Memorial Day

Memorial Day was originally created as a way to honor men who died during their military service in the Civil War.

I like to remember those men on a regular basis, and to do so in a small way, I'm going to list the men in my immediate and closely extended family who died, or are believed to have died, while serving in the Civil War. Every one of these men is either a director ancestor/grandfather, a biological uncle, or a 1st cousin. For several months now, I have been undertaking the daunting task of identifying as many of my 1st cousins and uncles that served in the Civil War as possible. This list now includes over 400 names, and I am less than halfway through my tree. All of these men's service can be proven by Civil War service records, pensions, accounts by comrades, or sworn statements from immediate family members or neighbors.

There are many more on my list, but these are the men who died or are believed to have died during their service. Notice how very few of these men were actually killed in action, and even still relatively few from wounds sustained in actual battle. Most died of disease not related to having fought in battle, and a few died in POW camps. You'll also find one execution.

Grandfathers:

Calvin W. Selph - Missouri 12th Infantry (CON) - Did not return home from the war

Biological uncles:

Cole Campbell - Kentucky 5th Mounted Infantry (CON) - "Accidentally shot" in 1862

James C. Epps - 1st Tennessee Infantry (CON) - Died of wounds at Chancellorsville, 8 May 1863

William B. Eversole - Kentucky 6th Cavalry (UN) - Died of disease at Cumberland at Cumberland Ford

Andrew Hash - Virginia 50th Infantry (CON) - Died of disease in Bland County, VA, 26 Jun 1862.

John Hash - 97th North Carolina Militia (CON) - Died of smallpox in February 1862

Adrian Hays - Arkansas 34th Infantry + 7th Militia (CON) - Family records indicate he did not come home from the war

Garner Holmes - Arkansas 31st Infantry (CON) - Died of wounds at Richmond, Kentucky

Richard C. Hutcheson - Unknown, most likely 14th Arkansas Infantry (CON) - Died of disease November 1862. Letter from Confederate surgeon who was courting and eventually married Richard's cousin confirms Richard's death, though no service record has been found for him.

William B. Manning - Texas 18th Cavalry (CON) - Died at the Confederate prison camp Camp Douglas in Chicago, IL on 16 Feb 1863

Richard Radford - Kentucky 7th Infantry (UN) - Died of consumption 26 May 1863 in Grand Gulf, Mississippi.

Andrew B. Rorie - Arkansas 3rd Cavalry (UN) - Died of chronic diarrhea 14 Jan 1865.
Gassaway Snellgrove - Arkansas 18th Infantry (Marmaduke's) (CON) - Did not return home from the war

John H. Taylor - Kentucky 1st Cavalry (CON) - Died 26 Jun 1864 of disease in Cassville, GA.

John Wolf, Chaplain - Arkansas 14th Infantry (CON) - Died of sickness on duty in 1863.

1st cousins:

John E. Baker - California 3rd Infantry (UN) - Killed in battle with Indians, 29 Jan 1863.

Henry C. Barringer - North Carolina 5th Infantry (CON) - Killed 9 Nov 1862

Jacob A. Barringer - North Carolina 8th Infantry (CON) - Killed in Action, 20 Apr 1864 in Plymouth, NC

Edward L. Beaver - North Carolina 8th Infantry (CON) - Last official record states he was captured. Testimony of a comrade states he was KIA.

John D. Beaver - North Carolina 8th Infantry (CON) - Died of wounds at Globe Tavern in Aug 1864.

Moses W. Beaver - North Carolina 57th Infantry (CON) - Died 23 Sep 1862 in hospital in Richmond, VA.

James H. Binkley - Tennessee 20th Infantry (CON) - Died of pneumonia 2 Dec 1861 in Knoxville, TN.

John M. Binkley - Tennessee 20th Infantry (CON) - Died of measles 28 Nov 1861 in Knoxville, TN.

William Binkley - Tennessee 20th Infantry (CON) - Killed at Battle of Chickamauga, 13 Sep 1863.

George E. Boaz - Alabama 30th Infantry (CON) - Died of disease 3 Jan 1853 in Talladega, AL.

Sampson H. Boaz - Alabama 30th Infantry (CON) - Died 1 Aug 1862 in Tennessee.

William A. Denton - Arkansas 3rd Cavalry (UN) - Died 19 Jan 1864 of typhoid fever three mile from Little Rock, AR.

Franklin Dobbs - Georgia 34th Infantry (CON) - Died of wounds sustained at Vicksburg on 31 Oct 1862.

Joseph H. Dobbs - Alabama 10th Infantry (CON) - Died as POW at Point Lookout, MD

Silas M. Dobbs - Mississippi 31st Infantry (CON) - Died December 1864 in Franklin, TN of wounds.

William U. Dobbs - Alabama 21st Infantry (CON) - Died of disease as a POW on 8 Nov 1864 in Elmira, New York.

Daniel A. Eagle - Missouri 16th Infantry (CON) - Died 24 May 1863 of a fever at Little Rock, AR.

George Eagle - North Carolina 8th Infantry (CON) - Died of disease in Goldsboro, NC on 18 Dec 1862.

Moses W. Eagle - North Carolina 8th Infantry (CON) - Died in Goldsboro, NC on 29 Dec 1862.

John C. Eversole - Kentucky 14th Cavalry (UN) - Killed by Confederate guerrillas while on furlough on 2 May 1864. The home where he was killed is still standing and still riddled with bullet holes.

Woolery Eversole - Kentucky 8th Infantry (UN) - Died sick in Nashville, TN on 9 Oct 1862.

Andrew J. Fancher - Louisiana 9th Infantry (CON) - Died from being mortally wounded in June 1864 at Battle of Moncrary [Maryland].

Early A. Fancher - Alabama 10th Infantry (CON) - Last service record shows him sick with diarrhea in Sep 1861. His estate was assigned an administrator in Mar 1862, indicating he died in service.

John W. Fancher - Mississippi 41st Infantry (CON) - Died in hospital of acute dysentery in Georgia.

Lawrence D. Fancher - Alabama 20th Infantry (CON) - Wounded at Gettysburg, and died 25 Oct 1863 in Atlanta of "chronic disease".

Noah F. B. Fancher - Mississippi 31st Infantry and 1st Cavalry (CON) - Died 12 Oct 1864 in hospital in Macon County, Georgia.

David C. Gist - Aransas 5th Infantry (CON) - Killed in Action 31 Aug 1864 in Battle of Jonesboro [Georgia].

James Gist - Tennessee 2nd Mounted Infantry (UN) - One record says he was Killed in Action 14 Jan 1864 at Shoal Creek, Alabama. Another says he died of wounds on 14 Apr 1864 in Waling's Spring, Tennessee. I suspect he and his brother's records of death got mixed up at some point. (See below)

Levi Gist - Tennessee 2nd Mounted Infantry (UN) - One record says he was Killed in Action 14 Jan 1864 at Shoal Creek, Alabama. Another says he died of wounds on 14 Apr 1864 in Waling's Spring, Tennessee. I suspect he and his brother's records of death got mixed up at some point.

William A. Haddix - Kentucky 5th Mounted Infantry (CON) - One record states he died 10 Nov 1863 in Lewisville, GA. The other has no date, and just says he died in Cassville, GA.

Byron B. Hash - Virginia 50th Infantry (CON) - Taken prisoner at Gettysburg and died as a POW 26 Jan 1864 at Point Lookout, MD.

Elbert S. Hash - Virginia 51st Infantry (CON) - Missing in action and presumed dead 10 Feb 1862 at Fort Donelson.

Jerome C. Hash - Virginia 50th Infantry (CON) - Died 14 Feb 1862 in Kentucky.

Levi Hash - Virginia 51st Infantry (CON) - Died 12 Feb 1862 at home in Grayson County, Virginia of smallpox. Brought the smallpox home with him, eventually killing his mother, brother, and other immediate family members within weeks.

William C. Hash - Virginia 45th Infantry and 29th Infantry (CON) - Died at hospital in Richmond, VA on 10 Jun 1865.

John Hodge - Missouri 16th Infantry (CON) - Family records claim he died in service.

Andrew J. Hollis - Cocke's Arkansas Infantry (CON) - Died 27 Sep 1862.

Thomas L. Hollis - Mississippi 1st Cavalry (CON) - Died at Alton, Illinois Confederate Prison Camp on 1 Nov 1863.

Charles B. Holmes - Arkansas 21st Infantry (CON) - Died 7 Aug 1862.

Paul C. Jeter - Virginia 34th Infantry (CON) - Killed at Battle of Seven Pines on 31 May 1862.

William J. Jeter - Virginia 58th Infantry (CON) - Died of wound received at Cedar Run on 10 Aug 1862.

Alfred T. Jones - Virginia 64th Mounted Infantry (CON) - Died as POW at Camp Douglas in Chicago, Illinois on 9 Jan 1865.

Henry C. Jones - Virginia 50th Infantry (CON) - Died as POW at Fort Delaware

John G. Marks - Ohio 96th Infantry (UN) - Died at Columbus, Ohio on 15 Oct 1864.

John T. May - Indiana 22nd Infantry (UN) - Died 10 Nov 1862 in Louisville, KY.

Lafayette May - Indiana 22nd Infantry (UN) - Killed in action 8 Oct 1862 at Chaplin Hill, KY.

James McElhannon - Mississippi 2nd Infantry (CON) - Died of disease 4 Nov 1862 at Stanton, VA.

Leonidus H. Mitchell - Georgia 30th Infantry (CON) - Killed in Action 30 Nov 1864 in Franklin, Tennessee.

S. Daniel Mitchell - Georgia 30th Infantry (CON) - Died of disease 12 Sep 1862 in Savannah, GA.

Albert Mooney - Mississippi 7th Battalion (CON) - Executed by Captain Bayliss in October 1862 for desertion.

Kenyon H. Mooney - Mississippi 8th Infantry (CON) - Died of disease at Tullahoma, TN on 20 Nov 1862.

Reuben Mooney - Mississippi 7th Battalion (CON) - Left at hospital in Sep 1862 and "not heard of since". Apparently died, as his widowed applied for assistance in Apr 1863.

Jacob A. Moose - North Carolina 28th Infantry (CON) - Died 28 Jul 1865.

George W. Napier - Virginia 19th Infantry (CON) - Died in service 30 Jun 1862; unable to read the place he died in the record.

Eli W. Peck - North Carolina 8th Infantry (CON) - Died as POW at Elmira Prison [New York] on 7 Oct 1864.

Julius Peck - North Carolina 5th Infantry (CON) - Shot in the head at Gettysburg. Left "in the hands of the enemy" and succumbed to his wounds on 6 Jul 1863.

John Powell - Mississippi 33rd Infantry (CON) - Killed at Franklin, TN on 30 Nov 1864. Was a Captain and acting Major at the time of his death.

Joseph Powell - Edwards' Louisiana Battalion (CON) - Died 10 Mar 1865. Apparently died on his way home after being released as a POW.

Elisha Russell - Missouri 11th Infantry, 8th Battalion Infantry, and 9th Infantry (CON) - Died of congestive chill in 1864, according to family records.

Harvey Rutherford - Virginia 51st Infantry (CON) - Died circa May 1863. "Present" for Mar/Apr 1863 Muster Roll, "Died" by May/Jun muster roll.

George M. Sain - Tennessee 16th Infantry (CON) - Killed 1 Jul 1861, no details on death.

William M. Sain - Tennessee 35th Infantry (CON) - Died March 1862; no details on death provided.

Eli A. Smith - Missouri 5th Infantry (CON) - Died of wounds at Corinth, MS. Service records give two dates: once gives 5 Oct 1862, next gives 12 Oct 1862. Family bible record gives 10 Oct 1862.

Joseph W. Spradlin - Georgia 41st Infantry (CON) - Died of disease 5 Apr 1862.

Newton Spradlin - Georgia 63rd Infantry (CON) - Died of disease 4 Apr 1863.

Jacob Whitesell - Tennessee 41st Infantry (CON) - Last record shows him left sick at Bowling Green, KY in Jan 1862. Does not appear in records after that; appears likely he died in service.

William W. Whitesell - Confederate 1st Cavalry (CON) - Killed at Battle of Shiloh on 6 Apr 1862.

Jacob R. Wilhoite - Tennessee 17th Infantry (CON) - Killed during Chattanooga campaign, 24 Oct 1863.

John B. Young - North Carolina 37th Infantry (CON) - Died Apr 1862 of disease.