Civil War Ancestor

[Chamberlain]

Very cool B) guys to find out you had ancestors in the Civil War !!!



Chamberlain

[bedbug]

I have two that I know of. Both Watermans from Rhode Island.
One was a pvt in the 1st Vermont Cavalry and the other was the more notable Capt. Richard Waterman commanding Battery C 1st Rhode Island Light Artillery and fought at Yorktown; Hanover Court House; Mechanicsville; Gaines Mills; Malvern Hill; Second Bull Run; Antietam; Fredericksburg; Chancellorsville; Gettysburg; Rappahannock Station; Wilderness; Spotsylvania; Cold Harbor; Petersburg; Opequan; Fisher’s Hill; and, Cedar Creek and was allowed to wear those names on their colors.

At this basic history page there is a link to the "Official History" at the bottom which gives summation of actions, killed, wounded....including horses... It also has an interesting "Organization & Drill" link.
http://www.batterycrilightartillery.org/History.htm#

[Jim]

The 1st VT Cavalry had a distinguished record as well, you can read about it here:

http://www.vermontcivilwar.org/units/ca/

Elsewhere on the site, you can search for specific soldiers, there were three Watermans in the 1st VT Cav.

-Jim

[bedbug]

Many thanks, Jim...... and judging from his relatively short service (Waterman was a late addition to the famed 1st Vermont Cavalry enlisting in Company I. in January 1864. By August he had transferred to the VRC finally mustering out in October 1865.)
He was probably wounded at Yellow Tavern and invalided soon after.....but found work after the war in Newport Va.(probably in the ship business). Not the only carpet bagger in the family I've found.:laugh:

[lizapithecus]

I know this is going to sound crazy, but six years ago I saw that same photograph and sort of "fell in love" with the man holding the cards. I then set out to learn more about his life and ended up finding out a lot through all these random coincidences. He is in several more photographs online and there was a book written about the experience at Libby prison when he was there. A sketch of him playing cards with the writer of the book is on the cover if you can get ahold of a copy.

He is in picture number 4, 10, 11, 12, and 13 here:

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/ ... 114th&sp=1

Here's the book on Libby Prison:
Libby life: experience of a prisoner of war in Richmond, Va. 1863-64 / by Lieut. Colonel F.F. Cavada, u.s.v

If you go to this link and enter "70" in the page field or just page to 71 in the book you will see a sketch of Cavada and Harry playing cards. You can tell it is him because of his face and also because the trunk he's sitting on has his name on it "H.E.Rulon".

Good luck and I would love to hear any more stories you have about him.

Oh! And you probably already found this but there is a picture of him, very young, shortly after enlisting in the book Collis' Zouaves.

Take care!
Liz

[lizapithecus]

Sorry, I forgot to include the link for the book with the sketch of him in it:

http://books.google.com/books?id=QqIWAA ... &q&f=false

[DavidAcheson140PVI]

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