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Garden Palooza

April 11, 2026 by Jaci Dawn

We took a little break and drove down to the annual Garden Palooza event at a local nursery in the Willamette Valley. This event draws people from Portland all the way to Corvallis. We go early on Fridays and there’s still a parking lot full when we arrive, This year didn’t seem quite as crowded but it was fast filling up by the time we left.

Grand collomia. Can't get my seeds to germinate, so I have starts!
Grand collomia. Can’t get my seeds to germinate, so I have starts!
full shade. “epinedium youngianum” (Young’s barrenwort
full shade. “epinedium youngianum” (Young’s barrenwort
bright yellow yarrow
bright yellow yarrow
Australian mint
Australian mint

Prices for plants were all over the place, too. I wrote down the price of commercial bleeding hearts at the gate: $6/gallon pot. We saw 4-inch pots for as much as $14 and as low as $4. I found grand collomia starts (two to a pot) for $4, a big yellow yarrow for $12 (gallon pot), an exotic looking “epinedium youngianum” (Young’s barrenwort) also for $12. And a lot of commercial bleeding hearts in gallon pots for anything from $12 to $24! I returned and bought two of the first ones I saw at $6. Our friend found a bottle bush (he likes mine) for a decent price as well. We stopped at another nursery on our way home because the vendor at the event told my husband they sold smaller versions of a plant he fell in love with at the nursery: an Australian mint with purple flowers.

peony bloom destroyed by insect
peony bloom destroyed by insect

I also asked the expert from Brother’s Tree Peonies about this damage to one of my peonies. His eyes got large and he said, “Bugs don’t like peonies!”  But then he came up with an answer: the culprit is most likely a carpenter bee who dug out the hole, decided it didn’t like peonies, and moved on to a better home. Makes perfect sense to me and it is only one peony, the “test” peony. Because bugs don’t like peonies.

Grand Collomia in bloom, roadside flower. Native.
Grand Collomia in bloom, roadside flower. Native.

Now to wait out the next week of rain clouds. And to get ahead of Round One with Allergies.

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April Continued

April 11, 2026 by Jaci Dawn

I then went to work on my “defeat the neighbor’s lawn maintenance guy” project. This is a three-foot wide strip of lawn that abuts their property and is hidden from sight to us by virtues of an ancient garage. Per city code, the garage is set back from our property line but that three feet of set-back is still our property. The war began not because the lawn guy mows the lawn back there (we don’t really care) but because the first year he started mowing their lawn he also mowed down all my sword ferns on that side of the garage. MY ferns that I planted specifically so no one would have to mow there.

I’m a little bit possessive of plants I work hard to put into the ground and nurture to life, even if they are sword ferns in full shade where I never water. Or look, really.

I put out a sign on the side of the garage to PLEASE DON’T MOW THE FERNS. I decided to plant some flowers along that side of the driveway for color. The setback runs parallel to the driveway (which you can see from the house and street) down to my big yucca plant and our water meter. I don’t water there, but someone had to mow the grass there. Twenty years ago, the old woman who originally owned the property asked me to plant flowers there since we routinely forgot to mow that area. Now that I have mostly exhausted new garden beds elsewhere in the yard, why not follow up on that request and plant drought-tolerant but pretty flowers there? Day lilies immediately spring to mind.

I did that. And lawn mower man still manages to clip my plants with his lawn mower. Not the ferns anymore, but the day lilies and the daffodils that were already present there. He runs one wheel of his mower down the strip and steps in the flowers. But the last thing he did was to dead-head MY yucca last year. What the actual…? That yucca is kind of my baby: I picked it up for free over 20 years ago and it has been so happy in that little spot, blooming up a storm every year. I usually cut the expired flower spikes down late in the summer or early in the fall, but last year?! Lawn mower man did it for me.

Lawn mower man has been advised, but he really just doesn’t “get” it. He’s not the brightest bulb on the tree (a saying that I suppose means a Christmas tree’s string of lights). So, yes, I could just talk to him but this area needed flowers and plants anyway. Rather than confront a poor man just doing what he thinks is his job, I did mine and took care of the space like Selma asked me to so many years ago.

Trimmed the ferns and added edging beside the garage.
Trimmed the ferns and added edging beside the garage.
The view to the yucca. I'll add more drought tolerant flowers.
The view to the yucca. I’ll add more drought tolerant flowers.

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April 2026

April 11, 2026 by Jaci Dawn

It is raining today, a light rain that will knock the pollen out of the air, but which keeps me inside the house. This is all right with me. We just came out of a weeklong dry spell during which I was able to get a lot of yard work done but at the price of my health. My face feels like it is swollen out to the end of my nose, my eyes feel (and look) like they have been sandblasted, and my nose is dripping. Allergies have come on early and brutally this season.

I was able to fix a leak in (under) one of my water features. This involved a trip to Lowe’s for some lawn edging and a surprise purchase of a 3×4’ plastic for under a sink. We looked at pond lining (too expensive and way too much lining for my purpose) before we found the under-the-sink lining. Honestly, if you need this stuff under your kitchen sink, you need a plumber. For my little purpose, the size and thickness were perfect, as was the very low price. (We also found the lawn edging I wanted and a bonus shelving unit for the shed we had installed last year, the shelving being on sale and reasonable priced.)

Both water features need work, but the second one isn’t a leak: it is the rusty “fountain” I bought at a yard sale. We need to do something about the rust. But I didn’t tackle that this past week. That job will be a future blog post.

Using a crowbar and moving a number of rocks around, I was finally able to stop the leak in the pond. The large rock forms a natural water course, but the water tends to drip under the lip and into the earth below. I tipped that rock at a slightly steeper angle, then played with the rocks and dish it drips into. The plastic lining went up under all of that (some feat considering the rock probably weighs 70+ pounds). But the result was that I managed to get the right angle and the pond now stays full. I will need to get some mosquito fish next, but I’ll fix the other pond first.

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Garden Fever

March 31, 2026 by Jaci Dawn

Chickweed – the most prolific early flower/weed.

California Bay Laurel – so fragrant!

Wild violet
Forget-me-not
Lenten rose
Checkered lily
rosemary
early tulips
baby blue eyes
lithodora
geraniums
“honesty” or silver dollar plant
candy tuft
forsythia
Part of my on-going “war” with the neighbor’s lawn guy who keeps mowing my ferns in our little right-of-way between properties. I still need to edge and plant some bleeding hearts.
The other view of the “disputed” area (the lawn guy is the only person who doesn’t understand property lines – the neighbor gets it). I’ll edge this as well and add some more plants after I finish weeding.
My husband and I spent so much time trying to figure out what this pretty blue flower was. The App on my phone kept coming up empty. So tiny, so pretty…
Then I got a good close up of it and it is actually lint from a blue towel that was hanging on the clothes line a few days earlier.

I hate to leave genealogy behind, but it is the season of the garden, and I will be spending as much time outside as possible. Hopefully, I won;t have more towel lint to identify (but it IS a pretty blue color!).

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Civil War – A Pause in My Narrative

March 18, 2026 by Jaci Dawn

163 years ago, my great-great uncles were marching to the Atlantic Ocean with General Sherman. I really do want to record their service in the Union Army, but the season has moved from Winter to Spring, and I am spending MY days in the garden in my own yard pulling weeds,

Willard, Wilber, John, and Thomas were penning letters home in July of 1863. Telling of victories, illnesses, and losses. Wilber and John would not return home. Willard and Thomas would return home broken men.

I have found it too difficult to follow the letters home that I have in my collection, some from the brothers and some from the in-laws (Barnards, Miranda Wilcox  married into the family). The war was gruesome, terrible, unrelenting, and it took a heavy toll on the men and women who lived through it.

I may pick this thread up again when the weather turns once again, but for now I am finished with the American Civil War. God rest my ancestors.

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Letters from Vicksburg

March 1, 2026 by Jaci Dawn

In which the Wilcox brothers write home while their brother, my G-G-G-Grandfather stayed home and tended the farm.

Vicksburg, March 13, 1863

Most of the regiments have moved up on the levee, and we have drawn our guns up. Half a mile below us the country is flooded.

Camp near Vicksburg, March 28, 1863

We arrived in camp last night after dark. We started on the 20th from here with one section of our battery. Thomas and I went on the YazooRiver about ten miles, then turned into Steele Bayou, on the left side of the river as you go up the bank. We went about 60 miles from the Yazoo. We were landed to guard the bayou, to keep them from felling timber into it. We camped on the first dry ground we came to on the Black Bayou. We enjoyed the time we were in camp very well, sailing in the canoes we found along the bayou.We came back on the gunboat Louisville. About 200 negroes, women and children, came back with us. The whole thing was one complete failure. The infantry had to wade in water up to their knees.

                Willard Wilcox

~

Camp before Vicksburg, March 29, 1863

Willard and I have returned from an expedition up the Yazoo river. It was a failure. The order came about 10:00 at night. Of the 19th, for the two howitzers. We went over 60 miles. Came back on gunboat. We were on a plantation.

                Thos. Wilcox

April 5, 1863

Thomas ill: “I have stayed in camp, and the boys have taken first rate care of me.”

~

Milliken’s Bend, May 3, 1863

Wilber was up in the Chickasaw and fought the battery for three hours without being disabled, but was struck a great many times.

Rear of Vicksburg, May 5, 1863

Have to stay at the guns most all the time. We were called up every night to fire ten or fifteen shots. The squads take turns of two hours each in firing it, or 25 shots at a time. Our men are getting all the heavy guns mounted and rifle pits dug to within 100 yards of the rebel works. Every battery on the line opened up on them one morning about 3:00 o’clock; for hours it seemed like a stream of fire from one end of the line to the other. One thing is certain, they cannot stand it much longer. We keep getting closer every night, and will dig them out. I would like to come home when we take Vicksburg. It seems a long time since I went away. Willard is as strong as ever. The Captain said that he is the only one that stays at the cassion that he can depend on to get anything done when he wants it. I do not like soldiering, no way you can fix it.

                Thomas Wilcox

~

Milliken’s Bend, La. 25 miles from Vicksburg. May 7, 1863

Willard has got over his fever. I am about well. The boys came back from their expedition without firing a gun. They went up the Yazoo River to Haines’ Bluff. The troops have all gone below Vicksburg except our division. We have a nice camp. We left Milliken’s Bend May 6, and went to Grand Gulf, and started for the bridge across the Black River. Water was scarce, and the roads so dusty we could not see two rods, and we were on half rations, but we stoof it first rate. We were in position three times but did not fire; were under fire several times. General Sherman ordered our battery up to the river bank, but after five shots they hoisted the white flag. Squad 2 crossed the pontoon bridge first with six horses.

Near Vicksburg, May 30, 1863

Left Young’s Point day before yesterday to join the company. Went up the Yazoo about 12 miles. We landed, found the battery near the place on the opposite side of the Chickasaw bayou from where we were last fall, near the place where 6th Mo., undertook to cross. Wilber and Thomas are here.

                W. J. Wilcox

~

We have been under fire for six days, within 400 yards of the breastworks. The four gun squads have to stay at the guns night and day.

Rear of Vicksburg, May 30, 1863

Thomas and Wilber are looking well. Our line of battle is on one range of hills, theirs on another, being about 400 yards apart. Where our battery is, we have got our line intrenched, but skirmishers keep firint at one another when they see anyone. Ore battery fires more or less every day. They brought in four 30-pound Parrotts last night. Our boys have one to man. They have to keep it going all the time, so they take turns at it. They fire all over, sometimes clear in to the center of town.

                Willard Wilcox

Near Vicksburg, May 31, 1863

The most trouble is to stand the heat. We are on the side of a high ridge without any shade, and in the middle of the day it is very hot, especially if we shoot. Yesterday we got up a 30-pound Parrott gun and fired 100 shots from it, and at 6:00 A.M. we fired from one end of the line to the other. They have got so that they don’t fire back but very little.

Camp in rear of Vicksburg, June 4, 1863

Our lines have not advanced since I came here excepting in places where they are making approaches which I don’t know much about. Both parties lie behind their works occasionally exchanging shots with small arms. We have fired a great deal with the artillery. You can form some idea of the amount, as the gun that I belong to fired 633 shots. If the Eastern armies could gain a victory, it would be a better feeling.

                Willard Wilcox

~

Camp in rear of Vicksburg. June 16, 1863

Vicksburg is not yet taken, but Grant and Sherman are working as fast as the rough nature of the ground will permit. The amount of work done by the army since we have been here is almost past belief, yet the men work with a good will, confident that we will have Vicksburg in spite of Johnston. There is not a day passes, but more or less men are killed.

                Wilber Wilcox

~

Camp near Vicksburg, June 23, 1863

We have a new battery, five light 12-pounders and one 10-pound Parrott gun. They will carry farther than our old battery; our men are at work making approaches. They are within a few feet of the enemy’s ditch in several spaces, but there has got to be a parallel ditch dug to hold many men before they can storm it. Our pickets are in one ditch while theirs are in another. They used to talk a great deal, but that has been forbidden, so they write on pieces of paper and pass backward and forward. One of our boys threw over a part of a loaf of bread and they threw back a biscuit. You can talk to them quite easy from the guns where Thomas stays, when they are on the breastworks.

                Willard Wilcox

The siege ended on the 4th of July, 1863. The brothers would then march to the sea with Sherman, Eventually, one of them would die and only the two would make it back home (John having already died at Chickamagua).

A “Parrott” gun was a cannon.

If you want to learn more about the Battle of Vicksburg, the following are some links to get you started.

https://www.battlefields.org/learn/maps/vicksburg-campaign-1863

https://www.battlefields.org/visit/virtual-tours/vicksburg-virtual-tour

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Leading Up to Vicksburg – 1863 Part IV

February 10, 2026 by Jaci Dawn

The following letters precede the battle at Vicksburg and the subsequent surrender there. I have, so the sake of brevity, left out a lot of details of the battles and skirmishes, and tried to concentrate only on the actual letters.

Memphis, Tennessee Dec. 1, 1862

We have orders to be ready to leave to-morrow. One rainy night he took three rails and laid them on one, and spread a blanket with rubber over. We kill the sheep, cattle, and pigs in the woods where found.

Thos. Wilcox

Thomas was under General Sherman at this time. Not sure who “he” is.

Near Tallahatchie, Dec. 3, 1862

We are in Smith’s division. Thomas and Wilber were at Oxford. They went with Sherman’s body guard.

W.J. Wilcox

Smith would have been Union General Morgan L. Smith.

Jan 8, 1863

Vicinity of Memphis, on the Mississippi, near the mouth of the White River. We withdrew our forces from the swamp near Vicksburg New Year’s night. We brought off everything, not leaving so much as a bag of grain. The gap in our division was about 180 killed and wounded. I heard to-day that Andrew Mullen was killed. He was badly wounded and left on the field. The men that told me thought that he would have gotten over it if he had been taken care of; but he laid out one day and two nights – raining all the first night – so when they got him he was dead.

Willard Wilcox

Battle of Arkansas Post – Jan 10,11 1863

Proceeded up the Arkansas Jan 9. Late in the afternoon, they halted about three miles below the fort, and began landing for the night. At noon on the 10th we began movement toward the fort. The field artillery, numbering 45 pieces, was disposed in the intervals of Sherman’s and Morgan’s lines. The artillery opened fire, and kept it up half an hour, then ceased, and the infantry assaulted. Lindsey, of Morgan’s corps, with four guns, took position above the fort. Fort surrendered. Troops re-embarked 16th and 17th.

Moved to Young’s Point. Was engaged in the Vicksburg campaign until the surrender of Vicksburg, July 4, 1863, then moved to Jackson, Miss. After the siege and surrender of Jackson, moved to Black River, and remained in camp there until Sept. 27, when ordered to Chattanooga.

Camp on Stone River near Murfreesboro.

(unsigned)

February 1863.

It is two months since I had a letter from home. I stand ready to go into battle and endure all the hardships of war, but to be deprived of hearing from friends whom I may never see again, is asking me to become a stone. The government should take more pains to forward the mail. We expect to march as soon as the condition of the roads make it possible.

John Wilcox, with 88th Infantry.

Haines’ Bluff – 1863

Blaine’s division embarked on ten steamboats about 10:00 A>M> April 29. Proceeded to Yazoo April 30, to within easy range of enemy’s batteries. Four hours demonstration kept up. Toward evening disembarked, seemingly prepared to assault. April 31, similar movements. Dropped back to camp at Young’s Point, reaching there the night of May 1st.

Our division went up to Haines’ Bluff. I was not well enough to go.

Willard J. Wilcox

I tried to locate all their positions on a map. All of this is leading up to the Siege of Vicksburg which took place May 18 – July 4, 1863 which cost the Confederacy some 32,363 souls. It was a decisive Union victory and led to the ultimate push by General Sherman to the sea.

The population of the city I live in was around 38,000 in 2025.

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American Civil War Part 3

February 2, 2026 by Jaci Dawn

 The Siege of Corinth took place April 29 – May 30, 1862. This was before the battel of Vicksburg in 1863. We are stepping back in time a little, to a previous campaign my ancestors were part of, before John Wilcox died at Chickamauga in 1863.  10,699 rebels were killed, wounded, or taken prisoner. 12,217 Union soldiers were killed, wounded, or taken prisoner. Let those numbers sink in a little bit.

A “battery” consisted of six guns: four 6-pounders and two 12-pounders. My great-great uncles wrote a few letters home during this conflict.

May 2, 1862

The army is moving toward Corinth. Our division has not moved yet, but expects to in a day or two. Have been out on two marches lately.

May 22, 1862

I have about recovered. I put on my clothes today. I shall be ready to take part in the next skirmish. Wilber is well.

About the attack being a surprise, in one sense it was and it was not. We were all well aware of the enemy’s being near, for they had driven our outposts the day before and was in sight on the roads from our line. We were on the extreme right of our line so were in reserve, but as soon as the battle commenced were moved to the left. Grant was at Savannah when the battle commenced, which was about four miles down the river from where the hospital was. Some of our line gave way the first fire, but other portions fought well and inflicted heavy loss on the enemy. The principal part of the loss on both sides was on the first day. It depends a great deal upon circumstances about what anyone does, but I can say one thing that no man of Co. A can say: I stayed with the battery three hours after I was wounded, and I passed through one of the most trying scenes of my life.

W.J. Wilcox.

After the battle of Shiloh, the rebels withdrew to Corinth. The last of April the Union army began the advance toward Corinth. Corinth was evacuated by the rebel army May 30, McClernand’s reserve, consisting of his own and Lew Wallace’s division, was then turned west to Bolivar and Memphis. Battery A. was sent with this division, reaching Union Junction, near Memphis, June 17, 1862.

Memphis, July 13, 1862

Just arrived from White River where squad 2 went last Monday to guard a steamboat. Went up the river about 125 miles.

W.J Wilcox

~~~

Memphis, Oct 1, 1862

We had an order for boards for our tents, which looks like staying all winter here. Wilber had just been drilling us in dismounting the guns and carriages, so we can show off at grand battalion review. The squads try to see which can harness and hitch the horses on the guns the quickest. Squad 2 came out five seconds ahead; we were two minutes and twenty-five seconds with the postillions and cannon mounted. Last week we had a trial at target shooting at a snag in the river, 1,000 yards off, about as big as a man. Wilber came out best.

Thos. Wilcox

~~~ Note: a 1,000 yard shot is a long shot. Think eight football fields, lengthwise, assuming the distance is 120 yards (10 football fields if you lay them down goal post to goal post). The most common rifles used during the Civil War had a firing distance of about 300-500 yards. Even today, that is one heckuva distance for an average deer rifle, say a .30-30. Of course, they were probably firing artillery and I have no clue what the ballistics are.

Nashville, Nov. 14, 1862

All I have to say is that I have enlisted, and have no grumbling to do, but intend tyo live and die as a true soldier, but my advice to them that have homes is, they had better stay there. We have marched 440 miles since leaving Louisville. Capt. B and I cook together, eat and drink from the same dish, and sleep together. He has the privilege of buying his rations. I saw him with sixteen doughnuts. I have not taken any private property of any kind.

John Wilcox

~~~

Memphis, Dec 14, 1860

Arrived yesterday/ Gen. Sherman came back with us. We lived on the inhabitants partly while out. The boys went for everything they wanted. The General had to stop them. We did not bring in as many negroes as when we were out last summer.

WJ Wilcox

So much of the Civil Way was about stealing food, ravaging the opponent’s homesteads and mansions, and taking slaves to force them to be soldiers on whichever side managed to take them captive. It was not pretty, it was not neat, and it often wasn’t about setting the captive free as much as it was about using the captive to bolster the military numbers. It was a savagery that ripped across the American soil.

When you hear current politicos talk about “another civil war”, you wonder how much of history they have read. How much blood spilt, families divided, homes wrecked, and innocence destroyed.

Yet, it is my family’s history. And I hope they were all like John, not taking what wasn’t theirs.

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Battle of Fort Donelson – Civil War Part 2

January 16, 2026 by Jaci Dawn

Continuing with my notes:

Battery A, 1st Chicago Light Artillery was stationed at Camp Smith, two miles from Cairo for five months.

Camp Smith, June 11, 1861

The furniture of our tents consist of a soap box apiece to put our clothes in, some wooden stools to sit on when we eat, and a board table. We have a stand in our tent to write on. We made the stool, table, and stand ourselves. We have to put all our things but all the boxes out of our tent when we sleep. The first meal we had in Cairo was a passanle (sic) breakfast. At dinner they gave us some beef that needed better teeth than I have; hard bread. Cold potatoes without washing; river water without filtering.

                                Willard J. Wilcox

Passanle – passable, I would guess.

Sept. 6 Battery A was moved to Paducah where it remained until Feb. 4, 1862. Moved to Ft Heiman and participated in the battle of Ft Donelson, Feb 14 and 15, 1862, and the battle of Shiloh, April 6 and 7, 1862. Then moved to Corinth and from there to Memphis, reaching Memphis June 17, 1862.

BATTLE OF FT. DONELSON.

Battery A was with Thayer’s Brigade.

Feb. 13,1862. Skirmishing; Feb. 24, repulse of Union gunboats; Feb. 16, rebel assault on Union forces; Feb. 16, fort surrenders.

 “At night amid snow and sleet, with no tents, shelter nor fire, and many with no blankets, the hungry exhausted troops on both sides lay down in ditches and behind logs and tried to sleep. Many of the Wounded froze.”

“In the battle of the 15th, during the rebel assault, McClermand’s (sic) forces were driven back, an officer shouted, “We are all cut to pieces.”

“An order was dispatched to bring Battery A forward at full speed. Col. John A. Thayer, commanding the Brigade, formed it on the double quick into line. The battery came up on the run, and swung across the road, which had been left open for it. Hardly had it unlimbered before the enemy appeared, and firing began.”

“The new front thus formed covered the retiring regiments, helpless from lack of ammunition. The enemy coming up the road and through the shrubs and trees on both sides of it, making the battery and the 1st Nebraska the point of attach (sic). They met this storm, no man flinching, and their fire was terrible. To say they did well, is not enough – their conduct was splendid. They, alone, repelled the charge. Too much praise cannot be given Lieut. Wood and his company and Lieut. McCord and his regiment.”

                                -Report of General Lew Wallace.

April 1st, 1862

“The 8th Missouri and 11th Indiana regiments did not like it because we had to leave their division, but the 9th Illinois was pleased to have us in their brigade.”   W.J. Wilcox

*I have left the punctuation as written.

General McClernand had not properly secured his flanks. And his men were driven back almost two miles.

General Lew Wallace commanded the 11th Indiana Infantry Regiment.

Lt. Peter Wood was commanding Battery A. Lt. McCord was commanding the 1st Nebraska.

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General Family History (Civil War). Part 1: War

January 12, 2026 by Jaci Dawn

I am transcribing this from a 40-page typewritten photocopied document that was among my father’s research. I do not know the veracity of it all nor do I know how many posts the series will take up.  What is in italics is what I transcribed. My notes are not in italics.

In 1861 the war began. Four of her (Sarah Lord Wilox’s) sons enlisted; only two came back, one of the two shattered in health from a long imprisonment.

Sarah Wilcox died October 2nd, 1883.

Immediately after the firing on Ft. Sumpter (sic), came President Lincoln’s first call for troops. Wilbur I. Wilcox was at this time teaching. Willard J. Wilcox was engaged in making brooms. They immediately dropped their employment, and enlisted in the first company and first regiment that left Illinois for three months’ service – Co. A, 1st Regiment, Chicago Light Artillery. Willard was then 26, Wilber, 24 years of age. Saturday they went to Chicago and enlisted; Sunday they were journeying toward Cairo. They returned home on a furlough at the expiration of their enlistment, but re-enlisted for three years, or during the war, before returning home. After a few days at home they started again for Cairo and rejoined their battery.

                Cairo (Kay-ro), Illinois, was where U.S. Grant based his operations out of.

Willard fell from a caisson in Dec. 1861. As soon as (he) was able to travel after this injury, he visited his mother, remaining with her until after the marriage of his sister Mary on Jan. 1, 1862.

Before his furlough had expired he was recalled to his company. He was with the company which moved from Cairo, Jan. 10, 1862, on a reconnoisance (sic)  into Kentucky, returning Jan 22nd. At the battle of Shiloh, Willard and Wilber were both wounded. Willard carried a minie ball* in his head the remained of his life in consequence of this injury.

During the advance on Corinth, Willard and others were sent out after horses, at which time Willard was again wounded, receiving six buckshot wounds in the shoulder, and back of the head.

                The Battle of Shiloh was a Union victory at heavy cost. It was one of the bloodiest battles in the war with nearly 24,000 casualties. My brain can’t fathom that number! Corinth is a short distance from Shiloh, across the border in Mississippi, and was a Confederate stronghold.

Wilber was Sergeant when killed July 22, 1863. (Vicksburg?)

Willard re-enlisted in the veteran corps after three years’ service. He received four hundred dollars and a 30-days’ furlough. He was sergeant when mustered out in July, 1865.

Thomas Wilcox enlisted Aug. 11, 1862. He joined Co. A Chicago Light Artillery at Memphis. He was taken prisoner at the battle of Atlanta, July 22, 1864. He was released at the close of the war.

John Wilcox enlisted Sept. 4, 1862, 1st Sergeant Co. K, 88th Ill. Infantry/ He was killed at the battle of Chickamauga, Sept 20, 1863. He is buried with the unknown dead at Chattanooga.

Unknown Civil War Dead Chatanooga (credit: Pixabay – giselaFotografie)

Daniel E. Barnard enlisted Sept. 4, 1862, Capatin Co. K, 88th Ill, Infantry; mustered out at the close of the war.

Erastus A. Barnard was drafted Sept 27, 1864; assigned to Co. H, 30th Infantry; mustered out June 4, 1865. He marched with Sherman’s army to the sea.

E.A. Barnard was taken ill during the march to Savannah. He remained with the army until Savannah was entered. He was in the hospital there from Dec. 24, 1864 to April 1, 1865. Thence he went to Pocotaligo; from there by boat to Wilmington; then marched to Raleigh and joined his regiment the day before Johnston surrendered.

General Joseph E. Johnston surrendered to General Sherman at Bennett’s Place, Durham’s Station, N.C., in April of 1865.

                Erastus A. Barnard married Mary L. Wilcox. Daniel E. Barnard was his brother.

                William Orson Wilcox (my ancestor) did not serve. I do not know why except, perhaps, he was left in charge of Sarah and his brother’s respective families.

*The Minié ball, or Minie ball, is a type of hollow-based. Invented in 1849 shortly followed by the Minié rifle, the Minié ball was used in the  American Civil War where it was found to inflict significantly more serious wounds than earlier round musket balls. (Source: Wikipedia)

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