I am trying to find out if my great grandfather was a drummer boy in the Union Army during the Civil War. His name was Patrick Dennis Murphy and he was living in Boston. I have a Civil War sword in my possession that I was told belonged to him.
I am trying to find out if my great grandfather was a drummer boy in the Union Army during the Civil War. His name was Patrick Dennis Murphy and he was living in Boston. I have a Civil War sword in my possession that I was told belonged to him.
Richard
A musician would not have had this sword - it was a sword for an officer & was a sign of rank. There was a musician's sword but that is a smaller sword (you can search online for an image). The musician's sword might have been kept & maintained if assigned to a garrison post, but on the march, it was a cumbrance & was often discarded, as were blankets, heavy coats & other superfluous items. This is a quote from The Recollections of a Drummer Boy by H.M. Kieffer (who enlisted in the 150th PVI in Aug. 1862 when he was 17 yrs. old), describing the Mud March in early 1863...
“Drummer-boys carried no arms except a straight thin sword fastened to a broad leathern belt about the waist. Of this we had been in the outstart quite proud, and had kept it polished with great care. However, this "toad-sticker," as we were pleased to call it, on this mud-march caused each of us drummer-boys a world of trouble, and well illustrated the saying that "pride goeth before a fall." For as we groped about in the darkness and slid and plunged about in the mud, this miserable sword was forever getting tangled up with the wearer's legs, so that before he was aware of it, down he went on his face in the mud. My own weapon gave me so many falls that night, that I was quite out of conceit with it. When we reached camp after this march was done, I handed it to the quartermaster, agreeing to pay the price of it thrice over rather than carry it any more. The rest of the drummer-boys, I believe, carried theirs as far as Chancellorsville, and there solemnly hung them up on an oak-tree, where they are unto this day, if nobody has found them and carried them off as trophies of war.”
- All that said, your GGF still could have served as a musician. Tracing him & maybe his dad through the census & seeing if we can find him on the 1890 Vet Schedules may be helpful. The 1890 Vet 'Census' usually indicates where they served Regular Army, Volunteer, Navy or Marine) & the dates they served. It usually gives the Regiment number & Company or th On the bottom of the form, it gives their address, any disability incurred & remarks. Depending on the person the took the info the 'address' way just be the name of the town, but especially in cities, may give the street address. If you can identify the soldier on census records & if they list the street they lived on & possibly cross match that with a listing in the city directory & then check the address on the 1890 Vet Census its a way to confirm a veteran listed is the same man on the census. In my experience this has worked best when looking at a city like Boston or Philadelphia as not all cities or town will have a period directory to reference or addresses on the 1890 Vet Schedules.
- So to find the family in the census...Do you have census records on the family? I am attaching an 1870 Census to see if you think this is your GGF? Note there is a child named Patrick & a child named Dennis
- Let me know what you think
