Very pleased with the knowledge and enthusiasm here on CivilWarTalk. May I please ask for suggestions to find a Union soldier whose Regiment and name fail to match muster rolls?
Civil War letter discovered in my great grandmother's family Bible is a young father's firsthand account of five hard battles and two months on the Mississippi River, yet his last name Depew fails to show in federal military or civilian records and his first name is illegible from a fold across the paper. The letter identifies him as 1st Lieutenant in Co. F Kentucky Volunteers (its soldiers referred to the 3rd Regiment although it had been re-designated the 7th Regiment). He asks that family should direct letters to Memphis, Tennessee, to follow the Regiment.
This family letter has many clues, poignant in the heartfelt writing style of those times. However, neither muster rolls, pension files, hospital nor census records match a Depew or Depeau for his 1863 death year. To his mother, he asks that she recollect a wife and little children mourning his absence, and that God may bless dear sisters, Deborah and Relda.
My ancestor's identity eludes discovery, although his accounts of places and dates match history:
He inventories for his father the captured Confederate Army, its weapons and property that matches accounts from McClernand's taking of Ft Hindman in the Battle of Arkansas Post and a previously unsuccessful six day battle that winter at Vicksburg.
On the letter's January 29, 1863 date, Vicksburg is in sight once again as he writes from Camp Gear, but the camp is not listed on siege maps. Although fine when he left West Virginia, he writes his health is not very good. "Will you pray for me that I may fight the battles of my country and be able to return to my family in peace again." Noted at the bottom the letter: "Died one month later."
His identity remains unknown as I continue attempts at tracing my great grandmother's previous generation for cousins or great uncles, as no other direct line seems to explain her possession of this letter from her father's maternal grandmother Mary Polly Depew. What have I missed in trying to identify him, or what may I have mistakenly assumed in my search? Suggestions and observations would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Keith Williams
Civil War letter discovered in my great grandmother's family Bible is a young father's firsthand account of five hard battles and two months on the Mississippi River, yet his last name Depew fails to show in federal military or civilian records and his first name is illegible from a fold across the paper. The letter identifies him as 1st Lieutenant in Co. F Kentucky Volunteers (its soldiers referred to the 3rd Regiment although it had been re-designated the 7th Regiment). He asks that family should direct letters to Memphis, Tennessee, to follow the Regiment.
This family letter has many clues, poignant in the heartfelt writing style of those times. However, neither muster rolls, pension files, hospital nor census records match a Depew or Depeau for his 1863 death year. To his mother, he asks that she recollect a wife and little children mourning his absence, and that God may bless dear sisters, Deborah and Relda.
My ancestor's identity eludes discovery, although his accounts of places and dates match history:
He inventories for his father the captured Confederate Army, its weapons and property that matches accounts from McClernand's taking of Ft Hindman in the Battle of Arkansas Post and a previously unsuccessful six day battle that winter at Vicksburg.
On the letter's January 29, 1863 date, Vicksburg is in sight once again as he writes from Camp Gear, but the camp is not listed on siege maps. Although fine when he left West Virginia, he writes his health is not very good. "Will you pray for me that I may fight the battles of my country and be able to return to my family in peace again." Noted at the bottom the letter: "Died one month later."
His identity remains unknown as I continue attempts at tracing my great grandmother's previous generation for cousins or great uncles, as no other direct line seems to explain her possession of this letter from her father's maternal grandmother Mary Polly Depew. What have I missed in trying to identify him, or what may I have mistakenly assumed in my search? Suggestions and observations would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Keith Williams