David's Legacy

During the year 1839, in newly pioneered Columbus, Ohio, David was born as the first son to Moses, a carpenter and Sarah, his young wife. Shortly thereafter, the young pioneers hitched a wagon and headed west with the infant. They had little money but high hopes of starting a farm from the rugged Iowa forests. Hopes diminished quickly as the land was rough, the weather harsh and Sarah didn't survive through the first winter.

Left alone with a child to care for, Moses remarried and he his wife and child moved to Missouri, then later to Wisconsin. The marriage was a poor match and Moses found the necessity to board young David out with with a Scandinavian family. Owning a farm and having a child two years younger he felt would give him more of a settled life while he attempted to try to succeed in the difficult and rugged west.

It was there he learned to till fields, to farm and how to log within the Wisconsin wilderness as well as grow as part of a family. Several years later, after the remarriage of his father to a woman who lived in a small Illinois home, his father sent for him and David left the small farm he loved to live with him. Though reconciled with a father he had hardly known through his childhood, his heart longed to be back in Wisconsin where he had spent the best and most stable part of his childhood. At seventeen, upon completing his education, he returned to Wisconsin and worked within the logging camps.

The son of a Congregational abolitionist, David developed a strong belief and conviction in the values of the Congregational Church and had acquired not only a good work ethic but a sense of duty. Though tall and slim in build, he was adventurous and not afraid of a hard days work. He had been raised on the stories passed down through the generations of the strength of his great grandfather Asa and the strong, silent efforts, which had lead to success of his grandfather, Aaron.

In 1861, David heard the call from Abraham Lincoln for troops to preserve the Union. He immediately answered and enlisted in the 13th United States Infantry which was was organized by direction of the President, May 14, 1861 and confirmed by an Act of Congress on July 19, 1861.

Headquarters were established at Jefferson Barracks, Mo., where Companies A, B. C and G of the 1st Battalion were organized. The field officers were Colonel Wm. T. Sherman, Lieutenant Colonel Sidney Burbank, and Majors C. C. Augur, S. W. Crawford, and Charles Hill. Moses went to train in Missouri. His first duty station was there until the 12th of February, 1863 when the units of that regiment were removed to Alton, Ill., to guard the rebel prisoners confined in the prison. While at Alton Prison, he contracted tuberculosis, which would affect him the rest of his life, as well as would be passed down through his generations of children.

Despite his illness, David resolved to remain with the 13th United States Infantry, though it would come and go during the next three years. Sharing the sentiments of other soldiers of the 13th U.S. Infantry were not fond of their assignment, he joined their cry to get into the field, to participate in actual engagements against the enemy. The soldiers received their wish for on the 4th of September, 1862, the First Battalion left Alton by train for Newport, Ky. In October it was transferred to Memphis, Tennessee and in December embarked on the Flagboat Forest Queen with the expedition against Vicksburg under the command of Major General Wm. T. Sherman. The journey took six days until they stopped on the banks of the Yazoo River about thirteen miles from its mouth. Soldiers were ordered to the front engaged the enemy on the banks of the Chickasaw Bayou, five miles from Vicksburg. The fighting lasted from dawn until after dark. Eleven were wounded.

The weather was cold and rainy and often they marched and slept in the rain, in freezing swamps without cover, while engaging the enemy. Conditions were difficult but the forces persevered. David, specifically, armed with the knowledge and strength provided from those who came before him, knowing how to survive in a world that was difficult and in adverse situations. Though he continually got ill, he continued to stand up and march on. He believed in his cause.

The troops returned to Young's Point at the end of which where they remained in camp for approximately one month when they joined the 2d Division of Sherman's Corps to Haynes' Bluff, Mississippi where they engaged the enemy, returning home a few days later but only to leave the next day for Milliken's Bend, Louisiana where on the 6th of May, they joined General Grant's forces in Mississippi, marching to Champion Hills and on the 15th of May taking part in one of the most compelling and heroic battles of the Civil War. Orderly Sergeant Levi of Company C wrote the following:

"...The order was given to charge. In an instant our brave boys moved over the hill at the double quick through a most deadly cross fire of grape, canister shot, and shell but we heeded it not....

"As we were crossing a deep ravine we received a most terrible cross fire, the balls coming like a dense hail storm. It was here that Captain Washington fell mortally wounded while cheering on his men. Here, too, fell our brave Color Sergeant, Sergeant James E. Brown of Howard County; he fell dead pierced by a ball through the head. No sooner had he fallen than the colors were hoisted by another who met with the same fate, until five different men were either killed or wounded with the colors. The fire at this moment being so terrible our men almost began to falter, but thank God they did not fall back an inch, but pressed forward to within 50 yards of the fort; here they had to take shelter behind fallen trees and stumps, to keep from being annihilated. We were now under fire from our own batteries, and infantry in our rear. But ten of our men got to the fort in safety, and I was one of that number; our ten men could do nothing in such a place as this. While lying in the ditch that surrounds the fort, I expected every minute would be our last. The fire from our own men behind us was so terrible, that we dared not move for fear of being shot by them. Here we lay with our bayonets fixed and our guns at a ready expecting that the rebels would discover our retreat and raise up over their breastworks to shoot us. But fortunately for us they did not see us. We remained here until sundown when we made good our exit from our almost living grave. Had we remained there until dark we would have been taken prisoners. We now returned to our regiment, which was lying on the side of the hill and at dark made our way off the battle field as best we could."

When the troops returned to camp, Sherman came out and took an assessment. He was in despair with the losses and the wounds. But it didn't stop the troops. On July 4th, 1863, they were part of the U.S. forces who stood quietly and reverently, watching as the Confederate forces surrendered and exited Vicksburg, stacking their arms.

David was assigned as a First Sergeant. He supervised several sergeants and scores of men who were engaged as the professional soldiers of the U.S. forces and which were looked upon and revered by tens of thousands of volunteers. The U.S. Infantry had a reputation of courage and strength, lead by a man they adored and called "Uncle Billy," William Tecumseh Sherman. They would have followed him into Hell, which they eventually did, in order to acheive freedom for the black population of America and to keep America united as one people, under one government. And, they were known as "Uncle Billy's Boys."

During the summer, General Sherman's son, who was visiting at camp was especially popular with the troops. He tagged along behind them, slept in their tents and the young child was obsessed with military life, loving to pretend he was a soldier. On the day he was to leave for home, after visiting his father, he came down with a fever, one of the diseases that affected the soldiers. It took his life and devastated his father.

The troops grieved with the General, viewing his loss to be one of their own. They supported him during his time of despair and he viewed them as members of family, offering to open his home to them in time of need, at any time. It was especially difficult for David, who served as staff, on occasion, to the General and who had the utmost in loyalty toward him.

Following that battle and that situation, the battalion left Camp Sherman September 27, 1863, for Memphis, Tenn., where it arrived October 3. When the train bewaring the battalion arrived at Collierville, Tenn. (being en route from Memphis to Chattanooga), the battalion commander, Captain C. G. Smith, was informed that an attack was about to be made on the forces stationed there (66th Indiana Volunteers). He immediately ordered the battalion off the cars and formed in line of battle on the road, with two companies deployed on the right and left as skirmishers. When scarcely in position the battalion was attacked by a force of 3150 men commanded by the rebel General Chalmers. A battery of five pieces of artillery opened upon them with grape and solid shot, and the battalion, having no support against artillery at such long range, withdrew to the railroad cut, except the skirmishers, who fell back gradually, having maintained their position for about an hour and a half. The enemy opened a flank fire on the left, and the battalion had therefore to retreat to the rifle pits where the 66th Indiana had been driven, the enemy pursued with overpowering numbers.

Seeing the enemy taking possession of the train and setting fire to it, Lieutenant Griffin with about forty men was ordered if possible to drive the enemy off, put out the fire, and push the train up under cover of the fort. This duty was accomplished in the most brave and gallant manner, whereby the battalion sustained the reputation it had already gained in former engagements. The casualties attending this fight were 15 men killed and 27 wounded.

David's time of enlistment was coming to an end. With one final engagement at Missionary Ridge, he realized he didn't have the stamina to continue. In lieu of reenlisting, he was given a position as a police officer in Memphis Tennessee for a short while and then went home to Illinois to marry and purchase a farm. He always remained in contact with General Sherman and members of the 13th, throughout his life, proud of his contributions to the freedom of those who weren't allowed freedom within a free society.

The escalating recurrances of the diseases he contracted while fighting in the Civil War made it difficult for him to farm, for on many days he didn't have the stamina to continue. Despite being wounded twice (though continuing to fight in the battle at the Big Black River and again at Champion Hills) contracting tuberculosis AND malarial fever which affected his liver, he continued on, finding a way to adjust to his disabilities and become a success for himself and his family.

He moved to Olathe, Kansas, a booming town on the Santa Fe Trail where he opened a hardware store and started a coal distribution business. He started the first telephone company in that town, using his children as employees. The sons would repair the lines and deliver messages, his daughters would operate the switchboard. He was a member of the local Congregational Church and took in orphans into his home.

By 1890, David was quite ill and it was difficult for him to exist in the cold Kansas environment. He traveled to Chicago for a reunion with the 13th U.S. Infantry and General Sherman. There, it was noted there were very few of the men left who had fought alongside of him, most departing this world, due to injury or disease at a young age. Perhaps it was a time of resolution for him for within a few months later, he received word that General Sherman had died. He attended the funeral, whereupon the remaining members of the 13th U.S. Infantry escorted the General to his final resting place in St. Louis, Missourri and shortly thereafter, applied for a pension for his own disabilities and left Olathe and most of his married and older children behind, only affording to take his wife and their youngest child.

David moved west. first settling for a very short time in Las Vegas, New Mexico, then to the warmer climates of Phoenix. Finally, they settled in Southern California, where the warm, misty air allowed him an opportunity to breathe.

Like his great, great grandfather, Asa, David was infirm after serving long periods of time in battle and was poor, living off a paltry pension. Though he survived longer than those in his unit, he died in 1901, at the age of sixty -years old, from tuberculosis. Within twenty two years of his death, his remaining children and his wife, would all die from the disease, except for his youngest son, Harry, and one of his daughters and like Asa, left his family with a total estate equating to fifty dollars and the legacy of strength, a hard work ethic, freedom and love of country.