Lorain Civil War Veterans Article – April 1922

Do you have an ancestor who fought in the Civil War?

I do. Peter Brady (my emigrant ancestor) was with the 3rd Regiment New Jersey Infantry. He wasn't in the army very long (just three months) so I have no box of medals or interesting papers other than a copy of his basic war record from the National Archives.

The official history of the regiment stated that the New Jersey Brigade (consisting of the First, Second, Third and Fourth Regiments) reported to the President at Washington, D.C. on May 5th, 1861 and was the first fully organized brigade to arrive for the defense of the National Capital.

The record also notes, “At the battle of Bull Run, Va., July 21, 1861, the Brigade was held as a reserve but not engaged.” This was probably a good thing for me, since that first major land battle of the Civil War was a Union defeat.

Anyway, as a direct descendant of a Civil War Union veteran, I'm entitled to join the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War fraternal organization. I did just that, and am a member of the James A. Garfield Camp #142.

Thus I have an interest in the Civil War, and have written here on the blog about the 103rd O.V.I., the G. A. R. Highway, monuments, various statues and even a few veterans including Pvt. Cornelius Quinn, as well as the "last" Civil War survivor.

And if all of this talk about Civil War veterans interests you, here's a good article from the April 10, 1922 Lorain Times-Herald – a mere 100 years ago this month. It provides a nice snapshot of the surviving Lorain Civil War veterans at that time, when the war had been over for 57 years.

As the article notes, there were nineteen of them, with just six belonging to the Lorain Grand Army of the Republic organization: August Baldwin; T. O. Cook; C. E. Doane; Dr. J. M. Van Tilburg; A. Sigfried; and John Litz.

Those not belonging to the post included: Thomas Armstrong; Dr. S. Bali; J. F. Cahoon; J. Schnitzler; Mathew Senx (not sure if that is spelled correctly); M. Reep; Andrew Severa; H. W. Adams; James Tabor; Nicholas Myers; J. A. Jewett; P. R. Penrod; and A. Kemery.

As the article notes, there were a few additional local veterans that did not participate "in the affairs of the veterans of the Civil conflict and consequently no record of them has been maintained."