Monday, April 09, 2007

John August

John August was born 1844 in New York, New York, son of Restram.

Restram left New York and brought his family to Michigan, eventually settling in the western part of the state. By 1860 John was working as a farm laborer, living with the John Stockholm family and attending school in Eureka, Montcalm County.

John stood 5’11” with blue eyes light hair and complexion, and was an 18-year-old farm laborer possibly living in Eureka or perhaps in the vicinity of Saranac, Ionia County when he enlisted with his father’s consent in Company F on March 3, 1862, at Saranac for 3 years, and was mustered April 31, 1862. He joined the Regiment soon afterwards and was wounded, left on the field and reported as missing in action on August 29, 1862, at Second Bull Run (Groveton). According to Captain Thomas Tate, who at one time commanded Company F, John had been shot in right leg on August 29.

In fact John had been taken prisoner, exchanged and as of October 6 was in College Hospital in Georgetown, DC. He was officially returned to the Regiment on December 30 at the general hospital in Georgetown, but in fact never physically rejoined the regiment and was discharged for disability on January 14, 1863, at Camp Banks, near Alexandria, Virginia. An examining surgeon noted that his right femur was fractured and had healed improperly, resulting in a shortening of the right leg by one inch, and that he also suffered from “some lameness”.

After his discharge from the army John apparently returned to Michigan and was probably living in Otisco, Ionia County in April of 1863 when he applied for and received (in November of 1863) pension no. 20734, drawing $4.00 per month. (The John Stockholm family had settled in Otisco by 1870.)

In 1870 there was one John August (born about 1846 in New York), working as a barber and living at a boarding house in Fremont, Dodge County, Nebraska. In any case, John was reportedly living in Odessa, Ionia County by 1894.

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