Wordless Wednesday: Vintage Steam Locomotive Along The Little Piney, Missouri

Remembering Augusta Nadine Crider Harrison 

17 June 1920 - 8 September 1970

We Contine To Live Beyond The Dawn

And In The Hearts Of Those Who Love Us

The following paragraph is from the Find A Grave Memorial that I previously created for her on that website.   ( Find  Grave memorial # 49840165 at www.findagrave.com)

Augusta Nadine Crider Harrison Taylor was the daughter of Steven Linn Crider and Ida Mae Allen Crider. She married Marvin Milton Harrison on Sept 7, 1939 in Poplar Bluff, Missouri. They met when Marvin was working on construction of the Dam at Lake Wappapello. They had three children: Michael, John David, and Beverly Harrison. Augusta and Marvin lived in Pineville, Louisiana for several years while raising their young children, while Marvin worked for the railroad there. They bought a little house on a creek in what was then a rural area. Augusta and Marvin later relocated to Long Beach, California where Marvin worked in the aircraft industry with Hughes Aircraft and later Johns Manville Corp. Augusta's occupation during those years was as housewife and mother. Those were years of economic turmoil and much personal strife, which took it's toll on the marriage of Augusta and Marvin. They were divorced circa 1956, in Long Beach, California. Augusta returned to her hometown of Poplar Bluff, Missouri; where she re-remarried to Leonard Taylor in 1961. Mr Taylor was a veteran who died in 1968; and is also buried at City Cemetery in Poplar Bluff. Augusta spent her final years as a widow in Poplar Bluff, MO. She passed at the relatively young age of only 50. Augusta, may you rest in eternal peace forever in the Lord's loving embrace.

A Memorial Grove of Trees has been planted in Shasta-Trinity National Forest in California by their daughter, as a living tribute in memory of Augusta and Marvin Harrison. 

Burial: 
Poplar Bluff City Cemetery 
Poplar Bluff
Butler County
Missouri, USA
Plot: Sunnyslope Section, Space 1, Lot 15, Block E 

OKTOBERFEST: CELEBRATING MY GERMAN AND SWISS ANCESTRY - KREIDER

Copyright 2011, The Hopelessly Hooked Genealogist (B. Harrison)

Fall weather brings with it sights and sounds that I enjoy, including Oktoberfest ethnic festivals to celebrate our Germanic heritage and share it with others. On my list for “fun” activities in the coming month will be to attend at least one local Oktoberfest in my area.  I’m looking forward to sampling some grilled bratwurst with mustard and kraut, munching on a huge soft pretzel washed down with a german beer, and listening to some lively folk music while watching the colorfully costumed dancers perform the polka.

Meantime, on this Wonderful Wistful Wednesday morning, September 28, 2011, I am going to write about my maternal Kreider ancestors from Germany and Switzerland.

JOHN MICHAEL KREIDER

My maternal 5^th-great-grandfather John Michael Kreider was born in Germany about 1715, and immigrated to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on the ship “Samuel” in 1732. He was about age 17 when he arrived in Philadelphia.   He came with other members of his extended family, possibly traveling with an uncle while his parents remained in Germany for a few more years.  The Kreiders came from the area known as the Pallatine Province in Germany. John Michael Kreider is the progenitor immigrant ancestor of this family lineage in America, who came to Pennsylvania to begin a new life before the American Revolution.  He is the first in my line of Keriders to produce heirs born in the land that would become the independent nation of America.  His descendants participated in the Revolutionary War to help create the America that we all know and love today.


John Michael Kreider married Catherine Truseyen.  John, or “Johann” as his name appears in some records, became a Blacksmith and owner of a Grist Mill as a young man in Philadelphia.  In 1753 his name appears in land records as having purchased 100 acres in Upper Salford, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. That same year, his name appears in church records at Indian Field Lutheran Church, having attended a church supper with 2 female servants in his employ. In 1758 he is listed in records as a Road Overseer on a jury to help lay out a road in Philadelphia starting near Bucks County line and Brenner’s Plantation. His WILL was signed on July 7, 1761 in Hatfield Township, Philadelphia, PA. The Will was proved on Aug 1, 1761; naming his “loving wife Catherine” and children John, Jacob, Abraham, Daniel, Catherine, Magdelena, and David. Son Jacob was mentioned as "absconded, but if happens to return will receive 50 pounds, daughters Catherine and Magdalena and youngest son David to receive 100 pounds after they attain the age of 18".

HANS JACOB KREIDER 1695- 1768

My 6^th-great-grandfather was Hans Jacob Kreider, father of the above John Michael Kreider.   He was born about 1695 in Germany. He settled in Strasser, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania circa 1740-1750.  He married Mary Barbara Christen, and died in Lancaster County, PA in 1768 at age 73. Some descendants of this line of Kreiders remained in the Lancaster County area for several more generations, while other moved to Virginia and then farther westward in the 1800’s. 

JACOB KREIDER circa 1667- 1745

My 7^th-great-grandfather, father of the above Hans Jacob Kreider,  was Jacob Kreider, born about 1667 in Bern, Switzerland. He married Barbara Schenk about 1690 In Baden-Württemberg, Germany, where he died in 1745 at about age 78. This branch of the family that remained in Germany while the sons and grandsons immigrated to Pennsylvania in America.

HANS KREIDER  1630-1705

My 8^th great-grandfather, father of the above Jacob Kreider,  was Hans Greider (Kreider) who was born in Germany about 1630 and died in Switzerland about 1705.  He was married to Anna Schudin.

I will write future blog entries going into a little more biographical and historical detail about some of my Kreider ancestors, as I continue my research on them to learn a little more about their lives and experiences.  I am proud to include my German and Swiss roots into my typically American melting-pot genetic heritage. 

For further background information on the Germanic cultures and the origins of the polka dance, various online sources are available including Wikipedia. According to Wikipedia, at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polka, the polka dance originated in Bohemia as a dance performed by farm peasants.  It gained popularity as a ballroom dance in Prague in 1835, and was called the “Pulka” quick step. From there is spread across Europe, and was noted in Vienna by 1839 and to Paris by 1840.  Immigrants seeking a new life in America brought their homeland customs and traditions, including the Polka dance, with them to their new homes. In North American the "Polish-style polka," has roots Chicago, while the "Dutchmen-style" has roots in the American Midwest. “Conjunto-style" polkas have roots in northern Mexico and Texas, and are also called "Norteno".

Wikipedia defines the term Germanic, as being applicable to ethnic populations with roots in North Western Europe: including the Scandanavians (Danes, Swedes, Norweigians, Icelanders, and Faroe Islanders), Germans, Austrians, Swiss, Dutch, Flemish, and English).

You can read more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanic_peoples.

Marker for a Great-Grandmother: Mary Jane Coppedge Harrison 1840 - 1923

Copyright 2013, The Hopelessly Hooked Genealogist (B. Harrison)

Mary Jane Coppedge Harrison 1840 - 1923 

We don't know if my paternal great-grandmother ever had a marker for her gravesite, or if she may have originally had some sort of wooden or stone marker that has long since deteriorated into oblivion.  But, at long last, this ancestor in my tree has a legible headstone to mark her final resting place next to her husband, John Milton Harrison, Civil War Veteran.  They were my paternal great-grandparents, long passed before I was born.

Mary Jane Coppedge Harrison (1840 - 1923) and John Milton Harrison (1836 - 1899) are both buried at Dillon Cemetery in Phelps County, Missouri. Mary Jane also has a memorial page on www.findagrave.com ,  Find A Grave Memorial# 53272446 . She was the daughter of George Helm Coppedge and Margaret "Peggy" Kitchen Thornton Coppedge. She was the granddaughter of Travis Coppedge and Elizabeth Helm Coppedge, and Thomas Thornton III and Nancy Kitchen Thornton. Her great-grandparents were Moses Aaron Coppedge and Mary Jane Catlett Coppedge, George Helm and Mary Frances Calmes Helm, Thomas Thornton II and Lucinda Waters Thornton, and (possibly) William Harrison Kitchen and Nancy Anne Harrison Kitchen. Among her great-great-grandparents were Charles Coppedge and Lucy Sarah Lunsford Coppedge, John Catlett and Mary Ann Grayson Coppedge, Captain Leonard Helm (Revolutionary War) and Elizabeth Calmes Helm, Thomas Thornton I and Lettice Peyton Thornton, and Thomas Harrison V and Mary Ann Butler Harrison.  It appears, thus, that Mary Jane was a Harrison descendant herself as well as marrying a Harrison, her distant cousin several generations removed. I doubt that she even realized there was a chance that they were distant cousins.

The cemetery where May Jane and John Milton Harrison are buried is on private property in Phelps County, Missouri. It is a small country cemetery that is well-maintained by the current owner of the property. For generations, John Milton Harrison had an original Civil War Veteran's headstone that was gradually deteriorating from age and exposure to the elements, but there was no visible marker for his wife who was laid to rest beside him.  At the time of Mary Jane's passing, her husband had already been gone for a few years. Mary Jane died as a resident of the Soldiers Home hospital-nursing home in St. James, Missouri.   She had been placed there for long-term care after being found incapacitated by a local court. This appears to have transpired when her senility became too much for her caretaker daughter, Georgia Ann Harrison Finn, to deal with. We may surmise that she may have been afflicted with something akin to Alzheimers disease as we know it today. As a tragic side note, George Ann Harrison Finn died of a heat stroke or heart attack while walking to visit her mother in the Soldier's Home on one hot summer day. Mary Jane passed away shortly thereafter.   We can only guess that financial constraints may have been a reason that no individual permanent marker was placed on Mary Jane's grave. The death certificate confirms that she is buried at Dillon Cemetery.

In 2012, with the assistance of my 4th-cousin on the Harrison side of my tree who lives in Phelps County, Missouri; we were able to get a new headstone placed for John Milton Harrison (see above photo).   His original headstone had deteriorated beyond repair and was no longer legible due to being covered with algae, mold, and fungus.    Recently, in 2013 we were able to set a new marker in place for his wife, Mary Jane, as well.   Their markers now stand side by side, as their souls rest for all eternity.

Bachelor Maids Clubs, circa 1915- St Louis, Missouri: "Unwed and Loving It"

             Copyright 2013, The Hopelessly Hooked Genealogist (B. Harrison)


Bachelor Girls Club of 1915, St. Louis, Missouri-

Among the family heirloom photos in the collection that had belonged to one of paternal aunts, is a photo depicting two of her sisters as young women with a group of their friends.  The photo is labeled: "Bachelor Girls Club of 1915", believed to have been taken in St. Louis, Missouri. The women in the photo all appear to be in their late teens or early twenties. They are all wearing fancy hats and suits that were fashionable in that time period.   My copy of this photo was made years ago on a xerox machine, long before digital photography came along, so the copy I have is not very good.  The original photo has long since been lost or packed away in storage in the estate belongings of my late aunt Lona, which passed to her son.   Her sisters "the Bachelor Girls" are in the far right of the photo. Here it is:

My aunts; the Bachelor Girls of 1915: top row, right- Gladys Harrison, age 19.  bottom row, right- Edna Harrison, age 20.

Looking at this picture peaked my curiosity about these two aunts of mine.  Ironically, both of my aunts married within a year of the above photo being taken.  But, before they were wives, they were Bachelor Girls. Just what were these "Bachelor Girls Clubs"  (or "Bachelor Maids" as they were often referred to) all about back then, anyway?  Certainly, they weren't "old maids". I knew that both of these aunts had married fairly young and raised children with their husbands.  They were both quite a bit older than their baby brother, my Dad, so I had grown up knowing them from afar simply as my elder "widowed" aunts, each old enough to be my grandmother. Looking at this photo now reminds me that each of these women had once been young, vibrant, fun-loving and free-spirited girls; before the cares of adulthood burdened their worlds.   Each woman ultimately matured to face particularly challenging lives in their later adult years, filled with much personal difficulty, serious health problems, and loss of loved ones.     But, once upon a time, they were "Bachelor Maids".

I decided to learn more about these "Bachelor Maids" clubs of the early 1900's, and take a peek into the lifestyle of my young aunts during that period of their lives.   A quick search online pointed me to this explanation offered by the Library of Congress, at http://www.loc.gov/rr/news/topics/bachelor.html :
"Bachelor maids were a cadre of single women in the late 19th, early 20th century. Not to be confused with “old maids” (or “spinsters”), these women opted to be independent of men, live on their own and manage their own business affairs. Young, unmarried women’s social groups, known as Bachelor Maids’ Clubs, began in cities such as New York and Washington, DC. Soon thereafter, smaller clubs began forming in cities and towns around the country."

"Before there were Carrie, Miranda, Samantha and Charlotte, there were bachelor maids – turn-of-the-century single gals opting to play by their own rules of the time. These women of the late 19th and early 20th centuries had acceptable ways to earn money and no longer regarded marriage as necessary for financial stability or for self-respect.    That's not to say that all women were against the idea of matrimony, but rather they set standards for suitors to meet and waited to marry, if they married at all.   'The Bachelor Girl does generally marry. However, I have noticed that the marriages of girls who have followed some useful and interesting business before they married turn out happiest,' said Ellen Adair in her article in the Jan. 26, 1915, issue of Philadelphia's Evening Public Ledger."- http://www.loc.gov/wiseguide/nov11/unwed.html

An amusing and somewhat derisive poem was published in the Oct 11, 1896 issue of the San Francisco Call, describing the Bachelor Maid New Woman:  " She could never be persuaded to marry, Never husband shall order her life.  As for children, she never could stand them, With their noise and perpetual strife.  Yes, dear bachelor maiden new woman, The men are a despicable lot; It may be you'd refuse to marry, It may also be true that you'd not". 

Below is a photo of another of these groups, the Bachelor Maids Club of Ames, IA- circa 1895- courtesy of Ames Public Library.org. 

On the other hand, the following article appeared in the January 16, 1898 issue of the San Francisco Call, describing the Bachelor Maids as a group of young ladies on the hunt for suitable husbands:  "If you wish to see a group of pretty, vivacious, intelligent and thoroughly independent nineteenth century maidens, of a true American type, just stop long enough at Cape May, New Jersey to catch a glimpse of the Bachelor Maids' Club, an association of twelve charming, marriageable young women, who have banded together to protect themselves from the unworthy members of the other sex. The perpetuation of celibacy is not contemplated, as every member is in favor of marriage, but it must be a marriage of the ideal standard set by the club.  Accordingly the twelve young men somewhere in this broad world who would willingly marry these twelve winsome misses must throw away their vices and prepare themselves to answer some questions like these:   Do you drink, or smoke, or chew, or wear a silk hat in summer with a blue suit, or lie in bed in the morning while your father shovels coal into the heater, or give expression to wicked words when you strike your thumb with a hammer?  Do you earn enough to support a wife?  Can you see a flower store without being directed to it?  Do you write love letters with a pencil?  How many cousins of the feminine gender do you have? What becomes of your temper when you lose your collar button?  Do you ride a last year's wheel?  Are you fond of ice cream and soda water and poetry?   It frequently happens that the carefully groomed and industrious young men of the wave swept city are asked to attend informal receptions and musicales, and the promptness with which they pen a reply to the daintily perfumed card of invitation is sufficient evidence in itself of the high esteem in which the Bachelor Maids Club is held". 

Apparently some of these clubs were operated as boarding houses or dormitories  for young women who had either taken jobs, or were training at some trade or vocational skill, in larger cities.  I think this scenario would probably have been applicable to both of my aunts, who were living in St Louis in 1915 while they were both members of a  "Bachelor Girls Club".  An article in the Washington, D.C. Evening Times of June 5, 1896 announced that  "A unique club for bachelor women has just been organized in Chicago.  It's headquarters will be in a large flat building on Power Avenue.  Last night, an advance guard of a dozen young women took possession of the new quarters, each proud of the possession of a latch-key.  The plan of management is this:  Each young woman who becomes a club member pays a minimum price f $3.50 per week.  For a single room the price will be from $4 to $4.50 per week.   For each suite of eight rooms there is a large double parlor, fitted up handsomely.   Besides this there is a big, plain room set apart for sewing, darning, handkerchief washing, and the like.   One feature is a large assembly room, which can be used for meetings, lectures. etc. It is also planned to allow young ladies who wish, to furnish their rooms, wholly or in part, according to their individual tastes.  The club is admirably situated as to car lines, being withing a short distance of three downtown lines".   (It is assumed this is referring to cable-car lines). 

Not all of society approved of these "Bachelor Girls", apparently. Some considered them to be rather spoiled and self-indulgent.   An article published Dec 27, 1894 in the Evening Dispatch of Provo, Utah stated: "...the blame must rest with their mothers. It is a careless, selfish, irresponsible epoch in which the daughter studies her own convenience and pleasure solely; and the mother by foolish indulgence, aids and abets her.  Once a girl is free from the trammels of the schoolroom and is fully fledged in society, nothing is denied her.  She may lie in bed, perchance take her breakfast there, while she skims a novel belonging to the 'new' order of fiction.  Her day is compassed with no single duty save to look her best and enjoy her life. "   Well, that really does not sound much different that the life of a typical teenager or young twenty-something when I was growing up, or today either for that matter.   Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, after all, and enjoy life.   Given the chance, who wouldn't want to lounge over breakfast in bed, and only rouse ourselves to receive gentlemen callers laden with gifts of flowers and poetry?  I can imagine that in their later years, when life was no longer filled with laughter and gentleman callers; my aunts would look back upon that time in their lives fondly and wistfully, longing for their carefree days among girl-friends in the Bachelor Girls Club of 1915. 

Black Sheep Sunday: Bushwacker Bill Wilson

               Copyright 2012, The Hopelessly Hooked Genealogist (B. Harrison)


William Wilson, otherwise known as "Bushwacker Bill Wilson", was my great-grand-uncle.   During the Civil War era in Missouri, he became somewhat of a legendary folk hero to the locals.    He was half-brother to my maternal great-grandfather, Valentine Allen.  They shared the same mother, my great-great-grandmother Frances Hudgens Allen.  Below is a photo that has been circulated in recent years by descendants and is purported to be a photo of Bill Wilson:

Whether or not this is a true and authentic image of the infamous Bushwacker Bill Wilson has not yet been proven or disproven.   However, my guess is that he was probably an angry-looking young man similar to the one depicted in this photo.   He lost a lot during the war, and was said to be hell-bent on revenge.  I have touched on the life of Bill Wilson in a previous post on my great-grandfather Valentine Allen.  Below is a quote from my own earlier blog post:

"Valentine 'Tine' Allen's half-brother was 'Bushwacker' Bill Wilson, son of Frances Hudgens and her first husband Valentine Wilson.   For those of you who may have seen the old Clint Eastwood film "The Outlaw Josey Wales", you will be familiar with the story of my Great-Grandpa's half-brother Bushwacker Bill, on whom the film's story is loosely based.  The Outlaw Josey Wales character is actually a composite of several known Bushwackers who lived in the area during the Civil War.  While it is true that some Bushwackers during the war were vicious murderers, such as the one known as "Bloody Bill Anderson"; others were regular family men who banded together to try to protect their families and properties during the War. Bushwacker Bill Wilson, my great-grandfather's half-brother, was one of the more sympathetic figures who actually became a folk hero in Missouri.   There was a book written about him by George Clinton Arther, entiitled: "Bushwacker, Missouri's Most Infamous Desperado".   The book is based on first-hand accounts of those who knew Bill Wilson.   The story goes that Bill was simply avenging the harm and atrocities that befell his family and property at the hands of renegade soldiers. Whether the "bad guys" were Union or Confederate soldiers is not entirely clear.   There was some wrong-doing on both sides during the war.   Missouri was technically a neutral state, but sympathies were dividied among families....some were for the Confederate cause, and others supported the Union cause.  It was not unusual for brothers within the same family to join up and fight on opposing sides during the Civil War. This happened within my own family tree.  I have not found a record that Tine Allen served in the military during the Civil War, though several other ancestors and relatives living in the area at the time did serve." 

Here is a quote from Eastwood's character in the movie based loosely on the life of my ancestor.  
 Josey Wales:   "Now remember, things look bad and it looks like you're not gonna make it, then you gotta get mean.  I mean plumb, mad-dog mean. Cause if you lose your head and give up then you neither live nor win.  That's just the way it is".  


As far as I know thus far, it has never been proven where or when Bill Wilson died and is buried.  Similar to the character of Josey Wales portrayed in the Clint Eastwood movie, Bill Wilson did in fact take an Indian wife.   He married Mary Ann Noaks, who had native American ancestry.  Some of the stories have Bill Wilson being shot and killed in Texas, and buried there.   Other stories have him returning to his home area in Phelps County, Missouri after the war, and living in hiding in the same remote hill-country caves he used during the Civil War when going about his bushwacking business. Some believe that he faked his own death in Texas and sent a letter to his wife supposedly from a third party, advising of his own alleged demise, to throw his pursuers off the trail. The letter was to be used by Mary Ann to "prove" his death.     There is supposedly a document signed by Mary Ann Noaks Wilson on April 15, 1865; a copy of which has been posted and circulated on Ancestry.com, in which Mary Ann gives her statements indicating that Bill Wilson enlisted in the Rebel Army when the war fist broke out, then returned in about a year and took the Oath of Allegiance to the United States Government; (as locals were required to do or be subject to arrest by the Union Army), then came home again and "Staid for only one hour and she has not seen him since".   Mary Ann was apparently arrested by Union Soldiers as being suspected of hiding and aiding her husband, and the document was her recorded statement alleging that she knew nothing about the whereabouts of Bill Wilson at that time. 





Below are photos of Gourd Creek Cave in Phelps County, Missouri; where Bushwacker Bill Wilson was known to hide out during and after the Civil War.       Here is a photo of the cave as it looks today, taken by cousin and fellow genealogy family-tree researcher Terry Cadenbach on April 24, 2012: 

Below is a photo of some of the extended Allen-Wilson-Noaks clan descendants and kin posing in front of the same Gourd Creek Cave, some time after the Civl War (circa 1870-1880).  The below family photo was published in the book, "Bushwacker: Missouri's Most Infamous Desperado" written by descendant George Clinton Arthur in 1938.  The book and it's contents are now in the public domain, as the author has been dead for more than 50 years. 

Bill wilson's wife  Mary Ann Noaks Wilson remarried and is buried at Brookshire Cemetery in Spring Creek, Phelps County, Missouri. She is listed on the Find A Grave website at www.findagrave.com under Memorial# 40032604.  Below is a photo of Mary Ann in her later years, with her second husband John Jackson, that has been shared by WIlson-Noaks-Jackson descendants:

Below is a photo taken by my family tree cousin, Terry Cadenbach, in 2012 of the  memorial marker placed in recent years by descendants of Mary Ann Noaks and Bushwacker Bill Wilson at the cemetery in Phelps County,Missouri.   Some believe that Bill Wilson rests there too, nearby to Mary Ann and her 2nd husband, in an unmarked grave. There are several very old monuments and stones in this cemetery, with mostly now illegible inscriptions.  One of those stones is surrounded by an old wrought-iron fence.   Some believe that could be the original final resting place of either Mary Ann Noaks Wilson (Jackson) or of Bushwacker Bill Wilson.  In honor of their memory, the below depicted memorial stone has been placed nearby in more recent years by an unknown descendant(s):

I had ancestors who fought for both the north and the south, on both the maternal and paternal sides of my tree. In fact, a few of my ancestors and kin in Missouri spent time in military prisons during the Civil War, simply for being suspected of being Confederate sympathizers.   It truly was a brother-against-brother and kin-against-kin conflict in American history and in my own family tree. 

11th Missouri Infantry in the Civil War- Great-Grandpa's Regiment

             Copyright 2011, The Hopelessly Hooked Genealogist (B. Harrison)


Book Review:  11^TH MISSOURI INFANTRY IN THE CIVIL WAR- The Unit of my Great-Grandfather John Milton Harrison, Company H, Union Veteran, Civil War.

Recently I obtained a copy of a book detailing the history of my Great-Grandfather John M. Harrison’s military regiment during the Civil War.   I will post a brief book review here, and some of what I found interesting about the book.

The book is entitled “The 11^th Misouri Volunteer Infantry In The Civil War, A History and Roster”, by Dennis W. Belcher, published in 2009 by McFarland and Company Publishers Inc. The author has a PhD from Mississippi State University and is a descendant of a soldier in the 10^th Kentucky Infantry of the Civil War.  I am not sure why the author took such an interest in my great-grandfather’s military unit from a different state that his own ancestor, but I am glad he did. 

The author’s own words say it beautifully and far better than I can, so I will use direct quotes from the book frequently in this post.  The book is “the story of the 11^th Missouri Infantry” that “needed to be told.  One day a group of men proudly put on their blue uniforms, and for four and a half years willingly paid the ultimate sacrifice to protect their country. Let us never forget the men of the 11^th Missouri Infantry, and may their flag forever fly”. “These were men who proved again and again that they would fight, even when they were outnumbered and victory was not possible”.  ‘The 11^th Missouri never broke in any engagement, and the engagements were many, beginning with the Battle of Fredericktown, Missouri and ending at the Battle of Spanish Fort” in Alabama.

The book jacket contains the following description of the regiment, again quoted verbatim because I think it is a wonderful description: “The 11^th Missouri Infantry distinguished itself as just the type of regiment the Union needed in the Civil War. Hard as nails and loyal to a fault, the men of the ‘Eagle Brigade’ would follow their commanders to hell if ordered. They battled two Confederate regiments at Iuka, turned the tide at Corinth, assaulted the impossible Stockade Redan at Vicksburg as whole ranks of soldiers were cut down, and broke Hood’s line at Nashville.”   The author states on page 229 that “When the 11^th Missouri Infantry mustered out in 1866, they left a proud history.  They were a fighting regiment, and they were rough and rowdy. They were not a group that would have been pleasant to be around, but they were given a difficult and bloody job. There was none better than the 11^th Missouri”.

The book includes a detailed account of the history, movements and battles of the regiment and the various companies; with many photos of officers as well as privates, camps and battle locations, and transcripts of some of the letters written by soldiers in the unit. My great-great-grandfather is listed as a Veteran of Company H on page 290 in Appendix B of the book (though I note his middle initial is listed incorrectly as “W”, which is probably due to a transcription error).  Every known member of the regiment is listed, based on records the author obtained from the National Archives and the Missouri State Archives.   There are many brief biographical sketches of some of the officers as well as lesser-known soldiers. I did not find a photo or biographical information on my ancestor in the book, but learned a lot about what his experiences must have been like from reading this book.  I already have a copy of my ancestor’s complete military pension file from the National Archives which provided me with lots of biographical information.  For a fortunate few descendants, this book will supplement what they may already know about their soldier ancestors from the 11^th Missouri Infantry, and some will even be lucky enough to find their ancestor’s photo among the several in the book.

I found especially moving the transcripts of some of the actual letters written by young soldiers in the regiment to their loved ones back home.   The men who wrote the letters ranged in age from 18-34. Many were farm boys who had never traveled far from the farm or been away from home and loved ones before. Many wrote a few letters home, and then were killed in battle or died of sickness contracted in camp. Their descendants and the author kindly share those letters with us in this book. The letters told of the feelings, hopes, and fears of these young men;  as new recruits first arriving at camp, their experiences on marches,  their fears when preparing for the battles they knew lay ahead, and their worries about their own futures and the welfare of the loved ones they left behind.  Reading these letters really makes one aware that not a lot has changed over the years, relevant to sending our young men off to war, and the wartime experiences of these young men.  Today as then, our soldiers may be fighting for a different cause and in a different land, but their emotions and fears are the same. Duty, honor, and love of country are coupled with their loneliness and worries for their families and their own safety, and their sadness at seeing a best friend wounded, maimed, or killed in battle.   Dying of infectious diseases or dysentery contracted while serving under primitive and deprived conditions was especially worrisome during the Civil War. Service-related disease and sickness killed a large number of Union and Confederate soldiers, while leaving others with permanent disabilities and life-long conditions from which they never fully recovered.  My great-grandfather was among the latter group.