June 22, 1864 - The Death of Simeon Plumb

JeffFromSyracuse

Sergeant
Joined
Jul 6, 2020
Location
Philly Suburbs
Simeon Plumb is my great-great-great-great uncle. His older sister, Lydia, is my great-great-great grandmother - all female descendants between her and me. Because of the difficulty in tracking down maiden names, I didn't know of him until a couple of years ago. He's one of just two ancestors that I know of who fought in the Civil War, and the only one on my mother's side.

Simeon was the only son, and he shared a name with his father. The younger Simeon's headstone lists him as "Simeon A. Plumb", but all of his military documents list him as Alavandus or Alavantus - leading me to believe that he went by his middle name. (I have no idea where the name came from - it's not a family name.)

He was born in 1844 (December, I think), meaning he wasn't quite 18 when he joined the 147th NY in September 1862. I can't prove he fought at Gettysburg (the idea of someone I'm related to not being a part of a 75% casualty figure seems too far fetched to believe), but he must have been highly thought of - he jumped from Private straight to Sergeant in October 1863. He seemed reliable too - aside from a complaint of Tonsillitis in March 1863, he didn't miss a day of duty.

He was there for all of the Overland Campaign, coming through unscathed at the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Jericho Ford, Bethesda Church, and the assault at Petersburg - actions that cost the 147th 66% of their numbers. But a few days after the spring campaigning ground down and the men dug in, Sergeant Plumb met his demise. The captain of another company saw what happened, and recorded it in his diary.

June 22, 1864 - "Hugged our pits close all day - our men were allowed to fire - one man from a Co. to keep the Rebs down. We had in Co. "B", my Co., a short Enfield rifle that one of my men had captured from a Reb It was just like our Enfields only shorter & nicer workmanship & of the same calibre & I wished to try it, so when permission came for one man to a Co. to fire, I took it & some cartridges & fired several times, I do not know how many near misses I made. Sergeant Plumb, of Co. H. was also firing, and stood just to my right some 3 ft. off. We poked our rifles through the brush screen to fire and I had just fired and going to load. When he fired & recovered his rifle & then instead of leading he kneeled down and leaned up towards or against the breastworks as thou watching his shot. I finished loading & then spoke to him - no answer & not stingy, I stepped to him & there was a bullet hole in the center of his forehead. He was dead. I called some of his Co. to take him away - & then told my men, that if any of them wished to shoot they could, I had got all I wanted. I was shocked, and they all wanted to try a hack."

Sergeant Plumb's body was transported back to Oswego County, and he was buried next to his mother, who had died 10 years before. His father was also laid to rest in the same plot in 1884.

Thanks for letting me share my little slice of family history.
 
Simeon Plumb is my great-great-great-great uncle. His older sister, Lydia, is my great-great-great grandmother - all female descendants between her and me. Because of the difficulty in tracking down maiden names, I didn't know of him until a couple of years ago. He's one of just two ancestors that I know of who fought in the Civil War, and the only one on my mother's side.

Simeon was the only son, and he shared a name with his father. The younger Simeon's headstone lists him as "Simeon A. Plumb", but all of his military documents list him as Alavandus or Alavantus - leading me to believe that he went by his middle name. (I have no idea where the name came from - it's not a family name.)

He was born in 1844 (December, I think), meaning he wasn't quite 18 when he joined the 147th NY in September 1862. I can't prove he fought at Gettysburg (the idea of someone I'm related to not being a part of a 75% casualty figure seems too far fetched to believe), but he must have been highly thought of - he jumped from Private straight to Sergeant in October 1863. He seemed reliable too - aside from a complaint of Tonsillitis in March 1863, he didn't miss a day of duty.

He was there for all of the Overland Campaign, coming through unscathed at the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Jericho Ford, Bethesda Church, and the assault at Petersburg - actions that cost the 147th 66% of their numbers. But a few days after the spring campaigning ground down and the men dug in, Sergeant Plumb met his demise. The captain of another company saw what happened, and recorded it in his diary.

June 22, 1864 - "Hugged our pits close all day - our men were allowed to fire - one man from a Co. to keep the Rebs down. We had in Co. "B", my Co., a short Enfield rifle that one of my men had captured from a Reb It was just like our Enfields only shorter & nicer workmanship & of the same calibre & I wished to try it, so when permission came for one man to a Co. to fire, I took it & some cartridges & fired several times, I do not know how many near misses I made. Sergeant Plumb, of Co. H. was also firing, and stood just to my right some 3 ft. off. We poked our rifles through the brush screen to fire and I had just fired and going to load. When he fired & recovered his rifle & then instead of leading he kneeled down and leaned up towards or against the breastworks as thou watching his shot. I finished loading & then spoke to him - no answer & not stingy, I stepped to him & there was a bullet hole in the center of his forehead. He was dead. I called some of his Co. to take him away - & then told my men, that if any of them wished to shoot they could, I had got all I wanted. I was shocked, and they all wanted to try a hack."

Sergeant Plumb's body was transported back to Oswego County, and he was buried next to his mother, who had died 10 years before. His father was also laid to rest in the same plot in 1884.

Thanks for letting me share my little slice of family history.
That’s a hell of a story. And not to make light of his death, but that’s straight out of the movies. Thanks for sharing.
 
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