John and Sarah Birrer (a.k.a. Berry), Arlington National Cemetery. John was a brick maker and farmer before the war. As a sergeant in D 59 Ohio Volunteer Infantry, he acquired dysentery at Shiloh after drinking foul water. Reduced to a "mere skeleton," he later lived in Portland, Indiana. John and Sarah married there in 1868. John died from chronic diarrhea in 1872, four years after marriage and ten years after Shiloh. His body was reburied in the back yard of R. E. Lee's former home when Sarah and clan moved to Washington, DC.

    Click gravestone to see John in uniform.

    Images


    Ferdinand Ulrich

  • ulrich1.jpg - Ferdinand Ulrich of the 2nd Eastern Shore Maryland Infantry had six children with his wife, Auguste. A baptism certificate from St. Paul's German United Evangelical Church showed that the two youngest children were born in Baltimore.


  • ulrich2.jpg - Regimental activity records reported that the 2nd E.S. Maryland Infantry captured 12 Confederate officers and 187 soldiers in late July, 1863. Ferdinand Ulrich was the only man in the regiment who was killed. Records described that Ulrich's body was, "buried on the east side of the canal near the culvert about 3 miles below Williamsport..."


  • ulrich3.jpg - Ferdinand's last military service muster card indicated that he still owed the U.S. Army $4.27 at the time of his death. Poor Ulrich.


    Samuel Cochran

  • cochran.jpg - Sam Cochran of Company B 24 th Wisconsion Infantry wrote often to his father and many of his letters were saved in his pension file. In a letter dated September 30, 1862, Samuel writes of driving a mule team that had never been harnessed before. "You better beleave they had a time breighing then..."

  • cochran2.jpg - Samuel describes meager rations and sleeping on the cold ground near Cave City, October 30, 1862

  • cochran3.jpg - In a letter dated December 6, Samuel gets angry at the chaplain when no letter was received during mail call. Samuel also asks for details regarding Christmas plans at home. "Tell the boys I dont beleave that I will have a Sleig ride this winter..."

  • cochran4.jpg - December 15: "You must come down with the expectation of not goeing back without me." Homesick and regretting that he had enlisted, Samuel asks his father to bring money to help him get release papers. Samuel was shot and killed two weeks later at the Battle of Stone River, December 31, 1862.


    Frederick Distler

  • distler1.jpg - Frederick Distler of Battery H, 3rd PA Light Artillery caressed an unexploded bombshell while sitting near a campfire. Jesting with his comrades, he inserted a hot coal and exclaimed, "Shoo fly!" The shell exploded and ripped away his hand.

  • distler2.jpg - John Arnold of the same battery recalled how the other men rebuked Distler when he was playing with the shell. After the explosion, John saw Distler holding his stump and bleeding profusely. "Now see what I've done."


    Nicholas Smith

  • n_smith.jpg - Nick Smith served in M 8 NY Heavy Artillery. After the war, he moved to Merrill, Wisconsin and married Bridget Gallagher. Bridget died in 1891. Nick then married Engelborg Olson, a Norwegian. Leaving his wife and family in Wisconsin, Nick set up a farm in Virginia. When the family finally arrived, they worked along with a hired-hand named "Lute Chocolate." Unfortunately, Lute was helping Nick with more than farming. Engelborg repeatedly caught Lute Chocolate and Nick engaged in sex at various places around the farm. Nick was arrested on charges of adultery. Angry and humiliated, Engelborg moved back to Wisconsin.


    Benjamin Newan

  • newan1.jpg - Benjamin Newan of K 110 Pennsylvania Infantry writes from Camp Sawmill to his father, February 23, 1862. His little brother, John, is said to be "fat as a pig" and there was recently a grand parade with a band playing the Star Spangled Banner.

  • newan2.jpg - Benjamin describes a hard march, fighting, and chasing the enemy along the banks of the Rapidan River, VA. His letter was dated October 31, 1863.

  • newan3.jpg - Brother John Newan writes home to father. The brothers were near Petersburg when Benjamin was wounded. A month later, on July 12, 1864, Benjamin died in a Rhode Island hospital. John writes, "I was very much lossed wen he was gone..."


    Benjamin Chase

  • chase1.jpg - Benjamin F. Chase of E 5 New Hampshire Infantry writes to his mother in 1861 from Concord. "Dont worrough about me."

  • chase2.jpg - Chase writes from camp on James River, July 28, 1862. As the war escalates, he thanks mom for cakes sent in mail, plans for getting a photograph taken (a memento for her in case of his death), and complains of bed lice.

  • chase3.jpg - At Harpers Ferry, September 28, 1862, Benjamin Chase feels fortunate to have lived through recent battles. Haunted by seeing many dead soldiers, he muses, "if their mothers could only see them they would be crazy." Benjamin was killed a few months later at the Battle of Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862.


    Reason Cravens

  • cravens1.jpg - Tennessean Reason H. Cravens fought for the Confederacy early in the war, then for the Union. He was injured in the head by a spent ball and was thought to be "mentally unsound." Photo shows the visage of a man who attacked a Union comrade with a knife and, after the war, killed his brother-in-law.

  • cravens2.jpg - Affidavit of Craven's boss indicates that Reason fought hallucinatory enemies both with fists and gun. His shanty had no furniture and it was said that the family "lived like hogs."


    Joel Sartain

  • sartain.jpg - Joel Sartain of G 3 WV Cavalry died of measles on March 17, 1863. Widow Lucinda moved to Crown City, commonly known as "Hell's Half-Acre." In poverty, Lucinda joined the world's oldest profession to support her six children. Prostitution led to the loss of both pension and children.


    Wellington Lappin

  • lappin.jpg - "Look out or by the Holy Jesus I'll shoot you!" Wellington Lappin had enough of the war and threatened to kill a corporal when ordered to return to the regiment. Court martial records indicated that Lappin was sentenced to a year of hard labor at the Rip Raps near Fort Monroe, VA.


    George Berger

  • berger.jpg - George Berger of the 7th West Virginia Volunteers was charged with desertion. In a December, 1862 letter, Capt. Solomon requested that the arrested Berger be returned to his regiment because, "George is all right when sober, when drunk always rong (sic) and never right."


    Edward Burns

  • burns.jpg - Edward Burns of the 1st Maryland Light Artillery spat cracker crumbs in another detachment's coffee pot. When told to return to his tent, Burns grabbed Sergeant Gray by the throat, threw him in the mud, and struck him below the right eye. A bit too much caffeine.


    Georger Frazer

  • frazer.jpg - At a camp near Petersburg, 1864, Georger Frazer of the 7th West Virginia Volunteers was ordered to remove a dice table from the company street. An irate Frazer challenged the officer with an execration similar to that of Jerry Lee Lewis' toward England.


    Henry Hull

  • hull1.jpg - Navy pilot Henry Hull poses for a photo near New Orleans (circa 1865). One tough mutha.

  • hull2.jpg - Hull writes to a friend while on board the gunboat, Glyde. May 8, 1865.

  • hull3.jpg - "Damn it all!" Hull expresses frustration with the slow wrap up of the war.


    Daniel Hill

  • hill.jpg - Dan Hill contracted gonorrhoea during his service in the Union. Catheters used for facilitating urination were not narrow enough to get the job done. Hill became "violently insane" when his suffering could not be relieved. Lust hurts.


    Frank Smith

  • smith1.jpg - Frank Smith of E 153 Pennsylvania Volunteers injured his left groin while hurdling a pile of fence rails at Gettysburg. The regiment charged the enemy but was soon overwhelmed and had to retreat. When a comrade ran onto a fence rail end, the other connected with Smith's private parts. Peter Glass saw his comrade fall and kept on running.

  • smith2.jpg - After Gettysburg, Smith asked comrade Stemple why he left him injured on the field. Stemple replied, " I couldn't help my own father... everybody had to look out for himself..." In his deposition, Stemple also described the appearance of Smith's injury eight days after the fight.


    Simeon Cox

  • cox.jpg - Private Simeon R. Cox volunteered for 12 months and went home. Conscripted, he left again for war and died in a La Grange, GA hospital of typhoid fever. Transcript of 1863 shows things left behind.

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