USA > Ohio > The history of Fuller's Ohio brigade, 1861-1865; its great march, with roster, portraits, battle maps and biographies > Part 33
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Peter was born in the above log cabin, the youngest of four girls and four boys, who attained womanhood and manhood. He was raised on the farm, educated in a log cabin school house until 15 years of age, when he
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learned the blacksmith trade with his brother. That occupation becoming monotonous, he went to Columbus in 1860 where he drove a twelve pas- senger bus, the forerunner of street cars on High Street from Mound Street to the Union Depot.
When the War of the Rebellion broke out in April 1861, his great desire was to enlist in defense of the Stars and Stripes. His mother object- ed and persuaded him to wait until Fall. Fall came ; President Lincoln had made his first call for 300,000 volunteers, and on October 4th, 1861, he enlisted in the 43rd Ohio Regiment for three years. He was assigned to Company "F" and served until December, 1863, when he re-enlisted for three years more as a veteran and remained with his Company and Regi- ment through thick and thin in all its engagements of which this history foretells, and he is proud to say he carried the musket until Lee and Johns- ton surrendered.
In Washington City, after the Grand Review, he was commissioned First Lieutenant, having served as non-commissioned officer from Corporal to Orderly Sergeant, and was discharged at Louisville, Kentucky, July 13th, 1865.
In 1866 he married Miss Ella D. Grinnell of Blendon, Franklin County, Ohio. In 1868 they emigrated to Kankakee, Illinois, where he farmed until 1876. Two sons were born to them; the youngest was laid to rest at eleven months. 1876 found them at Fowler, Indiana, in the hardware busi- ness until 1888. He then engaged as a commercial traveler and moved to Indianapolis, quitting the road eight years later.
In 1898 he tendered his services to the Governor (before Congress declared war) for service in Cuba. He raised eleven Companies for the 162nd Indiana Volunteers and was elected its Colonel. Spain concluded peace too soon for active army duties.
In April 1904 he and wife crossed the Continent to be with their son Robert Ellsworth in Seattle, Washington, on Puget Sound, the coming New York of the Pacific and Gateway to the Orient.
August 1908.
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ADJUTANT HOWARD FORRER,
Sixty-Third Ohio Veteran Volunteer Infantry.
Howard Forrer was born in Dayton, Montgomery County, O., Nov. 11th, 1841. His father, Samuel Forrer, was a native of Pennsylvania. His mother, whose maiden name was Sarah Hastings Howard, was a native of Ohio. Howard was an only son. He has a sister, Mary Forrer Peirce, who is now (1909) the only surviving member of his immediate family. His home was always in his native town, and he never married. He was a graduate of the Dayton Central High School and was an assistant principal in one of the public schools of that city when he entered the army.
He first served as a soldier in a short term State organization called the Squirrel Hunters.
He assisted in recruiting at Dayton for the organization expected to be called the 112th Ohio. When these men were transferred and joined the 63rd Ohio in the field in November, 1862, he came with them, having been given a Commission as Adjutant. He served as adjutant of the 63rd Ohio from this on until his death and took part in practically all its opera- tions during that time. He was killed in battle 22nd July, 1864, on the Atlantic Campaign. His body was for a time in the possession of the enemy, but the ground was later recovered and he was buried on the field, about 150 yards southwest of the Court House at Decatur, Ga.
He was a man of pure life and upright character, a courteous gentle- man. As an officer he was prompt, efficient, capable and performed the difficult duties of adjutant so fairly and honestly that he won the esteem and friendship alike of officers and men of the whole regiment.
He was a brave soldier, and went down to his death, when conducting himself in the most gallant and meritorious manner.
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FIRST LIEUT. FRANCIS A. GIBBONS. Co. H, 63d O. V. V. I.
FIRST LIEUTENANT FRANCIS A. GIBBONS.
Company H, Sixty-third Ohio Veteran Volunteer Infantry.
Francis A. Gibbons was born in Coshocton County, Ohio, March 8. 1820. He was a son of John Gibbons an old settler in that county. His ancestors counting back to grandparents, represented. Scotch. Irish and Dutch. About 1842. he removed to Hocking County, Ohio, and located in Starr Township. He was reared on a farm, but in business for himself. gave his principal attention to stock breeding, buying and selling. He was for years before the war engaged in buying stock for both Cincinnati and eastern markets. He was among the last of the old time drovers, and was rated a rather successful one.
When a boy his schooling was very limited, but he improved himself when he grew older, was a great reader, and became a gifted public speaker on social and moral questions. He greatly enjoyed public debates. on such questions.
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FIRST LIEUTENANT FRANCIS A. GIBBONS.
His first wife was Priscilla Moore. She bore him six children, Wil- liam, Marie, Hannah, Samuel, Lotta and Lewis Dalton. To his wife he always gave the principal credit for his success in life.
He. with his second son, Samuel Gibbons enlisted as private soldiers in Captain Jackson's Company H. 63rd Ohio, in November 1861 without any suggestion or expectation of a commission but when the Company was full, it elected him First Lieutenant and he was so commissioned. He was a man of great soldierly taste and spirit. Prompt, cheerful, ready to obey orders, a good disciplinarian, and brave beyond all question. He served from the purest and most patriotic motives.
He took the field with the regiment and participated honorably in all its services whilst he was a member of it. This included New Madrid. Ft. Thompson, Island Namber Ten, Siege of Corinth, the actions at Farming- ton and battle of Iuka. His health failed. He was too old to stand hard campaigning and on September 30, 1862. his resignation was accepted and he went home.
After the war he moved west and located in Missouri, where his wife died. After this he removed to near Baxter Springs, Kansas, following his old business of stockman. In 1870 he married a second wife, Miss Loda Hibbard of Athens County, Ohio.
He died December 9, 1895, aged 75 years, 9 months and 1 day.
He was a prominent Mason, and in religious matters a Methodist.
SERGEANT JOSEPH H. LAPHAM. Co. B, 39th O. V. V. I.
SERGEANT JOSEPH HAMILTON LAPHAM,
Co. B, Thirty-ninth Ohio L'eteran Volunteer Infantry.
Was born March 5, 1844, in Marietta, Ohio.
He earned his first money, 25 cents per week, by piling up wood at a planing mill, working after school hours and on Saturdays. He continued school to the end of the first year in high school, when at fourteen year- of age, he took a position in a sawmill. wheeling sawdust in a wheelbarrow to the furnace of the mill, at the- munificent salary of 40 cents per day. Three months after the beginning of the war, Mr. Lapham enlisted in a company formed in his home town and served four years in the Union Army as sergeant in Company B, Thirty-ninth Ohio Infantry. He saw much active service and carries with him today a Confederate bullet-liole in his left arm, received while charging the enemy at the battle of Benton- ville, N. C. He admits modestly that it was he and General Grant that put down the Great Rebellion.
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SERGEANT JOSEPH HAMILTON LAPHAM.
Sergeant Lapham was in every battle in which the Thirty-ninth, was engaged, including the siege and capture of New Madrid, Island No. Ten, expedition to Fort Pillow, siege of Corinth, battle of Iuka, batttle of Corinth, Parker's Cross Roads, capture of Decatur, Atlanta campaign,- Resaca, Dallas, Big Shanty, Kenesaw Mountain, Ruff's Mills, or Nick-A- Jack creek, battles around Atlanta, march through Georgia, siege of Savannah, march through the Carolinas,-Battles of Beaufort, Pocotaligo. Whippy Swamp. Rivers Bridge, North and South Edesto rivers, Orange- burg, Columbia. Fayetteville, Bentonville. Goldsborough, and Raleigh. March north through Virginia. Richmond, Fredericksburg to Washington, in which he participated with his regiment in the grand review.
Discharged at Camp Dennison, Chio, July 9th, 1865, after four years' continuous service
When the war was over Mr. Lapham returned to Marietta, Ohio, where he became acquainted with a slender, black-eyed girl while attending the Baptist church. That girl has been his honored and cherished wife for many years. He moved to Cleveland, Ohio, and entered the employ of Bousfield & Poole, manufacturers of woodware, as foreman. He was after- ward senior member of Lapham & Co., and later president and manager of Lapham-Dodge Co. Sixteen years ago he disposed of his business in Cleve- land and with his family moved to Los Angeles, California, where he has resided since. He is now a director in the National Bank of Commerce and the Manhattan Savings Bank, president and manager of the California Fish Co., and president and treasurer of the Southern California Supply Co.
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THOMAS J. SMITH.
A SAILOR AND A SOLDIER.
Company B, Twenty-seventh Ohio Veteran Volunteer Infantry.
In the year 1847. I was living in the seaport town of Fall River. Massachusetts. I was eighteen years of age. In those days a great many of the young men on the coast of New England went to sea, and the stories brought to my youthful ears of the wonders of the deep and the life on the ocean, filled me with a desire to become a sailor.
One evening in October, 1847, I was on the way home from my work, when I met my mother going to a near by store. She told me to hurry home and put the kettle on the stove to boil, but before her return, I left home and took passage on a steamer for New York City. None of my people knew that I was going to adopt so dangerous an occupation as that of a sailor, nor did they hear from me. until three years later. Then on meeting my parents, the first question I asked was, "Has the kettle boiled?"
I shipped in New York City, and sailed for New London, in the bark "Drummo" with Captain Steel, in October, 1847. All green seamen aboard ship were put on a diet of bread and water until they had learned to "box the compass and to make a double splice." The hardships on board of most of the sailing vessels at that time, and the brutality of some of the captains toward seamen made the life of a sailor comparable to that of a dog.
On our outward voyage, we sailed around Cape Horn, touched at Juan Fernandez Islands, at Honolulu, Sandwich Islands, a six months' sail. Then we cruised to the Society Islands, in the Yellow Sea, along the coast of China and Korea and in the Okhotsk Sea, coast of Siberia. for Artic or Wright whale. Then we returned to Honolulu, where I shipped with Captain Swane on the ship "Lagoda."
`In these cruises we carried the American flag flying from our mast to parts of the world where it had never been seen before. Returning to Honolulu after a six months' cruise, we fitted up the ship and sailed home- ward, passing through the straits of Magellan. We landed in New Bed- ford, Massachusetts in the spring of 1850.
I went to Rogersville, Tennessee in 1857 where in 1859, I married Miss Sarah Bradley, a daughter of a planter and postmaster. When the war broke out, I was carrying the mail, which exempted me from military ser- vice, but in 1863, I was conscripted by the Confederate Government. . \ few days afterward, I paid a negro to pilot me through the picket lines to Knoxville and went to Nashville. I called on Governor Patterson, who
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gave me employment in the United States Government shops. After leav- ing my home, a troop of rebel cavalry entered my house, turned my wife and child out. destroyed my furniture and provisions, and took the carpets to put under their saddles. My wife then got a pass through the rebel lines and on her way to Chattanooga, was robbed by a straggling Union soldier. She reported her loss to the Provost Marshall and then to the member of Congress from that district. The latter knew that she was the wife of a Union man and the money which had been taken from her was restored.
I now determined to enlist and fight under the old flag that I had sailed under in the far off seas. I went to Wooster, Ohio, and enlisted in Com- pany B, Twenty-seventh Ohio, in which regiment my brother Charles was then a Captain. I too !: part in the toilegme march through southern swamps with the First Division, Seventeenth Army Corps. At the surrender of Johnston's Army, it was my pleasure to see the rebel flag go down and the glorious old flag of our Union go up in triumph. In Washington at the time of the grand review, it was an inspiring thing to see our flag in full view, waving from all the public buildings, and draped around the mottoes of "Welcome." "All Hail, Western Heroes," "Island Ten, New Madrid," "Donaldson," "Shiloh," "Corinth," "Vicksburg," "Chattanooga," "Atlanta," "Savannah," "Raleigh," and proudly carried by the regiments of that triumphant army, that had never been defeated in battle, as they marched down Pennsylvania Avenue, amid the mad enthusiasm of the people.
After being mustered out with the regiment in July 1865, I returned to Rogersville .*
*Thomas Smith died at Knoxville, Tennessee, April 14th, 1902, and is buried there in the United States National Cemetery.
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DAVID MCMULLEN. Co. K, 27th O. V. V. I.
DAVID McMULLEN.
Company K, Twenty-seventh Ohio Veteran Volunteer Infantry. C
MT. ORAB, OHIO.
David McMullen, the author of this life history, was born in Warren County, Ohio in 1837 and at the age of ten moved to Brown. Having been brought up on a farm. he apprenticed himself, when he was eighteen years old, to the trade of a blacksmith, which trade was followed until August, 1861. At this time he volunteered for three years service in the Union Army, going direct to Western fields. There, with cartridge box and forty rounds, he took part with his regiment in all its engagements and long, weary, footsore marches, over the prairies and Ozark hills of Missouri. He took part in the capture of New Madrid and Island Ten on the Mis- sissippi River, the Siege of Corinth, the battle of Iuka and the famous defeat of Price and Van Dorn at Corinth, Mississippi, October 4th, 1862.
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DAVID MCMULLEN.
The latter half of his service was given in the capacity of regimental blacksmith, in performing which service, he was required to shoe every variety of army steed. from the General's charger down to the kicking army mule in the wagon train, and much other work entirely foreign to what he had learned in the village shop.
His enlistment having terminated, he left the front near Atlanta, Georgia, and was mustered out, August 17th, 1864. The following spring Mr. McMullen went by way of New York and the Isthmus of Panama to California, thence by water and overland through Oregon, Washington Territory and Nevada, to the gold fields of Idaho. There he engaged four years in profitable mining. after which he retraced his steps back to Ohio, where in due time, he resumed his former calling at the forge and anvil.
This occupation he has followed to the present time, with a degree of success which enabled him to acquire a farm home with two hundred. and ten acres of good land. Now at the age of three score and eleven, the sound of the anvil may still be heard. when work demands.
In 1871, Mr. McMullen married Cornelia Bangs, who became the devoted mother of their six daughters, Ellen, Minnie, Lisey, Harriet, Alice, and Hannah, all of whom are living. Their mother, his faithful companion in life's journey, died. August 9th, 1899.
PRIVATE CHAS. I. ADKINS. Co. K, 27th O. V. V. I. 1861.
PROF. CHAS. I. ADKINS. 1867.
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF CHARLES I. ADKINS.
Private in Company K, Twenty-seventh Ohio Veteran Volunteer Infantry.
DAYTON, OHIO.
I was born in the year 1842 and reared through early boyhood, in a farm home, in Noble County, Indiana. At the age of fifteen, I went to New Orleans, making that city my home, until the outbreak of the Civil War, most of which time, I followed the river, in the capacity of a steam- boat cabin boy. I have seen slaves sold in the New Orleans auction mar- ket, and I have seen fugitives rush down the stage plank and flee for liberty. others jump overboard and swim for the shore, while bullets from passen- gers' pistols could be seen skipping in the water about their heads. Those whose hiding places were discovered were brought out hand-cuffed and. pursuant to the fugitive slave law, duly returned to the authorities.
In the Autumn of 1860, I quit the river and sought employment in a Cincinnati hotel. It was probably this turn in my life that prevented my having worn the gray instead of the blue, which I donned at Camp Chase. Ohio, August 13th, 1861. My war record shows no act of special bravery
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nor of cowardly conduct. When holding musket fire with the enemy in view, I felt somewhat anxious as to the pending outcome, but when the fight was on in all its fury, with that battle yell, fear fled, fright changed to fascination, and a reckless desire for its continuance. I took part with my regiment in all its campaigns, until optic disability necessitated my leav- ing the front, at Pulaski, Tennessee, January. 1864. I was discharged the following December. William H. Adkins, an older brother, who served in the Forty-fourth Indiana Volunteer Infantry. Company G. occupies an un- known grave, in the National Cemetery at Murfressboro, Tennessee.
After the war. I studied music for a time, then for about thirty years. followed the profession of teaching that art. I was married in 1870 and have a daughter and a son, Leota V. and William Lee, both having passed their majority. At the date of this publication. I am striving to assist Major Charles H. Smith in its distribution.
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JUDGE THOMAS E. SCROGGY. 39th O. V. V. I.
THOMAS E. SCROGGY,
Company H, Thirty-ninth Ohio Veteran Volunteer Infantry.
XENIA, OHIO, April 27th, 1909.
MAJOR CHARLES H. SMITH, CLEVELAND, OHIO.
Dear Comrade -By reason of being absent a portion of the time, and matters requiring my attention here, I have neglected answering your communications in reference to the proposed army record of the Ohio Brigade. I beg to assure you that I am deeply interested in this matter, and pursuant to my telegram to you today, I forward photograph and my record, taken from page ninety-eight of the Congressional Directory of the 59th Congress, as follows :
"Thomas Edmund Scroggy. Republican of Xenia, was born at Har- veysburg, Warren County, Ohio, March 18, 1843; attended the public
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schools and worked on a farm at and near Harveysburg, at the age of fifteen began the carriage making trade, and was serving his apprentice- ship when the Civil War began; he enlisted. July, 1861, at the age of eighteen, as a private in Company H, Thirty-ninth Ohio Infantry, and served in that capacity and as Corporal until July 4th, 1864, when he was shot through the right shoulder and lung in an assault on the Confederate works at Nick-o-jack Creek, Georgia. He had forty-two pieces of bone taken from his body and was confined to his bed for about six months, and was honorably discharged and mustered out at Camp Dennison, March, 1865 ; prior to being wounded he participated in every battle in which his regiment took part ; in June, 1865, he engaged in the grocery business in Xenia, where he has ever since resided; January, 1866, he was married to Mary Steel Ledbetter of Xenia : from this union one child, Earl, was born, but died at the age of ten months, July, 1873; was engaged with his father- in-law in the millinery business from 1866 to 1871; while in the millinery business he read law in the office of Carey and Shearer, under the super- vision of the latter ; was elected Justice of the Peace in 1869, serving one term; was admitted to the bar, September 8, 1871, and began the practice of law ; served three terms as clerk and three terms as solicitor of the city of Xenia; his wife died December, 1887, and in February, 1892, he was married to Mary Bloom, of Xenia ; he is a thirty-second degree Mason, a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and Union Veteran Legion ; all his brothers ( five) were in the Union Army; one was killed in the battle of Lookout Mountain, one was wounded in battle, and one was a prisoner in Danville, Virginia. In 1898 he was Republican nominee for common pleas judge in the third subdivision of the second judicial district, and was elected : was again nominated for that office without opposition in 1903, and was elected for a term of five years, beginning February, 1904. A petition signed by business and professional men of Xenia requesting him to become a candidate for the nomination to Congress was presented, and he became a candidate for the nomination; a Republican Congressional delegate convention was called to meet in Wilmington, April 12, 1904; dis- agreements arose among the delegates resulting from the holding of two conventions, one nominating as its candidate Honorable Charles Q. Hilde- brant and the other Judge Thomas E. Scroggy ; a contest was had before a board composed of the chiefs and clerks of State deputy supervisors of election of the district, and before the supreme court ; both tribunals decided in favor of Judge Scroggy, and his name was directed to be placed on the official Republican ballot ; he was elected to the Forty-ninth Congress by a plurality of two thousand three hundred and seventy-seven. He was tendered but declined a renomination."
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After his return from California last fall, he was elected and is now serving as the Colonel of the Union Veteran Legion Encampment. He is now following his profession in the active practice of law at Xenia, Ohio. Yours sincerely. T. E. SCROGGY.
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SERGEANT FRED. F. ADAMS. Co. B, 43d Ohio.
SERGEANT FREDERICK F. ADAMS.
Company B, Forty-third Ohio Veteran Volunteer Infantry.
Frederick F. Adams was born October 5th, 1842. at Lexington, Ohio. the son of John F. and Jane Fitting Adams.
He enlisted in the army under Captain James Marshman at Mt. Gilead. Ohio, October 1st, 1861. He was appointed Sergeant and served in Com- pany B, of the Forty-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry, until November 2nd, 1864, when he was honorably discharged at Columbus, Ohio. He partici- pated in every engagement in which the regiment took a part, during his term of enlistment.
In the spring of 1865. Mr. Adams went to the Pacific slope. locating first in Walla Walla, Washington, where he engaged in the mercantile busi- ness until the spring of 1886. Then he removed to San Diego, California. where he remained until the fall of 1898. Since then he has made Seattle, Washington, his home.
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On June 29th, 1870, Frederick F. Adams was married to Miss Mary V. Schnebly of Walla Walla, Washington, who died in San Diego. Californi .. on October 30th, 1887. Five children blessed this union, of which four are still living, namely, Frederica M., born May 6th, 1872, Philip H., born February 12th. 1876. Margaret E., born January 24th, 1878, Herbert II .. born January 20th, 1880 ..
On November 21st, 1894, Mr. Adams married Miss Mary E. Willard. of Oakland, California. He has now retired from business after an active life spent on the frontier of the great west.
The accompanying protograph was taken at the age of sixty-five.
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CORPORAL ISAAC JARVIS. Co. II, 63d O. V. V. I.
CORPORAL ISAAC JARVIS.
Sixty-third Ohio Veteran Volunteer Infantry.
Isaac Jarvis was born in Perry County, Ohio, October 16, 1843.
He enlisted in the army October 19. 1861. in Company H, 63rd Ohio Infantry Volunteers, and was killed in battle of Corinth, October 4, 1862.
He was a son of Phillip Jarvis. His grandfather, James Jarvis, an Englishman settled at an early day in Fayette County, Pa., and married there Elizabeth Plummer.
These people moved to Perry County, Ohio, about the year 1800; where afterwards his father married his mother whose maiden name was Mary Wolf. She was of German descent, and her people came to Perry County about 1800. In 1853 Isaac Jarvis moved with his parents to Hocking County, Chio and settled in Starr Township where he was living when he entered the army.
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The winter before the war began Isaac Jarvis and his younger brother. Simon, attended the public school in Starr Township, taught by Oscar 1 .. Jackson, and were both among the first in 1861 to enlist with Jackson when he began recruiting his Company. They also had an older brother, Joel A. Jarvis, who enlisted in the same Company and served until discharged for disability. Simon Jarvis served to the end of the war and was the First Sergeant of the Company the latter part of its service. They were a patriotic family, and another brother, Phillip Jarvis was a soldier in the 34th Iowa Infantry, and a fifth brother, Josiah Jarvis served in Company G, 151st Ohio.
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