Details on the death of your Civil War ancestor.

It does appear we have many forum members who are also genealogists.
That's how I started out. My family didn't come to America until about 50 years after the Civil War, but one day I was reading a Civil War diary from Andersonville where the writer left a blank where the names of the six raiders should have been. I went look up the names to fill in the blank mentally and discovered that there were 7 names for 6 men who were hanged, and off I went! By the time I solved it (one of the guys was using an alias), I had enough information for a book and a relatively unique skills set, that I mostly only get to use here and when I'm writing.
 
A cousin of my great grandfather, Joseph H. Pickle, was a member of Company D of the 50th VA and was the regimental flag bearer; he is mentioned by name in the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies for his gallantry at Chancellorsville [O.R., Vol XXV, Part I, page 1030, report # 409].

Pickle was killed at the Wilderness during the initial actions of the battle on 5 May 1864 and the 50th VA's battle flag was captured by members of the 7th Indiana Infantry. Although Pvt John Opel of the 7th Indiana was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for the capture of the flag of the 50th Virginia, there was some contention from fellow soldiers as to who actually overwhelmed the flag bearer Pickle and took the flag that day. From the regimental history of the 7th Indiana Infantry ("Narrative of the service of the Seventh Indiana Infantry in the war for the Union” By Orville Thomson, 1910):

The statement of Private Thomas M. Mozingo, Co. E, 7th Indiana (page 185) :

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My ancestor was also wounded at Gettysburg, severely per his records, but I was never able to determine the nature of his wound. He returns to the army in time to get captured in June of 1864.

I would love to know the nature of his wound there also but no luck in that quest either.

For someone in the family to know about the sacrifices he made for his country is important to me.

John
Assuming he was on the Union side and survived the war, he would have almost certainly filed for a disability pension. If you can get his pension records (there are services that will do this for you at a reasonable cost), there will be more detail that you ever wanted to see.
 
@Fritz1255 Thanks a lot for your comments. I appreciate any help I can get. He never married or had children and died a pow in 1864 so no pension records I am told. I have received a lot of help thanks to this site, for which I am very grateful.

I have his photograph and I am thankful for that. He was in the Wall of Faces at the old Gettysburg visitor center. He may end up on the current one yet. I hope so.

Thank you again for your interest.

John
 
@Fritz1255 Thanks a lot for your comments. I appreciate any help I can get. He never married or had children and died a pow in 1864 so no pension records I am told.
In the absence of a widow or children, a parent frequently received a pension.

In Maine, if a soldier was under age, a parent "signed off" on the enlistment--and this may be true elsewhere. There's a start to his background.

Even if he died, it is still worthwhile checking the 1890 vets census. It wasn't unheard of for a survivor to fill in an entry (and remember that the bottom of the page contained information about wounds and disease).
 
Would you want to know the details of you ancestor"s death if they were killed in combat? How detailed would you want the details? For me knowing the battle would be enough. I would not want to know if they died from a gunshot or a cannon. I will admit my direct ancestor died of an illness and perhaps if they had died in combat I would be of a different view.
 
If you could would you like to have the details on how you Civil War ancestor was killed/died uring the Civil War? It might be interesting but sad. Is it just enough to know where and when they died?

My ancestor served in the 4th WI Infantry/Cavalry and was Court Martialed in March, 1864 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Other information such as battles I am still researching. Thank Bob Velke for the research I have found so far.
 
I'm a newbie, but yes! My Ancestor was Peleg Nelson Tolley of the 58th Massachusetts infantry Company G. There is some question as to where he actually died. He is listed in at least two books from 1865 as a casualty of disease at Andersonville. He was wounded and taken Prisoner July 30th at "the Crater".... However, there is a headstone that bears his name and Regiment in Danville Virginia. His death is noted as November 5th 1864....so there are questions as to where he actually is....or how he got there.
 
I'm a newbie, but yes! My Ancestor was Peleg Nelson Tolley of the 58th Massachusetts infantry Company G. There is some question as to where he actually died. He is listed in at least two books from 1865 as a casualty of disease at Andersonville. He was wounded and taken Prisoner July 30th at "the Crater".... However, there is a headstone that bears his name and Regiment in Danville Virginia. His death is noted as November 5th 1864....so there are questions as to where he actually is....or how he got there.
Hello Arnie and welcome to CivilWarTalk. Happy to have you aboard! If anyone will know whether your ancestor was imprisoned at Andersonville it's @Gary Morgan She should see this post now that I tagged her and be along shortly to let you know of Tolley has any records at Andersonville.
 
I know the 'how' and the 'when', but I do think it would be interesting to know at what phase of the battle/what action was taking place. Heck, I'd like to know if he heard the 'Battle of the bands', or saw the rabbit hordes...

This is all I know, but it's better than family lore corrupted by the years. Excuse the lame font, it's still better than the poorly typed transcription I have. ;-)

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My Ancestor was Peleg Nelson Tolley of the 58th Massachusetts infantry Company G. There is some question as to where he actually died. He is listed in at least two books from 1865 as a casualty of disease at Andersonville. He was wounded and taken Prisoner July 30th at "the Crater".... However, there is a headstone that bears his name and Regiment in Danville Virginia.
Everything that I could check for Union soldiers buried at Andersonville does not mention any TOLLEY. It seems more difficult to find the NPS list. I thought there was something on the site for the NPS POW Museum at Andersonville. If you contact the Museum they will look at their records as they have been collecting more information than what you find in the NPS Prisoner database. They can tell you if he was a prisoner there and was shipped out before it was closed. This sounds like a possibility if he was buried in Virginia.
 
I'm a newbie, but yes! My Ancestor was Peleg Nelson Tolley of the 58th Massachusetts infantry Company G. There is some question as to where he actually died. He is listed in at least two books from 1865 as a casualty of disease at Andersonville. He was wounded and taken Prisoner July 30th at "the Crater".... However, there is a headstone that bears his name and Regiment in Danville Virginia. His death is noted as November 5th 1864....so there are questions as to where he actually is....or h
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I'm afraid that I haven't been following this closely--but my G+ Uncle had a somewhat similar sad experience. He was captured at Chickamauga; I found references to his dying either at Andersonville or in Danville. Researching, I found that there were transfers of prisoners from one place to the other. In the case of my relative, I found records in the Norwegian archives (he was from Norway) that it was, indeed, Danville. His friends would have known.

But records of Danville aren't easy to find. HDS says Danville. If there's a grave there, it seems likely that he's there. The form below is a National Cemetery Internment form. Looks like there may have been a mix-up of names which may account for the confusion.

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