msg#8, Ferdinand Usher and Gettysburg
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In reply to:
FERDINAND USHER/ USHUER - 12TH IL CAV
Laurinda Kidd 1/26/11
It is so riveting that I find myself trying--checking the history--and the name Usher in Frederick's residential area of Milton Twnshp, DuPage Co., IL:
BLM (Bureau of Land Management homestead) records: no Ushers in the right county.
I’m looking for a possible Usher family he might have come from, keeping in mind Frederick may have come from England (have already checked Castle Gardens: nothing for him), or from Canada. There are indications in the records of one Usher man each from Canada and England at the time to that county region. Keeping an eye on them...
Back to the Illinois 12th Cavalry, Frederick Usher’s regiment. The regimental history in an official Illinois book on the subject—very good—
“Histories of Illinois Civil War Regiments and Units
The histories of Illinois Civil War regiments and units are included in the first eight volumes of the nine volume publication, Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Illinois (1900-1902). (The ninth volume lists units of the Black Hawk, Mexican and Spanish-American Wars as well as the War of 1812.) The histories, some written shortly after the war's end, are the work of numerous authors throughout the intervening years. The 1886 version of the Adjutant General's Report included regimental histories compiled by that office which had not previously been published.
The final 1900-1902 republication of the report incorporated revisions and corrections to the histories...” http://www.sos.state.il.us/departments/archives/reghist.pdfhttp://www.sos.state.il.us/departments/archives/reghist.pdf
This is interesting: here is Oakridge Cemetery at Springfield, IL – this site shows most Illinois cavalry units from the Civil War represented except the 12th. The absence of the famous 12th Regiment means they must be (together?) elsewhere:
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ilmaga/sangamon/cemetery/oakridge.htmlhttp://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ilmaga/sangamon/cemetery/oakridge.html
The names and stones are at the Civil War monument:
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ilmaga/sangamon/cemetery/oakridge/pagesu/allen_hw.htmlhttp://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ilmaga/sangamon/cemetery/oakridge/pagesu/allen_hw.html
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Where was it that Buford was buried? He didn’t die at Gettysburg but in Dec. of that year, 1863, weakened by the battles up to that time, it is said. Would some of the 12th be buried nearby? I ran across this earlier but have forgotten...oh yes:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=2301http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=2301
that’s right—buried at West Point:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&GRid=2301&CRid=644091&http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&GRid=2301&CRid=644091&
No Usher/Ushuer burials at West Point.
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(Note: no one even at familysearch.org has ever carried the name of “Ushuer.” However, as it is the spelling carried on some of Frederick’s military records it must be carried forward when researching his real last name, Usher. His middle initial is A.)
If he had a proper burial the choices are narrowing—to Gettysburg, for which the records are not yet online for individual burials but the Park Service’s project is working on it for all military cemeteries; to the nearly derelict cemeteries in his residence of Milton Township, DuPage County, IL (see earlier msg, newspaper quote on resistance of residents there to have those old cemeteries touched or fixed up or even recorded); or with his family—or, was he alone? An immigrant from England, possibly? Are there naturalization records, if so? I found none for him in IL naturalizations records.
Who was he, then? One thing is sure: his widow was receiving his military pension in 1883. Who was she? Various possibilities sent earlier. And did she end up buried where he is, if he’s not in a military grave?
However, as he was with the famous Illinois 12th Cavalry, I still think he is likely buried at Gettysburg, though it could be in a mass grave as they reburied everyone from the Union side there just a few days later. And as he was the first Union soldier shot during the official first day of that battle, July 1 (one soldier shot earlier by 4 days), and waslikely dismounted with the others at the time defending the village and died from a single musket shot, his name would certainly have been known—there were 16 others in his Company C from Milton Township, IL—and recorded there. The memorial to the Union dead at Gettysburg, with the Union dead reburied (the Confederate soldiers, after an outcry, later), was ready for Lincoln’s Address on November 19th of that year. A month later, Buford died, his health broken from the effort at Gettysburg during those 4 days in July.
"At the end of the Battle of Gettysburg, many of those who died were laid in makeshift graves along the battlefield. Pennsylvania Governor saw to the purchase of 17 acres for a proper burial site for the deceased Union soldiers. The cemetery was planned and designed by landscape architect William Saunders."
The cemetery was dedicated on November 19, 1863 .”
“51,112 casualties (23,049 Union and 28,063 Confederate) - that includes dead, wounded, and missing. Actual dead is believed to be around 7000.”
For entire Civil War, 618,000 – 700,000 deaths.
http://www.civilwarhome.com/casualties.htmhttp://www.civilwarhome.com/casualties.htm
We forget what Gettysburg cost in terms of lives:
“The 1st Maine Heavy Artillery, in a charge at Petersburg, Virginia, 18 June, 1864, sustained a "record" loss of the war-635 of its 9oo men within seven minutes.
Another challenger is the 26th North Carolina, which lost 714 of its 800 men at Gettysburg-in numbers and percentage the war's greatest losses. On the first day this regiment lost 584 dead and wounded, and when roll was called the next morning for G Company, one man answered, and he had been knocked unconscious by a shell burst the day before. This roll was called by a sergeant who lay on a stretcher with a severe leg wound.
The 24th Michigan, a gallant Federal regiment which was in front of the North Carolinians on the first day, lost 362 of its 496 men.
More than 3,000 horses were killed at Gettysburg, and one artillery battalion, the 9th Massachusetts, lost 80 of its 88 animals in the Trostle farmyard.
A brigade from Vermont lost 1,645 Of its 2,100 men during a week of fighting in the Wilderness.
The Irish Brigade, Union, had a total muster Of 7,000 during the war, and returned to New York in '65 with 1,000. One company was down to seven men. The 69th New York of this brigade lost 16 of 19 officers, and had 75 per cent casualties among enlisted men.
In the Irish Brigade, Confederate, from Louisiana, Company A dwindled from 90 men to 3 men and an officer in March, '65. Company B went from 100 men to 2.
Experts have pointed out that the famed Light Brigade at Balaklava lost only 36.7 per cent of its men, and that at least 63 Union regiments lost as much as 50 per cent in single battles. At Gettysburg 23 Federal regiments suffered losses of more than half their strength, including the well-known Iron Brigade (886 of 1,538 engaged).”
In the midst of 7,000 dead in 4 days of battle at Gettysburg, will one man’s grave be found?
I hope so.
kc
More Replies:
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Re: msg#8, Ferdinand Usher and Gettysburg
Laurinda Kidd 1/31/11
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The monument and the other names with Ferdinand's:
kathy callaway 1/31/11
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Ferdinand Ushuer/Usher vs. Frederick Usher: same person?
kathy callaway 1/31/11
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Re: Ferdinand Ushuer/Usher vs. Frederick Usher: same person?
Laurinda Kidd 2/01/11
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Re: Ferdinand Ushuer/Usher vs. Frederick Usher: same person?
kathy callaway 2/01/11
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miscellaneous gleanings on Frederick Usher & family
kathy callaway 2/03/11
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Frederick Usher's family: misc. notes, links
kathy callaway 2/04/11
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Re: Ferdinand Ushuer/Usher vs. Frederick Usher: same person?
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Re: Ferdinand Ushuer/Usher vs. Frederick Usher: same person?
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Re: msg#8, Ferdinand Usher and Gettysburg
kathy callaway 1/31/11
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Re: msg#8, Ferdinand Usher and Gettysburg
kathy callaway 1/31/11
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"Frederick Ushuer" is on the IL monument at Gettysburg!
kathy callaway 1/31/11
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Error: I meant Ferdinand Usher, not 'Frederick'
kathy callaway 1/31/11
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Error: I meant Ferdinand Usher, not 'Frederick'
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The monument and the other names with Ferdinand's: