Eli Swihart, 47th Indiana Inf.

47th Indiana Infantry Monument at Vicksburg, Miss.

Eli Swihart was born February 25, 1820 in Ohio. He was the son of Peter and Elizabeth (Palmer) Swihart.During the 1850’s some of the Swihart family stared to migrate west into northern Indiana. By 1860 Eli and his wife Elizabeth (Goble) owned a farm in Turkey Creek Township, Kosciusko Co., Indiana with their five children Mary Jane, William, Lucinda, Lydia A. and Samuel L. During 1861 the Civil War had started, it appears Eli was more interested in his family and their farm than enlisting in the Army at his age. Although one of Eli’s younger brothers, George had already enlisted in the 89th Indiana Infantry in Jay Co, Indiana. During 1862 the Federal government instituted the draft. In October of that year Eli was notified that he had been drafted for a period of nine months. On October 16, 1862 Eli Swihart at 43 years of age, reported for duty. He along with several others from Kosciusko Co. were placed in company D; 47th Indiana Infantry Regiment which was already in the field.

Eli and the rest of the new men would be shipped south to Helena, Arkansas were the 47th Regiment was stationed until the end of February 1863. In March the regiment was sent to General U.S. Grant, who was building the army up for a push to take Vicksburg, Mississippi. April 30th, 1863 the 47th Indiana, along with the rest of the army crossed the Mississippi river and landed at the little hamlet of Bruinsburg and started to push inland. On the morning of May 1, the regiment found itself at a place called Port Gibson. Confederates were found in strong defencive positions; while the terrain in the area did not allow much manuvering room to attacking troops. The Union Army attacked and Eli saw his first action. By evening the Confederates had withdrawn, but the battle at Port Gibson had been a hard back and forth fight for both sides; the 47th Indiana had played a large roll in the fight. Grant continued to push into Mississippi, going through Raymond and Jackson.  As the army was getting close to Vicksburg, the Confederate Army was making plans to push Grant away for good by massing troops for an attack. On May 16 the Confederate Army was found near a place called Champion Hill around Baker’s Creek. This would prove to be the battle for Vicksburg; Eli and the 47th Indiana found themselves engaged in heavy combat, sometimes hand to hand throughout the day. The losses were heavy for both sides, but the Union Army had pushed the Confederates back to their Vicksburg defences. By late May Grant was at the gates of Vicksburg, on two separate occasions he tried to take the city by force and was pushed back each time. The Army settled in for a siege during some of the hottest months in Mississippi. Eli and the 47th Indiana would be digging trenches for their protection and approach trenches toward the Confederate works. The regiments position was across from Fort Garrott, a strong Confederate earthwork. From late May and throughout June Eli would find himself under fire almost daily and exposed to the elements of a Mississippi summer. On July 4, 1863 the city of Vicksburg had fallen, the soldiers of the 47th Indiana must have been very excited at the Confederate surrender. Eli had lived to see Vicksburg fall and must have been thinking about going home as his time in the army had almost expired. July 16, 1863 was the day Eli had been waiting for, he was discharged honorably and would be sent home.

Grave of Eli Swihart, 47th Indiana Inf.

It is not known when he arrived home or how his health was, but seeing his family again must have been a joyous moment. Sadly on August 23, 1863, after living through the marches, battles and trench warfare of the Vicksburg Campaign, Eli Swihart died at his home. It would have been easy for Eli to have avoided the draft or deserted somewhere along the trip south. He must have felt a sense of duty, his government had called him and he would serve. In his nine months of service Eli saw more action than some soldiers did in four years, unfortunatly for his family, the campaign took years off of his life. Eli was laid to rest in Mock Cemetery, Kosciusko County, Indiana. 

Written By Scott Busenbark

 

Francis M. Jeffery, 38th Illinois Inf.

“The History of DeWitt County Illinois”

F.M. Jeffery was born in Fayette County, Indiana, September 21st, 1832. The family is Scotch descent on the paternal side. William Jeffrey, the great-grandfather of the present family, emigrated from Scotland to America, and was a soldier of the Revolution. He settled in New Jersey when William, the grandfather, was born. He moved to Utica, New York, where William, his son, and the father of Francis M. was born. The grandfather was a soldier of the war of 1812, and also in the Indian wars, and was at the battle of Tippecanoe. In 1811 he moved to Fayette County, Indiana, and remained there until 1856, when he came to Illinois and settled in this township. He married Ruth Allen, of New York, by whom there were four sons and four daughters. William, the father of F. M., was the eldest son. He was born in Utica, New York, October 27th, 1807, and died August 23d, 1877. He came to Waynesville Township in 1837, and has followed his trade of tanning, subsequently engaging in farming. He married Harriet DeCamp, who was born March 2d, 1813. She still survives her husband. By that marriage there were twelve children-four sons and three daughters still living. The subject of this sketch is the eldest of the children. He worked with his father at the tanning business, and on the farm until 1856, then went to carpentering, and continued at the trade until the breaking out of the war, when he enlisted for three years in Co. “F” 38th Reg’t. Ill. Vols. The regiment became part of the 1st Brigade, 1st Division, 4th Army Corps. He participated with his regiment in the hard fought battles of Fredericktown, Champion Hills, Stone River, Liberty Gap, the first and second battles of Corinth, then in the Atlanta Campaign, Mission Ridge, Chickamauga, and Jonesboro, where the time of service of the regiment expired. He was wounded at the battle of Perryville, where the command was repulsed in their attempt to capture a battery. He received two wounds at Stone River. At the battle of Liberty Gap he was one of the sixty men who volunteered to capture a battery. They succeeded, but it cost them one-fourth of the men in killed and wounded. In that desperate undertaking Mr. Jeffrey was wounded in the head. After he was mustered out he returned home and resumed his trade of carpentering in which he still continues. On the 25th of December, 1850, he married Miss Sarah McEntire. She died in March 1857. Two children by that marriage both died. On July 21st, 1865, he was united in marriage to Miss Harriet Alice Kidd, who was born in Miama County, Indiana. She is the daughter of Captain Edmund Jones Kidd, a native of Carolina County, Virginia. He was a soldier of the war of 1812, with the rank of Captain. His wife, and the mother of Mrs. Jeffrey, was Christiana DeCamp, of Vermont. The DeCamps are of French ancestry. There have been born to Mrs. Jeffrey, four sons and four daughters, two sons and two daughters living. Their names in the order of their births are Roxie B., Mabel St. Clair, Edmund Ernest, and Charles Kidd Jeffrey. On the subject of religious belief, Mr. Jeffrey subscribes to none of the formulated creeds, but believes that in doing unto others as you would have others do unto you, is contained the genuine essence of true religion. He is member of the order of I. O. O. F. and Encampment, and belongs to Prairie State Lodge No. 104 and Encampment, No. 23, Atlanta, Illinois. Politically, he has been a Republican since that party came into existence and supported John C. Fremont for President in 1856. This, in short, is a brief history of Mr. Jeffrey. He was a gallant and brave soldier, and is a good citizen, an honest man, and as such enjoys the confidence and esteem of the entire community.

Hiram Palmer 100th Indiana Infantry

Hiram H. Palmer, one of the highly esteemed citizens of Anderson, Ind., belongs to an old English Puritan family of North Carolina. He was born Jan. 21, 1844, in Canton, Ohio, son of George and Catherine (Hoover) Palmer.

Christopher Palmer, grandfather of Hiram H., was a native of Lancaster county, Pa., but after marriage he removed with, his family to Stark county, Ohio, near Canton, where he cleared up a farm of 250 acres, becoming one of the substantial citizens and good, practical farmers of that section. He served during the Mexican war. His children were: Christopher, John, Henry, George, Christina and Rebecca. The father of these children died on his farm in Ohio, an aged man.

George Palmer, father of Hiram H., was also a native of Lancaster county, Pa., and as a boy removed with his parents to near Canton, Ohio, where his agricultural operations were commenced, but in 1844 he removed to near Auburn, in the woods of DeKalb county, Ind., making the trip by horses and wagons. There he cleared 120 acres of wild land, and he died on his farm aged seventy-two years. A Presbyterian in religious belief, he was a good and pious man, and assisted in building the church of his denomination in that section. In politics he was a Democrat.

Mr. George Palmer was twice married, and his first wife, who died in Ohio, left him these children: John, Elizabeth and Mariah. He married (second) Catherine Hoover, daughter of Judge Jacob Hoover (whose wife was a Nusbaum), for many years Judge of the Common Pleas Court of Stark county. To this union there were born: Elias, Lucinda, Margaret, Matilda, Lewis, Hiram H., Mary, Anthony and Ferdinand.

Hiram H. Palmer was four years of age when the family located in Indiana, and he was reared amid pioneer surroundings in DeKalb county, attending the district school in the winter months and working on the farm during summers, as was the custom of the pioneer Indiana farmers’ boys. He went to Auburn when about seventeen years old, and had worked for about one year at the trade of bricklayer, when, Aug. 6, 1862, he enlisted as a private of Company A, 100th Ind. V. I., to serve three years or during the war, his term of service expiring after two years and nine months. He was mustered out at Washington, D. C., June 8, 1865, receiving his honorable discharge at Indianapolis, Ind. He participated in the battles of Vicksburg, Jackson, Colliersville, Stockdale No. 4, Holly Springs, Corinth, Chattanooga, Missionary Ridge, Marietta, Atlanta Campaign, New Hope Church, Kenesaw. Mountain, the last battle of Atlanta, Sherman’s March to the Sea, Savannah, Goldsboro and Cumberland Gap. He took part in the Grand Review at Washington. At Missionary Ridge he was called by a Confederate soldier, who was wounded, and asked for a drink of water. As he was about to go, after having given his enemy all the water in his canteen, the Confederate raised his gun and attempted to shoot him, but the quick action of Lieut. Vesey of the 6th Iowa, who struck the Confederate on the head with his sword, probably saved Mr. Palmer’s life. He received a scalp wound in the charge at Missionary Ridge, and was also slightly wounded in the left shoulder, which necessitated his confinement in the hospital at Memphis, Tenn., for one month. He was also in the hospital at Grand Junction, Tenn., for three months, suffering from typhoid fever with complications. He was ever a faithful, brave and active soldier, and earned promotion to the rank of duty sergeant, serving for about two months on the staff of General Grant, at Washington, about the time of the close of the war.

After the war was over Mr. Palmer returned to Auburn, Ind., and later worked at the slater’s or roofer’s trade in Toledo, Ohio, but again engaged in bricklaying, at which he continued for five years. In 1872 he went to Chicago, where two years were spent, at the end of which time he returned to Auburn for one year, then going again to Toledo, he remained there three years, and the next eighteen years were spent in Auburn in contracting. He has also resided in Fort Wayne, Muncie and Indianapolis, following contracting at all of these places, but in 1899 he came to Anderson, where he is still in active business, having erected many fine buildings here.

Mr. Palmer was married (first) July 23, 1871, at Fort Wayne, Ind., to Cordelia Worley, born near Massillon, Ohio, daughterof Samuel T. and Rebecca (Dickerkoof) Worley, and to this union there were born: George W., who served two years in the U. S. regular army; Milford S.; Harry W., who served in the Spanish-American war in Cuba with a good record; and Maggie A. The mother of these children died in December, 1886, in Fort Wayne. Mr. Palmer was married (second) at Fort Wayne, Ind., Aug. 14, 1893, to Mary C. Walker (nee Daly), born March 11, 1847, in Franklin county, Pa., daughter of William G. and Mary C. (Bowen) Daly, the former of Irish and the latter of German descent.

William G. Daly was born June 30, 1825, and died March 8, 1877. He was the son of William Griffith and Mary (Locke) Daly, natives of Ireland, who came to America and settled in Pennsylvania, the son being born in Franklin county. He owned a farm in that county, but sold it and located in Indiana Dec. 25, 1857, purchasing a farm of eighty acres in the woods of Noble county, half of which property he cleared. He sold this and soon after located in Whitley county, near Columbia City, where he was living in August, 1862, at the time of his enlistment in Company B, 74th Ind. V. I., for three years or during the war. He served until the close of the struggle, being honorably discharged at Washington. For eight months he was color bearer of his regiment, two other color-bearers having been shot, and while thus serving his country he received a wound from which he never fully recovered. He participated in the battles of Chickamauga, Bull Run, Chattanooga, Burnt Hickory, Gumberland Gap, Lookout Mountain, Raleigh, and the Atlanta Campaign, including Sherman’s March to the Sea. He was married in Pennsylvania to Mary C. Bowen, born in 1827, in Germany, daughter of Jacob and Ann Mary Bowen, and she died Feb. 19, 1899, in the faith of the Dunkard Church. Mr. Daly was a Presbyterian. Jacob Bowen was educated in Germany for the Catholic priesthood, but on coming to this country became a weaver which trade he followed for some time, but later he engaged in agricultural pursuits in Noble county, Ind., where he died.

Mrs. Palmer’s first marriage was at Columbia City, Whitley Co., Ind., Sept. 27, 1866, to Lewis J. Walker, a farmer of that county, and to them were born these children: John A. whose death occurred in his twenty-sixth year Cora J., who died when twenty-one years of age; Ella S., who died aged fifteen years; Lewis J. Walker died in Columbia City, Ind. No children have been born to Mr. and Mrs Palmer.

Mr. Palmer is connected with the G. A. R., as officer of the day of Major May Post, of Anderson. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias, at Muncie, and the I. 0. 0. F., al Fort Wayne. Mrs. Palmer is a member of the Woman’s Relief Corps, and active in the proceedings of that organization. She and her husband are both active in the work of the Catholic Church in Anderson, of which they are consistent members and liberal supporters. They are very well known in society circles of the city, and have a large number of warm personal friends. Mr. Palmer is a Republican in his political belief, but takes only a good citizen’s interest in public matters.

William Garvin 96th O.V.I.

96th Ohio Volunteer Infantry Monument at Vicksburg

The History of Marion County Ohio

WILLIAM GARVIN, (Claridon Township) of the firm of Garvin & Weis carriage and wagon makers, was born in Franklin County, Penn., June 13, 1835. His parents, Henry and Catherine Garvin, were natives of Pennsylvania, where they were married. They came to Seneca County, Ohio, in 1852 or 1853, and resided near Tiffin for eighteen months, when they moved to Fremont, Ohio, where his wife, Catherine, died in 1873, aged sixty-eight years. He, died in 1883, aged eighty-five years. William Garvin received a common school education, and at the age of sixteen commenced learning his trade, at Green Castle, Penn. After completing the same, he removed to Cardington, Ohio, where he was employed at his trade for six years, at the expiration of which time he removed to Marion. October 20, 1857, he was married to Ann L. Wilcox, who was born September 14, 1837. She was a daughter of Jacob and Rebecca Wilcox. This union was blessed with three children, only one of whom is living, namely, Harry D., born November 6, 1858. Mrs. Garvin died April 17, 1862, and April 8, 1869, Mr. Garvin was married to Susan Hock, a daughter of John and Almira Hock, by whom he has had three children-George, born January 11, 1870; Laura B., April 5, 1873; and Lee M., born December 5, 1877. Mr. Garvin remained in Marion Until 1862, when he enlisted in Company E, Ninety-sixth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry and participated in the following battles of the rebellion: Vicksburg, Sabine Cross Roads, Forts Morgan and Gaines, the taking of Mobile, etc. His term of enlistment for three years having expired, he was honorably discharged from the service at Camp Chase, Ohio. He then returned to Marion, and moved to Claridon in 1867, where he has since resided and been engaged in business. The present firm gives employment to eight hands. Mr. Garvin has served the township as Township, Clerk four years. Is a Democrat, a member of the F. & A. M. and of the United Brethren Church (History of Marion County, Ohio.  Illustrated.  Chicago: Leggett, Conaway & C0. 1883

Stephen Cook 123rd O.V.I.

Stephen Cook (BACKGROUND)

The History of Wyandot County Ohio

STEPHEN R. COOK, son of L. H. and Sabina (Adams) Cook, was born February 8, 1841. He resided with his parents till he joined the army in 1862, enlisting in Company F, One Hundred and Twenty-third Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Enlisting as private, he was soon promoted to Orderly, participating in the battles of Winchester, New Market, Piedmont, Lynchburg, Snicker’s Gap, Berryville, Opequan, Fisher’s Hill, Cedar Creek, Petersburg and Hatcher’s Run. Being wounded at Cedar Creek, he was compelled to lie in a hospital six months, after which he was honorably discharged, having served three years. Returning home, he was married, June 17, 1869, to Miss Ann E. Bowman, daughter of T. N. and Eliza (Gib. son) Bowman (see sketch), and two children have been born to them – George B., May 23, 1875, and Helen E., March 29, 1878. Mrs. Cook was born January 26, 1847. He inherited twenty acres of his present farm, to which be has since added twenty, all valued at $70 per acre. Mr. Cook is a strong Republican. His wife is a member of the Presbyterian Church at Upper Sandusky.