Abraham Strayer's 1889 Civil War Pension Deposition pt. 3

Here is my transcription of page 3 of my g-g-grandfather Abraham Strayer's 1889 deposition regarding his Civil War disability claim. I've started with the first complete sentence on the page.

I think I had the measles when I was about two years old. I had no sickness before the war.

Dr. Thos Maybury, Pleasant Plain Ia was called once or twice to see different members of the family, but I had no occasion for his services.

Our Co. was organized at Keokuk Iowa, from there we went to St Louis, was there perhaps two months when we went up the Tenn River to Hamburg Tenn and marched from there, to where Gen. Halleck's army was invading Corinth.

The first sickness I had was along the last of June, felt badly + had some fever for three days. One of the surgeons (forget his name) gave me medicine. I then returned to duty again and was with the Co. until a day or two before the Iuka fight. We were camped near Jacinto. We were at Jacinto for a month. I was troubled with the diarrhoea, more or less all the time. I was at Jacinto, bt was generally on duty until a few days before the Army started for Iuka. Three Co's of our Co was at Jacinto for a week guarding prisoners and the out posts about the town.

Abraham's account of the movements of his regiment corresponds with the account from the Civil War Archive.

SERVICE.--Duty at Benton Barracks, Mo., until May 5, 1862. Moved to Hamburg Landing, Tenn., May 5-7. Advance on and siege of Corinth, Miss., May 8-30. Action on Corinth Road May 29. Pursuit to Booneville May 31-June 12. Camp at Clear Creek, near Corinth, until August 15. Expedition to Ripley, Miss., June 27-July 1. Moved to Jacinto August 15, and duty there until October 2. Expedition to Iuka, Miss., September 18-20. Battle of Iuka September 19.

So it was about Sept. 16, 1862 when he left he company because of another bout of illness.

Abraham Strayer's 1889 Civil War Pension Deposition

I received a copy of my great-great-grandfather, Abraham Strayer's Civil War disability pension file from the NARA a while back and have finally finished sorting through and organizing it. In 1889, he was trying to get his Civil War disability pension extended. His payments had only covered from his discharge through Sept 1881. He was deposed in his home town of Milan, Rock Island Co, IL on 3 Oct. 1889 by C. C. Horton, a Special Examiner of the Dept. Of the Interior's US Bureau of Pensions. Mr. Horton's handwriting is wonderfully illegible, but I've managed to make my way through the first of ten pages. Here is what it says (as near as I can tell):

My age is 67. I was formerly a farmer, not now able to work.

My P.O. address is Milan, Ill.

I was late pri D, 17th Iowa Vols [He was a private in Co. D of the 17th Iowa Infantry.]

 I enlisted March 17, 1862 and was discharged from the hospital at Keokuk Iowa for disability Jany 28 1863.

No other service.

I claim pension for rheumatism + chronic deirrhoen [sic]. I did apply for  poisoning but I don't know but what I thought to be poisoning was simply the result of rheumatism and deirrhoen [sic]

I was fully swollen in hands, in fact all over. When I came home, a Dr. Pesser of Brighton, Iowa told me I was poisoned. That is all I know about it, and that is why I made that claim. The Dr. did not examine me or treat me, just looked at my hands at a sale. I was also ruptured in service, but I do not know as there is any use in putting in a claim for that, as I did not show it to anyone. I have also been troubled with a trouble about my heart. I can not get my breath at times. All ways have been troubled with shortness of breath since the war.

You can see what I mean about it being tough to read. Here is what the word that I take to be "diarrhea" looks like. 

Even being generous, I cannot give Mr. Horton credit for having spelled that correctly.

More of this soon.

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.