The 72nd OVI

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Hah! You thought we were done with this? No way.

Great-Great Uncle Patrick had the gift of gab, and that is why he is the certerpiece of so many family stories about the sprawling history of the Civil War. is stories about his role as a teenager and young man in the War Between the States has been an entertaining thing to follow. He left a literary record that is a lot like talking to the grand old man, who invented his own commission and uniform to wear in the days when the Lost Cause still stirred the blood of Southerners, and the horror of the War had faded into a sepia-toned memory of the might-have been.

I thought walking the field at Raymond with a copy of Patrick’s account of the fall of his Colonel, Randall McGavock, would slake the mental thirst for some closure on that long-ago event. Instead, it opened up something entirely new: the possibility that my Mom’s line of Ohio Irish were on the same field and in the same fight.

Let’s meet Great Grandfather, whose persona is not nearly so dramatic as that of Uncle Patrick, but whose sweat and blood was shed with Company K, 72nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He wore the Blue for three years, part of an ethnic Irish contingent of immigrants who cheerfully fought for both sides in the War for the West.

After the Griffins settled in Nashville, Patrick’s sister, Barbara Griffin, immigrated to America. In 1864, she caught the eye of Irishman James Foley, who was regimental teamster in the 72nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was described in his enlistment documents as ‘”ruddy complexioned, six foot tall, blonde-haired” Irishman.

If there is an image of what he might have looked like, it might be that of his grandson, my grandfather, Mike. This image is from 1916 in Bellaire, OH:

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In the course of his war in the West, James survived the epic battle at Shiloh and the brutal siege of Vicksburg, but Barbara proved irresistible and much more successful than Pemberton’s defense of the beleaguered river city. But more about that story in a moment.

In terms of the connection, we have relied on uncle Patrick’s remarks to his veteran’s group in 1905. On Mom’s side of the family, the Union side, she remembers Pop as an old man in the late 1920s. Pop was the son of civil war vet James, who lived in Dillonvale and Belleaire, OH, until his death.

I wish I had known more about how this all worked back when I could have done something easy, like ask her.

But all that said, there are some things that are easy enough to put in perspective, like the Regimental diary of the 72nd OVI.

I sat in the National Archives years ago and actually held his service record in my hands. I took extensive notes, which have migrated into some memory hole of another, and will have to look for them in the vast hoorah’ nest of files in the office in the garage down at the farm.

But the places I know James was located include these:

Crump’s Landing, TN
Shiloh, TN,
Siege of Corinth, MS,
Russell House, MS,
Jackson, MS, (two days after the battle at Raymond)
Siege of Vicksburg, MS,
Big Black River, MS,
Brandon, MS,
Hickahala Creek, MS,
Guntown, MS,
Harrisburg, MS,
Tupelo, Ms,
Old Town Creek, MS.

That takes the unit up to July of 1864, when the three-year enlistments were all expiring n masse, and the 72nd appears to have been pulled out of the line for rest, recreation and refitting. Most of the vets who had been with Company K were entitled to a re-enlistment bonus and thirty days home-leave. James took it, signing on Uncle Sugar’s contract and pocketing half the cash bonus and going home on leave.

Problem was that he didn’t come back, and the last card in his service record, after the fancy re-enlistment certificate, is the notation: Deserter.

There is more to it, of course, and he had his reasons. we will take a look at some of the venues of his service before voting with his feet. His departure from the war means I don’t have to research Little Harpeth, TN, Nashville, TN, the Pursuit of General John Bell Hood, and the last combat action at Spanish Fort, AL.

But I might anyway. And there is a love story in here, too, which we will get to in good time.

Copyright 2015 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com
Twitter: @jayare303

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