52 Ancestors (2020) - Week 29 Newsworthy—Amos Gorrell was Injured in the Civil War

This is my third year working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow. I will write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or at My Trails into the Past. I have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways.

A newspaper article in the Athens Messenger, dated 8 October 1863 reported a list of casualties and those soldiers who were wounded. My husband’s great-grandfather, Amos Gorrell, was listed in this one article.

The newspaper article was specific about the 18^th Ohio volunteer infantry. Wounded in Company A were Captain P.G. Brown, Sergeant W.S. Brown, Sergeant D.F. Shotts, Corporal A.S. Toops, Corporal Robert Irvin, Corporal H. Hays, Private Amos Gordell [should be Gorrell], Private Thomas Harmon, Private BF Maddox, and Private H.V. Rittenhouse. All were injured severely except Rittenhouse.[1]

Amos Gorrell entered the war on the 1 August 1861 with Company A of the 18^th Ohio Infantry Regiment. He wrote on the 30^th of July:

“I resolve to go into the Army, and in Millers Co. If I can make arrangements with my brother to stay at Home and take care of our Aged Father, & Mother. . . And is to keep the old folks, and do the best he can, And I am to go to the army, and send home what money I can. And if I live to return we are to make an equal divide of all of the money & Property. His Horse & my two Horses excepted. I get on a Horse and go to Frankfort, Ross Co., Ohio. And am Sworn into the U.S. Service by Esqr. Wisehart for three years or during the war. go to the Taylors and leave my measure as all of the co are to be Uniformed at Frankfort. I return Home in the Evening, and stay a couple of days, and make preparations to leave.”[2]

I wrote more of his first days in the this blog post. We are lucky that he kept a diary about his time in the service. Unfortunately, the years from mid-1862 to July 1864 are missing and this is the time period of his injury in the battle.

His service record indicates he was wounded in battle at Chickamauga 20 September 1863.[3] His pension record gives the name of his captain as Pearly G. Brown, most certainly this Capt. P.G. Brown, who was also severely injured.

The Battle of Chickamauga was fought between September 18 and 20, 1963. It was near the upper northwest portion of Georgia and fought between the Army of the Cumberland led by Major General William Rosecrans and the confederate Army of Tennessee under General Braxton Bragg. It ended as a Confederate victory. Of the 9,756 wounded on the Union side, Amos was one of them. The Wikipedia article gives details of the individual battles and some nice maps of the campaign, but doesn’t mention the 18^th Ohio by name.[4]

Library of Congress, Kurz & Allison, c. 1890.

It is a real shame that the diaries covering this period are lost. This time period had the heaviest of battles, so perhaps it was difficult to keep up with writing, or even if he had, it had been lost when he was injured and in the hospital.

I wonder how his family felt when they read of the news. Hopefully, as he became well, he wrote letters home letting them know how he was.

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[1] List of Casualties,” Athens (Ohio) Messenger, 8 Oct 1863, digital image, NewspaperArchive.com.

[2] Amos Gorrell, “My Semi-occasional Journal, or Diary while a Soldier in the war of 1861,” transcribed from penciled journals, entry for 30 July 1861.

[3] Service summary, Amos Gorrell (Pvt, Co. A, 18^th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Civil War), pension no. 1110444, Case Files of approved Pension Applications 1861-1934; Civil War & Later Pension Files; Record Group 15: Records of the Department of Veterans Affairs; National Archives, Washington, D.C.

[4] “Battle of Chickamauga,” Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Chickamauga).

Copyright © 2020 by Lisa S. Gorrell, My Trails into the Past. All Rights Reserved.