The Wounded at Antietam: Battery B 4th U. S. Artillery Part 6

Private John H. Cook was born in Albany, New York in 1842.  He was the son of tinsmith Jeduthan and Margaret (Brewer) Cook.  In 1850 the family was living in Williamstown, Massachusetts but by 1860 they had moved to Hartford, Washington County, Wisconsin.  John was an 18 year old farm laborer, standing 5' 5 " tall with blue eyes and a florid complexion when he enlisted in Company D, 6th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry at Milwaukee on May 10, 1861.  Private Cook was detailed to Battery B, 4th U. S. Artillery on September 12, 1862.  He received a gunshot wound in the right leg during the Battle of Antietam.  On September 26, 1862 John was admitted to General Hospital #2 in Frederick, MD.  On October 1 he would be transferred to Philadelphia and would wind up spending   7 months in a hospital in Chester, Pennsylvania before returning to Battery B.  He served with the battery until March 4, 1864 when he transferred to the 10th Independent Battery Wisconsin Light Artillery.  Private Cook was discharged from the volunteer service June 7, 1865 at Madison, Wisconsin. After being discharged John Cook returned to Hartford.  While in the service Cook was known as the "tough one" having had run-ins with officers in both the 6th Wisconsin and Battery B for infractions of the rules.  After returning home Cook would marry a woman named Grace and work as a tinner (tinsmith).  By 1890 he was a resident of the Northwestern Branch U. S. Home for Disabled Soldiers.  He would be in and out of the home several times before finally being discharged on June 22, 1910.  By this time his wife Grace had passes away.  John H Cook had three brothers who served in the Union Army during the civil war, older brother James Ezra Cook and two younger brothers Albert Lymon Cook and Franklin Dewey Cook.  All 4 brothers would survive the war.

Private James S. Armstrong was born in Canada about 1845 one of seven children of mill wright Thomas and Phoebe (Turner) Armstrong.  In 1855 the family lived in Ramsen, Oneida County, New York.  By 1860 they had settled in Trimbelle,Pierce County, Wisconsin.  James enlisted in Company B, 6th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment on June 6, 1861 following in his brother Edgar's footsteps, edgar having enlisted on May 10, 1861 in the 6th Wisconsin.  James Armstrong was detached to serve with Battery B 4th U. S. Artillery on  December 1, 1861.  He was serving with the battery at Antietam when he was wounded September 17, 1862.  James would be discharged for disability October 25, 1862.  After being discharged he would return to Trimbelle where he died November 10, 1862.  Private Armstrong is buried in the Trimbelle Cemetery Pierce County, Wisconsin.  Jame's brother Edgar would serve with Battery B from December 1, 1861 until mustering out of federal service on July 15, 1864.  Edgar would live until November 6, 1910.

        James S Armstrong Headstone (Find A Grave photo by JLH)

Private Isaac Sourwine enlisted in Company E, 19th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment of July 29, 1861.  Isaac, who was born November 14, 1841 in Cross Roads, Delaware County, Indiana was the son of Virginians Christian Souerwine and his second wife Catherine.  By 1860 Isaac and his father were residents of Bear Creek, Poweshiek County, Iowa.  Private Sourwine was detached from the 19th Indiana on November 1861, volunteering to serve with Battery B.  He was wounded by a shell fragment in the left leg during the Battle of Antietam.  On September 28, 1862 he was admitted to General Hospital No. 6 in Frederick, Maryland.  He was discharged for disability on December 2, 1862 at Frederick.  Isaac would return to Indiana after his discharge.  In July 1863 he enlisted for 10 days in Company F, 110th Indiana Volunteer Infantry.  He later enlisted as a sergeant in Company G 7th Indiana Cavalry From September 5, 1863 until September 19, 1865.  On June 12, 1866 Isaac married Margaret Susannah Clevenger in Indiana.  In the 1870 & 1880 Census the family was living in Monroe, Delaware County, Indiana where Isaac was listed as a farmer.  The couple would eventually have 6 children, 2 daughters and 4 sons.  By 1900 Isaac and Margaret were living in Jackson, Wells County, Indiana.  Isaac would die  of throat cancer April 22, 1906.  Margaret would out live him by about 11 years dying in1917.  Isaac and Margaret are buried in Jones Cemetery, Wells County, Indiana.

        Isaac Sowerwine Headstone (Find A grave photo by NLBMZ)

John H. McLaughlin, a son of John and Mary A. (Walker) McLaughlin was born in Pennsylvania in March 1836.  He was living in Trimbelle, Pierce County, Wisconsin when he enlisted  as a private in Company B,of the 6th Wisconsin.  He would be detached to Battery B June 7, 1862 and would serve with it until mustering out of the service July 15, 1864.  McLaughlin was wounded at Antietam.  John married Elizabeth K. (Beardsley) September 10, 1865 at Oak Grove, Pierce County, Wisconsin.  In 1870 the family lived in Trimbelle where John was a cooper.   By 1880 he was farming and also served as the Trimbelle town treasurer.  John & Elizabeth would have three daughters, Ella, Lulu and Maud.  1900 would find John and Elizabeth residing in Clear Lake, Skagit County, Washington with at least one of their daughters.  John McLaughlin died on October 21, 1909 age 73.  He is buried in the Clear Lake Cemetery in Skagit County, Washington.

        John McLaughlin Headstone (Find A Grave photo by Mostloved)

John Holland was born in New York, February 24, 1833, the son of Irish immigrant parents.  John was a resident of Oshkosh, Wisconsin when he enlisted in Company E, 2nd Wisconsin Infantry of May 18, 1861.  Private Holland was detailed to Battery B September 15, 1862.  He would remain on detached service until May 9, 1864.  Holland would be wounded in action at Antietam and Gettysburg.  He mustered out of federal service on July 14, 1865.  John Holland would marry Harriet Mull in Shawano County, Wisconsin on July 4, 1870.  Their son Abraham was born in February 1872.  The 1880 Census shows the family living in Alma, Jackson County, Wisconsin.  John was listed as a laborer.  By 1900, when John was 67, John, Harriet and Abraham were living in Summit, Langlade County, Wisconsin  where John was a farmer and Abraham a farm laborer.  John Holland died in Summit, Wisconsin December 25, 1917.  He is buried in Gleason Cemetery, in Lincoln County, Wisconsin.  His headstone notes he served with the 2nd Wisconsin and Battery b 4th U. S. Artillery.

John Holland Headstone (Find A Grave photo by Kizzie)

Information in this post is obtained mostly from U. S. Census records, Regimental Rosters, Pension Indexes, Headstones Provided for Deceased Union Civil War Veterans, U. S. National Home for Disabled Volunteers records, Registers of Deaths of Volunteers, New York, Town Clerks Register of Men Who Served in the Civi War. Giants in Their Tall Black Hats,  and other Civil war related Records on Ancestry.com and Fold3.com.

The Wounded at Antietam: Battery B 4th U. S. Artillery Part 5A

In September 1865 1st Lieutenant James Stewart would be transferred to Battery G, 4th U. S. Artillery ending his long association and illustrious career with Battery B.  Battery G was assigned to Fort Wayne, Detroit, Michigan.  Stewart moved there with his wife Sabine, son James and daughters Margaret, Sabine and Mary who had been born in the District of Columbia in 1865.

On November 23, 1866 Stewart would be promoted to Captain and assigned to command Company K 18th U. S. Infantry.   He left Michigan in December 1866 in route to Fort McPherson, Nebraska where he arrived on April 1, 1867.   His next duty station was Fort Fetterman, Dakota Territory (now Wyoming) where he commanded Company K and a post located at a sawmill 17 miles from the fort.  By March 1868 Company K and Captain Stewart were at Fort Sedgwick, Colorado.  While in Colorado Stewart commanded a sub post at Sydney Station on the Union Pacific Railroad Route, staying at Sydney Station until at least December of 1868.

In 1869 the 18th U. S. Infantry would be combined with the 25th Infantry and assigned to Atlanta Georgia.  Stewart would move to Atlanta with his wife and 6 children.  Two children had been added to his growing brood between 1865 and 1869, a son John G. Stewart born in Michigan January 1, 1867  and a daughter Emma born in February 1870 in Nebraska.  Another son William would be born in 1871.

The 18th U. S. Infantry was sent south during Reconstruction.  They had a varied number of assignments and duty stations.   James Stewart and Company K did not stay long at one location during this period.  They were in Atlanta from April 1869 until October 1870.  They were then assigned to Columbia, South Carolina until March 1871.  In April Company K and their commander moved to Laurensville.  The next assignment was Newberry, South Carolina from December 1874 until July 1875.

James Stewart took his family south with him in 1869.  In November 1873 while Captain Stewart was stationed at Newberry his wife Sabine died.  The Columbia, South Carolina newspaper noted: "Mrs. Stewart was a native of Alsace and had no living relations on this continent.  She was the mother of seven children, the eldest a son, to whom she was most tenderly attached,  being absent from her side at a school in a distant city" (Detroit, Michigan).  At age 47 Brevet Major & Captain James Stewart was a widower with seven children to take care of, four of whom were less than 10 years of age.

In July 1875 Stewart and Company K 18th U. S. Infantry were transferred to Greenville, South Carolina.  While stationed in Greenville Captain Stewart and 10 men of the 18th Infantry were ordered to report to the Deputy Collector of Internal Revenue to protect the collector while he enforced revenue laws.  While assisting the deputy revenue collector the party destroyed 13,300 gallons of mash and beer, arrested 17 men and destroyed 7 stills, caps and worms.  Stewart commanded the post at Greenville until July 24, 1877.  He was then transferred to the Allegheny Arsenal in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania until November 1, 1877 before returning to McPherson Barracks at Atlanta, Georgia where he would remain until his retirement in March 20, 1879.

Captain and Brevet Major James Stewart was retired at age 53 on a surgeons certificate of disability with noted he was "incapacitated from active service due to pleuritic adhesions, impaired vision and some loss of locomotion due to an ankle broken during the siege of Petersburg."  All of these impairments were obtained in the line of duty.  Upon retirement Stewart and his family moved to Carthage, Ohio.

The 1880 Census shows James Stewart living with his 2nd wife Rebecca (Duffy) Stewart as residence of Carthage.  Rebecca, the daughter of Irish immigrant Dr. Thomas Stringer Duffy and his wife Catherine had been born in Rutherfordton, North Carolina in 1848.  The family includes children from his 1st marriage,  Margaret, Sabine, Mary, John, Emma and William.  James and his second wife would have three children of their own, Katherine born in June 1880, Thomas, born August 1881 and Mignon born in March 1888.

James Stewart would be active in retirement.  He was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, the Loyal Legions, The Masonic Fraternity, the Episcopal Church and the Republican Party.  For many years he was a vice president of the Iron Brigade Association and attended a number of their reunions.  In the 1890's he taught classes at the Ohio Military Institute for several years.  On May 31, 1904 he would be appointed Major, retired in the U. S. Army.

During the last few years of his life Stewart resided at Fort Thomas, Kentucky.  He died at 10:00 p.m. April 19, 1905 at the post hospital several weeks before his 79th birthday.  His remains were transported to Washington D. C. for burial at Arlington National Cemetery on April 23, 1905.  Prior to the internment a funeral was held at the home of General W. W. Dudley a long standing friend of Stewart who had served with the 19th Indiana Volunteer Infantry during the civil war.

Stewart's headstone, which bears the emblem of the Iron Brigade Association, was unveiled on July 28, 1907 by his son Thomas Duffy Stewart.  The program was orchestrated by General Dudley.  Edward S. Bragg, formerly of the 6th Wisconsin gave the dedication oration.

Stewart's second wife Rebecca would outlive the Major by 30 years dying in Cincinnati, Ohio July 8, 1935.  Rebecca and at least 5 of Stewart's children are buried in Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati.  


Information in this article is derived from sources including but not limited to:  U. S. Army Register of Enlistments, U. S. Returns from Military Posts, 1806 - 1916, letters written by Stewart, U. S. Census Records, History of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio, Fold3.com military records, newspaper articles.