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.
Showing posts with label Arkansas 14th Infantry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Arkansas 14th Infantry. Show all posts
Saturday, June 9, 2012
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Andrew Baker's Civil War Service
So my 4th great grandfather, Andrew Baker, was a 2nd Lieutenant in the Arkansas 14th Infantry during the Civil War. He was discharged May 23rd, 1862 when the regiment was re-organized. As far as I could find for the longest time, that was the end of his documented service. However, two biographical sketches of Andrew's son Felix, including one put together while Andrew was still alive, indicated that Andrew's service did not end after his discharge from the 14th.
In Godspeed Brothers' Reminiscent History of the Ozark Region (1894), Felix's biography, which was made when Andrew was still alive, claimed that Andrew took part in the Battle of Port Hudson. I found a comprehensive list of all the units stationed at Port Hudson through the duration of the war here: http://pth.thehardyparty.com/conf_units_sca.htm. The 14th Arkansas is listed, as it participated in the siege and two engagements at Port Hudson and then surrendered and disbanded there, but Andrew was no long in the unit at that time, so if he was really there as the biography states, then he must have been a part of one of the other units listed. Unfortunately, in searching their rosters, I found no one that matched up with Andrew.
A biography in Fay Hempstead's Historical Review of Arkansas: Its Commerce, Industry, and Modern Affairs, Volume III (1911) goes into even greater detail about Andrew's service. "He was in General Price's army and went on the raid into Missouri, [and] subsequently was detailed to raise a company in Newton County [AR] in support of the losing cause." So after having spent my time mostly scouring Arkansas units for a trace of Andrew, I decided to look at Missouri units a little closer. I had looked through them before briefly, but didn't delve into them much because of my assumption that since he was an officer in the 14th, he likely would be an officer in his new unit. That clearly wasn't a good idea, because once I started looking closely at the Andrew Baker's in Missouri's Civil War service records, I finally found what I was looking for.
I found a service record for a Private Andrew Baker in Jackman's Missouri Cavalry. The only record was a Muster and Descriptive Roll of soldiers paroled at Jacksonport, Arkansas on June 5th, 1865. According to the roll, Andrew Baker was 46 years old, with blue eyes, grey hair, and fair complexion. He was 5'9", a North Carolina native, and enrolled for duty in Searcy County, Arkansas. Well, "my" Andrew's headstone says he was born August 9th, 1820, which based on that would mean in June of 1865 he would be two months shy of 45 years old. However, in July of 1901 when he was re-applying for his Confederate Pension, he said he was 81 years old, which based on his August 9th birth-date would put his year of birth at 1819. Based on that, he would have been two months shy of 46 years old in June of 1865. There are 3 other facts that contribute to my determination that this is indeed "my" Andrew who is a part Jackman's Cavalry.
1. He enlisted in Searcy County, which is adjacent to Newton County where "my" Andrew lived.
2. He was born in North Carolina, just as "my" Andrew Baker was born in North Carolina.
3. I went through all of the 1860 Census for Arkansas, Missouri, and Texas for good measure and could not find another Andrew Baker who fit this description other than "my" Andrew. There was an Andrew Baker born about 1820 living in Linn County, Missouri, but he was born in Kentucky. There was another Andrew Baker born about 1821 living in McDonald County, Missouri, but he was born in Tennessee. And another Andrew Baker born about 1823 living in Nacogdoches County, Texas, but he was born in Tennessee. None of those 3 counties are very near Searcy County, with McDonald County being the closest. And in the entire state of Arkansas for 1860, there were no other Andrew Baker's besides "mine" who were even close to the age of 46. And finally, "my" Andrew Baker was the only Andrew Baker in that aforementioned tri-state area who was born in North Carolina.
So all together, I am thoroughly convinced that this the Andrew Baker in Jackman's Missouri Cavalry is the same Andrew Baker found in the Arkansas 14th Infantry. I've become even more convinced while reading up on Colonel Sidney D. Jackman, to whom the unit belonged. According to his well-sourced Wikipedia page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidney_D._Jackman), Jackman and his cavalry fought under General Sterling Price, and took part in Price's Raid, which lines up well with Hempstead's description of Andrew's Civil War exploits. So at this point, it would take an overwhelming amount of evidence to the contrary to convince me that the Andrew Baker of Jackman's Missouri Cavalry is not "my" Andrew Baker, and I am very glad to have found another piece in the puzzle of Andrew's life.
In Godspeed Brothers' Reminiscent History of the Ozark Region (1894), Felix's biography, which was made when Andrew was still alive, claimed that Andrew took part in the Battle of Port Hudson. I found a comprehensive list of all the units stationed at Port Hudson through the duration of the war here: http://pth.thehardyparty.com/conf_units_sca.htm. The 14th Arkansas is listed, as it participated in the siege and two engagements at Port Hudson and then surrendered and disbanded there, but Andrew was no long in the unit at that time, so if he was really there as the biography states, then he must have been a part of one of the other units listed. Unfortunately, in searching their rosters, I found no one that matched up with Andrew.
A biography in Fay Hempstead's Historical Review of Arkansas: Its Commerce, Industry, and Modern Affairs, Volume III (1911) goes into even greater detail about Andrew's service. "He was in General Price's army and went on the raid into Missouri, [and] subsequently was detailed to raise a company in Newton County [AR] in support of the losing cause." So after having spent my time mostly scouring Arkansas units for a trace of Andrew, I decided to look at Missouri units a little closer. I had looked through them before briefly, but didn't delve into them much because of my assumption that since he was an officer in the 14th, he likely would be an officer in his new unit. That clearly wasn't a good idea, because once I started looking closely at the Andrew Baker's in Missouri's Civil War service records, I finally found what I was looking for.
I found a service record for a Private Andrew Baker in Jackman's Missouri Cavalry. The only record was a Muster and Descriptive Roll of soldiers paroled at Jacksonport, Arkansas on June 5th, 1865. According to the roll, Andrew Baker was 46 years old, with blue eyes, grey hair, and fair complexion. He was 5'9", a North Carolina native, and enrolled for duty in Searcy County, Arkansas. Well, "my" Andrew's headstone says he was born August 9th, 1820, which based on that would mean in June of 1865 he would be two months shy of 45 years old. However, in July of 1901 when he was re-applying for his Confederate Pension, he said he was 81 years old, which based on his August 9th birth-date would put his year of birth at 1819. Based on that, he would have been two months shy of 46 years old in June of 1865. There are 3 other facts that contribute to my determination that this is indeed "my" Andrew who is a part Jackman's Cavalry.
1. He enlisted in Searcy County, which is adjacent to Newton County where "my" Andrew lived.
2. He was born in North Carolina, just as "my" Andrew Baker was born in North Carolina.
3. I went through all of the 1860 Census for Arkansas, Missouri, and Texas for good measure and could not find another Andrew Baker who fit this description other than "my" Andrew. There was an Andrew Baker born about 1820 living in Linn County, Missouri, but he was born in Kentucky. There was another Andrew Baker born about 1821 living in McDonald County, Missouri, but he was born in Tennessee. And another Andrew Baker born about 1823 living in Nacogdoches County, Texas, but he was born in Tennessee. None of those 3 counties are very near Searcy County, with McDonald County being the closest. And in the entire state of Arkansas for 1860, there were no other Andrew Baker's besides "mine" who were even close to the age of 46. And finally, "my" Andrew Baker was the only Andrew Baker in that aforementioned tri-state area who was born in North Carolina.
So all together, I am thoroughly convinced that this the Andrew Baker in Jackman's Missouri Cavalry is the same Andrew Baker found in the Arkansas 14th Infantry. I've become even more convinced while reading up on Colonel Sidney D. Jackman, to whom the unit belonged. According to his well-sourced Wikipedia page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidney_D._Jackman), Jackman and his cavalry fought under General Sterling Price, and took part in Price's Raid, which lines up well with Hempstead's description of Andrew's Civil War exploits. So at this point, it would take an overwhelming amount of evidence to the contrary to convince me that the Andrew Baker of Jackman's Missouri Cavalry is not "my" Andrew Baker, and I am very glad to have found another piece in the puzzle of Andrew's life.
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