Civil War CDV of Sam Ensminger, 11th Indiana Volunteer Infantry. Obituary from the Crawfordsville, Indiana, Daily Journal, 26 Sept. 1921: Dr. Samuel L. Ensminger died at ? o'clock last night at his home 411 W. Main Street after as illness of three and a half years, following a stroke of apoplexy. The doctor was 77 years of age and was one of the best known physicians in the city for all his life had been spent here. Dr. Ensminger was identified with a number of medical organizations among them the national, state and and County associations, the American Association of Railway Surgeons, of which he had been quite active, and others of a like character. He was a member of the Knights of Pythias lodge and also had for many years been a member of Center, now the Wabash Avenue Presbyterian Church. He was one of the charter members of McPherson Post, GAR. In 1876 he was united in marriage to Miss Louise Austin of Rensselaer, Ind who with the son, Dr. Leonard Ensminger of Indianapolis, survives him. He also leaves a sister, Frances Hatfield of Chicago and one grandson in Indianapolis. Funeral services will be held Tuesday afternoon at 2:30 o'clock at the Wabash Avenue Presbyterian Church. Rev. Chester Wharton, former pastor of the Wabash Avenue Church will have charge of the services and it is probable that Rev. Mathew L. Haines formerly pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Indianapolis will deliver an euology. Friends who wish to view the remains may call at the home prior to the time for the funeral service. It was the request of Dr . E. that there be no flowers sent. Samuel Leonard Ensminger was born on a farm 3 miles south of the city October 2, 1844 and was the son of Joseph and Jane Fulton Canine Ensminger. When the civil war broke out Dr. Ensminger, then a boy of only 16, enlisted in the three years service and went in camp near Lafayette. Owing to the boy's extreme youth; however, his father went after him and by bringing pressure to bear was able to secure his release from the army and brought him back to Crawfordsville. Early in the following year he again enlisted in the 3 years' service and joined Co. I of the 11th Indiana Volunteers, General Lew Wallace's command. He served in the Vicksburg campaign and upon the expiration of his three years' service reenlisted as a veteran. Being transferred to Virginia in 1864 he went through the Shenandoah Valley under Sheridan and at the battle of Cedar Creek was dangerously wounded, his injuries being reported as fatal. For several weeks he laid in an improvised hospital at Winchester, VA and as soon as able to do so he joined his regiment. At the battle of Cedar Creek another man who was wounded was J.H. Coffman, a Confederate soldier, who afterward came to this city and conducted a newspaper which eventually became the Argus-News and later the Review. Mr. Coffman and Dr. Ensminger were neighbors and on the anniversary of the battle, Oct 19, 1864, the two men used to take dinner together and talk over the incidents of the battle in which each was wounded. Dr. Ensminger was promoted by stages from a private to 1st Lt. and for many years had been a member of the Loyal Legion. Following the war he was a member of the famous Montgomery County Guards. The deceased entered Wabash College and remained through his junior year when he left college to obtain funds for taking up the study of medicine which he had decided to make his life work. In order to do this he took up surveying and during this time he worked for the old Indianapolis, Bloomington & Western RR now the P & E Division of the Big Four. He began the study of medicine in 1870 and completed the course two years later, graduating from the Miami Medical College of Cincinnati, Ohio. After his graduation, Dr. Ensminger carried on his medical work with McClelland & Cowan, a pioneer firm of physicians who had an office for many years on the site of the Lee Bakery, East of the Crawford House. For 15 years he was associated with Dr. EH Cowan of this city in the medical partnership. In medicine Dr. Ensminger met with great success. He was widely known as a surgeon of exceptional ability and he had for many years been the official surgeon at this place for all the railroads entering this city, including the traction line. As an instance of the hardships the physicians of the earlier days had to endure and as an example of Dr. Ensminger's devotion to duty, there is an interesting story of how he drove to the country on a professional call one night during a heavy spring freshet. There were fewer bridges then than now and he found it necessary to ford a stream that had become a raging torrent. So swollen had the stream become, in fact, that while trying to cross the current carried the horse and buggy down the stream. The doctor managed to cut the horse loose from the buggy, however, and although he had lost his medicine case, he made the call. The horse was discovered the next day in a pasture down the river.

Henry Hunsinger, Civil War Musician (standing at left) 72nd and 186th Ohio Volunteer Infantry A Hayes Presidential Center patron shared this print with us during a recent visit. The original is owned by relatives. The only individual identified is Henry Hunsinger, who is standing at left. Hunsinger was born May 30, 1845 in Fremont, Ohio. He enlisted as a drummer in Company B, 72nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry in November 1861. He participated in the Battle of Shiloh and the Siege of Corinth. He was discharged due to disability in July 1862. Hunsinger re-enlisted in Company E, 186th Ohio Volunteer Infantry in January 1865. He was promoted to Principal Musician March 2, 1865. This picture appears to have been taken after Hunsinger re-enlisted in the 186th Ohio Volunteer Infantry and was promoted to principal muscian as was James W. Smith. George Smith, George E. Lepert, William Vananda, Robert C. Day, and David Moore are some of the men of the 186th listed as musicians in the Ohio Civil War Roster. I would be most grateful for an email if you can identify any of these Civil War musicians.

Article 3 of American Civil War Life: Filling The Ranks

Explore Andrei Goncharik's 64861 photos on Flickr!

The 71st Ohio Volunteer Infantry is a regiment with quite an interesting story. This regiment, especially its officers, have been dragged through the mud since 1862 for battlefield failures. After their questionable performance at Shiloh, the 71st was assigned to garrison duty in Clarksville, Tennessee. Clarksville was supposed to be the place where Colonel Rodney Mason could not cause a disaster, and the 71st could earn a little redemption through good service. That was not to be the case.The

From newspaper archives News Journal Mansfield Ohio. Standing L to R: Levi KRAMER, William KALSTON, John SCOTT, Alfred LEWIS, John DAHL, A. J. HAMMOND, E. E, FRENCH, S. D. RICHARDS, Job BEARD. Seated: William GUTHARIE, George K. WILHELM, Jacob SHARRE, Christian GASSER, F. D. ALBRIGHT, W. H. LONGENCKER, E. G. RICHARDS, B. F. RIDGELY,

Explore Andrei Goncharik's 62409 photos on Flickr!

Vol. 9

Captain Morris Rees Through the recollections of Civil War soldiers, we learn that they, like others who have served in combat, struggled with the haunting memories of their experience. One of those was Captain Morris Rees, the last surviving commissioned officer of the 72nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Before the war, Rees lived near Rollersville, Ohio, surrounded by a large number of his Welsh relatives. He remembered that at the age of 23, he “had the war fever so bad” that he left his wife and child “and went to Woodville alone in the night for the purpose of enlisting.” So filled with patriotism was Rees, that he recruited his friends, neighbors, and relatives to join him in fighting for the Union cause. But the Civil War was not the glorious adventure Captain Rees had envisioned. He endured some of the conflict’s most horrific battles, disease, wounds, and months of imprisonment. Rees survived, but many of those he had recruited did not. After the war, Captain Rees wrote that he had “often looked at that long list of names and thought how soon they were all used up, nearly all gone in less than a year.” Among the many Rees recruited was his uncle Evan, who died shortly after enlisting. He left behind a widow and three sons in a fragile economic state. Perhaps most painful for Rees was the death of his younger brother John. Immediately after Captain Rees’ release from prison, he went directly to Andersonville where his brother had languished near death for more than nine months. With the war nearly at an end, Captain Rees gained his brother’s freedom by threatening the Rebel guard with his life. But John was so weak that he died before reaching home. When the veterans of the 72nd gathered for reunions, they rarely recounted their victories and their heroic war deeds. Instead, Captain Rees and others became pre-occupied with compiling and publishing the names, death dates, and burial places of their lost comrades. As survivors, it was their way of honoring the suffering and sacrifice of their lost comrades. Sharing their memories of death and loss was not enough. Rees and 16 Sandusky County veterans returned to the South in 1887. Rees recorded the condition of the cemeteries and the exact number of graves in each. Perhaps in some way, seeing the old battlefields and cemeteries brought a measure of healing to the captain. However, he remained deeply disturbed by the “thousands of unidentified dead.” In time, Captain Rees and other veterans worked to erect monuments at home and on the battlefields of Shiloh, Antietam, Chickamauga, and Vicksburg. In this 150th year of commemoration, the monuments serve as vivid reminders of the suffering and sacrifice of so many who gave their “last full measure” in the defining moment of our nation’s history. A version of this post appeared in Lifestyles 2000.

hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.78100

I thought it would be great if we all tried to get as many different flags, Union and Southern put on here so if someone is looking for one they can...

The 121 st Ohio Volunteer Infantry was among the last of the regiments raised in the state of Ohio during the summer of 1862. Following th...

hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.74691

The commemoration kicks off next Sunday in Columbus, with a fundraising brunch benefiting a Save the Flags campaign, plus a mustering of troops from Ohio's 1st Volunteer Infantry, a group of 950 who rushed off to war in April 1861.