- Joined
- Mar 18, 2015
- Location
- Kent, Ohio
Hello to all. What drew me to this forum is current research on the US transport steamer General Lyon and, more specifically, the letters of B F Reed posted here by msimmons. The two I see both mention John Welliver, 21st Il, a soldier vexing me at present. Was he or was he not aboard the General Lyon on March 28 when it sailed from Wilmington? He's on the NY Times 14 April 1865 passenger list and F W Foster (ex-US Sanitary Commission, Wilmington) lists him as "J Villiber" in the Jan 19 1866 publication of the list of parolees. Both are notoriously inaccurate.
None of the rosters or fold3 documents that I can find say anything beyond that Welliver was captured Sept 20th and he is shown as surviving Andersonville on the two sites for that prison. It's exactly the same situation for John Pence and Henry Otten of the 21st. I hope that msimmons might have evidence other than the two passenger lists re John Welliver's fate.
Incidentally, a story in The Tuscola Review, January 20 1938 has John Welliver rescuing the mortally wounded Reed and accompanying his fallen comrade to hospital where Reed died September 23 and Welliver helpfully marked his gravesite. If he was truly captured September 20th three days before Reed died, John Welliver performed an amazing feat!
The burning of the General Lyon is an element in my second novel of the war, the first being available on Amazon entitled "Snooks North and South" (not very original, eh?) under the nomme de guerre Peter Brian. I plan a third book on the General Lyon itself, juxtaposing the various sailings of the vessel between March 1864 and March 1865 with the paths of some of the men who ended up on that steamer for its final voyage. So any information on the Lyon, especially in regard to its construction [was its machinery built by Curtis & Shapter as was the case with at least one other Goodspeed-built vessel and so on?] would be highly appreciated. And I'm happy to answer questions about it in this forum if any are interested.
None of the rosters or fold3 documents that I can find say anything beyond that Welliver was captured Sept 20th and he is shown as surviving Andersonville on the two sites for that prison. It's exactly the same situation for John Pence and Henry Otten of the 21st. I hope that msimmons might have evidence other than the two passenger lists re John Welliver's fate.
Incidentally, a story in The Tuscola Review, January 20 1938 has John Welliver rescuing the mortally wounded Reed and accompanying his fallen comrade to hospital where Reed died September 23 and Welliver helpfully marked his gravesite. If he was truly captured September 20th three days before Reed died, John Welliver performed an amazing feat!
The burning of the General Lyon is an element in my second novel of the war, the first being available on Amazon entitled "Snooks North and South" (not very original, eh?) under the nomme de guerre Peter Brian. I plan a third book on the General Lyon itself, juxtaposing the various sailings of the vessel between March 1864 and March 1865 with the paths of some of the men who ended up on that steamer for its final voyage. So any information on the Lyon, especially in regard to its construction [was its machinery built by Curtis & Shapter as was the case with at least one other Goodspeed-built vessel and so on?] would be highly appreciated. And I'm happy to answer questions about it in this forum if any are interested.
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