Civil War Reenactors of the 1st New Mexico Volunteer Infantry, Co. B Salutes Captain Reuben Hill!

 

PCA Archives

Civil War reenactors from the First New Mexico Volunteer Infantry, Co. B, gathered in solemn silence to honor Captain Reuben Hill, a Union Army veteran laid to rest at our historic cemetery.

Captain Hill enlisted on September 29, 1861, at Camp Downey near Oakland, California, as a third corporal in Co. I, 1st California Infantry. He served under Colonel James H. Carleton, seeing action at Picacho Peak, Arizona—the westernmost battle of the Civil War.

His bravery and leadership earned him a promotion to sergeant and later a commission as Captain of Co. K, 1st New Mexico Volunteers at Fort Sumner on February 29, 1864.

With a silent salute, these reenactors brought his story full circle. See it here: Silent Solute to a Soldier

 

L. D. Davis (1847-1899) - "Little Yankee Devil"

 

Bing AI

L. D. Davis was born about 1847, possibly in New York state.  Although his mother was originally from Maine, she married a Kentuckian and raised her son in the Bluegrass state. 

When the Civil War broke out, the Davis family split along sectional lines.  Davis's mother returned to Maine while his father joined the Confederacy.

Having been raised in Kentucky, young Davis's sympathies lay with the South although in speech and manner, he appeared to be thoroughly Northern. This made him invaluable to the Confederacy as a scout and spy. 

Davis too joined the Confederate army and served under General John Hunt Morgan, where he earned his soubriquet, "the Little Yankee Devil".  At fifteen or sixteen, not only was he a fresh-faced youth, he may also have been small in stature.  He could infiltrate Union camps, hire on to care for the officers’ horses and pass unnoticed while gathering information about troop movements.  He was with Morgan on the latter's ill-fated 1863 raid into Indiana and Ohio and, by his account, was the only Rebel soldier to avoid capture.

After the war, L. D. continued to do what he did best—work with horses.  He was much sought after by the racing set as a horse trainer and driver.  Acquaintances described him as being of a quiet disposition, not speaking much about his background or family.  In recent years, researchers have tried without success to pin down his identity; General Morgan’s command included several L. Davises about whom little is known.  His name might have been L. R., Lewis or Luther.

L. D. is believed to have moved to Phoenix around 1895, possibly for his health.   The November 15, 1895, issue of the Arizona Republican newspaper shows a man by that name registered as a guest at the Commercial Hotel.  Thereafter, Davis found employment locally as a horse trainer.

Davis died of tuberculosis on August 27, 1899, in his lodgings at 229 North Center Street.  Since he had no known family, his funeral was a quiet affair.  He was buried in Rosedale Cemetery, exact location unknown.

Note:  the term "Little Yankee Devil" usually refers to Johnny Clem, a Union drummer boy at the Battle of Shiloh and Chickamauga.  However, it could have been applied to Davis as well.

- by Donna L. Carr

 

 

James Belton Braswell (1835 - 1898) - Served Under Both Flags

 

Library of Congress

James Belton Braswell is believed to have been born 7 September 1835, in South Carolina.  He received training as a brickmason and later worked as a building contractor.

 When the Civil War broke out, he enlisted initially as a private in Company B, 26th Alabama Infantry (O’Neal’s Regiment), but in August 1862 he and his brother W. D. deserted.  They were captured by the Union Army at Camp Davies, Mississippi, on 28 December 1863.  Five months later, on 31 May 1864, they took a loyalty oath and served out the war in the U. S. Army.

 Braswell’s own account was much more colorful.  As he was wont to relate in his later years, he and a comrade named R. A. Crowley were fighting in Georgia when they deserted for the first time.  They were soon captured by their Confederate fellows.  The South being by then desperate for soldiers, the pair were not executed but were allowed to return.  After they made two more attempts to desert, the commanding officer ordered them to be shot at sunrise.

 As the condemned men sat in the guardhouse that night, Braswell persuaded Crowley to make one last break for it.  This time they were successful.  Before morning they reached a dense swamp and made their way to Sherman’s lines, where they surrendered.

 James Braswell married his first wife, Mary Jane DuBose in Indiana in 1863.  After the war, Braswell’s skills as a brickmason were undoubtedly in demand as new settlements sprang up out west.  By 1870, the Braswells were living in Elk City, Kansas, and were the parents of three children.

 The Braswells’ next home was in Missouri, where three more children were born.  Braswell’s wife Mary is presumed to have died around 1877 since, in 1878, Braswell married Virginia-born Sarah Elizabeth Hughes in Texas County, Missouri.  They soon had another three children of their own.  Around 1884, the Braswells moved to Arizona. Their last five children were born in Phoenix.

When Braswell expired on 13 January 1898, bottles of laudanum and paregoric were found in his pockets.  Thinking that he might have committed suicide, Justice Johnstone ordered an inquest.  The cause of death was cleared up when Mrs. Braswell testified that he habitually carried them to relieve a persistent ear ache. 

Braswell was initially buried in the section of Porter Cemetery reserved for Union veterans of the Civil War.  However, it was soon discovered that Mr. Braswell was “seated in the wrong pew”, so a few days later his coffin was taken up and reburied in the Confederate section of Porter.

-Profile by Sue Wilcox

 

John McCasey (1819-1895) - Civil War Vet and Mining Engineer

PCA Archives

John McCasey was born between 1819 and 1825 in Ireland.  At some point, he immigrated to the United States and settled in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania.  He seems to have had a rather good education, enabling him to work as a machinist, mining engineer and metallurgist throughout his life.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, McCasey enlisted as a private in Company E, 8th Pennsylvania Infantry, on April 18, 1861.  He and Cornelia Connolly were married before a priest on June 4, 1861, in Scranton, Pennsylvania. 

McCasey was soon promoted to the rank of captain in Company K, 110th Pennsylvania Infantry.  However, he resigned his commission on July 29, 1861, stating that ill health made him unfit to perform his duties.  He returned home to recuperate, where his and Cornelia’s first child, William Francis, was born on August 12 of the following year.

McCasey reenlisted briefly on July 1, 1863, in Company B, 41st Pennsylvania Emergency Militia, an ad hoc unit raised to defend the state from the Confederate advance toward Gettysburg.  He was discharged on August 3, 1863.

Following the Civil War, McCasey found work as a machinist.  He and Cornelia, or Lillie as she was called, had eight children, although only four lived to adulthood.

The 1880 federal census of Jersey City, New Jersey, lists McCasey as a ‘silver miner’.  Shortly after his oldest son turned 21, McCasey moved to Arizona, while his wife Cornelia remained in Pennsylvania to raise the rest of their children.

McCasey found work as a mining engineer in the vicinity of the Harqua Hala Mine near Yuma.  In 1889, he wrote a detailed description of the ores and other minerals to be found there.  In 1891, he discovered a significant onyx deposit north of Cave Creek, Arizona.

John McCasey moved to Mesa, Arizona, and set up an assay office there in 1893.  After transferring his GAR membership to the John Wren Owen GAR Post, he filed for and received Invalid Pension #865,681. He seems to have lost touch with his friends back East, as his whereabouts were not known until one of his old Army companions tracked him down through the GAR.

McCasey died February 23, 1895, having been hospitalized for about three months with pulmonary tuberculosis.  He was buried in Porter Cemetery.

His widow Cornelia filed for and received a Civil War Widow’s pension, # 471,053.  She was living in the Bronx, New York City, when she died on June 29, 1919.

-Donna Carr

 

Civil War Recruitment

  

Library of Congress

//hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3b39731

Both the Union and Confederate armies used creative ways in which to entice volunteers to join their ranks.  Some recruits were offered bounties, and shortened time.  Others were offered free school and land.  They often used funny or enticing slogans in poster form.  Take a look at some of the creative posters from many branches of service involved in the Civil War....

Civil War Recruitment Posters

Civil War Food

Civil War Hard Tack
Hartford, Conn. : The War Photograph & Exhibition Co., No. 21 Linden Place, [1863 February]
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.
 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print

The rations for the Civil War consisted of shelf stable products that were sometimes cherished or despised out on the field.  Here is a blogpost from the Library of Congress illustrating what the food was like for our soldier heroes........

Thanksgiving Food for the Civil War Soldiers

Post War Cartoon - 1865

"Give me your hand, comrade! 
We have each lost a leg for a good cause; 
but, thank God, we never lost heart."
Harper's weekly, v. IX, no. 434 (1865 April 22), p. 256.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print

Two Union soldiers shaking hands after the war.  A unification message, and a depiction of the sacrifices our military made......