Daniel Kennicutt

Daniel Kennicutt was born in 1838 in Livingston County, New York, probably the son of Daniel R. (1797-1843).

In 1840 there was one Daniel Kennicott living in Leicester, Livingston County. (In 1850 there was a New York-born Daniel Kennicot, b. c. 1839, living with his parents Thomas and Nancy in DeKalb County, Illinois. This was probably the same Dan Kennicott who in the summer of 1860 was a 20-year-old farm laborer born in New York, living with and/or working for one Walker Spears in Shabbona, DeKalb county, Illinois. He would enlist in the Fifty-eighth Illinois in 1863.)

Daniel stood 5’9” with dark eyes and hair and a fair complexion and was a 23-year-old painter possibly living in Muskegon County, Michigan, when he enlisted in Company F on May 13, 1861. (He is not listed in the 1905 Third Michigan infantry Regimental history, although he is listed in the 1905 Fifth Michigan infantry Regimental history.) He was possibly taken sick or perhaps wounded sometime in the first half of 1862, and was detailed as a provost guard from September of 1862 through October. In any case, he was promoted to Corporal on September 1, 1862. He was reported to be driving an ambulance in November, with the provost guard in December, a guard at Brigade headquarters from January of 1863 through July, and a provost guard at Brigade from October 5 until December 24, 1863, when he reenlisted as a Corporal at Brandy Station, Virginia, crediting Bowne, Kent County and was promoted to Sergeant the same day. He was presumably absent on veteran’s furlough in January of 1864, and probably returned to the Regiment on or about the first of February.

Daniel had been promoted to Sergeant by February and was in fact acting Commissary Sergeant for the Regiment. He was slightly wounded in the leg in on May 12, 1864, at Spotsylvania, Virginia, and may have returned to duty by the time he was transferred as Sergeant to Company F, Fifth Michigan infantry upon consolidation of the Third and Fifth Michigan Regiments on June 10, 1864. Daniel was promoted to Second Lieutenant, commissioned June 10, and replaced Lieutenant Leonard who had also been promoted. On November 2 or 11, 1864, he was promoted to First Lieutenant and transferred to Company B, commissioned September 19, replacing Lieutenant Lyon.

Daniel was also reported as commanding Company E as of October 28 and during the months of November and December, 1864.

On December 3, 1864, Daniel requested a leave of absence for twenty days. He cited the need for him to return home to Michigan and attend to the property of his late brother who had been killed while serving in the army.

(Although unlikely his brother may have been: (1) James C. Kennicut, from Kalamazoo, Michigan, who was 23 years old when he enlisted in August of 1862 in the Fifth Michigan cavalry and who was killed at Berryville, Virginia, in August of 1864. This was probably the same James Kinnicut, b. about 1839 in Michigan, who was living in Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo county in 1860, along with his father (?), George, a blacksmith born 1811 in New York, mother Eliza, b. 1813 also in New York and sister Clara, b. 1846 in Michigan. In 1850 James and his sister Clara were living with their parents in Gun Plain, Allegan county, Michigan. (2) Or it may have been Henry S. Kennicot who was 29 years old when he enlisted in the Sixteenth Michigan infantry in March of 1862 from Keelerville, Michigan, and who was killed at Groveton, Virginia on August 29, 1862.)

His request was granted on December 4 and he was absent on leave in Michigan in December. On December 15 he sought an extension of his furlough while in Muskegon, and one Dr. O. D. Brooks of Muskegon testified that he was suffering from inflammatory rheumatism and was unable to travel back to Virginia. His request for an extension was also granted.

Daniel returned to the Regiment by January of 1865, and in February was promoted to Captain of Company K, commissioned as of December 21, 1864, replacing Captain Shook. (Regarding his promotion to Captain in the Fifth Michigan infantry, see list of officers recommended for promotion in Official Record of the War of the Rebellion, series I, vol. 46, pt. 3, p. 861.) Daniel was brevetted a Major of United States Volunteers on April 7, 1865, the War Department citing “gallant and meritorious services terminating with the surrender of the insurgent army under General R. E. Lee.” He was mustered out on July 5, 1865, at Jeffersonville, Indiana.

After the war Daniel probably returned to western Michigan and may have resided briefly in Muskegon before moving to Montana where he reportedly died in 1885 of consumption at St. Patrick’s hospital in Missoula, Montana territory.

Unfortunately, all efforts to confirm his death and place of burial have proved fruitless, and no Record of his death or burial seems to exist in Montana, nor is there a pension available. He was possibly related to one Fanny Shepherd (b. 1830) and/or Mrs. Anna Kennicott (b. 1837). See Muskegon Chronicle, June 19, 1885, p.7 col. 2: “Death of Capt. Kennicott.” Anna was quite possibly Anna Witherow, wife of William B. Kennicott, born c. 1826 in New York, who died in 1883 and is buried in Germond cemetery, Allegan county. Anna died in 1926 and was also buried in Germond cemetery.