Memorial Day
Generally speaking, I am a strict constructionist when it comes to Memorial Day. It is the day to honor those that fell in battle. We have Veterans Day for those that served and made it back home. But since Memorial Day exists because of the Civil War (originally called Decoration Day, when they decorated the many graves of the fallen), I thought I’d take the opportunity to discuss our Civil War ancestors. All of those who fought were on my mom’s side of the family. I believe the Irish were so recently arrived that they sensibly avoided the conflict!
On the chart above, the Civil War veterans are on the right.
Hazel Graham’s grandfathers both fought in the Civil War.
Levi Corkins was a private in Company I, 95th Illinois Infantry. He was there when the regiment was formed in 1863 and mustered out when the regiment was disbanded in 1865. According to his Civil War pension application, he was 5’7″, with blue eyes and red hair. He seems to have come through the war without a scratch. He did become a citizen as a result of his service, I believe. He immigrated from Canada with his family sometime between 1842 and 1857, so he was still a Canadian citizen during the war.
John Wesley Graham served in Company B of the 40th Iowa Infantry, along with his brother Francis Marion and his brother-in-law Thomas Robert Gorsuch. Gorsuch, in fact, died of chronic diarrhea at Memphis in 1863, leaving the Graham’s sister Angeline a young widow with a one-year-old daughter. I just found this out a couple of days ago, and he is the first one of our relatives to have died at war.
On the Harnden side of the family, Elias Jennison was the only one of my mother’s great-grandfathers who didn’t serve in the Civil War. He was over 30 years old when the War came, so I think he can be excused. One of his younger brothers, Stoddard Jennison did serve, and so did his wife’s brother Aquilla Standifird, who was the only officer in the bunch – a Captain. He kept a journal, which one of his descendents has posted on Ancestry. It is fascinating reading!
John Lawrence Baker Harnden was a Private in Company C, 1st Battalion, 19th U.S. Infantry. He had a harder war than our other ancestors. He enlisted at the age of 19 in 1861 in Cambria County, Pennsylvania. His hair was brown, his eyes were gray, and he was 59 inches tall. Perhaps because his unit was formed in Western Pennsylvania, they ended up fighting in the West. I expect they boarded a boat and floated down the Ohio to the Mississippi. The first battle they encountered was Shiloh, where they fought on the second day. After that, they were off in pursuit of General Bragg, which took them to Perryville, Kentucky and on to Nashville. He was wounded in the right leg at the battle of Murfreesboro December 31, 1862. Afterwards, he spent fourteen months at the Marine Hospital at Cincinnati. He rejoined his regiment at Chattanooga in the spring of 1864 and took part in the Atlanta campaign. He was wounded again in the battle of New Hope Church, this time in the left thigh. After recovering from that wound, he rejoined his regiment again in Atlanta, was sent to Lookout Mountain and discharged three years to the day after his enlistment, October 7, 1864. He suffered from the effects of the wound in the right leg for the rest of his life.
My Grandpa, Francis Harnden said he limped a little. When Francis was 10, his grandparents came on an extended visit. He and his grandpa spent a lot of time together doing the chores around the barn, and his grandpa told him some stories, which decades later he remembered well enough to tell me. He said, “War is nothing but blood and mud and fear.” He also told his grandson that the reason he was wounded in both legs, once above the knee and once below, was because the Southerners were such good marksmen. He explained that because their rifles kicked when fired, they were taught to aim for the knees and they would probably hit the torso. But the Southern boys hit what they aimed for!
I imagine that somewhere out there are pictures of all of these ancestors in uniform. Wouldn’t you love to see them?