Solivagant USA

I’m writing to honor my second and third great grand Uncles, both named Jeremiah Boatman. Jeremiah the 2xggUncle was the brother of my second great Grandfather George Harvey Boatman. We share Grandfathers on up the line to Claudius Boatman–found on the New York Pre-Colonial records, and his son Claudius. Several years ago, I proved my descent from these Revolutionary soldiers to meet the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) extensive vetting process.

I returned to Vicksburg specifically to find my 2xgGrandfather’s older brother. Jeremiah was 21 years old at the time of his enlistment, February 22, 1862 in the Union, 83rd Indiana Infantry as a Seargent. He was “injured in the line of duty,” May 19, 1863 (Grant’s first assault) and “died of wounds” May 22 (date of second, and last assault). I spent the day using the National Park Service map and their extensive online information to find the marker for the 83rd’s last line of advance. The road that connects to the Confederate (line) Road is Graveyard Road, perhaps appropriate as thousands died where I walked. (Several of my confederate Ancestors were on the bluff shooting down.)

I found him in the early morning; a headstone with his name among hundreds marked unknown. I had the Vicksburg National Cemetery to myself. The U.S.S Cairo Gunboat and Museum is about 100 yards behind me, and draws the interest of dozens of visitors.

Someone must have known Sergeant Jeremiah. Only 25% of the Union soldiers buried at Vicksburg have a headstone with their name. Immediately after the siege ended, an attempt was made to etch the name of the deceased on a piece of wood. Weather, sorting of bodies, and other logistics caused the loss of many of those wooden markers.

View from the entryway to the cemetery. I found Jeremiah in this section.

Jeremiah was preparing for a full life, as many of us do. He left Indiana to attend Farmer’s College in Ohio in 1859. On the 1860 Federal Census he is listed in the household of his parents, still attending Farmer’s. His father, James Mills Boatman, was a merchant and his older brothers are clerks. The family had $14,200 in real and personal property. Such wealth in Dearborn most likely made life easy for his four younger brothers, one sister and his mother. (All but Jeremiah and two siblings lived to see an even greater war: WWI ).

His Uncle Jeremiah was a 33 year old farmer living in Arcola, Illinois when he left his wife and five children to join the Union, Co I, 54th Illinois. Illinois sent 36,325 soldiers to Vicksburg, as is commemorated by the sixty plaques inside what is likely the most photographed edifice at Vicksburg. Records show that his regiment formed an “exterior line from about June 4, 1863 until the end of the siege”–which was July 4, 1863. Captain Jeremiah returned home to his farm and family at the end of the war. He added three more children. He died Nov 26, 1909.

CoI, 54th Illinois.

I encourage you to take a look at the National Park Service website for an enjoyable entry way to research the Civil War. You can search for soldiers, monuments, battlefields, regiments and more subjects than you might imagine about the Civil War.

https://www.nps.gov/vick/learn/historyculture/illinois-memorial.htm

https://www.nps.gov/vick/learn/historyculture/cemhistory.htm