Genealogy Story – Stephen Simmons – Civil War Casualty

My ancestors have been in this country since the early 1600’s.  Therefore, it is only natural that some of them would have served in the various wars – Revolutionary War, Civil War, etc.  This is the story of one such individual.

In August 1850, my Russell ancestors were living on a small farm in Duchess County, NY – the area between the Hudson River and Connecticut that today is spanned by I-84 and includes places like Poughkeepsie and Fishkill.  Their farm in Dover was only 2-3 miles from the Connecticut border.  Silas Russell was a blacksmith and he and his wife Hester [Disbrow] Russell were raising their large family. The census records of 1850 show their children Lydia (age 21), Eliza (age 20), Rebecca (age 17), Theodore (age 14), Hannah (age 11), Mary (age 4), and “Not named” (1 month).  Also living with them was a 27 year old “laborer” (presumably helping Silas at the blacksmithing job) by the name of Stephen Simmons. 

Stephen had wed Rebecca, the teenage daughter of his employer earlier that year.  It is not known why Rebecca still had her maiden name in the census.  By the 1860, Stephen and Rebecca had married and moved to Sharon, CT, just a few miles to the east.  Living with them were their children Edwin (age 9 – born in early 1851), and Catharine (age 7).  Both of the children were shown as having been born in NY, so they evidently had moved to CT sometime between 1853 when Catharine was born and 1860.

In 1861, the US Civil War began.  The following September, Stephen decided to join the Union Army and he enlisted as a private in Company B of the 150^th NY Infantry Regiment.  Rebecca and their children went back across the border to live with her parents while Stephen was away fighting.  The 150^th was called the “Duchess County Regiment”.  Here is a brief history of the regiment.

Organized at Poughkeepsie, N.Y., and mustered in October 10, 1862. Left State for Baltimore, Md., October 11, 1862. Attached to Defenses of Baltimore, Md., 8th Army Corps, Middle Department, to January, 1863. 2nd Separate Brigade, 8th Army Corps, to February, 1863. 3rd Separate Brigade, 8th Army Corps, to July, 1863. 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, 12th Army Corps, Army of the Potomac, to July, 1863. 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, 12th Army Corps, Army of the Potomac, to October, 1863, and Army of the Cumberland to April, 1864. 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, 20th Army Corps, Army of the Cumberland and Georgia, to June, 1865.

SERVICE.--Duty at Baltimore, Md., until February, 1863, and in the Middle Department until July, 1863. Joined Army of the Potomac in the field. Gettysburg (Pa.) Campaign July. Battle of Gettysburg, Pa., July 1-3. Pursuit of Lee July 5-24. Duty on line of the Rappahannock until September, 1863. Movement to Stevenson, Ala., September 24-October 3. Guard duty on line of the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad until April, 1864. Atlanta (Ga.) Campaign May 1-September 8. Demonstration on Rocky Faced Ridge May 8-11. Battle of Resaca May 14-15. Near Cassville May 19. Advance on Dallas May 22-25. New Hope Church May 25. Battles about Dallas, New Hope Church and Allatoona Hills May 26-June 5. Operations about Marietta and against Kenesaw Mountain June 10-July 2. Pine Hill June 11-14. Lost Mountain June 15-17. Gilgal or Golgotha Church June 15. Muddy Creek June 17. Noyes Creek June 19. Kolb's Farm June 22. Assault on Kenesaw June 27. Ruff's Station, Smyrna Camp Ground, July 4. Chattahoochie River July 5-17. Peach Tree Creek July 19-20. Siege of Atlanta July 22-August 25. Operations at Chattahoochie River Bridge August 26-September 2. Occupation of Atlanta September 2-November 15. March to the sea November 15-December 10. Montieth Swamp December 9. Siege of Savannah December 10-21. Campaign of the Carolinas January to April, 1865. Averysboro, N. C., March 16. Battle of Bentonville March 19-21, Occupation of Goldsboro March 24. Advance on Raleigh April 9-13. Occupation of Raleigh April 14. Bennett's House April 26. Surrender of Johnston and his army. March to Washington, D.C., via Richmond, Va., April 29-May 19. Grand Review May 24. Mustered out at Washington, D.C., June 8, 1865. Veterans and Recruits transferred to 60th New York Infantry.  

Regiment lost during service 2 Officers and 49 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 3 Officers and 78 Enlisted men by disease. Total 132.

Unfortunately, Stephen was one of the 49 enlisted men who was killed.  He died during the battle of Peach Tree Creek, when the Union Army, under the command of General Sherman was crossing that creek in order to begin the siege of Atlanta a few days later.  Civil War death records note his death, although one of them notes that he was “Mustered out on 20 Jul 1864 at Peach Tree Creek” (perhaps that was the politically correct way of the time?)

Rebecca, now a widow, raised her children on her parent’s farm in Duchess County.  Both Edwin and Catharine married in the early 1870’s.  Edwin and his family lived about 25 miles to the east in Oxford, Connecticut.  Catharine married a man from Connecticut, but they moved even further east to Providence, Rhode Island. 

Both children could be proud of their father’s service in the Union Army.  But they also would have been grateful for their grandparents who took the family back in and supported them through their teenage years.