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Civil War Decoration Day Photo From Keeler Cemetery
Click here to help identify local soldiers from the Civil War

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1861           «   Civil War   »        1865

  Killed in Action     Wounded in action      POW/MIA    
  Died during active duty      + Contracted disease-illness-disability during service

Submitted by Laurie Warner Jacobs on 5-31-07:

From the Record First Michigan Sharpshooters, First and Second U.S. Sharpshooters, Company D Western Sharpshooters Civil War 1861-1865 published by the State of Michigan, as pertains to the dress of the Western Sharpshooters:

"It was armed with the American Deer and Target Rifle. The accoutrements were not of the kind prescribed by army regulations, but consisted of a bullet pouch of bear skin covering and a powder horn or in some cases a flask. In the bullet pouch was a compartment where the soldier carried his screw drivers, bullet moulds and patch cutter, singular implements for a soldier; but Birge's boys moulded their own bullets, greased them and patched them with as much care as an old hunter would, and used them as effectively. It was the design of General Fremont to give them a complete hunter dress, but this was vetoed by Halleck, and the only thing peculiar about the dress was the hat, which was a gray sugar loaf shaped affair, with three squirrel tails running from both back and front and meeting at the apex of the crown in an undescribable knot."
 

Click here to view Civil War Veterans photo in Keeler Cemetery

7-5-2007
Submitted by Leonard G. Overmyer III, author of a regimental history of the 26th Michigan

7-5-2007
Submitted by Leonard G. Overmyer III, author of a regimental history of the 26th Michigan.

  *Alva Spaulding d 1-10-1904 of heart problems, buried 1-12-1904 at age 79 in Maple Hill Cemetery, Sec 9, lot 16. (Per sexton research of the Maple Hill Interment Book on 7-19-2007.  The lot in Pioneer Cemetery is probably not used by the family and Alva Spaulding was buried in the newer Maple Hill Cemetery instead of Pioneer Cemetery as entered in Interment Book.)  

Srackangast, John Henry
12th Michigan Infantry - Co. K
b 10-3-1839      d 8-12-1894
Buried in Pioneer Cemetery
Sec 2, Lot 354, Interment 521
Hartford MI

Enlisted on 10-15-1861 
at Pipestone

Note: John Henry Srackangast 
is the Great Grandfather of 
Bill Dyer, Robert Dyer 
(both served during 
the Korean War), 
and Nancy Dyer Huffman.  
John Henry's brothers 
are also listed as 
serving in the Civil War.

From the Hartford-Keeler area

Srackangast, Lewis Wesley
35th Ohio Infantry - Co. B
Persimmon Regiment
b 2-20-1837     d 2-21-1863 
died at Gallatin TN

  Died during active duty

Enlisted 8-9-1861 

From the Hartford-Keeler area

Interesting note:  
On Dec. 8, 1861 near Sumerset KY, 50 men from Co. D under 1st Lt. William Dine were on picket duty two miles from their camp.  Fifteen men had been permitted to stray from the main body to search for persimmons.  Southern Calvary, estimated at 150 men, suddenly confronted Dine's pickets.  The 35th killed 1 officer, wounded 3 men, killed 5 horses, and wounded another in the unexpected skirmish.  The 35th had 1 killed and 1 wounded. The 15 men who were looking for persimmons were all taken prisoner, thus the embarrassing nickname
  "The Persimmon Regiment" 

Stiles, Ansel A.

US Army - Infantry
b 6-23-1844    d 4-30-1929   
Age 84y, 10m, 7d
Died in Hartford MI
Buried in Maple Hill Cemetery
Hartford MI

Birge's Western 
Sharpshooters
Company D
aka 66th Illinois 
Sharpshooters

Click here to view a description of the uniform of the Sharpshooters.

Age 17
Wounded in action

Information from

Photo taken 3-14-1922
at the home of Freeman Stowe

Freeman was the great grandson
of Francis Delong, the only known Revolutionary War soldier to have lived in Hartford.  Freeman's son, Bernard Stowe, served in WW1.

Updated and confirmed by 
great-granddaughter, 
Laurie Warner Jacobs 11-9-2002.  Photos submitted 5-2007.
 

Click here to view Civil War Veterans photo in Keeler Cemetery

Click here to view Civil War Veterans photo in Keeler Cemetery

Click here to view Civil War Veterans photo in Keeler Cemetery

Click here to view Civil War Veterans photo in Keeler Cemetery

Yerrington
Yerington

WEBMASTER NOTE:  
     »The communities of Hartford, Keeler, Decatur, Lawrence, Bangor, Millburg, Bainbridge, and Arlington have been added to the Civil War Veterans listed above because of the close proximity to the Hartford-Keeler area. The Birge's Western Sharpshooters listed above were from a "History of the Regiment" by Sergeant Ren Barker, of Company D." and were found listed on the internet site http://www.michiganinthewar.org/sharpshooters/western.htm.  Many of the names show "Van Buren Co." as the hometown; some were definitely from the Hartford area, but the actual home town of others are unknown. This is the reason for inclusion of the Van Buren Co. names. Other local communities in Van Buren and Berrien Counties are also listed at this site. 
      »Updated information is from With The Western Sharpshooters Michigan Boys of Company D 66th Illinois by Lorenzo A. Barker 1905.  New edition information with additional material, 1994, was provided by William (Bill) Dyer in August, 2002.
      »As the Michigan men who volunteered exceeded Michigan's quotas, many men joined units in other states.
      »The Michigan Calvary Brigade was made up of the 1st, 5th, 6th, and 7th units under the command of Brigadier General George Custer of Monroe Michigan.  At the conclusion of the war, some of these regiments were kept in federal service against their will to suppress the Indian uprisings in the west. 

Submitted by Laurie Warner Jacobs on 5-31-07:

From the Record First Michigan Sharpshooters, First and Second U.S. Sharpshooters, Company D Western Sharpshooters Civil War 1861-1865 published by the State of Michigan, as pertains to the dress of the Western Sharpshooters:

"It was armed with the American Deer and Target Rifle. The accoutrements were not of the kind prescribed by army regulations, but consisted of a bullet pouch of bear skin covering and a powder horn or in some cases a flask. In the bullet pouch was a compartment where the soldier carried his screw drivers, bullet moulds and patch cutter, singular implements for a soldier; but Birge's boys moulded their own bullets, greased them and patched them with as much care as an old hunter would, and used them as effectively. It was the design of General Fremont to give them a complete hunter dress, but this was vetoed by Halleck, and the only thing peculiar about the dress was the hat, which was a gray sugar loaf shaped affair, with three squirrel tails running from both back and front and meeting at the apex of the crown in an undescribable knot."

     Not all names have been entered to this Civil War site and will be entered as soon as possible.
 

This site will change when names and photos become available.  Check back often for updates.  Please use the on-line submission form or send an email if you have any information on any one who served in the military and lived in Hartford or Keeler at any time during their life.  I would appreciate knowing of any incorrect information displayed on the site so it can be corrected.