Keokuk Civil War Hospital Cornerstone

Recently, I have been going through the 147 pages of the Civil War pension file of my great-great-grandfather, Abraham STRAYER (1823-1893). He enlisted in Company D of the 17th Regiment of the Iowa Volunteer Infantry at Brighton, IA on 26-Mar-1862. He was 39 years old. The regiment mustered in on 16-Apr-1862 in Keokuk, IA.

The regiment was on duty at the Benton Barracks, MO until May 5, 1862. They then moved to Hamburg Landing, TN on May 5-7. They participated in the advance on and siege of Corinth, MS from May 8-30. There saw action on Corinth Road on May 29 and were involved in pursuit operations to Booneville, MS from May 31-June 12. They encamped at Clear Creek, near Corinth, until August 15. They undertook an expedition to Ripley, MS from June 27-July 1. They moved their camp to Jacinto, MS on August 15.

I had always assumed that Abraham's disability discharge in Jan. 1863 was do to a wound received in battle. I was sadly mistaken. According to various affadavits, Abraham's legs swelled up from rheumatism and he suffered from chronic diarrhea. He was not the only soldier affected with this problem. According to Union records of 1,739,135 cases, 57,265 Yankee soldiers died of dysentery or diarrhea, compared with 44,238 men dying in battle.

I am still working through transcribing all of the paper work related to Abraham's pension claims so I am not exactly sure when his medical problems began. The general time frame is the Fall of 1862, when the regiment was encamped at Jacinto. I do know that he was admitted to the General Hospital at Mound City, IL on 4-Oct-1862 and was discharged on 23-Oct-1862. He was admitted to the hospital steamer "D.A. January" on 30-Oct-1862 and was thereafter transfered to the General Hospital in Keokuk, IA on 4-Nov-1862. He was discharged from service from the Keokuk hospital on 28-Jan-1863, less than a year after enlisting.

The Civil War Hospital in Keokuk was established in 1862 in the hotel, Estes House, which had been built in 1857. It stood at the corner of 5th and Main. This hospital had 16 wards with more than 1300 beds. The building was razed in 1929, and the cornerstone was removed and brought to the cemetery in memory of those who died in the hospital. The cornerstone is in Section B in the eastern section of the cemetery in a copper case with a glass top.

CORNERSTONE OF THE OLD ESTES HOUSE
FIFTH & MAIN KEOKUK, IOWA
SITE OF ARMY HOSPITAL APRIL 17, 1862 - OCT. 1, 1865
ERECTED TO THE MEMORY OF THE SOLDIERS WHO
DIED IN THE OLD GENERAL HOSPITAL AT KEOKUK
AND ARE BURIED IN THE NATIONAL CEMETERY

There are more than 4000 Civil War dead buried in the Keokuk National Cemetery. Luckily, my great-great-grandfather is not one of them. Although he lived for another 30 years after his discharge, he was always sickly, feeble, walked with a cane and had trouble making a living.