MI Help with a Civil War headstone.

[major bill]

While at the Soldier's Rest and Pioneer Cemetery in Bay City, Michigan I saw about 100 Civil War graves. There was the usual, plenty from Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. But is this soldier from New Mexico? I have never seen a Civil War soldier from New Mexico in any cemetery I have been to.

 

[John Winn]

I've never seen one, either. And named Jefferson Davis to boot ! I just checked and there was such a regiment. They were organized in 1863 and pretty much only saw garrison duty in the territory.

 

[Library Lady]

Does this help you out, @major bill ?

http://npshistory.com/brochures/foun/nm-volunteers.pdf

 

[major bill]

Does this help you out, @major bill ?

http://npshistory.com/brochures/foun/nm-volunteers.pdf

Yes it is interesting. I was seeing one New York after another and when I first looked at I mistook it as "NY".

 

[John Winn]

Here's the scoop on the 1st:

1st New Mexico Volunteer Infantry, Reorganized - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The history that @Library Lady linked is very close to what happened in Oregon, too. We had a 1st Infantry and, later, a 1st Cavalry but they had nothing to do with fighting the Confederacy. They patrolled, and built, roads and protected things and, in a few instances, fought Indians. We've got a number of them in the cemetery where I volunteer but I've never seen one outside of Oregon. I think the tendency was for guys to move west after the war (or stay there) rather than go back east.

 

[ErnieMac]

From Fold3:

 

[major bill]

From Fold3:

View attachment 445343

Thanks. Even athough I could see the 'NM' I still found it hard to believe a soldier from New Mexico was buried in this part of Michigan.

 

[ErnieMac]

There's a good bit of information about Davis in Ancestry and Find A Grave. He was born named Hall Davis in Ontario, Canada. Spent a good portion of his life bouncing between Michigan and Ontario. It appears he added Jefferson to his name when he enlisted and used it for military records but is shown as Hall Davis otherwise. How he turned up in New Mexico is beyond me.

Harry Hall “Jefferson” Davis (1844-1918) - Find a...

Cenotaph here ---- Private 1st New Mexico Infantry Co.E∼Harry Hall Davis was born in Ontario and is recorded as:Hall Davis & Jefferson Hall Davis name confusion and two headstones:Hall's name has been a source of some confusion but it is known that he went by Hall Davis for most of his life. On...

www.findagrave.com

 

[John Winn]

There's a good bit of information about Davis in Ancestry and Find A Grave. He was born named Hall Davis in Ontario, Canada. Spent a good portion of his life bouncing between Michigan and Ontario. It appears he added Jefferson to his name when he enlisted and used it for military records but is shown as Hall Davis otherwise. How he turned up in New Mexico is beyond me.

Harry Hall “Jefferson” Davis (1844-1918) - Find a...

Cenotaph here ---- Private 1st New Mexico Infantry Co.E∼Harry Hall Davis was born in Ontario and is recorded as:Hall Davis & Jefferson Hall Davis name confusion and two headstones:Hall's name has been a source of some confusion but it is known that he went by Hall Davis for most of his life. On...

www.findagrave.com

That's great. In 'my' cemetery we have four Canadians, two of whom used aliases when they enlisted, and I often wonder how they turned up in the places I've found them to eventually end up in what was then very remote Oregon. How he ended up in New Mexico Territory and eventually made his way to Michigan does make one wonder. I do believe he took some good stories with him to his grave.

 

[TerryB]

I've done a lot of research on a Capt. J.W. Calder of Pennsylvania who had moved from there to California before the war. His little town was on the border with Nevada and was eventually declared to be a part of that territory. So when the war broke out he joined a company of Nevada cavalry. The only action they ever saw was being called into a town to restore order when it was rumored that it was full of Confederate sympathizers plotting some unrest. Nothing much happened, but the captain went on to be accused of corruption in the railroad business in Texas in the 1870s. In 1878 in Dallas, he started a gunfight with some ex-Confederates, one of whom was an indirect ancestor of mine. They shot him full of holes and were all acquitted due to witnesses having overheard him threatening to shoot off the tops of their heads if they got in his way. He had managed to bleed the Dallas & Wichita RR dry, so much so that it had to be bought out by J. Gould around 1880. All beside the point that even Nevada had its Union volunteers. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/32110123/joseph-w-calder

 

[Seduzal]

Wow! Never heard or seen this before. Learning something new today. Thanks for sharing this awesome post and photos. Enjoyed it.

 

[major bill]

The Pine Ridge Soldier's Rest and Pioneer Cemetery in Bay City, Michigan also has two stones for the 102 USCT. A couple headstones for the 102 USCT are not uncommon in Mid Michigan cemeteries, but what was uncommon was that of the 70 plus military graves in the semi circle around the monument one of the soldier from the 102 USCT has a stone for his wife. At least here in Mid Michigan, the area around the veterans monument only contains military headstones. I did wonder why this particular solder got to have his wife next to him.