Our Two Cousins Named Ebenezer Stanton-Part Two

Part One of this paper about the Revolutionary War Veterans Ebenezer Stanton, two Great-Great Grandsons of New England Stanton Family Progenitor Thomas Stanton Sr. (d.1677), Stonington, New London County, Connecticut is available for viewing at this link, click HERE.     

And Now... The Rest Of The Story.

Reference: STONINGTON DURING THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION - by Norman Francis Boas, M.D. Seaport Autographs, 6 Brandon Lane, Mystic, CT. 1990. p.146.

This citation captures some essential facts in this independent research summary by Dr. Boas as related to Ebenezer Stanton (1757-1811) of Stonington and New London.  However, Dr. Boas does make a couple of statements and apparent assumptions that are partially or totally incorrect as indicated by inserted [sic] notations:

"Stanton, Paymaster Ebenezer. He is one of seven [sic] children of Captain Nathan and Elizabeth Billings Stanton.  He married Mary Smith in 1781. They had four [sic] children. Stanton served in Colonel Henry Sherburne's (Rhode Island) [sic] Regiment from 1777 to 1781 [sic].  He was appointed ensign on February 22, 1777, quartermaster June 1, 1777, 2nd lieutenant November 9, 1779, and paymaster April 13, 1779. He was discharged from service on April 24, 1780."

Dr. Doas' four errors are indicated by a [sic] notation within his text, corrections are cited here in the order written: 1. eight children; 2. six children; 3. Sherburne's 2^nd Additional Regiment of Connecticut Line was totally disbanded effective 1 Jan 1781 to form the new Rhode Island Regiment. Most of Sherburne's officers resigned their commission by late spring 1780 and enlisted men transferred to other regiments (2^nd Lieut. Ebenezer Stanton never served in the new Rhode Island Regiment). 

Case 2 – The younger Ebenezer Stanton (1757-1811), until cited differently, hereafter referred to as #2 Ebenezer in this paper –

#2 Ebenezer, born 5 Nov 1757 the son of Captain Nathan Stanton (d.1786) and Mrs. Elizabeth A. (Billings) Stanton (d.1800), is a 5^th generation descendant of New England Stanton Family progenitor and Stonington, Connecticut Founder Thomas Stanton Sr. (d.1677). #2 Ebenezer's Stanton Family lineage to his colonial progenitor: 4^th generation-Captain Nathan Stanton (d.1786); 3^rd generation-Samuel Stanton II (d.1736); 2^nd generation-Samuel Stanton I (d.1732); 1^st generation Thomas Stanton Sr. (d.1677). On 7 November 1781 in Stonington, Connecticut ceremonies, #2 Ebenezer married the local beauty Ms. Mary "Molly" Smith (1761-1850), the daughter of Revolutionary War New London County Militia Regimental Commander Colonel Oliver Smith (d.1811) and Mrs. Mary Noyes Denison-Smith (d.1800). The couple is blessed with six children over their 40-year marriage.

Ms. Mary "Molly" (Smith) Stanton (1761-1850)
Note:  More details on the life and times of Molly (Smith) Stanton are set out in a more recent BLOG post -- to view and read click HERE. 

The compelling evidence to support the subject identities are two well-documented wills left by #2 Ebenezer and his wife Mary [Smith] Stanton. Mary [Smith] Stanton's federal Widow's Pension documentation contains valuable identity facts that can not be disputed. #2 Ebenezer's Revolutionary War (RW) service was first as an Ensign appointed in Feb 1777; then, promoted to 2^nd Lieutenant junior officer grade in Nov 1777, tasked as regimental quartermaster and paymaster assigned to Colonel Henry Sherburne's Connecticut Line Second Regiment of Light Dragoons. #2 Ebenezer's three-year+ active duty wartime military service dated early 1777 through Apr 1780. Given his regimental tasking, #2 Ebenezer was an obviously articular young man, strongly capable in English communication and mathematics. His gallant Connecticut Line service also includes assignments as a junior company officer under our hero cousin and 6^th Company Commander Captain Amos Stanton (KIA 6 Sep 1781 at the Battle of Groton Heights – Fort Griswold. Groton, Connecticut). In early 1780, General George Washington spearheaded a total reorganization of the Continental Army structure. The rationale behind this reorganization is there were too many understaffed regiments and too many officers.  Basically, a better U.S. Continental Army command and control structure was required, the army command structure had become too divided, over-staffed with too many senior officers and lacking enough enlisted fighting men. Colonel Sherburne's Regiment is among the regiments targeted for disbanding, this officially occurred 1 Jan 1781, but most soldiers were reassigned to other regiments throughout 1780. Regimental officers were allowed to resign their commissions, most in Shelburne's Regiment doing so in the weeks before June 1780. #2 Ebenezer resigned his commission as 2^nd lieutenant in the Connecticut Line effective 18 April 1780.

Top: Officers assigned to COL Sherburne's Regiment; Bottom: May 1780 Officer Resignations

Additional Revolutionary War research found an Ebenezer Stanton appointed Master and Commander of a Connecticut Navy Schooner. In life thereafter, #2 Ebenezer is referred to as Captain Ebenezer Stanton, this prefix now added in this paper to help separate him from the several other Ebenezer Stanton men that are sometimes merged with this battle-tested war veteran. On May 15, 1782, in official continuation of Revolutionary War service to the United States, Captain Ebenezer Stanton is named Master, Commander, and privateer of the Connecticut Navy Schooner Count de Grasse. The vessel is outfitted with two guns and a crew of thirty sailors.  On 25 May 1782, the Count de Grasse was at sea in the Long Island Sound.  She took a boat engaged in illegal trade, that was sailed to the Port of New London, Connecticut,  The prize was libeled on 20 Jun 1782, and tried on 15 Jul 1782.  (Source: "History of maritime Connecticut during the American Revolution, 1775-1783" Vol. II. The Connecticut privateers, p66.
Reference: Ancestry.com subscribers click HERE

A Typical Rebellion-Era Schooner - from a published postage stamp image.

Source: History of Maritime Connecticut during the American Revolution, 1775-1783, Vol II, 

The Connecticut Privateers, page 66.

Following his honorable Rebellion service, #2 Ebenezer becomes an owner-operator and Master and Commander of an ocean-going trading vessel – he then more appropriately addressed as Ship's Master or Ship's Captain in the parlance of the day. #2 Ebenezer's untimely death at age 53 years, on 31 May 1811 is fully documented, leaving a well-documented last will designating wife Mary as his main beneficiary, where his net worth is accounted at about $17,500 in 1811 dollars (about $350,000 2019 inflation-adjusted dollars). His wife Mary Smith-Stanton survives him by nearly four decades and she never remarries, Mary passing 24 Jan 1850, she also leaving her well-documented last will.

Some additional important references include the couple's internment site.  #2 Ebenezer and wife Mary are forever resting side-by-side at Cedar Grove Cemetery, New London, New London County, Connecticut as photo-documented in memorial profiles at Find A Grave.  Their children Mary S., Ebenezer Jr., Edward S., and Elisha D. are also memorialized at the Cedar Grove Stanton Family plot.  Both cemetery monuments of #2 Ebenezer and Mrs. Mary [Smith] Stanton are inscribed with the Capt. prefix, this refers to #2 Ebenezer's postwar employment as a ships' Master and Commander – this is not his wartime Connecticut Line military title.  His last will names beloved wife Mary [Smith] Stanton three times and provides $300 to their only female child, the married daughter Mary S. [Stanton] Richards, the wife of Mr. Francis "Frank" Richards. The last will of #2 Ebenezer clearly states, apparently in his own hand “...all the rest and residue of my estate... I give to my wife and four sons to be equally divided...”  Mary Stanton receives a Revolutionary War Widow's Pension from the mid-1830s until her 24 January 1850 passing. Two widow's pension documents clearly show Mary Stanton's named husband is Ebenezer, cites his military service as Ensign, 2nd Lieutenant, Quartermaster, and Paymaster. The pension papers confirm Mary Stanton's date of death as 24 Jan 1850. Also important to solidify the certain identity of the married couple Captain Ebenezer Stanton (1757-1811) and Mrs. Mary (Smith) Stanton is Mary's last will where she gives and bequeaths several valued items to many relatives, seven of these identified as follows:

• “To Stiles Stanton of Stonington I give and bequeath a miniature likeness of my late husband Ebenezer Stanton deceased.” [#2 Ebenezer's nephew]
• “To Nathaniel Richards of New London I give and bequeath the portrait of his brother Francis Richards deceased.”  Francis Richards is the husband of Mary S. [Stanton] Richards, daughter of #2 Ebenezer and Mrs. Mary Smith-Stanton. In 1811 Francis Richards also is co-executor of #2  Ebenerzer's last will.
• “To Edward Stanton Smith [Mary's nephew] the son of Nathan Smith [Mary's brother] I give and bequeath Fifty dollars.” 
• “To Sarah Smith [Mary's grand niece] the daughter of Nathaniel Smith [Mary's nephew] late of Groton deceased and granddaughter of Denison Smith [Mary's brother] of Groton I give and bequeath five hundred dollars.”
• “To Fanny Smith the widow of my late brother Isaac Smith deceased I give and bequeath one hundred dollars.”
• “To Frances Smith the daughter of my late brother Isaac Smith deceased I give and bequeath one hundred dollars.”
• “To my brother Denison Smith I have previously given the sum of one thousand dollars.”

Mary Stanton's Revolutionary War Widow's Pension Document

Mrs. Mary (Smith) Stanton died in her 89th year, she outlived her six children by a decade or more as born with her husband Captain Ebenezer Stanton.  Logically her last will mentions no children. Communication with a DAR staff genealogist found no DAR applicant claiming the Rebellion military service of Lieutenant and Paymaster Ebenezer Stanton (1757-1811), a logical conclusion since it is now known this battle-tested war veteran and his lovely wife Mary, sadly have no grandchildren -- this Stanton line stopped.   
   

Civil War Veteran Private Edwin H. Sheldon

Edwin H. Sheldon is a distant second or third cousin. His parents are most likely our first cousin Ephraim Sheldon (1783-1868) and his second wife Lydia Mills Sheldon (d. 1871). Alternatively, Edwin's parents are our second cousin Joseph D. Sheldon and his wife Harriet Jane Draper Sheldon (Joseph D. Sheldon is son of the aforementioned Ephraim Sheldon). In any case, Edwin H. Sheldon, who died at age 26 years in August 1867, is either the son or grandson of our first cousin Ephraim Sheldon (1783-1868). Regardless of the truth in this matter, it is a fact that nearly forty-percent of Edwin's young adult life was spent in wartime military uniformed service to his county. Our two year investigation thus far yields insufficient primary documents found to certify Edwin H. Sheldon's lineage.

Edwin H. Sheldon is the same Edwin H. Sheldon cited in National Park Service records as the Civil War Veteran of Company I, 2nd Regiment, U.S. Cavalry (Regular Army), who served three years as an enlisted cavalry trooper and private soldier in the many American Civil War union campaigns in and around Virginia and under the aggressive and gallant cavalry leader General Philip H. Sheridan. One-hundred percent confirmation is now unlikely since the U.S. Army did not create Compiled Military Service Records (CMSR) for Civil War Regular Army soldiers, as created for Civil War State Volunteers.  This fact discovered in a letter dated July 14, 2016 from National Archives Records Administration (NARA) in Washington, D.C.  Attempts to secure Edwin's military records from the NARA now seems impossible, since U.S. Army service records on Regular Soldiers were apparently and rather unbelievably never created. From official records “Register of Enlistments – U.S. Army – 1798-1914” – Private Edwin H. Sheldon enlisted for a three year stint on 5 September 1861 in the regular Army Cavalry and was Honorably Discharged at termination of enlistment 5 September 1864 at Summit Point, Virginia. In less than three years from military discharge Edwin was dead, aged 26 years. Unknown is if Edwin's untimely death was related to military service wounds or sickness.  He is interred in the Sheldon Family Plot at the presently inactive Betty Brook Road Cemetery, Town of Kortright, Delaware County, New York. Edwin's federal-furnished Military Veteran gravestone is inscribed as follows:

“EDWIN H. SHELDON,

Served 3 years in the late war

under Gen. Sheridan,

DIED AUG., 22, 1867

AGED

26 YEARS.”

Last year Edwin's monument was discovered dislodged from its base as indicated in the photo below:

  

It was resolved to reset the monument, but events prevented doing this work last year.  Necessary research proved there is an easement in the deed of the local surrounding landowner that sets aside the cemetery as public lands, and that the outer section of the property driveway is declared a public right-of-way for visitor access to the small cemetery.  Earlier this year verbal permission was granted by Kortright Town Supervisor Mr. George Haynes to do monument repairs. The reset task was completed in May 2016.  

Repair materials include: 2 bags of Quikrete ready cement, two new anchor bolts, a tube of construction adhesive, 2 landscape tiles, and a half cu. ft. bag of white marble landscape chips.  A new Grand Army of the Republic (GAR Veteran) grave marker and flag holder was added. A quantity of form and shoring lumber is also necessary providing sufficient monument stability for about 10 days concrete set and cure period.  

A final photo of the monument reset project appears below:

Thank you Private Edwin H. Sheldon for those gallant and courageous U.S. Army Cavalry services rendered in support of that great wartime effort to preserve the union. 

  

   

Our Gallant American Civil War Veterans,A "Decoration Day" Salute

Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) Service Medal

The first Union "Decoration Day" (now called Memorial Day) was held in May 1866 by the caring residents of the tiny Finger Lakes village Waterloo, New York.  This remembrance movement aimed to decorate graves with flower arrangements, those the grave-sites of many local military veteran causalities of the late War to Preserve the Union.  Any revisionist claim otherwise by residents of Georgia are false, since Georgia was not readmitted to the Union until 1868... and then tossed out again when Georgia failed to recognize blacks as citizens... and then again readmitted to the Union in 1870 only after finally endorsing the U.S. Constitution 14th Amendment.

The two grandfathers of our paternal Grandmother Elizabeth Rosella (Moegling) Paul were deceased when Elizabeth was born 13 April 1896. These two men are our generation's Great-Great-Grandfathers Private Albert G. Odell and Corporal William Moegling. Both men are military veterans of the American Civil War, gallantly serving to preserve the union with the U.S. Army Infantry.

Private Albert G. Odell (about 1839 - 10 Mar 1892) was born in Schoharie County, New York. His occupation as a young man was farm labor and work as a barrel-maker (a cooper) at his uncle Isaac L. Odell's local cooperage in Summit, Schoharie County, NY. In 1864, Albert enlisted as a U.S. Army private soldier with Schoharie County Company B, 91^st Infantry Regiment of New York State Volunteers. His Civil War service with the 91^st New York include engagements against rebel forces during the Petersburg Campaign and the Appomattox Campaign. Private Albert Odell's ancestry includes many cousins who are military veterans of the Civil War and over three-dozen Revolutionary War Veteran ancestors.  Grandpa Albert is interred at Bath National Cemetery, Bath, Steuben County, NY. From the official roster of the 91^st New York Infantry Regiment:

“ODELL, ALBERT.— Age, 25 years. Enlisted at Albany, [NY] to serve one year, and mustered in as private, Co. B, September 5, 1864; mustered out with detachment; June 10, 1865, near Washington, D.C.”

Click here for 91st New York Volunteers Roster

Corporal William Moegling (about 1812 - 23 Nov 1869) was born in Stuttgart, Germany. William emigrated from Germany to the USA in June 1847, and was almost immediately recruited as an armed service private soldier with the U.S. Army during the Mexican War. His lifelong occupation was as a scourer and dyer, the period process for cleaning garments in what we today call professional dry-cleaning. In 1861, William enlisted in the U.S. Army as a Corporal with Oneida County Company H, 97^th Infantry Regiment of New York State Volunteers. His Civil War service include engagements against rebel forces at the Battle of Cedar Mountain, General Pope's Northern Virginia Campaign, Second Battle of Bull Run, Battle of South Mountain, and the Battle of Antietam. Although injured, William remained with his regiment, but likely not directly involved in the mid-December 1862 fighting at the Battle of First Fredericksburg, this due to his documented wounds suffered in previous battles. He received an honorable Disability Discharge from the U.S. Army in early 1863 and was later released from a military hospital near Belle Plain, Virginia. William is interred in a mass-grave at Forest Hill Cemetery, Utica, NY, where in 1916 the remains of nearly all exhumed skeletons were placed following the total removal of Utica's former municipal burial grounds at Potter Street Cemetery. From the official roster of the 97^th New York Infantry Regiment:

“MOEGLIN, WILLIAM—Age, 43 years. Enlisted, November 30, 1861, at Utica, [NY] to serve three years; mustered in as corporal, Co. H, December 11, 1861; returned to ranks, no date; discharged for disability, June 11, 1863, at hospital, as Moegling.”

Click here for 97th New York Volunteers Roster

P.S. New York State Department of Military and Naval Affairs official Civil War record errors are often noted.  Surname spelling, age at enlistment, and discharge dates are frequently wrongly recorded.  Such is the case with Corporal William Moegling.  William's birth year is variously recorded in several non-military official documents between 1808-1815. Seems likely that William may have intentionally under stated his physical age at enlistment,  his age likely being about 49 or 50 in 1861. Furthermore, it is likely that no official birth certificates were recorded for the vast majority of Civil War enlisted men.          

Corporal William Moegling Awarded A Presidential Memorial Certificate

 

 

General Ulysses S. Grant was then President of the United States when American Civil War Veteran Corporal William Moegling, late of the 97^th Infantry Regiment of New York State Volunteers died, 23 November 1869. An unsolicited Presidential Memorial Certificate was received last Saturday regarding the military service of our Great Great Grandfather William Moegling. Receipt of this Presidential Memorial Certificate is strongly appreciated. Certificate production must be an automatic process initiated by the U.S. Veterans Administration when a federal memorial headstone is processed, approved and presented. The Memorial Certificate is signed by President Barack Obama by facsimile, unstated but probably on behalf of the late American President and Civil War General Ulysses S. Grant. Our family extends very sincere thanks for this very fine gesture and gratefully accept the Presidential Memorial Certificate on behalf of our late Great-Great Grandfather William Moegling.

 

Corporal Wilhelm William Moegling

The Biography of Corporal Wilhelm "William" Moegling is a work in progress. Most of the words are here, but
sometimes just in the wrong order. Reader comments
and suggestions are encouraged and welcome.

 

He is the paternal grandfather of our paternal Grandmother Elizabeth Rosella (Moegling) Paul.  Otherwise stated, he is a Second Great Grandfather of our family's living senior generation.  Wilhelm “William” Moegling's age is variously reported in official records, including an immigrant ship manifest, federal and state census records, Zion Lutheran Church records, and U.S. Army Military Service Records.  These several records indicate his year-of-birth range from 1805-1816. Also, there are at least six different spellings of the Moegling surname. Moegling is his correct surname spelling, but other surname spellings written in official records include: Mougling, Mogling, Moeglin, Maegling, Maglin, and Magling.  Sloppy handwriting by clerks, officers, and census takers is no doubt somewhat responsible for recording errors.  Perhaps in other cases the root source of record error is Corporal Moegling's marginal command of written English.  That U.S. Army Combat Veteran Corporal Wilhelm "William" Moegling lived, prayed, worked, and died in downtown Utica, Oneida County, New York is certain and a matter of official record.  And proof that Wilhelm held some command of written English is copied here from his Mexican War enlistment papers.

   

Wilhelm "William" Moegling was born in Stuttgart, Wurttemberg, Germany on June 10, 1810. The life and times of Wilhelm's mother and father Mr. and Mrs. Moegling are presently unknown, but logic dictates his parents lived and died in the Stuttgart, Germany area. Wilhelm's June 10, 1810 date-of-birth (DOB) is taken from Zion Evangelical German Lutheran Church Funeral Records, now renamed Zion Lutheran Church and relocated to the corner of French and Burrstone Roads, New Hartford, NY, USA. No formal birth certificate is found. This church record birthday seems creditable, falling near the mid-point of his cited birth year range.  Little is known about Wilhelm's life in Germany, or why he decided to remove to the United States. Logic suggests his near thirty-five early years in Germany must have produced some interesting facts that are presently left to imagination.  Perhaps there is a first marriage in Germany as suggested by the 1865 record of New York State Enumeration of Inhabitants.  If this census is correct, no record is found that cites where the marriage was performed or naming his first wife. Wilhelm's siblings, if he has any, also likely remained in Germany.  Related facts about Wilhelm's early life outside the United States might certainly kindle an interesting and yet undiscovered family story.  Wilhelm arrived June 9, 1847 in New York City, NY aboard the immigrant ship SS Burgundy, sailing several days earlier from Le Havre, France. The ship manifest cites Wilhelm's age at 42 and he evidently traveled alone.  His given name in this manifest is recorded as "Wilhelm.” A common trait among arriving U.S. immigrants is to "Americanize" their given and family surnames. By family tradition, many first-generation families held a compelling desire to be rapidly viewed as American. No case is found where he ever again uses the German form given name Wilhelm.  And after all, the English translation of German language name Wilhelm is William.  This biography will hereafter use William as the subject's preferred given name.

A phone conversation with genealogical researchers at the National Archives in Washington DC confirms that U.S. Army recruiters manned recruitment offices very near the immigrant ship piers in New York City. This done for the purpose of recruiting poor immigrant men as enlisted soldiers to fight America's latest approved land-grab – the infamous Mexican War (1846-1848). William soon found his way to Philadelphia, PA, and on July 31, 1847 enlisted as a volunteer Private Soldier in the Army of the United States of America. Signed enlistment documents are held as received from the National Archives showing William Moegling, age 34, occupation "dyer," of Wirteinburg [Sic], Germany. William received an initial enlistment bounty of $6.00 (about $150.00 in 2014 inflation adjusted funds), received a clean uniform, and was then assigned to U.S. Army Company H of the 2nd Infantry Regiment. Presumably a few days of very basic military training was typically provided new Mexican War recruits. William eventually makes his way to Mexico with the U.S. Army, where he was discharged early in 1848 at "City of Mexico" (location is now renamed Mexico City). No combat record exist, but William was perhaps engaged in late 1847 fighting. Very few personal written records were kept during this short duration war, a common occurrence in particular for activities of enlisted soldiers. Military generals usually receive their acclaim, but acts of the cannon-fodder enlisted soldiers usually go unrecognized. One other record regarding William's enlistment provides positive proof of his U.S. Army Veteran service during The Mexican War.
Reference: see Mexican War Enlistments

No record is found documenting William's early 1850's activity in the United States following his discharge from service in The Mexican War. He evidently is not counted in the 1850 U.S. Census. No records seem to exist until William finds the young lady Rosella "Rosa or Rose" Jaekel in Utica, NY. The couple subsequently marry in about 1856 (no formal church record has been found to document their marriage). The year of marriage is a logical assumption based on the arrival of their first child Sophia, born 12 Apr 1858 in Utica, NY. Genealogy experts agree that the first child born in this era to a capable child-bearing couple typically arrives about eleven months following a marriage.  William's young wife Rosella (b. 14 Feb 1839 in Switzerland) was only about age 17 when they marry, William being over twenty-five years her senior. No photos are known to exist giving the family some idea of how William and Rosella appeared.  The couple's introduction was likely made via Zion Evangelical German Lutheran Church social circles, a German language Church they both regularly attended then located on Fay and Cooper Streets in downtown Utica, NY, USA.

William and Rosella "Rosa" (Jaekel) Moegling had three children, all born in Oneida County, NY, USA:

• Sophia Moegling, b. 12 Apr 1858 in Utica, NY, d. 31 Mar 1913, m. Jacob Looft (1847-1917) abt 1874 in Utica, they had three children: William (b. 1875), Frederick (b.1878) and Ella Looft (b. 1885).
• Edward William Moegling, b. 23 Apr 1860 in Utica, NY, d. 23 Apr 1921, m. Effie Julia Odell (1862-1924) 4 Jul 1889 in Utica, they had two children: Edna Mae (b. 1893) and Elizabeth Rosella (b. 1896).
• Louise Moegling, b. 10 Feb 1862 in Stittville, NY, d. 26 Dec 1922, m. Herman Carl Frederick Peter (1859-1941) 1883 in Utica, they had three children: Bertha Helen (b. 1884), Lillian Louise (b. 1886), and Leona Adelaide (b. 1903).

The New York State Census dated June 16, 1865 records an age 49 William, his age 26 wife Rosella with their three minor children age 6 Sophia, age 4 Edward and age 3 Louisa resident in the 2nd Ward, Utica, Oneida County, NY.  This census further reports William was married twice, is a naturalized citizen of the USA, a U.S. Army Veteran, and his occupation is "dyer."  An interesting family observation is that William and Rosella had no additional children following William's Civil War military service, strongly suggesting his service-connected war injuries had a disabling impact on their family married life. Wife Rosella was a relatively young woman just past her thirtieth birthday when William died. And Rosella later gave birth to three more children with her second husband Mr. W.H. Stressel.

William Moegling Volunteers For Civil War Military Service

In late 1861 William felt moved to answer President Lincoln's call for men to help preserve the Union. The majority of the 97th Infantry Regiment of New York State Volunteers (a/k/a: "The Third Oneida" or "The Conkling Rifles") was recruited from areas located in northern Oneida County Townships, with Company H recruited in the city of Utica, NY. A few companies in the 97th New York were also recruited from townships in neighboring Herkimer County. From the official record unit roster, 97th Infantry Regiment of New York State Volunteers, American Civil War:

Reference see:  97th New York Roster

“MOEGLIN, WILLIAM—Age, 43 years. Enlisted, November 30, 1861, at Utica, to serve three years; mustered in as corporal, Co. H, December 11, 1861; returned to ranks, no date; discharged for disability, June 11, 1863, at hospital, as Moegling.”

Zion Evangelical German Lutheran Church records are assumed valid, from these records it is concluded that Corporal William Moegling was age 51, not 43 as reported in his Civil War enlistment record. This is just one more case where William's age was incorrectly reported, or he may have intentionally misstated his age at enlistment. Our travels to Sharpsburg, MD in mid-September 2012 for the 150th anniversary activities of the Battle of Antietam (17 Sep 1862) were highly instructive. That fateful day near Antietam Creek, Sharpsburg, Maryland remains the bloodiest single day in American history. Several presentations were viewed, and early Monday morning 17 Sep 2012, we walked with thousands of visitors around "The Bloody Cornfield" where the 97th Infantry Regiment of New York State Volunteers fought that foggy early morning. We know from official regimental and company attendance records that Corporal William Moegling was present and assigned to the 97th New York on 17 Sep 1862, but we may never know with absolute certainty if Corporal William Moegling was actually on the field that awful morning. Just over 200 of the 500+ 97th Regimental Soldiers were actually engaged this day. It was common that many members of Civil War regiments would be detailed for other battle support duties (e.g., duty with ambulance wagons, field hospitals or ammunition & supply wagons), or themselves previously incapacitated resulting from a forced march and/or some common soldier sickness or wounds. By this mid-September 1862 time at the Battle of Antietam, many of our Upstate New York union soldiers had already been killed, wounded or captured, and many others were in hospital recovering from various sicknesses contracted as part of a soldier's life. We know William was released from an Army Hospital near Belle Plains Landing, Virginia and discharged from the Army for some service-connected disability on 11 June 1863. One of these official records cites his gunshot wound received during the Battle of Antietam and another official record states that part of a leg was amputated. Scanned copies of the many documents received from the National Archives in Washington DC relating to William's Mexican War and American Civil War military service are uploaded to the public Ancestry.com "DJ Paul Family Tree."

The average Union soldier in the Civil War was 25.8 years old, and it is believed the maximum recruitment age for an enlisted soldier in 1861/1862 was about age 45. But it is likely a recruit's age was not proved by a legal birth certificate, so the military recruiter would typically simply take the stated sworn word of a recruit's age. And William's enlistment paper age is likely intentionally misstated, he was a service volunteer who wanted to serve. Most townships in New York State election districts would also pay a significant recruitment "bounty" to men enlisted for military service, what today is commonly called a recruitment bonus. This cash bounty acts as a very significant enlistment motivation to recent immigrants and dirt-poor farm boys. Reference: See “For Cause & Comrades: Why Men Fought In The Civil War” – by James M. McPherson. Oxford University Press, New York. 1997.

Civil War Activities of 97th Infantry Regiment
of New York State Volunteers

Note: This portion is a collage from various sources including, but not limited to, various Antietam Battlefield publications, the written works of a favored author the famed Civil War authority James M. McPherson, and many public web sites including americancivilwar.com (American Civil War), history.com (The History Channel), dmna.ny.gov (NY State Department of Military and Naval Affairs), aotw.org (Antietam on the Web), civilwar.org (Civil War Trust), and several other web sites easily discovered by Google search.  The 97th New York Regiment was engaged in the follow major Civil War battles while Corporal Wilhelm "William" Moegling was attached:

• Battle of Cedar Mountain (9 Aug 1862)
• Gen Pope's Virginia Campaign-Rappahannock, etc. (16 Aug 1862 – 2 Sep 1862)
• Battle of Second Bull Run (28-30 Aug 1862)
• Battle of South Mountain (14 Sep 1862)
• Battle of Antietam (17 Sep 1862)

97th New York Infantry Regiment was assigned in Brigadier General Abram Duryea's (a/k/a Duryee) 2nd Brigade of Major General Ricketts 2nd Division in General Hooker's First Corps, Army of the Potomac at the Battle of Antietam, 17 Sep 1862.  Here the regiment suffered injuries more severely than in any other war engagement. More than one half of the regiment were killed and wounded in less than a half hour, just after the sunrise engagement as they commenced moving south over the "Bloody Cornfield." Yet men never displayed more coolness and determination. Not a man was captured; and, when relieved, though under a galling fire, the Regiment retired in good order. A map displayed at link that follows shows the 97th New York position at 7:00 a.m.  (note: this is EST, since no daylight savings existed in 1862).

see: Battle at 0700

A second map at 7:20 a.m. does not show the regiment on the field, so an assumption can be made the regiment has already withdrawn and sent to the rear to reorganize.

See: Battle at 0720

A summary of General Duryea's Brigade Battle of Antietam action on 17 Sep 1862 follows (personally copied from signage located at the Antietam Battlefield):

"Early in the morning Duryea's Brigade moved from its bivouac in the Poffenberger Woods, on the Smoketown Road. Forming in column of Divisions it obliques right until near J. Poffenberger's when it marched south through the North Woods, passed the right of Hartsuff's Brigade and between Pennsylvania Light Battery F (Matthews') and Pennsylvania Light Battery C (Thompson's), in position on the high ground between D. R. Miller's and the East Woods. Arriving at the Cornfield fence the Brigade deployed and moved through the Cornfield to its south edge (75 yards distant) when it encountered the Confederate line, which was about 145 to 160 yards south of this. In less than a half hour the left of the Brigade was withdrawn, the right remained a few minutes longer when it fell back. Portions of the Brigade rallied and made another advance part way through the Cornfield, but fell back as Hartsuff's Brigade came into action."

The 97th Infantry Regiment of NY State Volunteers at the Battle of First Fredericksburg (13 Dec 1862): It is believed that Corporal Moegling remained assigned to the 97th New York, but was likely in an army field hospital on 13 Dec 1862, so he was likely not engaged at the Battle of First Fredericksburg. Since Corporal William Moegling was discharged from an Army hospital on 11 June 1863, the presumption is he was wounded during one or more the battles cited above (most likely at the Battle of Antietam). Two National Archives documents state he suffered a gunshot would at Antietam, and another official document states that William had part of a leg amputated. There is also a significant chance that he contracted one of the serious sicknesses of unsanitary soldier's life and was unable to continue the duties of an enlisted soldier. William applied for an Invalid Disability Pension on 18 Jul 1863, but it appears the pension application had not been granted by his untimely death in Nov 1869. Strangely, his remarried wife Rosella (now Mrs. “Rosa” Stressel) also files for a widow's pension in 1879 under her remarried surname as Rosa Stressel. Federal legislation enacted about 1879 allowed widows to claim the retroactive pensions of Civil War Veterans, apparently even if the woman had remarried. No proof has been found that either of these disability pension applications (William's invalid or Rosa's Widow pension) was ever approved or received.

From Utica City Directories, Joseph Arnott, Publisher, it is recorded that William Moegling lived in Utica, NY, appearing in three different City Directories as follows:

• 1865 - living at 129 Water Street in rented housing, a location that is presently just northeast of Utica Memorial Auditorium.
• 1866 - Occupation is listed as "Dyer at McLean's." Home is at 129 Water Street, Utica, NY
• 1869 – Residence on corner of Fayette and Varick Streets. Occupation "dyer." Also named in Business Directory of this volume under "Scourers and Dyers" as Wm. Moegling, corner Fayette and  Varick Streets.

William Moegling's Utica, NY employer as listed in ad published in 1869 City and Business Directory:

Mrs. A McLean's

CITY STEAM DYE WORKS.

26 Hotel St., Utica, N.Y.

"All Kinds of Goods Dyed and Dressed to look equal to New."

"Ladies' Crape, Broche and Paisley Shawls Cleaned."

"GENTLEMAN'S WEARING APPAREL CLEANED."

William Moegling died on 23 Nov 1869 of "Lung Congestion." This is reported in Schedule 2, p 120, line 2, of 1870 US Census, Mortality Schedule of those persons who died in the year prior to 1 Jun 1870. This Mortality Schedule referenced Schedule 1, Family 21, page 3 of 1870 US Census, Ninth Ward, City of Utica, Oneida County, NY. Family 21 is found on lines 7 through 13 of Schedule 1, and lists Henry Stressel, Rosa Stressel, Sophia Moegling, Edward Moegling, Louise Moegling, Bertha Stressel and Charles Stressel. This census confirms church records that Henry and Rosa married in April 1870. Census further confirms Henry Stressel and his two children Bertha and Charles from his prior marriage moved in to the same home where William resided on his untimely death. Indeed, an interesting twist about a century before the famed "The Brady Bunch" story.  It is strongly suspected the introductions of Henry and Rosa were through the Zion Evangelical German Lutheran Church. Following William's death, Rosa needed support for her and their three minor kids.  And new husband Henry Stressel, an apparent 1866 immigrant from Germany, needed a caregiver for his two minor kids while he was at work. A probable arranged marriage by the Zion Lutheran Church Pastor Andrew Wetzel, a marriage of perhaps great necessity for both Henry and Rosa Moegling Stressel. There were few public safety nets to assist a family in need in these earlier days.

The Funeral Records of Zion Evangelical German Lutheran Church, Utica, NY (now Zion Lutheran Church, New Hartford, NY) report the William's death on 23 Nov 1869, with funeral service following on 25 Nov 1869. The church record is handwritten written in German Script as entered by Church Pastor The Rev. Andrew Wetzel. The date 25 Nov 1869 is also mentioned, probably the date of burial.  Unfortunately, it was the practice of Pastor Wetzel to not record the burial location.  An accurate English translation of the Church funeral record remains needed.

Interment was logically at Potter Street Cemetery (a/k/a: Utica's city-owned municipal cemetery), but currently, no positive proof of this burial location exists. Interment at Potter Street Cemetery is a strong circumstantial probability, really a strong hypothesis that awaits someone to disprove. Potter Street Cemetery was a municipal burial site and Utica's first cemetery, then located at Potter and  Water Streets, and on the northern side of the city of Utica just south of the Mohawk River. For many years the city of Utica Administration allowed Potter Street Cemetery to go unattended -- perhaps for decades -- exposed to the ravage of time both natural and unnatural.  Then in 1916 using the disagreeable state of the cemetery as justification to completely exhume and remove Potter Street Cemetery. Thousands of burials at Potter Street Cemetery were exhumed starting in September 1916, some removed and reburied at the direction of the family to other area cemeteries.  However, the vast majority of these exhumed skeletons taken to Forest Hill Cemetery for re-internment. Less than nine hundred of these near 5,000 skeletons were identified, with over 4,000 thousand skeletons simply listed as unknown persons. The bones of known and unknown persons were packed in small two-foot basswood boxes and taken to Forest Hill Cemetery for reburial in a mass grave, frequently with multiple skeletons in a single box as a stated project cost saving measure.

More Details On Wilhelm “William” Moegling's Burial

A four-year search for 2nd Great Grandfather Wilhelm "William" Moegling is now suspended, this pending the highly unlikely discovery of new firm and valid related data. Potter Street Cemetery (a/k/a: Potter's Field) seems logical and likely as Grandpa Moegling's most probable temporary resting place. It is further likely his grave marker at Potter Street Cemetery, if any, was a wooden marker (as many there were). By the time of cemetery removal in 1916, the grave marker was lost, decayed and/or vandalized when the 1916 removal of Utica's Potter Street Cemetery took place. And since eighty percent of the unknown skeletons exhumed from the cemetery were taken in small basswood boxes to Forest Hill Cemetery, most of Grandpa's remains were likely boxed with other unknowns and disposed of in this 100' x 100' mass grave at Forest Hill Cemetery (Section 58B). This mass grave site was purchased by the city of Utica in 1916 for Potter Street Cemetery re-burials. Grandpa Wilhelm and his wife Rosella ("Grandma Rosa") Moegling had three minor kids at his untimely1869 death, were financially not well off (perhaps even considered working poor), lived in rented housing on the corner of Varick and Fayette Streets in downtown Utica, attended the original Zion Evangelical German Lutheran Church on Fay and Cooper Street in downtown Utica, and he was employed in his lifelong occupation as a "dyer" at Mrs. A. McClean's "City Steam & Dye Works" business on 26 Hotel Street, downtown Utica, NY. William's home, his Church & his workplace essentially border the city-owned municipal Potter Street Cemetery. The evidence is strong that Grandpa's Civil War Army Veteran Disability Invalid Pension application had not been approved at his untimely death 23 November 1869. He submitted this Military Disability Pension Application in July 1863, following his Civil War U.S. Army Discharge For Disability and U.S. Army release in early-to-mid 1863.

The mass grave at Forest Hill Cemetery where the bones from Potter Street Cemetery removal were re-interred is nearly centered between cemetery Section 58 and 58A roadside signs on the lower southern perimeter road. Forest Hill Cemetery Superintendent Mr. Gerard Waterman refers to this area as Section 58B, but no observed 58B signage appears here). Section 58B is directly south from the small roadside gravestone of Mary M. (d. 1937) and Edward R. Stramm Sr. (d. 1926), the Stramm gravestone no more than five feet from the south side of this perimeter road, and has a couple large tree surrounding. Further, Section 58B essentially borders Forest Hill Cemetery heavy gauge wire south perimeter fence. Superintendent Waterman explained his crew was once digging a grave near this 1916 city-owned 100'x100' mass grave site and several old bones were dug up, causing him to research and discover that this unmarked location is where the bones of mainly unknown persons from Potter Street Cemetery were placed. No honorary markers are present citing Section 58B as the re-burial ground for "Unknown Souls" removed from Potter Street Cemetery. This unmarked mass grave burial ground for several thousand early Utica residents is now a colossal disgrace that requires remedy. Some form of a memorial monument is required here to formally mark this ground.

Some Recent Good News

The U.S. Veterans Administration, Memorial Programs Service at Nashville, TN has approved a Memorial Headstone for Corporal William Moegling.  VA Representatives explained in a phone conversation that this Memorial Headstone should be delivered to Forest Hill Cemetery about the first of April 2015. Superintendent Gerard Waterman of Forest Hill Cemetery will receive the Memorial Headstone and has agreed to place the stone in Forest Hill Cemetery Section 42, this being the burial grounds originally set aside for Civil War Veteran Burials. Obviously, William's remains will not be buried in this location; whereas, the preponderance of research evidence and fundamental logic show that his remains were almost certainly exhumed as an unknown person when Potter Street Cemetery was removed as then located in downtown Utica at Water and Potter Streets. His exhumed remains almost certainly now rest at Forest Hill Cemetery Section 58B (a/k/a: "City of Utica Public Burial Grounds"), centered between two other public burial grounds called "The Tiers", re-buried there in late 1916 with the remains of nearly 5,000 other early Utica, New York residents.  About eighty percent of these re-burials were then classified as unidentified skeletons. This 100' x 100' mass grave-site was purchased earlier by the city of Utica as required in terms of Potter Street Cemetery removal authorization specified by a May 1916 Act of the New York State Legislature.  Click HERE for an update on William's Memorial Monument.

A Request For Genealogical Help

Please refer to my "Corporal Wilhelm 'William' Moegling" blog post made yesterday.

Click Here to review this posting.



"BOXES OF BONES"

So here is my thought and request for help this day. Will somebody – anyone at all – please come forward with significant key facts showing that one of these exhumed “Boxes Of Bones” on display for a Utica Sunday Tribune photographer is NOT 2nd Great Granddad Corporal Wilhelm “William” Moegling. These two skeletons are but two of the thousands of persons dug up from their "final-resting-place" at Potter Street Cemetery -- essentially because those great thinkers in Utica, New York let their earliest municipal burial ground fall victim to neglect and probable vandalism.  These great thinkers in Utica now wanted these hallowed cemetery lands for a playground.  Look at these lands today and you find a highway, a parking lot, a plumbing dealer, a drug rehab & counseling house, and a sports bar. Urban renewal... really nice going Utica, New York!

No monument is present today to the memory of this once active municipal cemetery or to honor the dust of those many thousands souls who yet remain spread in the grounds at this former cemetery site.

Corporal Wilhelm "William" Moegling, late of the 97th Infantry Regiment of New York State Volunteers is missing. Please show our family that this wounded and disabled Civil War Soldier who lived, who attended church, who worked, and who died in 1869 in Downtown Utica, Oneida County, New York is not one of these skeletons on unceremonious and disgraceful display in this September 1916 photo.

Thanks very much.

DJ --- out

Reference: A news article as published 1 Oct 1916 in The Utica Sunday Tribune.



Our Grandfather Corporal William Moegling

My four-year search for the remains of Great-Great Grandfather Wilhelm “William” Moegling is continuing. But the discovery of new firm and valid related data relating to Potter Street Cemetery seems unlikely.  This Utica, NY municipal cemetery was unfortunately sometimes called “Potter’s Field,” so named to acknowledge the original Potter Family property owners who conveyed the three plots of land that became this city municipal cemetery.  The cemetery was not a burial ground reserved exclusively for the poor, as the name potter's field usually implies.  Many prominent early citizens of the Utica, NY area were interred at Potter Street Cemetery over the 122 year span of active use.  According to researchers with Saint Agnes Catholic Church in Utica, NY, as many as 10,000 persons were likely interred at Potter Street Cemetery.

It seems highly likely that Potter Street Cemetery was Grandpa Moegling's logical and probable temporary resting place. Further, it is probable his grave marker, if any, was a wooden marker design (as many there were), and by 1916 was lost, decayed and/or vandalized when the 1916 destruction of Utica's Potter Street Cemetery took place. We know from Corporal William Moegling's Compiled Military Service Record (CMSR), as received from National Archives and Records Administration that Grandpa did not receive his earned government-furnished headstone following his untimely 1869 death.  And about 80% of the several thousand late 1916 exhumed souls at Potter Street Cemetery were classified as unidentified persons, several skeletons grouped together in a single small boxes for "cost savings" and taken to Forest Hill Cemetery on Oneida Street, Utica, NY.  Most of Grandpa's remains were likely placed in one or more of these small containers with the remains of other unidentified persons and unceremoniously reburied in a 100' x 100' hollow purchased by the city of Utica as a mass grave site for unidentified Potter Street Cemetery souls. This Forest Hill Cemetery mass grave burial site is now defined as Section 58B (a/k/a: "City of Utica Public Burial Grounds"), a site purchased by the Utica city authorities in 1916. Any bureaucratic suggestion that absolutely none of the unidentified persons exhumed in 1916 from this 122-year old Potter Street Cemetery were U.S. Military Veterans of the Revolutionary War, The War of 1812, The Mexican War, The American Civil War or even the Spanish-American War simply won’t pass a smell test. My Grandpa, Corporal Wilhelm “William” Moegling was a Military Veteran of both The Mexican War and The American Civil War.

Grandpa Moegling and his wife Rosella ("Grandma Rosa") Moegling had three minor kids at Grandpa’s death in late November 1869, they were financially not prosperous (perhaps considered today as working poor), they lived in rented housing on the corner of Varick and Fayette Streets in downtown Utica, NY, they attended the original Zion German Evangelical Lutheran Church at Fay and Cooper Streets in downtown Utica, and Grandpa was working in his lifelong occupation as a "dyer" at Mrs. A. McClean's Scourer and Dyer Shop on 26 Hotel Street in downtown Utica. His home, his Church and his workplace essentially border the 1869 city-owned Potter Street Cemetery (all within a half mile radius). Grandpa had submitted a Military Disability Pension application in July 1863, this following his U.S. Army Civil War Discharge For Disability in early 1863. Official papers from the National Archives in Washington DC document he suffered several war-related disabilities including a gunshot wound received during the Battle of Antietam, September 17, 1862. His veteran's invalid pension application also states he has a service-connected double hernia. Strong evidence is that Grandpa's Civil War Army Veteran Disability Pension application had not yet been approved by his death 23 Nov 1869.

There is a spot in Forest Hill Cemetery nearly centered between cemetery Section 58 and 58A roadside signs on the lower southern perimeter road that Forest Hill Cemetery Superintendent Gerard Waterman called Section 58B (but there was no observed 58B signage here). Section 58B (a/k/a: "City of Utica Public Burial Grounds") is directly south from the small roadside gravestone of Mary M. (d. 1937) and Edward R. Stramm Sr. (d. 1926), the Stramm gravestone no more than five feet from the south side of this perimeter road, and has a couple large trees surrounding. Furthermore, Section 58B essentially borders the Forest Hill Cemetery heavy gage wire south perimeter fence. Superintendent Waterman told me his crew was digging a grave near this 1916 city purchased 100'x100' site and several bones were unintentionally dug up, causing him to research and discover that this location is where the bones of unknown souls from Potter Street Cemetery were re-buried in a mass grave. No honorary markers are present to flag Section 58B as the location for mass re-burials of those several thousand "Unknown Souls" exhumed from Potter Street Cemetery. This unmarked mass burial ground for the several thousand Potter Street Cemetery unknown disinterred is a colossal disgrace. Some form of significant memorial monument is required here to formally mark this ground. Section 58B is the same location where the majority of the identifiable disinterred Potter Street Cemetery skeletons were re-buried at Forest Hill Cemetery in a place between two other public burial grounds called “The Tiers."

The contempt we presently hold for our post Civil War federal government -- delay and more delay for those Civil War disability pension applications -- so therefore perhaps the pension applicant will die first as Grandpa Moegloing surely did. A contempt is growing for those period leaders of the City of Utica who allowed the city's first municipal burial ground Potter Street Cemetery at Potter and Water Streets to fall victim to the natural and unnatural ravage of time. 

Attack On Constitution Amendment II

Amendment II: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the People to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

The language seems very clear. What is it that the Obama gun control loving "experts" don't comprehend about those 27 very clearly written words? And "a well regulated Militia" does not have to be "well regulated" under federal or state government control.

The U.S. Constitution and Amendment II do not say that.

Many of the leaders who formed volunteer regiments to fight the American Civil War did so using personal funds and privately owned logistics & supplies. The township's people often supplied necessary seed money & supplies. Many of those early regiments originated from volunteer local militias where soldiers initially trained and used their private weapons. Following the American Revolution, every able-bodied man of about age 18-45 (might be a bit off on those age limits) was also required to own a firearm weapon. The founders never intended all "well-regulated militias" to be under the absolute authority of a federal chief executive. Show me where that is written... you won't find it. And I of course realize what this sounds like... "When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them..." the People... if properly armed... can meet, associate and organize in well-regulated militias and "...it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government..." We can only hope that the coming revolution will be peaceful.

The problem with a little gun control is that old slippery-slop concept, it is so easy thereafter to do a little more & and then a little more. Look around after a bit and you may have given up a natural Human Right. And that's at the real base of NRA's problem with the liberal gun control nuts. Slippery slop governance... it's no way to run a clam shop. The federal government repeatedly does illogical and ethically wrong things. Look a history... Native American treatment, Slavery, the Whiskey Rebellion, the New York City Riots against the Civil War Draft, Wounded Knee, Japanese Internment Camps, the Waco Branch Fire, the Patriot Act, and so much more. Gosh, federal government weapons control isn't exactly that smart either under any political party (e.g., Iran/Contra, or that really dumb cluster-SNAFU over the last couple of years (Operation Fast and Furious) that gave automatic weapons to Mexican Drug Lords, etc., etc.). It may be that gun control acts in the New York State Legislature this week and Cuomo's "NY SAFE Law" is unconstitutional. We will see... the lawyers are now lining up to test this.

Do you think these dangerous leftist zealots might want to re-write the U.S. Constitution? And along the way, throw out the Natural Human Rights that a liberal left doesn't like... only to inject their own "progressive" liberal ideas. "All People (animals) are created equal, but some People (animals) are more equal than others." Stolen words I know... but one can't misread our Constitution Amendment II and simultaneously keep a straight face. And too, there was then and still remains a firm reason why the Right to Bear Arms is Amendment II. This Right was then to the Founders and today stands so strongly important... trumped only by our capstone Natural Rights... Amendment I: the Freedoms of Speech, Press, Association and Religion.

But Would They Fight Now?

Recent personal study of several New York State Volunteer U.S. Army Regiments during the Rebellion has caused some among us to rethink the fundamental validity of that "War to save the Union." Two separate and equal countries––perhaps not a bad idea that arrives 150 years too late. Two countries in what is now called the USA, call them the United Confederation of American States (holding strong state's rights in a pro-business conservative land); and the other––an imperial federal government United Federal Socialist States of America (a strong federalism nanny state and liberal leftist “progressive” land). And slavery would have turned to dust under its own weight––been gone for many decades in both of these two new republics. The abomination of slavery would have soon failed without fighting that terrible War of the Rebellion that may have cost over 800,000 American lives and unknowable American treasure.

Many, perhaps most, union military recruits in 1861 and 1862 did not sign-up to free the slaves––or even to save the union. These Private Soldier Volunteers were mainly farm boys––boys who essentially became mere cannon fodder in the view of so many incompetent union colonels and generals. They went to this fight largely because they were told it was the manly thing to do... coupled with very strong feelings of military rage spewing from pulpits and political stages. And this Rebellion was certain to be a very short anyway. Volunteer recruits received an enlistment "bounty" of perhaps $100-$300, an enlistment bonus supported in Upstate New York by the various townships. The bounty given to some late war recruits was even higher at $500 for enlistments as short as one year. In 2012 dollars, that cash enlistment bounty is in the $2500-$7000 range. And tax-free dollars too! I suspect this tidy sum was very attractive to most of those relatively poor Upstate New York farm boys.

AMENDMENT X to the United States Constitution (part of the Bill Of Rights) should be more prominently cited in a new United Confederation of American States Constitution: “The powers not delegated to the United States, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”  This God given right, and the other nine vital God given rights specified by the Bill of Rights, shall not be infringed. And there would be no such necessary provision set forth in the new national supreme United Federal Socialist States of America Constitution. The corrupt United States liberal federal judiciaries today seem committed to increased Federalism and largely ignore the clear and expressly written Bill of Rights Amendment X. Liberal left progressiveness can take full control with this socialist form of activist judiciary.  And we conservatives will sharply disallow such unelectable judicial activism. 

So my basic thought today is really a couple of simple questions. With complete knowledge of the present state of the union, who among us truly thinks that massive number of farm boys a century and a half ago would volunteer to fight this “War To Save The Union?” If those volunteers could entirely understand and grasp the full impact of how this country has morphed into the liberal socialist society in those future 21st Century days––would they choose to fight and die to preserve this union of increasing liberal progressivism? Perhaps likely not.

Winds Of The Rebellion At Sumter

No formal Declaration of War initiated the American Civil War. The Confederate States of America (CSA) was not recognized internationally. And of course, The United States of America (USA) never recognized the legitimacy of the CSA government. The two belligerents were clearly involved in a nationalistic civil dispute, and a formal Declaration of War was not necessary under international law. The CSA was officially established in mid-February 1861, by the seven seceded Rebel States mentioned by name in Lincoln’s “Call for 75,000 Volunteers.” The Rebel military bombardment and surrender of the federal Fort Sumter, Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, April 12-13, 1861, became the officially recognized start of military rebellion between the USA and CSA. However, the Confederate States had already seized most of the federal property including U. S. Post Offices, forts, a U. S. Mint, and other U. S. properties located within rebel state borders. Lincoln’s predecessor President James Buchanan sent supply ships to Fort Sumter in January 1861, but those Union cargo ships were turned aside by Confederate Shore Battery Forces and did not resupply Fort Sumter. Winds of the Rebellion had reached gale force as they swirled from the newsrooms and pulpits of this nation.

President Abraham Lincoln’s April 15, 1861 Executive Order, “A Call For 75,000 Volunteers” is summarized as follows---and from the southern prospective was the last aggressive straw that broke the camel’s back.

“WHEREAS the laws of the United States have been, for some time past, and now are opposed, and the execution thereof obstructed, in the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, or by the powers vested in the marshals by law:

Now, therefore, I, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States, in virtue of the power in me vested by the Constitution and the laws, have thought fit to call forth, and hereby do call forth, the militia of the several States of the Union, to the aggregate number of seventy-five thousand, in order to suppress said combinations, and to cause the laws to be duly executed. … I appeal to all loyal citizens to favor, facilitate, and aid this effort to maintain the honor, the integrity, and the existence of our National Union, and the perpetuity of popular government; and to redress wrongs already long enough endured. I deem it proper to say that the first service assigned to the forces hereby called forth will probably be to repossess the forts, places, and property which have been seized from the Union; and in every event, the utmost care will be observed, consistently with the objects aforesaid, to avoid any devastation, any destruction of, or interference with, property, or any disturbance of peaceful citizens in any part of the country. And I hereby command the persons composing the combinations aforesaid to disperse, and retire peaceably to their respective abodes within twenty days from this date. …”

Several southern states sat on the secession fence up to mid-April 1861, but when presented with Lincoln’s “Call For Volunteers”, the south’s richly populated Virginia quickly seceded on April 17, 1861. Virginia is followed in secession within the next few weeks by Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee. The eleven states Confederacy was now set and in place…and both sides felt strongly that they would prevail in this short rebellion. After all, both the United States and Confederate States knew that God was on their side.

Click here to read a short well written article on Fort Sumter published in "American Profile" on April 10, 2011. Publisher: Publishing Group of America, Franklin, TN.