While There I noticed just the marble plaque dedicated to those who fell during the War between the states.

There were not a large number, perhaps 50. But 50 young men from a town as small as wakefield would have had the entire town in mourning,

what struck me was the age of the men---mostly in their teens if I recall correctly-and where the majority died. It was Andersonville.

J
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Post by f.Channell »

Back then (Civil War) all the young men (and a few women posing as men, hundreds actually) would join the local volunteers and fight together in the same regiment. They didn't distribute people to different branches and mix them up like today. Survivors would be used to assemble new units of course.

There were amazing losses during the Civil War.

I had a 2nd great uncle, Captain Alftred Channell who commanded troops at the Battle of Mary's Heights, Fredericksburg where the Union lost 12,000 men in one day.
http://www.brotherswar.com/Fredericksburg-2.htm

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Post by Hugh »

I have four great grandfathers. One, Junius Jay Wilson MacMurray, was the son of a slave-owning family in Missouri who was a 16-year old at Washington College, now University, in St. Louis in 1860. He was approached by the secessionists to participate in a plot to take the St. Louis Armory and distribute its arms and ammunition to the secessionist forces in Missouri. The only problem with that was that g-grandad MacMurray was opposed to slavery and pro-Union. He stayed with the plot long enough to find out the details and then he and the Unionist people occupied the Armory and sent to Jefferson Barracks outside St. Louis for Federal troops to relive them. This was very instrumental in keeping Missouri in the Union and he was rewarded with a commission of Lieutenant in the Missouri State Volunteer Artillery. He served under Grant and Sherman from Shiloh to Atlanta and then Columbia, S.C. He was run off of the family plantation at the point of a loaded shotgun after the War and, thus, tried for a commission in the Regular Army in 1866, not a good time for a non-West Pointer to be doing that. But his record of service was such that he had Grant and Sherman on his side and he got a commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 1st Artillery where he served until his death from yellow fever in 1898. He served all over the Western Frontier and my grandmother was raised in that Army, being born on the same day as the Battle of the Little Big Horn. She had some of the MOST incredible stories to tell. If you ever have a chance to read any stories by James Warner Bellah, do so. She read a couple of his short story collections that I had and said that they were the truest depictions of life in the Indian Fighting Army that she had ever read.

The second g-grandad was living in Kansas and joined the Colorado cavalry, serving out the war in the Southwest. His fighting was mostly against Texans.

A third g-grandad, Robert W. Fuller, had attended Princeton in 1832 with his own coach and four-horse team. His family were cotton planters from the Sea Islands of Georgia. He went to a tent revival meeting while at Princeton and got revived and became a Baptist preacher. He was pastor of a Baptist church in Atlanta up through into the 1880s. My grandad was born to his second wife in 1870 and remembered Union troops in occupation up until he was 6 years old.

The final g-grandad was the one for whom the song, "I'm A Good Ol' Rebel" could have been written. He was William Albert Smoot of Alexandria, Va. His family were not slaveholders as they had no need for them in their urban environment. When Federal troops occupied his home town in April of 1861, he mounted his horse and rode out to Warrenton, Va. and joined the 4th Virginia Cavalry. He served all the way up through the surrender of the cavalry of the Army of Northern Virginia down around Lynchburg, Va. in late April of 1865. He was presented with two sabers as awards for gallantry, one by Robert E. Lee and one by Thomas J. (Stonewall) Jackson. He was the Regimental Color Sergeant at the time of the surrender and he rolled the Regimental Standard, the Battle Flag of the Army of Northern Virginia, up and tucked it under his tunic so that he could smuggle it off of the surrender field rather than surrender it to the Damnyankees. It spent the next several decades sewn up inside of a pillow as possession of it was illegal. Further, he never signed the Oath fo Allegience required of all Confederate veterans, so he never regained his citizenship. I have that flag in a bank lock box and I have his belt plate and cartidge box plate at home. My brother has his Remington .44 pistol and my first cousin has the Lee Saber while a second cousin has the Jacson saber.
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Post by f.Channell »

Fascinating family history Hugh.
Good of your family to tell it to you so well. You should order their military records as well if you haven't already done so. Price on that will be going way up shortly. I'm guessing the career great grandfather must have been involved in the Indian wars as well, after the Civil.
Those artifacts must be such a treasure to you and your family.
If I had such a thing it would be my most prized posession.

My one great grandfather who served in WWI died in France serving with the Scottish.

Lately I've been working on a Shaker Aunts history. Far from martial but interesting anyway.

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Post by Rising Star »

I just returned from Gettysburg, PA. My son and I went there for the 1,2 and 3 with my folks. My Great Great Grandfather, Darius H. Whitcomb, fought there and was injured on July 1. He had started his service with Company C of the 14th NH Inf. but must have been re-assigned or joined another group as the 14th NH isn't listed as having fought there. Family history though, through his daughter, describes him being injured on July 1st - leg wound - and not rec'ving medical care until the 4th. I guess I am going to have to order his military record from the US Archives and see what I can find out.

Truly overwhelming though to visit that place and listen to the story, watch how the events unfolded and try to imagine the true horror of what happened in those 3 days.

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Hi

Post by JOHN THURSTON »

Al sobering and touching reminders.

With respect to the New hampshire Regiment, ragtails of a Regiment that could not reconstitute itself were often attached, or attached themselves to other regiments.

As you know Joshua Chamberlain's 8th Maine was in the area before, after and during the Gettysbourg battle.

Hopefully, Gnapa Whitcomb would have been lucky enough to attach himself to such a country boy Regiment.

I certainly hope he did.
New Jersey Regimental histories, though are some of the few that seem complete online.

Sometimes just running a search with a name turns up interesting stuf. I am sure I have spoken endless times about my Namesake who was killed at the Alamo.

I doubt any close relationship existed--but reading the names of the dead there did give me a bit of a start.

It is unfortunate that the life experiences of such honorable gents could not be saved as easily as we same the date on a hard drive.

I will try and read these thoughts of minutely, and I hope you will forgive when and if I insert comments in your posts--they will be parenthsied,italicized and bold if I feel I can make a respectful comment.

John
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Hugh
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Post by Hugh »

I believe that it was the 20th Maine that Col. Chamberlain commanded at Gettysburg and that he had picked up the mutinous remnants of the 2nd Maine with which he had to deal before he took the regiment up onto Little Roundtop.
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Post by f.Channell »

Found this for you John
I'll poke around a little more for you and let you know.

Darius H. Whitcomb (First_Last)
Regiment Name 14 New Hampshire Inf.
Side Union
Company C
Soldier's Rank_In Pvt.
Soldier's Rank_Out Pvt.
Alternate Name
Notes
Film Number M549 roll 13
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Post by f.Channell »

Also served it seems with a Vermont Regiment.

Darius Whitcomb (First_Last)
Regiment Name 12 Vermont Infantry
Side Union
Company D
Soldier's Rank_In Pvt.
Soldier's Rank_Out Pvt.
Alternate Name
Notes
Film Number M557 roll 14

I would order the records, but also regimental histories of these two can be searched online.

And there are tons of old books which can be searched through as well.

I would contact the town library in N.H. where the regiment originated and ask them what they have, also the local History society or museum.

Forget about the N.H. town clerks, they are useless.

This is easy, so let me know if you need help.

The town in N.H. more than likely has a monument with your ancestors name on it also.

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Post by Rising Star »

Thanks for the leads Fred!

John
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Post by f.Channell »

Here's a little more while I was on hold.
Don't be disappointed if he wasn't at Gettysburg, family history when passed down is usually crap. I have disproved all mine.
I would check the Vermont regiment history, as they had great losses and were in some serious battles. I believe they had the greatest losses in the war. Bottom line is he answered the call, and saved the republic.

N.H. 14th Regiment
Organized at Concord and mustered in September 24, 1862. Ordered to Washington, D.C. Attached to Grover's Brigade, Military District of Washington, to February, 1863. Jewett's Brigade, 22nd Corps, Defenses of Washington, to June, 1863. Garrison of Washington, D.C., 22nd Corps, to March, 1864. Unattached, Defenses of New Orleans, La., Dept. of the Gulf, to June, 1864. 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, 19th Army Corps, Dept. of the Gulf, to July, 1864, and Army of the Shenandoah, Middle Military Division, to January, 1865. 1st Brigade, Grover's Division, District of Savannah, Ga., Dept. of the South, to March, 1865. 1st Brigade, 1st Division, 10th Army Corps, Dept. of North Carolina, to May, 1865. Dept. of the South to July, 1865.

SERVICE.--Picket and patrol duty along Upper Potomac, Defenses of Washington, November, 1862, to April, 1863. Provost duty at Washington, D.C., until February, 1864. Ordered to Harper's Ferry, W. Va., February 3, thence moved to Cumberland, Md., and return to Washington February 25. Ordered to New Orleans, La., and sailed from New York March 20. Duty at Camp Parapet, Carrollton, Jefferson City and along Lake Pontchatrain until June. Ordered to Morganza, La., June 7. Movement to Fortress Monroe, Va., thence to Washington, D. C., and to Berryville, Va., July 13-August 19. Sheridan's Shenandoah Valley Campaign August to December. Battle of Winchester September 19. Fisher's Hill September 22. Battle of Cedar Creek October 19. Duty at Kernstown and other points in the Shenandoah Valley until January, 1865. Moved to Washington, D.C., thence to Savannah, Ga., January 8-20, and Provost duty there until May 6. March to Augusta, Ga., May 6-14. Return to Savannah June and mustered out July 8, 1865.
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