Civil War Times
"Cover them over with beautiful flowers,
Deck them with garlands, these brothers of ours."
Will Carleton
Our Website
Recently the Library of Congress contacted the Carlisle Area Historical Society asking permission to link to the CAHS web site. Our site has been selected to be included in their web archiving project that is focused on commemorative Civil War Sesquicentennial events and projects. The goal of this project is to gather and preserve the content of various web sites for use by future researchers. The project began in March 2011 and will continue through the summer of 2015.
It is a great honor for our small historical society web site to be included in this project. The CAHS site and other sites that the Library of Congress feel to be significant can be viewed by visiting the official Library of Congress web page http://www.loc.gov/webarchiving/index.html
WILLIAM PERRY KEENEY
William Perry Keeney, was a Carlisle native, who joined Company B, 10th Iowa Infantry as a Private. This 18-year-old's parents had given him three suits of long winter underwear as he entered the war. Wearing the three in cold weather and sickness, he claimed their warmth saved his life. He returned to Warren County after his service and went forward in civilian life.
from "STRUGGLE FOR THE HEARTLAND, The Civil War Along the Mississippi Corridor by Joe Foulke."
JONATHON MILLER
Jonathan Miller was not a native of Warren County, but after serving in the Civil War, he brought his family to Iowa in1868 and eventually settled in Palmyra. Also in 1868 he cast his first presidential ballot for General Ulysses Grant.
Jonathan H. (John) Miller, born in Princeville, Illinois, Peoria County, Dec. 3, 1841. Died July 16, 1912, Carlisle, Iowa.
In 1861, at age ninteen, Jonathan enlisted in Company D. Eleventh Illinois Volunteer Cavalry and was sent south with his regiment.
In the cavalry, he became a professional blacksmith and iron wright--an expert at making horseshoes.
He participated in the battles of Shiloh, Inka, Corinth, two engagements at Jackson, Tennessee, and one at Jackson, Mississippi. He was in the siege and surrender of Vicksburg and later in the battles at Black River Ridge and Yazoo City. He was in the war from 1861 to 1865.
Family lore says that Jonathan spent some time in Andersonville Prison.
He was honorably discharged at Springfield, Illinois, on October 8, 1865.
From THE MILLER FAMILY AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP TO Palmyra Church, Palmyra, Iowa, Warren County. Written by Isa Mae Miller in 1976, with comments and illustrations by Lloyd D. (Eric) Miller. Lloyd Eric Miller was the great grandson of Jonathan Miller and he grew up in Palmyra and graduated from Hartford High School.
Family line: Jonathan Miller, Frank A. Miller, Elliott Asa Miller, Lloyd D. (Eric) Miller.
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WILLIAM ASBERRY HUNT 1830-1893
Missionary Ridge, November 1863, the fifth and worst battle of Chattanooga, Tennessee. William Asberry Hunt lost his right arm. He was 33 years old. Union soldiers had treated his arm injury, but were overrun by Confederate troops. Unable to carry him on their retreat, he was given a bottle of whiskey and covered with leaves. When the Union Army regained the same ground a day or two later, they returned to the spot expecting to find him dead. When the leaves were brushed away from his face, he is said to have opened his eyes and asked for another quart of whiskey. At that point they carried him back to camp. This also ended his civilian career as a blacksmith. Returning to Des Moines, it is said he became its first police chief.
William was murderd in 1893 when he was robbed of his pension money and pushed down the open stairwell of an alley in downtown Des Moines. He is buried in Woodland Cemetery.
Family line: William Asberry Hunt, Franklin W. Hunt, Walter Albert Hunt, Sr., Walter Albert Hunt, Jr., Melody Hunt Kirk.
JOHN WESLEY PIDCOCK
In September, 1862, at the age of 21, John Wesley Pidcock enlisted in the 32nd Regiment, Company F, Missouri Volunteers. His record shows that in January, February, and March, 1863, he was present.
On April 6, 1863 he deserted but was captured in Mississippi on April 7, 1863, and transported and paroled for exchange in Arkansas.
May 31, and June 30, 1863, he was present but showed some absences during those two months. Again, July, August, absent, but September and October, present.
He was court-martialed in October 1864, and sentenced to forfeit $10.00 monthly pay for 5 months. Apparently he gave up trying to go home after that. John W. Pidcosk was mustered out of service at the end of the war in Louisville, Kentucky. He had $6.18 due to him.
In 1870,he married Catherine Ashby and they made their home in Kentucky. They had 6 children: Joseph, Evaline, Alongo, Odie, Maggie and Margie.
He moved his family to Oklahoma where he killed a man in 1903 and was sentenced to life in the Lansing, Kansas, prison. Despite the sentence, he was released a few months before his death in 1915. His wife, Catherine, had actively petitioned for his release until her death in 1910.
Family line: John W. Pidcock, Maggie Pidcock Barclay (1877-circa 1897), Amos Franklin Barclay, Anne Barclay Hunt, Melody Hunt Kirk.
JOHN CHAPPLE WELLONS, SR. RICHLAND TOWNSHIP, HARTFORD, IOWA
Henry Wellons married Rebecca Chapple in 1801. He was a wealthy slave owner in Pulaski County, Kentucky. When Henry died, his 610 acre plantation was divided between his heirs and the slaves were freed.
A son of Heny Wellons, John Chapple Wellons, Sr. (1805-1896) and his wife, Sarah Hudson Wellons (1816-1861) used his inheritance to move to Indiana, and then to Richland Township, Hartford, Iowa. THey had eight sons and five daughters. During the Civil War they sent four sons into battle to help preserve the Union.
They were:
1. William Montgomery Wellons (1833-1922), Co. G. 10th Iowa Infantry Volunteers. Wounded at Corinth, MIssissippi and later re-enlisted in Co. C. 34th Iowa Infantry Volunteers.
2. John Chapple Wellons II (1839-1893), Co. I, 39th Indiana regiment, 8th Cavalry. He rose from Private to 1st Lieutenant during the war and was wounded.
3. Daniel Hudson Wellons (1844-1907), Co. B & C, 34th Iowa Infantry Volunteers. (Great Grandfather to Bill Ober.)
4. Henry J. Wellons (1847-1933), Co. A, 48th Iowa Infantry Volunteers.
DANIEL HUDSON WELLONS
GENERAL AFFIDAVIT
State of Iowa, County of Warren
This affidavit is a deposition given by Gowen W. Hurst of Hartford, Iowa, who was in Co. B. 34th Iowa Infantry Volunteers with Daniel Hudson Wellons at the first Battle of Vicksburg.
In the matter of Pension of DAniel Hudson Wellons of Co. B. 34th Iowa Infantry Volunteers.
On this 24th day of March, A. D. 1892 personally appeared before me Samuel R. Cain Notary public in and for the aforesaid County duly authorized to administer oaths. Gowan W. Hurst, aged 60 years, a resident of Hartford in the County of Warren and the State of Iowa well know to me to be reputable and entitled to credit, and who, being duly sworn, declared in relation to aforesaid case as follows:
"I was with Said Soldier at Vicksburg, Mississippi when Sherman first attacted that place and on or about the 28th day of December 1862, while he was laying at Chickasaw bayou in the mud and water Said Soldier took violently Sick with cramping in Stomach and limbs and I took care of him as best I could as the doctor was not there until morning and the Rebs were Sheling us all the time and it was not healthy to hunt Doctors that night as dark as it was and Said Soldier from that time to the year 1878 Said Soldier was troubled with Said Disabilitiiy. I was in the Same Company B with Said Soldier from Aug. 12, 1862 to 1865 and I lived near him from that date to 1878."
His Post Office address is Hartford, Iowa and he further declare
that he has no interest in said case and is not concerned in its prosecution.
(Signed)
Francis W. Wicklin Gowen W. Hurst
Samuel W. Chaney
The source of the affidavit is the pension file of Daniel Hudson Wellons Courtesy of the National Archives Trust Fund.
(NO EFFORT HAS BEEN MADE TO CORRECT OR EDIT THE AFFIDAVIT FOR THIS POSTING.)
The following details of the first Battle of Vicksburg are from the National Geographic Guide to the Civil War National Battlefield Parks:
"Grant's first attempt to capture Vicksburg failed in December 1862. Moving due south through Mississippi, his force of 40,000 was forced to turn back when daring Confederate cavalry raids disrupted his supply lines. A simultaneous effort by 32,000 troops under Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman approached Vicksburg via the river. Sherman's attack against the city's northern defenses ended disastrously in the marshy bottom lands fronting Chickasaw Bayou."
With permission of Bill Ober and HISTORY OF HARTFORD, 1949-1999.
Samuel P. Thomas
CIVIL WAR VETERAN
SAMUEL P. THOMAS
Part I
Samuel P. Thomas was born in East Liberty, Pennsylvania in 1825. He, his wife Catherine, and family came to Iowa and settled near Swan in 1857. Catherine died in 1861. In 1862 Samuel enlisted in the 40th Iowa Infantry, Company G. After the war he returned to Iowa, married Ruth Frist in 1866, and moved to Warren County.
This is a time-line of Samuel’s service with the 40th Iowa Infantry:
November 1862: Assembled at Iowa City
December 1862, arrived in Columbus, Kentucky. Garrison duty for the winter, where many became ill and died.
May 1863: Called to join General Grant at Vicksburg.
June 1863: Enemy in retreat. 40th Iowa too late to participate.
June 1863: Stationed along Yazoo river. Many ill from malaria.
September 1863: 40th Iowa led the advance crossing the river during the capture of Little Rock, Ark.
April 1864: Short battle at Prairie d’Anne, Ark.
April 30, 1864: Battle at Jenkins Ferry, Ark. Soldiers had nothing but coffee to eat or drink for 5 days. Fought in heavy rain and mud.
February 1865: Sent to Fort Smith, Ark.
July 1865: Sent to Fort Gibson, Indian territory.
August 1865: 40th Infantry arrived in Davenport, Iowa.
Samuel died in 1898 and was buried in Carlisle. His headstone was vandalized in 2010. The stone will be re-dedicated at a special ceremony on June 12. Claudia Tillman a Great Great Great Granddaughter of Samuel will participate in the ceremony as a re-enactor, and her sister, Janet Dutcher, will play “Taps.” Ruth Dutcher, of Indianola, mother of Claudia Tillman, is a Great Great Granddaughter of Samuel. She was a Carlisle High School Graduate Class of 1946.
The re-dedication is scheduled for 10 a.m., June 12, at the Carlisle Township cemetery. The public is invited to attend.
Samuel P. Thomas
Part II
Samuel and his first wife, Catherine Hummel (1826-1861) had 7 children, but only one, son, Daniel Hummel Thomas (1850-1928.) lived to be an adult. Daniel married Lydia Moore, was a farmer near Carlisle, and had three sons: Otis (1875-1945,) Charles (1877-1959,) and Luther LeRoy, known as Roy (18811950.)
Luther LeRoy was married to Ida Clement. He served as a rural mail carrier in the Carlisle area for nine years and operated the Thomas Funeral Home, just west of the Methodist Church in Carlisle, for 25 years, beginning in 1916.
Family line: Samuel P. Thomas, Daniel Hummel Thomas, Luther LeRoy Thomas, Ralph Thomas, Ruth Thomas Dutcher, Claudia Dutcher Tillman, Marissa Tillman Flugum.
Thanks to Claudia Tillman for the wonderful family history.
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