Saturday, June 9, 2012

Wolf men of the Ozark Region in the Civil War

Michael Wolf, the son of a German immigrant, came from Pennsylvania to the Ozark region in the early 1800's and became the progenitor of a large, storied family of the area. He was the father of the famous Major Jacob Wolf of the Wolf House, now the oldest standing structure in Arkansas. Many of his grandsons and great-grandsons served for the Confederacy in the Civil War. This is a "Master List" of sorts of Wolf men who have service records. It is completely possible, and very likely, that there were others than just these, but these are the ones I could find records of. A total of 18 descendants of Michael (with the last name Wolf) can have their service confirmed by records, with another 2 who possibly served but do not appear on official records, 1 who received a pension but has no service record, and 1 who was said to have served in the pension of his son but for whom no service record exists.

You'll notice several of these names are repeated throughout the family, so it was a bit of a chore to determine which records applied to whom, especially when it came to identifying the "J.M. Wolf" of the 1st Arkansas Mounted Rifles, differentiating between the two George W. Wolf's in the 14th, differentiating between the two Michael H. Wolf's, who were both officers, and differentiating Jacob and Jacob H., as well as John, John B., and John H.B. There was also another Charles who could have been (and actually, could be) the Charles of the 27th. This family would be much easier to research if they didn't all have to name their children the same names.

Major Jacob Wolf, son of Michael, had 5 sons and 7 grandsons who served.
1. Joseph Marion Wolf - 1st Arkansas Mounted Rifles & 14th Arkansas Infantry (Powers')***
2. John H.B. Wolf - 14th Arkansas Infantry (Powers')
3. Andrew Jackson Wolf - 14th Arkansas Infantry (Powers')
4. Jesse Wolf - Fristoe's Missouri Cavalry
5. Martin J. Wolf - Freeman's Missouri Cavalry (No service record or pension, but an affidavit in his son Edwin Wolf's pension by his daughter Jennie Wolf Strickland states he served with Edwin in Freeman's Missouri Cavalry. Edwin received a pension based solely on affidavits, so it is fair to assume the same affidavits can be applied to his father.)
6. James Madison Wolf (s/o William) - 14th Arkansas Infantry (Powers')
7. Jacob H. Wolf (s/o William) - 14th Arkansas Infantry (Powers') & 1st Consolidated Arkansas Infantry*
8. George W. Wolf (s/o William) - 14th Arkansas Infantry (Powers')
9. James M. Wolf (s/o James) - 21st Texas Infantry
10. Asa Wolf (s/o George) - 27th Arkansas Infantry**
11. Jacob M. Wolf (s/o George) - 1st Arkansas Mounted Rifles & 14th Arkansas Infantry (Powers')***
12. Edwin M. Wolf (s/o Martin - Freeman's Missouri Cavalry (No service record, but receives pension from Texas.)

Reverend John Wolf, son of Michael, served as a Chaplain for the 14th Arkansas Infantry (Powers'). He took ill while on duty and died in 1863. He had 1 son who served.
1. Michael H. Wolf - 14th Arkansas Infantry (Powers') & Fristoe's Missouri Cavalry

Michael Wolf, son of Michael, had 4 sons who served.
1. John B. Wolf - 14th Arkansas Infantry (Powers')
2. George W. Wolf - 14th Arkansas Infantry (Powers')
3. Charles S. Wolf - 27th Arkansas Infantry
4. Jacob Wolf - 27th Arkansas Infantry

Lorenzo Dow Wolf, son of Michael, had 2 sons who served.
1. Michael H. Wolf - 27th Arkansas Infantry
2. Azariah Wolf - 27th Arkansas Infantry

These 2 Wolf's likely served as well, according to family stories, but no service records have been found at this time.
1. Charles Wolf (s/o Lorenzo)
2. Robert L. Wolf (s/o Reverend John) - His son John Q. Wolf's auto-biography mentions his father's service.

Also, according to "Jacob Wolf - The Mansion & The Man" by Bill D. Blevins, John R. Wolf (s/o William, s/o Major Jacob) and George Wolf (s/o Major Jacob) also served in the Confederate Army, but he does not specify where they supposedly served and I did not find service records for them. George would have been fairly old to serve (but clearly not too old, since his uncle John served as a Chaplain), and no record of John R. has been found after the 1850 Census.

*He does not appear on the muster rolls for either of these regiments, but does apply for a Confederate pension as a member of these two units and his pension is approved.

**He does not appear in the muster rolls for the 14th, but he is mentioned in multiple letters of John M. Casey, husband of Major Jacob's daughter Mary, who was a member of the 14th, and Casey's references to him appear to imply he was a member of the unit. Many of the 14th's early muster rolls and records are lost. Casey's letters also reflect Richard "Dick" Hutcheson, son of Nancy I. Wolf who was a daughter of Michael Wolf, was a member of the unit, but he also does appear in the early muster rolls.

***These two men switched units. Apparently Joseph, as a member of the 1st Arkansas Mounted Rifles, was unsettled by the carnage of Wilson's Creek. He requested a transfer to the 14th and traded places with Jacob, who was a member of the 14th and then mustered into the 1st Arkansas Mounted Rifles. This "substitution" is noted in Jacob's and Joseph's service records with the Mounted Rifles, but is not noted in Joseph's records with the 14th, and Jacob does not appear in the 14th's records at all. This is because of the aforementioned problem of most of the regiment's early records and muster rolls having been lost.

Much of this research was previously put together by Dorothy Boynton, whose information I took, analyzed, added to, and adjusted.

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