Explore the occupations of soldiers buried in the Soldiers' Plot at Woodlawn Cemetery. From pharmacists to musicians, discover their diverse stories.
Edwin Gideon was the first Civil War soldier to be buried in what is now called the Soldiers’ Plot at Woodlawn Cemetery. In 1861 it was simply a shady knoll on his father’s property. His monument is not a military one, but rather one erected by his family. (His parents are interred just a few yards to the south.) When he volunteered, he was a promising young medical student, and the US Army put his
knowledge to work, assigning him as a hospital steward. This may sound like a menial, low-level position, but that is hardly the case. In 1860’s military vernacular, a hospital steward is what we would call a pharmacist today. (The term steward was not replaced with pharmacist until 1902.) During Civil War times, while there were not a large number of drugs to administer, the steward had a myriad of other duties. If he worked in an encampment, he might also assist with surgery, see that soldiers got needed follow-up care or even give preliminary care on the battlefield.
In a hospital, often located in a makeshift building such as a hotel in a city near the battlefield, the steward was also the administrator. He would schedule surgeries and sometimes assist. It was up to him to see that the hospital was supplied with surgical necessities, bandages, bedding, food and all other items needed to run a hospital. He was overseer of the orderlies, who were commonly convalescing soldiers (volunteer female nurses were under supervision of the surgeons). He was responsible for massive amounts of written records from patient histories to the number of spittoons on hand. He might also be called upon to pull a tooth from time to time! All of this was in addition to compounding (mixing from scratch) the prescriptions of the surgeons and making sure they were properly given to the patient. One steward might be in charge of 150 beds. It was exhausting work, and since disease was rampant among Civil War soldiers, the steward was also exposed to illness on a daily basis.
Unfortunately, Edwin Gideon became ill and died after just a little more than 5 months in the Union Army. One source states he died of pneumonia in a regimental hospital, but his soldier profile states he died at home from typhoid fever. We do know that he was discharged and did die at home. Both causes of death could be accurate, as lung failure is the end-stage result of advanced typhoid. Edwin was just 25 years and 16 days of age.
Abram (also seen as Abraham) Tenbrook Roberts was a company musician during his time in military service, though it is not known what instrument he played. It may seem ludicrous today, but certain types of music were used in the military for
centuries. Of course, they did not have the advantage of electronic communication devices used during later wars, so they relied on the sound of musical instruments to rise above the din of battle. This is an excerpt from the role of music in Civil War operations from www.kennedy-center.org: Field musicians included the fife-and-drum corps with the marching units and the buglers that accompanied both the calvary and the infantry. These musicians marked the activities of daily wartime life, including wake up, lights-our, roll call, and drills. The music also helped organize the movement of the troops (think marching) and even conveyed combat orders to soldiers, who were trained to recognize these commands.
Of the 76 men buried at the Soldiers’ Plot whose occupations are known, most declared themselves as farmers at the time of enlistment. Of course, this is no surprise, as our home county is still closely tied to agriculture. Among the rest there were:
5 carpenters
4 store clerks
4 general laborers
3 teachers
2 physicians (who left their practice to volunteer)
2 career soldiers
2 policemen (after the war)
1 carriage maker (who became an upholsterer after the war)
1 cooper (barrel maker)
1 mechanic (probably made wagon tongues and axles or on the higher end, made machine parts or tools, such as for train engines)
1 shoemaker
1 butcher
1 hostler (stable man tending horses)
1 blacksmith
1 artist (One has to wonder how he made a living as an artist here in 1860.)
1 pilot (boat, not airplane)
1 printer (newspaper)
1 brick maker
1 railroad engineer
As an aside, of the 75 whose place of birth is reported, only 2 were born in DeWitt County. Six were born in other Illinois counties, 23 in Ohio, 6 in New York, 5 in Indiana, 5 in Kentucky, 4 in Tennessee, 4 in Pennsylvania, 3 in New Jersey, 3 in Virginia and one each in Vermont, Massachusetts, Maryland and Missouri. Two were born in Canada, 3 in Germany and 5 in England. At least 25 of them settled in DeWitt County after the war. (One must remember the Soldiers’ Plot was for Union veterans, not just soldiers who died during the war.) At least two were of African-American descent. Clinton, and perhaps DeWitt County as a whole, was an early reflection of the American “melting pot”!
Sources:
DeWitt County newspapers on microfilm
National Museum of Civil War Medicine (www.civilwarmed.org)
U.S., Registers of Deaths of Volunteers, 1861-1865 on Ancestry.com
Terri Lemmel was born and raised in DeWitt County near Kenney. Upon completing her education at Clinton High School, she lived in Bloomington for several years before returning to Clinton in 1990. Her interest in genealogy was piqued in the mid-90s when she found unidentified obituaries in her late grandmother's scrapbook that family members could not identify. While she initially dabbled in the subject, it wasn't until her retirement in 2018 that she jumped in with both feet. Terri joined the Genealogical Society and has been serving as its President since 2022. Research is a passion of hers, and there are lots of interesting stories to uncover! You can find Terri in the DeWitt County Genealogical Society room at the Vespasian Warner Public Library every Thursday completing research and helping others with their family and local history research.
To learn more about the DeWitt County Genealogical Society, feel free to reach out to them via phone at 217-935-5174, email at dewittcgs@gmail.com, their website, or their Facebook page.
The Vespasian Warner Library, located at 310 N. Quincy St. in Clinton, IL, features an extensive collection of local history and archives. To learn more, visit our Local History Page on the website or stop by in person! We are always excited to showcase our local history resources and discuss DeWitt County's local history.
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