Raymond Emerson (1819-1904) Civil War Soldier

Ed's Day Wednesday

Dear FOLKS,

Welcome back to another Wednesday article where I share with you stories about the lives of my late cousin Ed Ostrom's ancestors. Recent stories have been about one of Ed's great-grandfather's; his mother's father's father. This great-grandfather was Raymond Emerson, born in Nes herred, Vest-Agder, at the southern tip of Norway, on the family's Lindeland farm; his birth name was Reinert Ommundsen. Upon arriving in America in 1855, he changed his name to Raymond Emerson.

We have learned about Raymond in four earlier articles; they are:

• #12 -- Raymond Emerson (1819-1904), to read this one click here.
• A young Raymond Emerson (1819-1904), click here.
• The Raymond Emerson Story Continues, click here.
• Raymond Emerson Arrives in America, click here.

Five years after arriving in the U.S., in 1860, we find he is a farmer in Stearns County, Minnesota. He is enumerated as "Rymon Emmerson" in the 1860 U.S. Census. And by 1861 he has purchased a quarter-section of land. For reasons unknown, he didn't keep that parcel of land long and by July 1863 he sells it to Michael Haupt and about ten months later he has enlisted into the Union Army. Today's article focuses on his time in the army.

Family stories abound telling that when Reinert Ommundsen was entering the Union Army that the enlistment clerks confused his name and entered all of his paperwork with the name Raymond Emmerson. The story tells, Reinert realized that there would be too much red-tape to ask the Army to correct his name, so he left his name as Raymond Emmerson. He also thought that Ommundsen was too popular and that Emmerson would be less used, thus giving him more distinction.

While this a good story, we know that he had actually changed his name earlier. Exactly when, we do not know, records tell us that his name was Raymond in 1860, because of his listing in the U.S. Census. Then a little later, the Bureau of Land Management has records of his name as Raymond Emerson when he bought that quarter-section of land in Stearns County and then sold it to Mr. Haupt. So it is likely he changed his name possibly as early as his arrival in America.

In May, 1864, at the age of 44, Raymond enlists in the Union Army. He was mustered in at St. Paul, Minnesota. Then on 15 June 1864 he reported for duty. His military story truly begins at Fort Snelling. Today this old military fort is a state park within the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area, more precisely...where the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers converge.

IMAGE: Artwork by John Casper Wild, dated 1844, with Fort
Snelling in the background, Pike Island in the middle. A public
domain reproduction provided by the Minnesota Historical
Society and Wikimedia Commons.

My cousin Ed was able to obtain a copy of Raymond Emerson's military file from the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration and he provided for us a summary of Raymond's timeline taken from the various records contained within this file. The entries in red tell of historical milestones about the Civil War to help provide context of the war activites with Raymond's experiences.

Military Timeline

Raymond Emmerson’s Civil War Records. Private, Co., C, 2nd. Reg’t, Minnesota Infantry. Timeline compiled from Government records. He had signed up for a three-year stay in the military.

4-12-1861 Civil War begins at Fort Sumter.

7-3-1863 Battle of Gettysburg

5-30-1864 Age 40 [actually he is 44], drafted at St. Paul Minnesota. Mustered in.

6-15-1864 Reported for duty

6-21-1864 Fort Snelling, Minnesota takes part in a Draft Rendezvous. Is trained to be a soldier

6-15- to 7-1-1864 Claims back pay

7-1 to 8-31-1864 Present at Muster Roll. Assigned to Co??

9-1 to 10-30-1864 Absent at Muster Roll. with note: sent to General Hospital 9-7-1864

9-7-1864 Sent to General Hospital in Chattanooga Tennessee.

11-18 to 11-22-1864 From Con – Camp. no diagnosis. Admitted to No. 2 U.S.A. General Hospital in Chattanooga, Tenn. Transferred to General Hospital Nashville, Tenn. on 11-22-1864

11-23 to 11-27-1864 Admitted to No. 15 USA General Hospital in Nashville, Tenn. from Chattanooga, Tennessee. Diagnosis: convalescent

11-27 to 11-30-1864 Age 45. Admitted to Crittendon USA General Hospital Louisville, Kentucky, from USA GH [General Hospital] Nashville, Tennessee. Diagnosis: Chronic Diarrhea

11-30 to 5-5-1864 Age 45. Admitted to USA General Hospital, Madison, Indiana from Crittendon GH in Louisville, Kentucky Diagnosis: Chronic diarrhea

11-1 to 12-31-1864 Absent at Muster Roll with note: sent sick to General Hospital 9-7-1864

1-1 to 2-30-1865 Absent at Muster Roll with note: sent to General Hospital 9-7-1864

3-1 to 4-30-1865 Absent at Muster Roll with note: sent to GH 9-7-1864. Paid for 11-1 to 12-23-1865 

4-9-1865 Civil War ends.

4-15-1865 Lincoln assassinated         

5-1 to 6-30-1865 Absent at Muster Roll with note: sent to General Hospital 9-7-1864. Paid four months from 10-31 to 2-28-1865 at New Albany, Indiana.

5-7 to 7-17-1865 Admitted to Swift G.H. Hospital in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, from Madison GH in Madison, Indiana. Diagnosis: Chronic Rheumatism

7-11-1865 Sick in GH in Madison, Wisconsin and/or in company muster out in Louisville, Ky.

7-17-1865 Returned to Duty

8-10-1865 Honorably discharged at St. Paul, Minn. and Discharged from Hospital.

7-12-1890 Age 70. Applies for pension claiming total disability, Diagnosis: Rheumatism disease of kidney and bladder and breached. Resident of Town of Irving, Stearns County, Minnesota

7-15-1890 Pension commences, $12 per month from the Dept of the Interior USA, for Right inguinal hernia and rheumatism.

4-7-1891 Reinert claims he has not been in military service since 8-10-1865

1-15-1898 Certifies he is married and has children. Residence Irving Post Office Kandiyohi County, Minn.

7-12-1904 Pensioner dropped because of death. Received last payment of $12 per month. Resident of Irving Post Office, Kandiyohi County, Minn.

7-31-1904 Raymond dies. Death Certificate lists cause of death as old age and Bright’s Disease (bad kidney)

11-29-1904 Will furnish required paperwork for pension.

6-26-1912 Pension stamped.

9-12-1912 His wife Inger applies for his pension.

9-17-1912 Survivors pension approved.

5-27-1918 Ray’s wife Inger dies.

7-27-1918 Ray’s wife Inger was paid $25 per month and dropped due to her death.

Following the draft rendezvous of 6-21-1864 at Fort Snelling, Minn., he was in the field for two months and sixteen days until entering the hospital at Chattanooga, Tenn. on 9-7-1864. He stayed in various hospitals for ten months and seventeen days until 7-17-1865 at which time he was returned to duty. He is honorably discharged twenty-five days later. His history tells of no field action.

Raymond is one of the thousands who survived the Civil War, only to be troubled with diseases he caught during his service. Dysentery and rheumatism appear to have affected him the most. Here are two samples of documents that were sent to Ed from NARA.

IMAGE: Sample of a Muster
Roll record found within the
military file of Raymond
Emmerson. From the files of
Edwin J. Ostrom.

IMAGE: Record from Bureau of
Pensions found in the military file
of Raymond Emmerson. From
the files of Edwin J. Ostrom

It is unfortunate too that no known photograph of Raymond while in military uniform has been found. That may be result of spending the majority of his military service in the hospital and was not in the area when a photographer arrived to take pictures.

The following is a letter written by Inger Tobine Emmerson, Raymond's wife of interest regarding his pension.

IMAGE: Two-part letter written by Inger Tobine
Emmerson, explaining the disabilities of her
brother-in-law Benjamin Benson and her husband.
Provided by Ed Ostrom's research cousin "MargieL."

Letter transcription:

Irving, Minn 5. November 1889

First time I saw him after his
Discharge. Was. in St Paul Minn.
2 or 3 weeks after and Reumatism is
the Disease of Wich Hi says hi is Most
Disabled. of Wich hi is suffered about
Degress. 3 or 4 Hours a Day or 1/3

Remarks

My hushand cant Writhe his own Name if you
Would Pay him Hundreds of Dollars. Because he is
Crippelled on his hand by Reason of Reumatism
Since hi was in the Ware. Very Respectfully

             Mrs. Tobine Emmerson

This letter tells us that both Inger Tobine and Raymond were bi-lingual. When and how they learned English is unknown; they obviously knew Norwegian. Each of them could read, write and speak in English; although the military documents were signed by Raymond with his "mark" an "x".

The letter was found by Ed's research cousin, MargieL in the county courthouse in Willmar, Minnesota. It was in the land file of George Benson who had a farm on 160 acres directly to the north of Raymond Emerson in Minnesota. Benson’s wife was Inger Tobine's sister. Assume it is in Tobine’s handwriting. The original paper size is 8 ½ ” wide x 7” high and was folded in half, along the 8 ½” width. What a lucky find. Thank you MargieL.

The purpose of the letter was to verify to the Federal Government that Raymond was still disabled from his service in the Union Army in the Civil War and therefore deserving of his pension. Inger was ‘killing two birds with one stone’ with this letter by dividing it into two parts.

In the top half,  Inger is writing that her brother-in-law, Benjamin Benson, a civil war veteran, is also disabled. In the bottom half, she is writing that because her husband Raymond is disabled from war injuries he can’t write. Benjamin and Raymond verified each other’s disability.

There are indeed surprises within Raymond's service record. First that comes to mind is that in May 1864 he is written up as being 40 years old, by November 1864, the records then say he was 45, Did he withhold his actual age to be accepted as a younger man? I was also surprised that the military kept him for so long on active duty even though most of the time he was hospitalized, As I read through him records, I wondered why he wasn't honorably discharged and sent home. What were your thoughts?

Let me take this opportunity to thank you for stopping by today. I hope you have a wonderful day and a good week.

--  --  --

The URL for this post is: http://homefolktales.blogspot.com/2017/05/raymond-emerson-1819-1904-civil-war.html.

Please comment regarding this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then use the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post. Or contact me by email at dsteff4246[at]gmail[dot]com. Thank you. I am glad you stopped by today.

Copyright (c) 2017, Darlene M. Steffens.