Monday, April 11, 2011

Civil War Break

In honor of the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War, I bring you my 3rd great grandfather on my mother's side, Emery Waller.

Emery, the first child of Solomon Waller and Amelia Steel, was born December 11, 1813 in Princeton, Butler County, Ohio.  I don't know much about Emery's early years except that he moved from Ohio to DeWitt County, Illinois sometime between 1846 and 1848.

April 12, 1861 brought the start of the Civil War which found men of all ages throughout the country joining the cause.  On September 4, 1861, at the age of 48, Emery Waller joined the 39th Illinois Infantry, Company I, as First Lieutenant.  He mustered out on October 11, 1861.

Less than one year later (June 14, 1862), Emery resigned and re-enlisted on August 2, 1862 as Captain in the 107th Illinois Infantry, Company I.  The 107th Illinois mustered into service on September 4, 1862 at Camp Butler, Illinois and was composed of six companies from DeWitt County and four from Piatt County.  From Camp Butler they left for Jeffersonville, Indiana on September 30.  There they remained until October 12 preparing for active field service.  They then moved on to Kentucky - Louisville, Elizabethtown, Mumfordsville, and finally on to Glasgow.  Emery resigned on December 15, 1863.

I'm getting ready to request Emery's military records so I can learn more about his time in the war.  Any helpful hints about obtaining records are appreciated.

Thank you for your service, Emery. 

1 comment:

  1. Hi Debi,
    I'll be interested to see what you learn from Emery's pension file.

    Thanks for sending this in to the Challenge, and welcome to the Geneablogger community!

    ReplyDelete