Was White Oak Church attacked in the Civil War?

Ms. Drummond,

I would suggest reading a couple of articles I sent you and reaching out to the White Oak Church Museum.

https://www.tourstaffordva.com/attraction/white-oak-civil-war-museum/

https://www.dinosaursofgardenpark.org/amanda-felch-the-white-oak-church/

https://craigwhitmoreparker.wixsite.com/bissell-history/civil-war-1862

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=4254

Dear Ms. Drummond,

Thank you for posting your question on History Hub!

We searched the National Archives Catalog and located Civil Works Map File, 1818 - 1947 in the Records of the Office of the Chief of Engineers (Record Group 77) that includes 14 digitized  maps of the Battle of Fredericksburg in the file unit titled Virginia and the Chesapeake Bay, 1784 - 1890. These maps are digitized and are available using the Catalog. For more information about non-digitized maps, please contact the National Archives at College Park - Cartographic (RDSC) at carto@nara.gov.

Further, we located the series Regimental and Company Books of Civil War Volunteer Union Organizations, 1861 - 1867 in the Records of the Adjutant General's Office, 1762 - 1917 (Record Group 94) that includes the Regimental Book of the 26th New Jersey Infantry Regiment. It may contain information about your great great grandfather. These records are not digitized. Please contact the National Archives at Washington, DC - Textual Reference (RDT1) for more information.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and pursuant to guidance received from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), NARA has adjusted its normal operations to balance the need of completing its mission-critical work while also adhering to the recommended social distancing for the safety of NARA staff. As a result of this re-prioritization of activities, you may experience a delay in receiving an initial acknowledgement as well as a substantive response to your reference request from RDSC and RDT1. We apologize for this inconvenience and appreciate your understanding and patience.

We hope this is helpful. Best of luck with your family research!

Dear Ms. Drummond,

Thank you for posting your request on History Hub!

If you already have the soldier's pension file and Compiled Military Service Record (CMSR), you have the main sources of records on whatever happened to the soldier during the war and particularly in the situation as you described.

I'm not familiar with a battle/skirmish of White Oak Church but if it happened, it would be part of the Chancellorsville Campaign of late April through the first week of May, 1863.  The major battles of the campaign were Second Fredericksburg, Salem Church, and Chancellorsville.  But there may have been small skirmishes in the area of White Oak Church. 

So far as the possibilities of friendly fire or or even an accidental self-inflicted wound to the shoulder in handling his own musket, anything is possible.  But I do question the source that claims the 23rd was a regiment of "misfits and screwballs" who were poorly trained.  Looking at their own unit history doesn't appear to reveal anything unusual to any other regiment of the 6th Corps from the same period. 

http://ranger95.com/civil_war_us/new_jersey/infantry/23nj_inf/23rd_reg_inf_nj.html

Besides this link , you may also wish to read from this article in the Emerging Civil War blog, which has some information on White Oak Church and the encampment of the 6th Corps in that area. 

https://emergingcivilwar.com/2013/01/28/winter-at-white-oak-church/

For more information, please contact the National Archives at Washington, DC - Textual Reference (RDT1)

at archives1reference@nara.gov.

We hope this is helpful. Best of luck with your family research!

Please note that the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has suspended reproduction and digitization services until further notice due to COVID-19. Orders will not be serviced until operations can resume safely. Once operations resume, document reproduction requests will be filled in the order in which they were received. We apologize for this inconvenience and appreciate your understanding and patience.