|
~
Military Biography ~ |
| |
|
|
Dubuque county Civil War Soldiers
of the
Twenty-first Regiment Iowa Volunteer
Infantry
Historical information, notes &
comments, in some cases correcting the record
Soldier biographies written by
Carl Ingwalson
Carl will do look-ups in his extensive
records of the 21st Iowa and he is always willing to share what he
has. |
GEORGE CARROLL, JR.
|
George Carroll, Sr., and Roseann Brady were married in
Brooklyn, New York, on May 24, 1836. Their first child, Charles,
was born on March 24, 1837, at 4:00 a.m. and died two hours later.
George Jr., born April 16, 1838, in Canada was the next to be
born. Roseann was pregnant with their third child when her husband
died on November 6, 1840. Four and one-half months later, on March
25, 1841, Roseann gave birth to a daughter, Mary A. Carroll.
By the middle of 1862 Civil War casualties had mounted
significantly and, on July 9, 1862, Iowa Governor Sam Kirkwood
received a telegram asking him to raise five regiments as part of
the President’s call for 300,000 three-year men. If the state’s
quota wasn’t met by August 15th, it "would be made up by draft,"
but enlistments started slowly as "farmers were busy with the
harvest, the war was much more serious than had been anticipated,
and the first ebullition of military enthusiasm had subsided.
Furthermore, disloyal sentiment was rampant in some parts of the
State." All men between eighteen and forty-five were listed in
preparation for a draft, a draft that wasn’t needed.
On
August 2, 1862, George Carroll was enrolled by Dubuque’s Leonard
Horr in Company F of the 21st Iowa Infantry. While with his
regiment at Camp Franklin in Dubuque, George signed an affidavit
indicating he was unmarried and “have a mother dependent upon me
for support.” When trying to care for dependents, some soldiers
mailed money to them directly, some mailed money to local firms
that then dispersed it, others sometimes sent it with a friend who
was going home on a furlough, and others arranged for an allotment
to be deducted from their monthly pay. While the allotment system
seemed safe, there were complaints that banks received federal
“greenbacks” but then made payments in discounted state
currencies. As a private, George would be entitled to $13.00
monthly. He made arrangements for R. E. Graves, Cashier of the
City of Dubuque Branch of the State Bank of Iowa, to receive an
allotment of $10.00 for his mother while George would receive the
$3.00 balance. Like other Iowa volunteers, George also received a
$2.00 premium and a $25.00 advance on a $100.00 bounty with the
balance to be paid on receipt of an honorable discharge. The
regiment was mustered in at Dubuque’s Camp Franklin on September
9, 1862, and on the 16th, at the foot of Jones Street, boarded the
sidewheel steamer Henry Clay and two barges tied alongside, and
started south. After spending one night on Rock Island, they
resumed their trip, encountered low water at Montrose, debarked,
traveled by train to Keokuk, boarded the Hawkeye State and arrived
in St. Louis on the 20th. The next night, they boarded railroad
cars usually used for freight and livestock and started west.
Arriving in Rolla on the 22nd, they camped near the railhead, but
soon moved to a better site about five miles southwest of town
along the Lebanon road.
On bimonthly company muster rolls
and still in Missouri, George was marked present on October 31st
at Salem and December 31st Houston. They left Houston on January
27th, walked south to West Plains and then moved to the northeast
passing through Thomasville, Ironton, Iron Mountain, Pilot Knob
and Farmington before reaching the old French town of Ste.
Genevieve on March 11th. From there they were transported
downstream to Milliken’s Bend where General Grant was organizing a
large army with three corps led by Generals James McPherson, John
McClernand and William Sherman. Intent on capturing Vicksburg,
Grant ordered McClernand to open a road south to New Carthage.
Sherman felt the plan was "desperate and hazardous" and preferred
to drive south from Memphis. McPherson agreed with Sherman,
McClernand agreed with Grant, Grant called for reinforcements, and
the campaign began.
Assigned to McClernand’s corps, the
21st Iowa was in a four-regiment brigade when they started south
and moved slowly along dirt roads, across bayous and through
swamps. Many became sick along the way and were left behind, but
the others moved on. On April 30, 1863, they crossed the river to
Bruinsburg on the east bank and, with the 21st Iowa as the point
regiment for the entire army, started a slow movement inland.
About midnight they briefly exchanged fire with Confederate
pickets near the Abram Shaifer house before trying to sleep. On
May 1st, George participated with his regiment in the Battle of
Port Gibson. On the 16th, he was present during the Battle of
Champion’s Hill when the entire brigade was held “in reserve” with
the only casualty being Joseph Carter who accidentally shot off
two of his own fingers.
Having not been involved on May
16th (except for guarding prisoners after the battle), the brigade
was rotated to the front and on the 17th two Iowa regiments, the
21st and 23d infantries, led an assault on Confederates entrenched
at the Big Black River and hoping to keep a large railroad bridge
open so all their forces could cross. The assault was successful,
but regimental casualties were seven killed, another eighteen
whose wounds would soon prove fatal and at least forty whose
wounds were non-fatal. Among the most seriously wounded during the
assault was the regiment’s colonel, Sam Merrill, who returned to
McGregor to recuperate. From the Big Black they moved to the rear
of Vicksburg and took a position opposite the railroad redoubt. On
the 22nd, there was an unsuccessful assault along the entire Union
line and again regimental casualties were heavy with twenty-three
killed, another twelve with fatal wounds and at least forty-eight
with non-fatal wounds but some serious enough to require
amputations. George Carroll had participated on the 17th and 22nd,
but was unscathed and was with the regiment as General Grant
settled on a siege.
Union soldiers kept their heads down, dug
ditches zig-zagging their way toward the Confederate lines and
engaged in sharpshooting. On June 5th or 6th (records differ)
George Carroll was in the rifle pits when he was shot and
instantly killed. The “poor boy he never knew what hurt him. A
true & brave soldier he died in defense of his Country,” said
Flavius Patterson. Like others who died during the siege, George
was probably buried behind the Union lines and later reinterred in
the Vicksburg National Cemetery. (One of his comrades who died two
weeks later was buried in an apple orchard and later moved to the
National Cemetery.)
On June 24, 1863, Roseann Carroll
applied for a pension as a dependent mother. With R. E. Bishop as
her attorney and Mary as one of the witnesses, Roseann said she
was sixty years old, had not remarried after her husband’s death
and had been wholly or partially dependent on George for her
support. George Childs, Captain of Company F, said, “I am
acquainted with the mother of deceased and know of my own
knowledge that almost his entire wages was given to the said
mother for her support.” The bank cashier said he had been
handling the allotments being paid to Roseann and two others
testified to her need for support. The Adjutant General’s Office
in Washington confirmed George’s service and death and said he had
been paid only through February 28th.
Roseann’s attorney
applied for and received the $75.00 balance of George’s enlistment
bounty and $41.00 accrued pay (three months at $13.00 and $2.00
for June). A pension certificate providing for $8.00 monthly
payable quarterly through the Des Moines Agency was also sent to
Mr. Bishop.
Nothing more was reported until the pension
agent in Des Moines wrote to the Commissioner on November 17,
1886, saying Roseann, “who was last paid at $8, to March 4th,1883,
has been dropped because of being unclaimed for three years.” By
then Roseann would have been about eighty-three years old.
|
| |
|
Dubuque
County IAGenWeb