My Trails into the Past

From Souvenir Folder Showing Views of U.S. Army I am studying family members who served during World War I. I began the study with my great-uncle, Jack C. Sullivan, who served with Co. E of the 4 th Engineers. I have written often about his service. Search on “4 th Engineers” to find the posts. Since that time, I have discovered many more who also served. Here are some of them: Charles Robert Coor Dempsey Bryan Coor Oran Franklin Coor Patrick Henry Coor Sandy Alfred Coor George Thomas Davey Cyril W. Hork Luther Enel Hutson Charles P Naber Carl Dave Nilsen Joseph Walter Nilsen John Vir Quigley Frank August Sievert Frank Joseph Soares William Wesley Waldron These men all have Veteran’s Administration Master Index cards that give information about their service with enlistment and discharge dates, and unit served and their rank. There is also birth, death, and address at one time in their life. It is a great source to jumpstart your research into other records documenting WWI service. V...

Soldier Amos Gorrell (1837-1928) enlisted at Frankfort, Ohio in Company A of the 18th Ohio Infantry on 1 August 1861, and was mustered out on 9 November 1864. He was twenty-four years old and stood five feet, eight and a half inches tall. He had brown hair and eyes and a fair complexion. [1] Amos was my husband’s great-grandfather. He kept a diary throughout his life and there are at least two that survive from the war years. The first covers the time period between 29 July 1861 and 19 June 1862. The second issue we have dates from August 1864 until his discharge. Unfortunately, the surviving diaries do not discuss much about battles. Perhaps no diaries were ever kept during those months or he might have lost them. I previously wrote about the two diaries in these posts: Part I and Part II . For this week’s post about conflict, I thought I would discuss his involvement in the battle at Chickamauga where he was wounded on 20 September 1863 and was in a hospital at Nashville, ...