David Ireland
Corporal
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2017
My great great grandfather is said to have lied about his age to get into the army. He is said to have been in a veterans volunteer unit in Pennsylvania driving a wagon train in the rear of the Union line and to have gotten scared by Confederate cannons at Gettysburg. He is also said to have been in the Battle of the Wilderness and made a comment that it was way worse than Gettysburg and that “‘I invented running that day, except back then they called it desertion.”
Upon doing research, I found records that he was drafted in 1864 in the Nicholson Township in Wyoming County Pennsylvania prior to the Overland Campaign. His unit, the 56th Pennsylvania Volunteers, was involved in the Battle of the Wilderness, and was in a rough part of it, so that part checks out. But I'm wondering if it is possible that the government's records are incomplete and that he did in fact serve prior to 1864. Is it likely that he could have been drafted if he had already served?
There's also an oral tradition story that he had a brother who was there, but nobody who is alive knows what his name was and I can't find any genealogical information on him.
I'd appreciate any input anyone has. His name was Joseph Winters, he was in Co. B, 56th PA Vol., and since he got a pension, it seems unlikely to me that he deserted for long if he did.
Thoughts?
Upon doing research, I found records that he was drafted in 1864 in the Nicholson Township in Wyoming County Pennsylvania prior to the Overland Campaign. His unit, the 56th Pennsylvania Volunteers, was involved in the Battle of the Wilderness, and was in a rough part of it, so that part checks out. But I'm wondering if it is possible that the government's records are incomplete and that he did in fact serve prior to 1864. Is it likely that he could have been drafted if he had already served?
There's also an oral tradition story that he had a brother who was there, but nobody who is alive knows what his name was and I can't find any genealogical information on him.
I'd appreciate any input anyone has. His name was Joseph Winters, he was in Co. B, 56th PA Vol., and since he got a pension, it seems unlikely to me that he deserted for long if he did.
Thoughts?