Thomas Willis Dent

DENT

Posted By: Sandra Boudrou (email)
Date: 3/28/2004 at 21:16:02

Thomas W. Dent Dies at Home in Mason Township, Mason City, Iowa. Funeral Arrangements not made for Veteran of Civil War

Thomas W. Dent 85, civil War Veteran, died at his home three and a half miles northwest of the city early Tuesday morning. He lived in Cerro Gordo Conty on his farm for 50 years. Mr. Dent enlisted in the thirty-first regiment of the Wisconsin volunteers at Green Lake, Wis., in February, 1864, when he was 17 years of age. He was assigned to his regiment at Murfreesboro, Tenn., and was immediately put to work patrolling and guarding the bridges and track of a railroad at a point where all the supplies for Sherman's Army were shipped over a single trackway.

GUARDS JOHNSON'S OFFICE

One time Mr. Dent was assigned to duty in the office of andrew Johnson, then military governor of Tennessee. Later his regiment was transferred to the third brigade, First Division, Twentieth Army Corps, and was sent to the front arriving near the close of the battle of Peach Tree Creek. After several weeks of fighting, Atlanta was captured and the army occupied the city for a month or so. After a time, Sherman continued his famous march to the sea. Mr. Dent escaped injury until the Battle of Bentonville, where he was wounded severely. After partly regaining his health, he was mustered out and was sent to Wisconsin June 3, 1865

SETTLES ON FARM

Mr. Dent then took up farming. His farm was in Mason Township, Cerro Gordo County. He was married in 1868 in Mason Township to Miss Emeline Cannon. He is survived by his wife and four sons, E.J. Dent and Grant Dent, both of St. Paul, Louis W. Dent, at home, and Sidney Dent, Mason City. Mr. Dent was a member of the G.A.R. and of the I.O.O.F. Lodge.