"Deserted at Cairo, Illinois"

“Deserted at Cairo, Illinois”

I have been fortunate in following up on some genealogical material found on Ancestry.com.? Clues in an unfamiliar resource prompted me to direct an inquiry to the National Archives.? The results were very gratifying and provided significant information about the tenacity of an ancestor.? ?I share this report to assist others in their utilization of this resource available on Ancestry.com.? Without this archival collection, I would have never discovered the only substantive written records for this generation of my family (aside from deeds in Ohio and Nebraska).

?

Details of a long-forgotten family chapter had been preserved, in of all places, the records of the U. S. Congress.? The clues to finding the story came from the U. S. Index to General Correspondence of the Record and Pension Office, 1889-1904.?? Fortunately, my Civil War ancestor was represented by eight “General Index Cards” (seven for the soldier and one for his widow) from among the massive index of the Record and Pension Office, War Department. ?

?

The title of this post was taken from a key phrase found in my ancestor’s Civil War military file.? Robert Ellison (1838-1888) of Adams County, Ohio, had a complicated military service between his enlistment in February 1862 and final discharge in August 1865.? The complexity of his military service produced more than the usual government documentation—good for researchers like me but a major hassle for the ancestors involved.? Sadly, no family letters have survived from the Civil War era, so the National Archives records are even more critical.

?

The complications associated with Robert’s wartime service impacted his widow’s effort to maintain a pension based on that service.? His widow Anna (Sibrel) Ellison (1839-1908) had cared for Robert during his declining health, particularly after the family moved to a homestead claim in Custer County, NE, in 1883.? Five years later, in June 1888, Robert died.? He was only 50 years old.? ?Her widow’s pension was filed on April 3, 1889.??

The inscription on the gravestone that Robert and Anna share identified Robert as having served in “CO. D, 191ST. REG.”?? These abbreviated details presented him only as a veteran of Company D, 191st Ohio Volunteer Infantry.? Actually, that unit was the last of the three different units that Robert served in during the Civil War.

?

Key details that definitely did not appear on the Ellison gravestone include:

Robert Ellison enlisted February 6, 1862, in Co. K, 70th Ohio Infantry—a company formed at West Union, Adams County, OH.? The soldiers of this company were among the thousands of Union forces at the Battle of Pittsburgh Landing and only two of the company died during the month of that battle (April 1862).??? Robert “left sick” at Memphis, TN on December 31, 1862.? In early 1863 Robert was a patient in a hospital at Keokuk, IA, and tallied as absent in his company musters.? On March 4, 1863, he joined his second unit, enlisting at St. Louis, MO, in Co. G, Mississippi Marine Brigade.? His military file recorded that on November 9, 1864, he was arrested for desertion at West Union, OH.? His final service was indeed in the unit named on his gravestone—the 191st Ohio Infantry.? He enlisted in Co. D on February 12, 1865, and was mustered out on August 27, 1865, at Winchester, VA.

?

And now back to the resource on Ancestry.com—the U. S. Index to General Correspondence of the Record and Pension Office, 1889-1904.?? The index cards for Robert Ellison provided the best clues to make the search by talented members of the National Archives staff successful.? The specific Congressional records were bill files with supporting papers for H.R. 3523 (55th Congress) and S. 4480 (56th Congress).? The supporting papers in those files revealed the personal story hidden behind the cryptic Congressional reference numbers.? They revealed the process necessary for Robert’s widow to clear the old charge of desertion against her late husband—a charge that had also brought about the revocation of her widow’s pension. ?It would take multiple attempts for her effort in clearing her husband’s name to be successful.?

?

The Congressional files held by the National Archives included letters, affidavits, and War Department reports in addition to the text of the House and Senate documents.? A key affidavit by Anna Ellison (likely from January 1898) illustrated the situation that developed for her husband during his military service:

“My late husband Robert Ellison enlisted on the 5th day of February 1862 in Co. K, 70th Ohio.??On account of bad health on March 2d 1863 he was transferred to Co. G 1st Miss Marine Brigade, his health continued to grow worse when he was sent to the Hospital for treatment, I think at Keokuk, Iowa???[T]he doctors in said hospital pronounced him unfit for further service and sent him home on a leave of absence to await his discharge which was to be sent to him???After he had remained at home some months being yet unable for service and not receiving his discharge and hearing he was charged with desertion, he went to a local Provo [sic—provost] marshal and requested to be taken back to the hospital or his command.??The provomarshal [sic] Mr. [name is blank] now dead, took him away and was gone some days when he returned with him, he, my husband telling me that there was no charge of desertion against him at Headquarters, but that they had sent him back home to await his discharge.

My husband then remained at home, his health gradually improving until February 12th 1865 he again reenlisted in Co. D. 191st Regt Ohio Vols. from which he received an honorable discharge on August 27th 1865.

The affiant further states that on account of the last named service she applied for and received a pension under the dependent law, which she continued to draw until December 15th 1897 when it was stopped on the grounds that my husband as per records of the war Department had deserted on Oct. 11th 1863 from Co. G. 1st Miss. Marine Brigade, and had never been discharged therefrom which records of the War Department, this affiant is unable to disprove at this late date on account of death, and unknown names and addresses of witnesses known to all these facts.

On account of her extreme bad health and poverty, this affiant respectfully and earnestly requests Congress to remove said charge of desertion, in order that she may be restored to the pension rolls, and that the stigma may be removed from the honorable record of her late husband, Robert Ellison”

?

A report to the Committee on Military Affairs that accompanied H. R. 3523 stated that: [Robert Ellison] was arrested as a deserter on November 9, 1864, in Ohio, and delivered to the military authorities at Kelton Barracks, Cincinnati, Ohio.”? The report also stated no further details were found from that date in November until February 12, 1865, when he was again mustered into service (this being in the 191st Ohio Volunteer Infantry). ?[I will note here that my great great grandmother, Robert and Anna’s daughter Ella, turned four months old on the day of his arrest.]

?

A most interesting, oversized item from H. R. 3523’s supporting documents is a petition from dozens of citizens of Custer County, NE, in support of removing the old desertion charge.? The signatures on the petition represented a “who’s who” of the bustling county seat town of Broken Bow, including county officials and attorneys.? Unfortunately, an 1897 letter from Congressman Greene stated: “I must have something else besides petition” and the effort didn’t see success in the 55th Congress.

Among those who signed the petition was Anna Ellison’s legal representative, L. J. Gandy.? He expressed his frustration to the Committee on Invalid Pensions (January 17, 1899):

“W. L. Green M C [Member of Congress] Introduced a bill some 22 months ago to remove the charge of desertion standing against Robert Ellison, which has great merritt [sic] in it.??Mr. Ellison had no intention of deserting but was sent home on sick leave to await his Discharge, which never was sent him???[H]e remained at home until he recovered, when he again re-enlisted and got an honorable Discharge from last enlistment on which she drew a pension about 5 years, when it was stopped on this charge???[W]itnesses nearly all dead????See her statement hereto attached???I with hundreds of others was sent home same way, but after ward received our Discharges???

????????????????????????????????????????????????Respectfully??L J Gandy

????????????????????????????????????Formerly from Co H 7th?Iowa???Troy Iowa”

?

May 1900 correspondence brought yet another disappointing review from the Record and Pension Office that repeated the Office’s 1898 stand against clearing the old desertion charge.?

After further delay and more Congressional assistance, Anna Ellison’s quest was successful.? The surviving records from the 57th Congress are unfortunately extremely limited but the last of the general index cards held by the National Archives refers to H.R. 5172 and its purpose: “To remove charge of desertion and grant an honorable discharge” for Robert Ellison.? Documents submitted by Anna show she re-applied for the pension in 1902-1903 and by 1904 the Record and Pension Office had returned her to the pension rolls.? The long struggle to settle the matter that had long weighed on Anna’s heart had stretched back to April 1889 (when she originally filed for a widow’s pension).? Approximately 15 years of submitting paperwork, working with Congressional offices, and extreme persistence were needed to both clear Robert’s name and restore her pension.? When she was dropped from the pension rolls in 1897 Anna had been receiving $8 per month.? Anna was receiving $12 per month prior to her death in late 1908.? She had survived her husband by 20 years. ?

?

A partially parallel timeline to this extended chapter in Anna Ellison’s life followed her July 1893 application for a homestead claim (under the Homestead Act of 1862).? That government file (again I am very grateful to the National Archives) included documentation of her late husband’s Civil War service—including a mention of the old desertion issue.? Her claim was in fact approved in December 1896 and the patent for that quarter section was issued to her the following month.? Her Custer County farmland, which did include a sod house, was in the heart of the area documented by Solomon D. Butcher’s photography of the sod houses of the pioneer settlers.?