lelliott19
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A better soldier never shouldered a musket, and as we knelt over the youthful hero's grave, remembering his many noble qualities, we could scarcely suppress a tear of affection.
On the 25th [June] we passed through Shepardstown [sic] where the noble Col. Barnes breathed his last, crossed the Potomac and passed through Sharpsburg. -- While there, in company with a comrade, we visited the graves of our acquaintances and friends, who fell in the battle of 17th September 1862. Some we found had been roughly dealt with, others were undisturbed.
Elias "Ellie" Fraser was born in 1845 in Lancaster, South Carolina. His mother was Mariah Louise Ashe. She was married first, to Dr. Medicus Powell and had at least one son, Benjamin Medicus Powell*. (b. 1841). Dr. Powell died in 1841 (the same year Benjamin was born.) Mariah then married a Methodist minister, the Rev. Elias Lynch Fraser, in 1844. They were quickly blessed with a son, whom they named Elias (b. 1845) and three more children.
When Rev. Fraser died in 1851, Elias was only six years old. When the family was enumerated on the 1860 US Census for Lancaster, South Carolina, Benjamin Medicus Powell is a 20 year old medical student and Elias is 15 years old.
In April 1861, Benjamin Medicus Powell enlisted into a local infantry company being organized by Captain Dixon Barnes** at Lancaster. Sixteen year old Elias Fraser soon followed his older brother, enlisting in August 1861 into the Lancaster Hornets, which became Co. I, 12th South Carolina Infantry (Maxcey Gregg's brigade.)
[You know how sometimes, you read something and you just think.... there's got to be more to this story. Maybe it's just me.Do you see it yet?]
The quote I used at the top of the page continues:
E. L. Fraser, 12 SC
His grave is marked -- right there on the recently discovered Elliott map of the graves at Antietam. The map was produced in 1864, so its no wonder the printing is not entirely clear. The name looks like F. L. Fraser, 12 SC --- of course, there's no member of the regiment with last name Fraser that has those initials, so it's definitely Ellie. And no wonder "Every person in the town seemed to be well acquainted with the grave of Ellie Fraser..." It was right there alongside the road to Harper's Ferry.
Sources:
The Lancaster Ledger.(Lancaster, SC), July 22, 1863, page 2.
S G Elliott, Map of the Battlefield of Antietam, H H Lloyd & Co, 1864. New York Public Library, Digital Collections.
1850, 1860 US Census
NOTES:
*Benjamin Medicus Powell, Ellie's older brother, that's him in the photo montage at the top of the post. He was wounded at Gettysburg. He was back with his unit at Spotsylvania, and although we may never know for sure, there are people who believe that Benjamin Medicus Powell may have fired the bullet that killed General John Sedgwick.
**For a complete bio of Dixon Barnes, original Captain of the Lancaster Hornets and later Col of the 12th SC see @Andy Cardinal 's thread here
https://civilwartalk.com/threads/hi...rnes-12th-south-carolina.159444/#post-2082211
On the 25th [June] we passed through Shepardstown [sic] where the noble Col. Barnes breathed his last, crossed the Potomac and passed through Sharpsburg. -- While there, in company with a comrade, we visited the graves of our acquaintances and friends, who fell in the battle of 17th September 1862. Some we found had been roughly dealt with, others were undisturbed.
Elias "Ellie" Fraser was born in 1845 in Lancaster, South Carolina. His mother was Mariah Louise Ashe. She was married first, to Dr. Medicus Powell and had at least one son, Benjamin Medicus Powell*. (b. 1841). Dr. Powell died in 1841 (the same year Benjamin was born.) Mariah then married a Methodist minister, the Rev. Elias Lynch Fraser, in 1844. They were quickly blessed with a son, whom they named Elias (b. 1845) and three more children.
When Rev. Fraser died in 1851, Elias was only six years old. When the family was enumerated on the 1860 US Census for Lancaster, South Carolina, Benjamin Medicus Powell is a 20 year old medical student and Elias is 15 years old.
In April 1861, Benjamin Medicus Powell enlisted into a local infantry company being organized by Captain Dixon Barnes** at Lancaster. Sixteen year old Elias Fraser soon followed his older brother, enlisting in August 1861 into the Lancaster Hornets, which became Co. I, 12th South Carolina Infantry (Maxcey Gregg's brigade.)
[You know how sometimes, you read something and you just think.... there's got to be more to this story. Maybe it's just me.Do you see it yet?]
The quote I used at the top of the page continues:
...On the 25th we passed through Shepardstown, where the noble Col. Barnes breathed his last, crossed the Potomac and passed through Sharpsburg.-- While there, in company with a comrade, we visited the graves of our acquaintances and friends, who fell in the battle of 17th September 1862. Some we found had been roughly dealt with, others were undisturbed. Every person in the town seemed to be well acquainted with the grave of Ellie Fraser, a member of our company, who was killed at that battle. A better soldier never shouldered a musket, and as we knelt over the youthful hero's grave, remembering his many noble qualities, we could scarcely suppress a tear of affection.
E. L. Fraser, 12 SC
His grave is marked -- right there on the recently discovered Elliott map of the graves at Antietam. The map was produced in 1864, so its no wonder the printing is not entirely clear. The name looks like F. L. Fraser, 12 SC --- of course, there's no member of the regiment with last name Fraser that has those initials, so it's definitely Ellie. And no wonder "Every person in the town seemed to be well acquainted with the grave of Ellie Fraser..." It was right there alongside the road to Harper's Ferry.
Sources:
The Lancaster Ledger.(Lancaster, SC), July 22, 1863, page 2.
S G Elliott, Map of the Battlefield of Antietam, H H Lloyd & Co, 1864. New York Public Library, Digital Collections.
1850, 1860 US Census
NOTES:
*Benjamin Medicus Powell, Ellie's older brother, that's him in the photo montage at the top of the post. He was wounded at Gettysburg. He was back with his unit at Spotsylvania, and although we may never know for sure, there are people who believe that Benjamin Medicus Powell may have fired the bullet that killed General John Sedgwick.
**For a complete bio of Dixon Barnes, original Captain of the Lancaster Hornets and later Col of the 12th SC see @Andy Cardinal 's thread here
https://civilwartalk.com/threads/hi...rnes-12th-south-carolina.159444/#post-2082211