The St. Charles Press recently ran an eight-part series containing excerpts of the letters between Private Chauncey J. Hill and his wife, Sarah. The Hill’s were a young farming couple just starting out on their own near Saratoga when the Union called on Hill to join the Army to fight the Confederates. What of others from the area who were called up with Hill to fight for the Union? In this article we’ll explore what we can find about area Civil War soldiers.
The first bunch of volunteers from Minnesota left to fight in 1861. In 1862 the Minnesota Regiments swelled due to the Dakota uprising of 1862. By 1863 Minnesota had been a state a mere 7 years, had been in either wars with the Indians or the Confederates or both for much of that time and needed new recruits. Area draft boards were set up.
In Rochester an induction board led by examining surgeon William Mayo called up young Hill and area farmers and merchants. Mayo would, of course, later go on to found, with his sons, the Mayo Clinic. Many who were called up at this time wound up training with Hill at Fort Snelling near St. Paul.
By and large soldiers inducted with Hill found themselves in the 9th Regiment of the Minnesota Infantry. Again, a number of those men of the 9th were also in Company K with Hill.
The 9th was, regrettably, one of the harder-hit units of the Union in the Civil War. As evidenced by Hill’s letters home the 9th trained and waited for battle for months. Once their time for battle came they marched three hard days to the site and rather than get standard rest before engaging the enemy, were pressed into immediate service by desperate and unskilled commanding officers.
From a history of the 9th Regiment by C.F. MacDonald we know that the 9th left Memphis with 3 days rations and boarded a train that took them within a few days march of Ripley, Mississippi. Near there, in an area known as Brice’s Crossroads, on June 12th, the 93rd Indiana was being decimated by the Confederates. The 9th Regiment marched to the battle site and were ordered by their commander, Lieut. Col. Marsh, to rest. Within minutes, on order of General Sturgis, the 9th was pressed into service.
“The ground here was so densely covered with underbrush that the field and staff officers were compelled to dismount and send their horses to the rear. Indeed, so dense was the foliage that troops could see but a few rods in advance,” MacDonald wrote.The 9th, after a series of skirmishes throughout the day, were the last infantry unit to leave the battlefield. Many retreating soldiers were caught up by Confederates and were killed or captured. Private Hill, having twisted his ankle in the dense undergrowth and fatigued by the heat, humidity and days of solid exertion, was one of those captured early in the campaign.
Hill, as we know, died in Andersonville Prison in Andersonville Georgia on August 18th, 1864. He died not of injuries from battle, but from dysentery. The conditions were so poor in Southern prisoner of war camps that Hill was one of nearly 25,000 Union soldiers to die in Rebel camps.
Hill, in his last known letter home, mentioned several area men who were with him in the prison camp. What was the fate of them? Hill specifically cited Levi Taylor, William Walker, Lieutenant Neidenhoffer, Robert Durham, and his close friend Joseph. He does not mention St Charles resident Miron Tower, but we know he later caught up with Tower as it is from Tower’s journal that we eventually learn of Hill’s demise.
Levi Taylor, captured on June 10th, at Brice’s Crossroads, died September 12th, in Andersonville Prison.
William Walker appears to have survived the battle and confinement. According to records of the Hillside Cemetery in St Charles he died in 1915 at 68 years of age. He married a woman named Lydia and had at least one son, William, who lived to be 53 years old.
Miron Tower also survived captivity and was discharged from the Army on June 20, 1865. It is not known where he finally rested.
Robert Durham, captured on June 10th, at Brice’s Crossroads, died September 8th, in Andersonville Prison.
Lieutenant Charles Neidenhoffer survived imprisonment after his capture at Brice’s Crossroads on June 10th, and was discharged from the Union Army on May 30, 1865.
As Joseph’s last name never appears in Hill’s letters it’s uncertain who he was. There is not a Joseph in Company K that matches the timeline of Joseph’s service. We learned in early letters than Joseph fell ill while on furlough in March of 1864. He took considerable time to convalesce, and eventually caught up with Hill in Rolla, Missouri, the last staging point the 9th had prior to massing with other troops in St Louis to head to Memphis for their first battle assignments. It is not clear if Joseph joined back up with Company K or if he was shifted to another Company.
Not referenced by Hill, but known to have served with him in the 9th and Company K is Moses Chamberlain. Chamberlain, having entered service in 1862 was a Corporal. He was captured with Hill at Brice’s Crossroads and died on convalescence in Saratoga on July 17, 1865, prior to discharge.
Charles Abbot of Saratoga served in Company K, escaped death and capture at Brice’s Crossroad and was discharged for disability on March 26, 1865. He was buried in the Saratoga Cemetery in 1912.
George Abbot, presumably also of Saratoga, was wounded in Nashville December 15, 1864, having survived Brice’s Corner and died in Nashville on January 3, 1865.
George Hays of Saratoga was an early enlistee, He was a 1st Sergeant at the time of Company K’s fall at Brice’s Corner and went on to be commissioned as a 1st Lieutenant and left the Army as a Captain.
Patrick Murray of Saratoga enlisted in 1862 and found his way to Company K. He was discharged in 1865 as a Corporal. He died in 1905 and is buried in the Saratoga Cemetery.
George Wheelock of Saratoga was also a surviving member of Company K. Enlisting in 1862 he left the service in 1865 as a Sergeant and has a memorial marker in Saratoga Cemetery, no dates listed.
It’s uncertain how many area residents served the Union Army in the Civil War. Company K was but one unit that men might have served in. Likewise, many others came to St. Charles and area after the War, settling in and leaving record of their service to the Union on their tombstones and other records. Some from the area served and did not stay in St. Charles.
Indeed, Chauncey Hill served and did not return. His wife Sarah remarried and left the area, as did both the Downings, Sarah's family, and the Hills. The local cemeteries have no record of either family and were it not for the letters entrusted to State Historical Society the only thing tying the families to the area are Census records from 1860. Later Censuses contain no mention of either family.
Next, we’ll wrap up this view of early area settler’s life by an exploration of Sarah’s life after Chauncey, as evidenced through letters and Census information.
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