An Account of the Death of Isaiah Owens

On a winter's day in 1868, two veterans sat down in the office of their local county court clerk and told the story of the death of their friend and comrade Isaiah Owens, who served as a private in the Sixtieth U.S. Colored Infantry. This account was used as evidence to secure a pension for Isaiah's mother, Melinda, who depended upon him as her main source of financial support before he joined the army.

The complete transcription of the original five-page handwritten document copied at the National Archives is included here. Although the length of this document is unusual (one to two pages is average), it shares much in common with similar legal documents of record in pension files. The use of "that," "said," and other terms is normal. Also of note is the structure: The opening always includes the introduction of the clerk and the witnesses, and ends with a statement or statements that none of the individuals appearing have any interest in the case.

The transcription has several valuable details about Isaiah Owens — if you have the focus and patience to read each and every word!

State of Missouri
County of Marion

On this 30th day of December A.D. 1868 before me, John V. Gibbon Clerk of the Hannibal Court of Common Pleas, being a Court of Record in said County & State, personally appeared Henry Combs and Zachariah Johnson residents of Hannibal in said County, whom I certify to be respectable & credible witnesses, who being by me first duly sworn, depose & state:

That they reside as stated, that they were both formerly Privates in Company “C” Capt. Eli Ramsay in the 60th Regt. of U.S. Colored Troops during the late rebellion, & that they enlisted therein in August A.D. 1863.

That they were acquainted with Isaiah Owens in his lifetime, who enlisted in the same Co. & Regt with them in September 1863. That they were both acquainted with said Isaiah Owens prior to his enlistment in said Co, said Zachariah Johnson for over four (4) years before, and said Henry Combs for over two (2) years before; that they both lived during the said time of their acquaintance with said Isaiah Owens before his enlistment as aforesaid, in the same neighborhood with said Isaiah Owens, & were quite intimate with him, and that during all the said time of their acquaintance with him before his said enlistment, said Isaiah Owens was to the knowledge of each of these deponents, a strong, healthy & perfectly well man, and continued so up to the time of his said enlistment.

Just after their said enlistment, they went with said Isaiah Owens, first to St Louis, where they were mustered into the service, and after remaining at St Louis with their said Co & Regt about 3 weeks, they went to Helena Arkansas, & arrived there about December 20th 1863.

That they remained with said Isaiah Owens & their said Co & Regt, at Helena, Ark, until on or about the 25th day of July A.D. 1864, when their said Company (“C”) with three Companies was ordered on a scout in the direction of Big Creek, Arkansas.

That at about four (4) o’clock P.M. of said 25th day of July, 1864, these deponents with said Isaiah Owens & their said Company left Helena on said scout, & marched rapidly all night until they reached said Big Creek, early the next morning, when they came in contact with the rebels & had a battle with them on or about the 26th day of July, 1864.

That during said battle they with many others of their Company became very much exhausted & fatigued by reason of constant marching & the fighting immediately afterwards, & that this was the case with said Isaiah Owens.

That in the latter part of said day by orders, the command retreated to Helena, marching rapidly, & that the fighting with the rebels continued until they got within five (5) miles of Helena.

That the next day, for the first time, they heard said Isaiah Owens complain of his back being sore, that said Isaiah Owens continued to complain of his back being sore until he was taken to the Regimental Hospital at Helena, about three days after said battle of Big Creek, Ark.

That said Isaiah Owens continued to get worse after being taken to said Hospital until the 8th day of September, 1864, when he died of said disease of his back.

That they both saw said Isaiah Owens a short time before he died, and said Henry Combs saw & recognized the Corpse of said Isaiah Owens after his death as aforesaid, in said Hospital, & that they both attended the funeral of said Isaiah Owens the next day after his death as aforesaid, & that they both also heard the Captain announce to their Company the death of said Isaiah Owens, & that they both also saw said Isaiah Owens buried.

That from the time of their enlistment into said Company with said Isaiah Owens, until after said Battle of Big Creek, Arkansas, they never heard said Isaiah Owens complain of being unwell, & that said Isaiah Owens was never sick, from the time of his said enlistment until after said battle.

That during all that time, said Isaiah Owens was as healthy & strong as any man in the Company.

That they are certain said disease of his back, which caused his death as aforesaid, was not induced or aggravated by any personal habits of said Isaiah Owens, for they know that he had no bad habits, & was never intoxicated or under arrest during all of said time, between his enlistment & said battle of Big Creek.

That they are both fully of the opinion, that the disease causing the death of said Isaiah Owens was contracted while on the march from Helena to Big Creek, Arkansas, during said battle, & while on the retreat to Helena again as aforesaid, & was caused by the exposure, & severe marching & fighting, while on said march to Big Creek in said battle, & on said retreat back to Helena.

That they are also acquainted with Melinda Owens the mother of said Isaiah Owens, deceased, & that their testimony as given at her request.

That they are not related to said Melinda Owens, not in any wise interested in her claim for a Mother’s Pension, now pending & numbered 93168.
Henry (his X mark) Combs
Zachariah (his X mark) Johnson
Witnesses to marks
L.L. Leydam
Mabel Sanders

Sworn & subscribed before me by said affiants this 30th day of December A.D. 1868, & I certify that I read & explained the foregoing statements to said Henry Combs & Zachariah Johnson before they signed the same, and I further certify that I am not in any manner interested in said claim of said Melinda Owens, nor concerned in its prosecution.

In testimony wherof I have herewith set my hand & affixed the Official seal of said Hannibal Court of Common Pleas. Done at my office in Hannibal, Missouri, the day & year last above mentioned.

John V. Gibbon — Clerk

Do Unto Others

The Thanksgiving holiday brought to mind an excerpt of a speech given in 1871 by Lt. Col. David Branson (1840-1916) of the Sixty-second U.S. Colored Infantry. He spoke on occasion of the dedication of Lincoln Institute in Jefferson City, Mo. He and his comrades contributed money and helped found the school known today as Lincoln University of Missouri.

In his brief comments, Branson spoke to the value of education and religious freedom in the Reconstruction era, as Americans struggled to deal with a new political, economic and social order as a result of the Civil War and the end of slavery. He states:

The future peace of our country is threatened more by the unwise zeal of religious men than by anything else, unless it be ignorance itself; and ignorance is the tool of such unwise zealots. Inquisitions, burnings at the stake, and hanging of the best men and women of their time, have been their work in the past, and will be in the future, unless prevented by just such schools as this, managed by liberal-minded men like Prof. Foster here, who, while holding strong religious convictions of his own, fully recognizes the right under our glorious Constitution of the United States, of every man, be he Christian, Jew or Mahomedan, to his own creed, untrammeled by any law whatever. And right here I cannot refrain from denouncing those men who are trying to insert a religious amendment in the Constitution of the United States.

A well-known author and close observer of events has well said that "It is the point of a wedge whose butt end is an established Church;" and an established Church in England has produced great wars in the past, and I will venture to predict, will deluge the British Isles in blood during the next generation.

But some may ask. Are we to have no religion? no morality? I have this to answer, on the best authority ever given us, and it is the sum of all the commandments, based on justice, tempered with mercy, and adorned by love: "Whatsoever ye would that men do to you, even so do ye unto them."

When we are able to live up to that law, then it will be time to think of teaching creeds and theologies in our public schools; and then they will not be needed or thought of. The future of our own free government depends on us who have the advantages of education. Whether we wish it or not, we must educate the masses pouring in from Europe on the East and Asia on the West, or they will destroy our free government and render despotic government a necessity.

It is our destiny to lift up the races that are down, and we need not be dragged down in the work, but rather buoyed up to a still higher level. Let us then each and all do what lies in our power for the elevation and happiness both of ourselves and others; and so living we shall not, when called from this world to the great unknown, fear to meet the spirits gone before; but rather approach it as we do a new country, whither our friends have preceeded us to enjoy greater happiness than in the land of our birth.

I find Branson's message as appropriate today as they were almost 140 years ago. Read the full speech.

"Preparing for This New Time"

By January 1866, only 200 of the original 1,000 men who enlisted in the Sixty-second U.S. Colored Infantry remained in the ranks. The War Department ordered the ten companies consolidated to four and the reduction of the regiment’s officers.

Two of the discharged officers, Capt. Richard B. Foster and 1st Lt. Aaron M. Adamson, had served in Company I.

According to Capt. Foster, soon after he learned that he would be mustered out of the army, “Lieutenant Adamson was one day talking with me, as comrades about to part will do, of the past and future, when, referring to the fact that many of the enlisted men had learned to read and write, imperfectly of course, while in the service, I remarked that it was a pity these men should find no schools when they returned to Missouri,” from where they had enlisted in 1863.

Both men reflected on the transformation of the enlisted men with whom they served. “No more shall the auction block be mounted by human chattels. No more shall education be forbidden and virtue be impossible for any part of our population. The fugitive slave law is behind us. Universal suffrage is before us.”

The conversation brought to the surface a question that burned within Foster: “Have I any special work to do, however humble, in preparing for this new time?”

1st Lt. Adamson supplied the answer: “If our regiment will give money enough to start a school in Missouri, will you take charge of it?”

Foster eventually answered in the affirmative. The officers and men raised $1,379.50, and Foster went on to establish Lincoln Institute in Jefferson City, Missouri. Today, it is known as Lincoln University.

Read Foster's historical sketch of the founding of the school.

Searching for Three Soldiers from the Sixty-Second

Spoke with the archivist at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri, after finding an online image of Jacob Anderson of the Sixty-second U.S. Colored Infantry credited to their institution. Turns out the university has tightly-cropped copy prints of Anderson, Nelson Burgamire and John Jeffreys — all soldiers in the Sixty-second. The archivist does not know the whereabouts of the original images.

Am hoping someone can help!