Need help on finding information on William M. Pendleton

[donna]

My chapter of United Daughters of the Confederacy is trying to find information on Confederate soldier, William M. Pendleton. He is buried in an unmarked grave in Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati, Ohio. We want to purchase marker for him.

All we know is that he was son of Edmond and Cornelia Pendleton. He was in the army. He died on May 4, 1870 and was buried at Spring Grove on May 6, 1870. His location at cemetery is section 69. lot 21, space 4. That is all information that cemetery had.

Thanks for any help.

 

[RebelHeart]

Based on my limited resources I want to ask if there is certainty that he is the child of Edmund and Cornelia Pendleton. If he is then he was very likely to have been very young when he served in the ACW as Edmund was presumed to be born in 1824. That said, if you're sure, then his family was apparently living in Virginia at the time of the war. There is one William M. Pendleton listed with the 9th Virginia Cavalry and another with the 4th North Carolina Cavalry. There are also a handful with no middle initial attached.

LINK 1
LINK 2

 

[mcfb50]

I haven't tracked down his military service, but it looks like he might be William Wood Pendleton, son of Colonel Edmund Pendleton. His mother, Cornelia Morgan, was born in Cincinnati.

I'm having trouble posting a link but he's in the VMI historical rosters database, class of 1867, roster ID 2978. It shows him born Cincinnati on December 24, 1845 and died 1870.

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

Stopped for a break, Donna, thought I'd see what was up here! Glad I did. Love poking around records- unmarked graves are dreadful, aren't they? It's a little surprising this man's is. His father was ' someone '.

Thinking the ' M ' is certain? Have a plethora of records on ' William ' and Pendleton , Confederate. Did snips from Ancestry and Fold 3. Took one record from NC only because it was a William ' M '.

Also included his father's information thinking it might be helpful, really young himself to have a son in uniform, like has been pointed out, gee whiz!

Father

Why he was in the 15th Louisiana who can say? OH never mind- I see the family was in Louisiana at one point. Double rats. Will look at Louisiana records for Wm. M. too.

POW, Boston, for Col. Pendleton, ouch

Fort Warren, Boston

This is the NC record, for a William M.

Not likely, thought I'd save it just in case

Who knows? Still the same name. Battle of Upperville prisoner, gosh, whomever this trooper is.

Virginia

Virginia Cavalry

Artillery!

Rats. Will take some sleuthing to narrow down which William.

There must be more of a trail somewhere. Looking at trees. 1870, gosh he died awfully young. It is jumping to conclusions to think it had to do with the war, I know. My grgrgrandfather died in 1889, supposedly from an old wound. We do not know for certain because we can't get to the records- it's been the rumor all these years.

 

[mcfb50]

PENDLETON, WILLIAM WOOD, from New Orleans, La. Private, Washington Artillery. Died 1870, from the effects of the military service.

 

[donna]

Thanks to all. The only information I have was from another member of my chapter who has gone to Spring Grove Cemetery . The cemetery had his name as William M. But that is about all they had with death date.

It could be one mcfb50 found. Will try to find out where parents are buried.

There is a reason he was buried in Spring Grove. Also might be wise to check graves around him. There could be a clue. I will ask the lady who originally found grave to go back and check stones around where he is buried. She lives near the cemetery.

Thanks again. I do believe we will find out who is in the unmarked grave and be able to place a stone.

 

[mcfb50]

I did some more digging around on him last night and I do think it's possible he was connected the Edmund Pendleton family. There's a funeral notice in The Cincinnati Enquirer May 6, 1870 page 5. Ephraim Morgan, the father of Cornelia Morgan Pendleton, was still living at the time, so that fits.

PENDLETON-The funeral of William M. Pendleton will take place today, at 2 o'clock P.M. from the residence of Ephraim Morgan, on the Warsaw Pike.

There are also several articles about a coroner's inquest to a body found by a railroad bridge over the Little Miami River, just beyond Columbia late on the night of May 4th. There were 1-2 bullet wounds and the account in the newspaper said the coroner's jury "was unable to determine whether the young man came to his death by his own hand, or that of another party." There was no identification on the body. The Cincinnati newspaper declined to name the young man out of respect to the family, but "the young man is very respectfully connected, and his parents are now, we believe, absent on a visit to Virginia. He was about 22 years of age." The funeral notice was in the same issue, so other than stating the name outright they weren't going to very great lengths to not connect the two.

The Pittsburg Daily Commercial May 6, page 1
"The man found dead near Columbia, Ohio, Wednesday, was William Pendleton, a young painter of Cincinnati, of very respectable connections. The coroner's jury decline to say who caused his death. The impression prevails that he committed suicide."

I could see that understandably translating into the "Died 1870, from effects of the military service" that I found listed in a book above.

I'm new here, so let me see if I can figure out how to upload an image.

 

[mcfb50]

If he does wind up being the son of Edmund and Cornelia, then VMI has him listed a New Market Cadet, Private, Co. C. so at least you'd have that much on his military record.

http://archivesweb.vmi.edu/rosters/record.php?ID=2978
A note at the bottom of the VMI historical rosters database says "For further information about an ancestor listed in the database, please contact the VMI Archives. We can check the complete record, let you know if other information available, and provide copies of original documents. "

I wasn't able to find him in the Washington Artillery rosters. I have no idea how complete those records are--it looked in far better shape than the records for the one Conferate I've looked into in my family.

Also, there's a collection of papers and photos of Elizabeth Pendleton Coles (daughter of Colonel Edmund Pendleton and Cornelia Morgan) that have been archived at University of North Carolina. Some (all?) of the documents have been digitized, but not the photos. If one exists, a picture of the son in uniform could be helpful.
http://www2.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/c/Coles,Elizabeth_Pendleton.html#folder_1#2

There are no letters or papers from 1870. There was one letter from Col. Edmund Pendleton to his wife dated April 6, 1865. (Seriously, why can't I ever find stuff like this for my own families?!)

In the letter he writes:

April 6, 1865

My Dear Wife:

The whole army of Genl Lee is now within ten miles Of Farmville. After a seven battle at Petersburg on Sunday 2d Apl. in which our lines were broken + our communications cut, we have been compelled to fall back to a more defensible line. I am sorry to think that this implies the abandonment of the greater part of Va and it is not unlikely you + my dear children will be left in the Enemy's hands - tho' I hope not. I shall use my ut-most ? to come see you. Our Army is not whipped - indeed it is strong + ready to fight again to-day. I have seen ? several times on the March. He was in the fight and his guns he tells me fired 160 shots. He escaped untouched. I write this hasty note on the March and will endeavor to write more - fully in two or three days. Love to all.

Very affectionately,
E.P.

I'm uploading the letter here, and you can check on the line "I have seen ? several times on the March. He was in the fight and his guns he tells me fired 160 shots." The ? is a name that isn't clear, but it could conceivably be Willie. Would be nice if it were a slam dunk, but I'm cutting the Colonel big time slack on the the handwriting seeing as how it was April 6, 1865 and he stopped to write his dear wife a letter.

 

[mcfb50]

Letter from Colonel Edmund Pendleton to his wife, Cornelia dated April 6, 1865. (From the Elizabeth Pendleton Coles Papers archived at UNC. http://www2.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/c/Coles,Elizabeth_Pendleton.html#folder_1#2)

 

[mcfb50]

I reread your posts above and just thought of one more place to check.

Your soldier is in section 69, lot 21, space 4.

Ephraim Morgan, father of Cornelia Morgan Pendleton, is in section 69, lot 21, space 6.

This looks like a family lot, with names tying into the Morgan family. There's even a William Wood there.
http://www.springgrove.org/geneology-listing.aspx?garden=LN&section=69&lot=21&cemetery=SPRINGGROVE

Funeral notice is from the Cincinnati Commercial Tribune, May 6, 1870, page 5.

 

[donna]

All this information is just what is needed. I will copy and present to my chapter. Thanks so very much.

 

[mcfb50]

Glad to help! I'm just twiddling my thumbs right now waiting for records to arrive about another forgotten young soldier. Please do let us know if you learn anything more on his military service.

An aside, along the way I did see that this young man had quite the connected family. His father Col Edmund Pendleton was in the first graduating class of VMI, and I think was probably a grandnephew of Edmund Pendleton who was a Virginia representative to the First Continental Congress. His sister Elizabeth (mentioned above) had a daughter Elizabeth/Lily that goes on to be the wife of General George C Marshall...as in the Marshall Plan, Secretary of State and all that.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=9044474

Anyway, it will be good for this soldier to have a grave marker.

 

[donna]

Thanks again for all your help. I sent all the information to the president of my chapter of UDC. She is in charge of this project for us. I hope all works out and we can get him a marker.

The UDC Ohio Division is involved in project of getting markers for Confederate soldiers in unmarked graves in Ohio. It is a huge job but we feel they should have marker . We want them remembered and respected.

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

I reread your posts above and just thought of one more place to check.

Your soldier is in section 69, lot 21, space 4.

Ephraim Morgan, father of Cornelia Morgan Pendleton, is in section 69, lot 21, space 6.

This looks like a family lot, with names tying into the Morgan family. There's even a William Wood there.
http://www.springgrove.org/geneology-listing.aspx?garden=LN&section=69&lot=21&cemetery=SPRINGGROVE

Funeral notice is from the Cincinnati Commercial Tribune, May 6, 1870, page 5.

View attachment 96768

These are wonderful, thank you!! I don't even have a connection with this family but am just now so, so interested to see him ' found '. Something about soldiers with no headstones is really grating- this level of identification is terrific- have always loved other people's stories though.

We have 2 family soldiers, Union, under ' Unidentified ' stones although we know where they are, just not which one would be them. One, a third, we know where, there's no stone. In a thread on Spotsylvania, Alsop's Farm burials it was underlined how many Confederate soldiers have nothing- no idea where the graves might be. It is crazy. At least William will be marked.

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

Thanks again for all your help. I sent all the information to the president of my chapter of UDC. She is in charge of this project for us. I hope all works out and we can get him a marker.

The UDC Ohio Division is involved in project of getting markers for Confederate soldiers in unmarked graves in Ohio. It is a huge job but we feel they should have marker . We want them remembered and respected.

That is a wonderful project, Donna. They were all someone's son or husband, too- or brother. Everyone deserves a headstone so I hate to say ' especially ' a soldier- but really, soldiers should be marked across the board. I do not wish to get into political arguments. They were soldiers. They died.

 

[donna]

Annie so true, all soldiers need to be remembered.

 

[mcfb50]

These are wonderful, thank you!! I don't even have a connection with this family but am just now so, so interested to see him ' found '. Something about soldiers with no headstones is really grating- this level of identification is terrific- have always loved other people's stories though.

We have 2 family soldiers, Union, under ' Unidentified ' stones although we know where they are, just not which one would be them. One, a third, we know where, there's no stone. In a thread on Spotsylvania, Alsop's Farm burials it was underlined how many Confederate soldiers have nothing- no idea where the graves might be. It is crazy. At least William will be marked.

I know what you mean. It was a soldier that had been overlooked in the family history that drew me back in to the Civil War. Mortally wounded in battle, and I think he's going to wind up buried in an abandoned family cemetery in the middle of a farm field, marked only by rubble of broken headstones. Makes me sad.

It's all about people's stories for me. I have to wonder how Col. Pendleton whose "relatives were among the finest names in the landed gentry in Virginia" came to marry the daughter of a Northerner, a Quaker. His obituary made a point to clear that up for us, though. "Feb 13th, 1845 he married Miss Cornelia M. Morgan, who was of Virginia ancestry, later living in Cincinnati..."

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

That is crazy- pile of rubble. Someone will doubtless point out they are not around any longer to care but it seems we should. Otherwise who gets to make the distinction of who matters ' enough ' and when? Only officers? Only some soldiers? Heck, only some people? Could get out of hand in a big hurry.

WELL as long as he did end up with a Virginia girl, he's forgiven! Too funny. When they write things like ' finest landed gentry ', I can't help it, always makes me think of a fish, like landing a big tuna.