Week 22: Military -- Lemuel J. Sayre Death in the Civil War

Memorial Day is about soldiers who died while serving their country. My children have no direct ancestors who died while serving in the military. However, their second great-grandfather, Amos Gorrell’s wife, Catherine’s first husband lost his life while serving in the Civil War.

Lemuel J. Sayre was born perhaps 21 December 1835 in Middle Island, Tyler County, Virginia (later West Virginia) and died 9 May 1862 in a hospital of typhoid fever in Hamburg, Hardin County, Tennessee.[1]

United States War Dept.,1866 - Battle map of Island No. 

Ten in the Mississippi River during the American Civil War

He enlisted at age 26 in Company B of the Ohio 63^rd Infantry Regiment on 9 October 1861 and served the four months as a private.[2] The unit was mustered in at Marietta, Ohio by Frank T. Gilmore, 1^st Lieutenant, 63d Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Battles he may have participated in were at New Madrid, Missouri between March 3-13, 1862, and Island No. 10, Tennessee on April 8, 1862. The regiment fought on April 30, 1862 at Corinth, Mississippi, which is not far from Hamburg, Tennessee.[3] Lt. Col. Charles Brown of the 63^rd Regiment stated that Lemuel had been sick since the first day of May while doing military duty with his regiment in the field near Corinth, Mississippi.[4]

Typhoid fever spread from camp to camp. It was highly contagious and the doctors had no treatment for it and at the time had no real knowledge of how germs spread. It was caused from the Salmonella typhi as an infection of the intestinal tract. It spread in camps through ingesting contaminated food and water. Hygiene was poor in the camps—both union and confederate. In the first year of the war, about 6% of soldiers were infected with typhoid and about 2% died. The inflicted developed a fever and skin lesions. Some developed decreased mental function.[5]

Lemuel left a wife, Catherine Shotts and a son, May, who was under two years old. The family had previously lost their two older children as infants. Lemuel and Catherine were married 10 January 1857.[6]

It must have been devastating to learn of her husband’s death and the thought that she would be raising a child alone. Fortunately, her parents lived nearby and they were of great help.[7]

In 1862, Congress passed a law awarding widow’s and minor’s pensions.[8] Catherine received payment up to 6 February 1866, and it was discontinued when she married Amos Gorrell. May then received a minor’s pension.[9] After Amos’ marriage to Catherine, he was made guardian of May.[10]

This is my fourth year working on this year-long 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 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.

 

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[1] Ancestry Family Tree profiles list this full birthdate without any source. For death, see Adjutant General’s Office acknowledgement of application for pension, no. 2728, Catharine E Sayre, widow; May M. Sayre, minor’s pension certificate no. 122488 [consolidated with widow’s pension file WC 5352], for service of Lemuel J Sayre (Pvt., Co. B, 63^rd Ohio Vol. Infantry, Civil War); Case Files of Approved Pension Applications of Widows and Other Dependents of the Army and navy Who Served Mainly in the Civil War and the War with Spain, 1861-1934; Department of Veterans Affairs, Record Group 15, National Archives, Washington, D.C.; digital images, “Civil War ‘Widows’ Pensions’,” Fold3 (https://www.fold3.com/image/307752160 : accessed 3 Jun 2021), Sayre, Lemuel J (WC122488), p. 8.

[2] Official Roster of the Soldiers of the State of Ohio in the War of the Rebellion, 1861-1866, Vol. 5 54^th–69^th Regiments–Infantry, (Akron: Werner Co, 1887), 391.

[3] “Union Ohio Volunteers, 63^rd Regiment, Ohio Infantry,” The Civil War, National Park Service (https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search-battle-units-detail.htm?battleUnitCode=UOH0063RI).

[4] Letter from Headquarters, 63^rd Regiment, 2 July 1862, May M. Sayre, minor’s pension, 122,488, p. 36.

[5] Nick Robinson, “Understanding Typhoid in the American Civil War: A Study of Typhoid within the Union and Confederate armies, 1861-1865,” Research Seminar, 2016, https://minds.wisconsin.edu/bitstream/handle/1793/76098/Robinson%2c%20Nicholas_2016_Fall.pdf?sequence=2.

[6] "Ohio County Marriages 1789-2013", database & digital images, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org), Ross Co Marriage affidavits 1853-1859, p 271, Sayre-Shotts, citing FHL digital film 004254783.

[7] Affidavit of Daniel Shotts, 7 Jan 1867, May M. Sayre, minor’s pension, 122,488, p. 20-21.

[8] “An Act to grant Pensions,” 12 Stat. 566 (July 14, 1862); digital images, “A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875,” Library of Congress, American Memory (http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html).

[9] Letter from Amos Gorrell to Pension office, May M. Sayre, minor's pension, 122,488, p. 4 & 5.

[10] Affidavit from Nicholas Throckmorton on Amos Gorrell appointed guardian, May M. Sayre, minor’s pension, 122,488, p. 32.

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