I have a civil war ancestor!!!

KLSDAD

First Sergeant
Honored Fallen Comrade
Joined
Jan 31, 2009
Location
Fremont, MI
BFD, right?

I don't know that much at all about my ancestry, but this morning I got started on ancestry.com with my dad.

We found a G G G-father with the 26th Missouri Infantry- Company A..... Solomon F Kessinger. He died in 1865 but I don't know the date so I can't match it with a battle.

I'm pretty excited!
 
BFD, right?

I don't know that much at all about my ancestry, but this morning I got started on ancestry.com with my dad.

We found a G G G-father with the 26th Missouri Infantry- Company A..... Solomon F Kessinger. He died in 1865 but I don't know the date so I can't match it with a battle.

I'm pretty excited!

Twenty-sixth Infantry
MISSOURI
(3-YEARS)
Twenty-sixth Infantry. -- Cols., George B. Boomer, Benjamin D.
Dean; Lieut.-Cols., John H. Holman, John McFall, Theron M.
Rice Majs., L. E. Kaniuszeski, Charles F. Brown, Richard C.
Crowell, Theron M. Rice, John Rees.

The 26th was organized in Dec., 1861, and soon after being
mustered in joined the expedition under Gen. Pope against New
Madrid. It then participated in the battles of Tiptonville,
Farmington, Corinth, Iuka, Port Gibson, Raymond, Jackson,
Champion's Hill Black river, the siege of Vicksburg,
Missionary Ridge, and the several engagements of the Atlanta
campaign, after which it was with Gen. Sherman on his march to
the sea and through the Carolinas.

In Jan., 1865, Companies A to G. inclusive, were mustered out
at the expiration of their term of enlistment, and the
veterans were continued in service until Aug. 13, following.

Source: The Union Army, vol. 4, p. 265
...........................................................................................
P2332097.gif


George B. Boomer
Enlisted on 9/1/1861 as a Colonel.

On 9/1/1861 he was commissioned into Field & Staff 26th MO. Union Infantry Volunteers
He was Killed on 5/22/1863 at Vicksburg, MS
...............................................................................................
 
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Fold3.com has Solomon's Service Record available online (20 cards). My membership just lapsed -- perhaps somebody else could copy them for you (or get a Fold3 membership for yourself -- 1 month is now $7.95, I believe).

jno
 
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Fold3.com has Solomon's Service Record available online (26 cards). My membership just lapsed -- perhaps somebody else could copy them for you (or get a Fold3 membership for yourself -- 1 month is now $7.95, I believe).

jno
Thanks!! Looks like a seven day trial can be had for free. I may wait a few days to see if I can find other ancestors so I can use the trial more better.

If anybody wants to pull them up for me that would be great!! I have no idea what might be available....26 cards sounds like alot of stuff.
 
Thanks!! Looks like a seven day trial can be had for free. I may wait a few days to see if I can find other ancestors so I can use the trial more better.

If anybody wants to pull them up for me that would be great!! I have no idea what might be available....26 cards sounds like alot of stuff.
Don't expect too much detail. One card might only list him as "Present" for a certain roll-call, or "Absent" on detached duty, in hospital, deserted, under arrest, or elsewhere. You might be lucky, though, and find something really interesting. It should at least tell you of the wound/sickness that partially disabled him, and got him transferred to the VRC -- and possibly the cause of his death.
Good luck, and congratulations!
 
Chuck, your long road trip to see your folks would have been a winning effort, regardless. But the fact that your genealogy enthusiast dad has connected you with a CW ancestor is just terrific! Congrats!
 
Congratulations!!!! It is really exciting to find our ancestors who served. Missouri also has some excellent resource and history sites.
 
It's a BFD insofar as it gives us a sense of connection to the past. Congratulations on the find!
I hope you all realize that jab was directed at myself.... not any of you fine folks who follow your ancestors.

....and especially all of you providing encouragement and help!!!
 
Thank you for the cards @18thVirginia !! Are they a sample of the 20 or the most interesting?

I see that he was mustered in 9/61at the St Louis Arsenal which I visited a couple of months ago and have been reading about lately.

...that he was attached to the hospital Corps 7/1/62 as a nurse when his unit appears to have been in northern Mississipi (according to the NPS database). Hey @DixieRifles , do you see that!! I wonder if that would have put him at a hospital in Memphis?

I'm not sure how to interpret the Invalid Corp card from March 1864 and the event dated 1/5/64 especially the note at the bottom.
 
Thank you for the cards @18thVirginia !! Are they a sample of the 20 or the most interesting?

I see that he was mustered in 9/61at the St Louis Arsenal which I visited a couple of months ago and have been reading about lately.

...that he was attached to the hospital Corps 7/1/62 as a nurse when his unit appears to have been in northern Mississipi (according to the NPS database). Hey @DixieRifles , do you see that!! I wonder if that would have put him at a hospital in Memphis?

I'm not sure how to interpret the Invalid Corp card from March 1864 and the event dated 1/5/64 especially the note at the bottom.

They were the most interesting pages. A lot of pages just say "present" or "absent." In my limited experience, there is very little information on the Invalid Corps cards than "transferred to." A pension card might help you with the Invalid Corps information, but I didn't think to look for one.

You'll have to get help from someone else about the note, maybe @andy Hall.
 
I'm looking at the Fold3 site....

His pension application shows him to have been in Co G of the 24th MO....I gather that was his Veteran regiment. Under "Add'l Services" it refers to Co F and Co H of the 24th I think.

Now I also see pension records related to his service in the 21st, the 27th and also finally the 26th.

Funny but I don't see any of the actual service records shown above. I'm just getting started on this site and the computer I have at hand isn't the best for the purpose.
 
Solomon F. Kessinger

Solomon F. Kessinger private Co. A, 26th MO Inf.

Solomon Kessinger died in 1865 and is buried in the Elmwood Cemetery, Litchfield, Illinois.
 
If he died in 1865, it must be a Widow's/Dependent's Pension. You have to send to the National Archives for a copy of the full pension file. Costs $80 for up to 100 pages + $0.70 for each additional page (back in the '70s, they'd send you the whole d*mn thing for $3 -- then came the Reagan Administration, & history had to turn a profit!) Most pension files are not that long, and what yours contains might be 50 detailed documents, or a dozen repetitive pages listing bare facts. I'm afraid you won't know until you see it.

Under "Civil War Service Records," click on Missouri, then his regiment number, and initial & you'll find his MSR. Also check under the other regimental numbers associated with his name (they may just be mistakes).

The Veterans Reserve Corps were not state-designated units. They were usually referred to by Company (eg: the 117th Company, VRC served as attendants in the Army hospital in Providence, RI). One of the principal assignments of the VRC was as hospital orderlies/attendants, and since Solomon spent so much of his service as a nurse, he probably continued in the same duty as VRC. The VRC, btw, were men who were for one reason or another disabled to the extent that they could not perform active service in the field, but were still judged capable of "light duty" in hospitals, as clerks, ambulance drivers, prison guards, PoW escorts, etc. Later, the companies were organized into regiments, though they rarely, if ever served together as a single unit.

Cheers!
jno

PS: I find reference to a Solomon J Kissinger, Co. B, 61st Ill. Good idea to be aware of the possibility of confusion in the records.
 
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The Veterans Reserve Corps were not state-designated units. They were usually referred to by Company (eg: the 102nd Company, VRC served as attendants in the Army hospital in Providence, RI). One of the principal assignments of the VRC was as hospital orderlies/attendants, and since Solomon spent so much of his service as a nurse, he probably continued in the same duty as VRC. The VRC, btw, were men who were for one reason or another disabled to the extent that they could not perform active service in the field, but were still judged capable of "light duty" in hospitals, as clerks, ambulance drivers, prison guards, PoW escorts, etc.

Cheers!
jno

PS: I find reference to a Solomon J Kissinger, Co. B, 61st Ill. Good idea to be aware of the possibility of confusion in the records.
So the VRC is different than the veteran units who agreed to re-up after their three year hitch, corect??
IIRC they were given bonuses and furloughs as an inducement.
 
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