GRAPHIC Calvin Bates, 20th Maine, Andersonville Prisoner CDV

Mike Serpa

Major
Joined
Jan 24, 2013
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This would seem to be his grave: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/f...all&GSst=32&GScntry=4&GSsr=7001&GRid=67838827&

According to records at Ancestry.com, he married Lizzie H. Kelso on May 26, 1866 in Concord, New Hampshire, listing his occupation as "soldier." It looks like he filed for his invalid pension Dec. 9, 1865, six months before his marriage. He was 28 and she was 32. He was born in Whitefield, Maine, but he lived in Townsend (NH?) and she lived in New Boston, NH. It was his first marriage, her second.

Here's what he was also doing that year, from the Oct. 21, 1866 Daily Eastern Argus, Portland, ME:

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She apparently already had children, because in the 1870 census, they were living in New Boston, NH, with 10-year-old Charles E. Kelso, probably her son by her first husband, and next door is Robert P. Kelso, 58, probably her father. He was listed as a farmer, $4200 real estate, $1250 property, born in Maine.

In 1880, they were still in New Boston. Calvin 48, farmer, got a check mark in a new census category "maimed, crippled, bedridden or otherwise disabled." He was still living with Elizabeth H. 51, keeping house, and Charles E. Kelso, 20, son.

Here's his obituary from the Dec. 12, 1889 New Hampshire Patriot, and perhaps part of the reason he found a bride so soon.

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This would seem to be his grave: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/f...all&GSst=32&GScntry=4&GSsr=7001&GRid=67838827&

According to records at Ancestry.com, he married Lizzie H. Kelso on May 26, 1866 in Concord, New Hampshire, listing his occupation as "soldier." It looks like he filed for his invalid pension Dec. 9, 1865, six months before his marriage. He was 28 and she was 32. He was born in Whitefield, Maine, but he lived in Townsend (NH?) and she lived in New Boston, NH. It was his first marriage, her second.

Here's what he was also doing that year, from the Oct. 21, 1866 Daily Eastern Argus, Portland, ME:

View attachment 17835

She apparently already had children, because in the 1870 census, they were living in New Boston, NH, with 10-year-old Charles E. Kelso, probably her son by her first husband, and next door is Robert P. Kelso, 58, probably her father. He was listed as a farmer, $4200 real estate, $1250 property, born in Maine.

In 1880, they were still in New Boston. Calvin 48, farmer, got a check mark in a new census category "maimed, crippled, bedridden or otherwise disabled." He was still living with Elizabeth H. 51, keeping house, and Charles E. Kelso, 20, son. thanks for the post. I was just going to ask if any one knew what happen to him.

Here's his obituary from the Dec. 12, 1889 New Hampshire Patriot, and perhaps part of the reason he found a bride so soon.

View attachment 17836
That is a good find! I remember seeing the one news paper article about the race a long time ago.
 
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I mentioned above that Bates wrote a letter to Chamberlain. I was able to find that letter at the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center, however they ask that I not share it aside from small quotes, so here it goes,

"Then in a charge, the regiment commanded by Col. Spear, I was taken prisoner and was in Andersonville, Georgia and Florence, S.C. prisons ten months without a change of clothing and shelter only such as we could make by burrowing in the ground; with very poor and small allowance of rations. Then my feet became diseased with scurvy so that they were cut off with a pair of scissors at the ankle joint. A few days after I was brought into our lines at Wilmington, N.C."
You can see Chamberlain describing the letter in the link I posted above.
 
I didn't know anything about Florence, I'm in a lazy mood today so I'll just quote Wikipedia until I can verify the info.

The need for additional prisons became imperative after General Sherman captured Atlanta on September 1, 1864. Andersonville prison in south Georgia was thought to be in the path of Sherman and the Confederate prison authorities determined to relocate the approximately 30,000 Union prisoners then at Andersonville. Because Florence had three railroads, and was thought to be secure, it was chosen as a site for a newly constructed prison. To keep the Union soldiers in order during relocation, they were told that they were to be paroled. Many of those who were unable to walk or not stable enough to travel were left behind in Andersonville. Most of the prisoners who initially came to Florence were first transported to Charleston before making their way 90 miles inland to Florence. The Florence Stockade was still under construction when the first several thousand prisoners arrived.​

The Florence Stockade covered 23.5 acres (95,000 m2) of land with a trench dug out around the outside to prevent prisoners from tunnelling out. After about a month of operation, there were about 12,000 prisoners and a death rate of 20 to 30 per day. Supplies were scarce for both the prisoners and the guards. Men were sleeping almost naked and with no blankets. In his 1879 book Andersonville: a Story of Rebel Military Prisons, John McElroy, who was imprisoned in both, states, "I think also that all who experienced confinement in the two places are united in pronouncing Florence to be, on the whole, much the worse place and more fatal to life." He states that government records suggest that about one man in each three imprisoned there died. Part of the reason for this is that its prisoners had already been weakened by their stay in the infamous Andersonville Prison. McElroy, Sgt. Robert H. Kellogg of the 16th Connecticut Volunteers, and Sgt. S.S. Boggs of the 21st Illinois have written similar accounts of Barrett's cruel, inhumane behavior and murders of prisoners.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Stockade
 
Why did Sherman bypass Andersonville?

There were several reasons. He did send Stoneman's cavalry over there but they just added to the prisoner count! He was turning southeast, Savannah bound, and didn't want to weaken his forces at that critical point. He also didn't want to add to the mouths he had to feed, and he honestly thought they'd keep. He had seen some prisoners who had escaped but thought their condition was due more to their escape than their imprisonment. He also believed the Confederates would do what they could to care for these prisoners. Had he realized the full picture, I have no doubt he would have liberated that place - and his troops would have been suitably vengeful!
 
Why did Sherman bypass Andersonville?

Diane beat me to it. Though I don't really know too much on it anyway. Here are some quotes from the nps.

"During July Confederate officials at Andersonville had plenty of reasons for concern. General William T. Sherman's army was near Atlanta and prison officials feared he would head toward Andersonville. They were also concerned that the prisoners, fueled by reports of new arrivals, would attempt a mass uprising. During this time slaves from surrounding farms were brought in to fell trees and dig additional earthworks in anticipation of a cavalry attack.​

The concern was not unfounded. General Sherman did order two cavalry units to ride south and cut the Macon railroad. He also granted permission to General George Stoneman, who commanded one of these units, to advance on Macon itself. Stoneman planned to free the Union officers at Camp Oglethorpe in Macon, then make his way south to free the 29,000 prisoners at Andersonville.​

General Stoneman had 2,500 men and a two-gun battery. At 3:00 a.m. on July 27, he left Atlanta and rode south. Before noon on the 29th the Union cavalry reached Clinton, but the Confederates were following them with 4,000 cavalry Stoneman met the Georgia militia, and in a number of skirmishes Stoneman's cavalry was defeated. The Union cavalry members were either killed or taken prisoner. The Confederates captured about 500 prisoners and took them to Andersonville. The prison's teeming population had been increased, not freed. During this period, a total of 1,200 prisoners was added to the population by the last day of July."
http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/civil_war_series/5/sec5.htm
 
Just finished a book about Andersonville prison, "Life and Death in Rebel Prisons" by Robert H. Kellogg. I'm sure a lot of you have read it. I really enjoyed it. For all the malfeasance that went on in that place I guess it is only fitting the only Federal execution of a Confederate officer was the villain leader.
 
James Edward Hanger was a Confederate veteran and possibly the first amputee of the war. He was struck by a cannonball at the Battle of Phillipi on June 2 1861 and lost his leg at the hip. He designed his own prosthetic leg and founded a business making prostheses after the War which exists to this day. This is his shop in 1916. Imagine how difficult it must have been for men wearing these heavy, primitive wooden limbs.
James E Hanger Proosthetic Limb  Co. 1916.jpg
 
Thanks, Pvt.Shattuck. Hanger turned his hardship in a business to help millions of people.

Hanger, Inc. provides prosthetic and orthotic products and patient care services in the United States.[1] The company has more than 700 patient care clinics[2] located in 45 states and the District of Columbia. More than 1 million patients[2] visit these clinics each year. Hanger Clinic operates under the corporate umbrella of Hanger, Inc., headquartered in Austin, Texas (formerly Bethesda, Maryland). According to the company's 2007 annual report, the patient care market for prosthetic and orthotic services in the United States is estimated at $2.5 billion annually. Hanger Clinic represents about 25 percent of this market.[3] Hanger, Inc. employs about 4,700 people, including more than 1,080 prosthetic and orthotic clinicians. wikipedia
 
James Edward Hanger was a Confederate veteran and possibly the first amputee of the war. He was struck by a cannonball at the Battle of Phillipi on June 2 1861 and lost his leg at the hip. He designed his own prosthetic leg and founded a business making prostheses after the War which exists to this day. This is his shop in 1916. Imagine how difficult it must have been for men wearing these heavy, primitive wooden limbs.
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Excellent example of a "line shaft" providing power throughout the facility. Thanks very much for sharing.
 
I didn't know anything about Florence, I'm in a lazy mood today so I'll just quote Wikipedia until I can verify the info.
...
A large number of the Andersonville prisoners were also sent to Camp Lawton (also still under construction) in Millen Georgia, which was - unlike Andersonville - actually in the path of Sherman's March to the Sea. Lawton is, despite its remarkably brief period of occupation, the best preserved Confederate prison camp left; it was featured in the January issue of Archaeology: http://archaeology.org/issues/109-1311/features/1424-camp-lawton-civil-war-sneden-pows
 
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