Edward J. Houghton
Edward J. Houghton, an ordinary seaman on the Chicopee, in October 1864, was the eldest of five sons of Irish immigrants Richard Houghton and his wife Catherine (Kelley) Houghton. He was born in Mobile, Alabama in 1843. Sometime prior to 1850 the family moved to East Boston, Massachusetts where Richard was a grocer. Catherine appears to have died in 1856 and Richard in 1860. In 1860 the family lived in Suffolk, Massachusetts.
On July 19, 1862, Edward Houghton enlisted in Company K, Thirty-ninth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. Houghton was reportedly nineteen years of age, five feet four inches tall, had hazel eyes, black hair and a light complexion. His occupation was listed as mariner.* He transferred to the navy on April 19, 1864. Naval enlistment records for May 1864 show Houghton, a native of Mobile, Alabama enlisting in the navy in Brooklyn on May 4 for one and a half years as an ordinary seaman. He was twenty-one years of age with hazel eyes, brown hair and a dark complexion and stood five feet five and one half inches tall.
On July 16, 1865, one day before he was to be honorably discharged from the navy, Edward J. Houghton was stabbed and killed by Henry Smith, at Gosport, Virginia, when a fight broke out amongst a number of sailors on shore leave. Houghton was originally buried in the Naval Cemetery at Norfolk, Virginia. In 1890 he was disinterred and reburied at Holyrood Cemetery in Brookline, Massachusetts.
*Naval enlistment records show an eighteen year old Edward Houghton who had been born in Mobile, Alabama, enlisting in the navy as an ordinary seaman in Boston for 2 years on December 6, 1861. Houghton was described as being 5 feet five inches tall with hazel eyes, black hair and a light complexion. He deserted in December 31,1861.
Edward J. Houghton (Congressional Medal of Honor Society photo)
Lorenzo Deming
Lorenzo Deming was a landsman on Picket Boat No. 1 in October 1864. He was born on September 6, 1843, in Granby, Connecticut, the second youngest of five child of Gideon and Lovisa (Bidwell) Deming. Lorenzo was a mechanic in New Haven, Connecticut when he enlisted in the United States Navy, as a substitute, for one year, on September 8, 1864. (Navy enlistment records indicate Lorenzo had served one year in the navy prior to his September 8, 1864 enlistment.) Deming was twenty-one years old, stood five feet six and one-hand inches tall and had hazel eyes, brown hair and a dark complexion. He was captured on October 28, 1864, and died at the Confederate Prison in Salisbury, North Carolina on February 5, 1865. Lorenzo Deming is probably buried within the grounds of what is now Salisbury National Cemetery.
Henry Wilkes
Henry Wilkes was a landsman on Picket Boat No. 1 in October 1864. Wilkes was born in 1845 in New York City, New York. Henry was the oldest of John and Elizabeth Wilkes three children. He was nineteen years old when he enlisted in the United States Navy, for two years, as a substitute, on September 13, 1864. At the time of his enlistment he was employed as a printer. Henry was five feet five and three-quarter inches tall, had hazel eyes, brown hair and a fair complexion.
After being discharged from the navy Henry returned to New York and married. He and his wife Louisa( Lucy) had two children before Henry's death on March 3, 1888. Henry is buried in Beverwyck Cemetery in Rensselaer, New York.
Daniel Griffin George (alias William Smith)
Daniel Griffin George, was an ordinary seaman on the Chicopee, in October 1864, when he volunteered to serve on Picket Boat No. 1. Daniel was born on July 7, 1840, in Plaistow, New Hampshire to shoemaker Lyman P. George and his wife Eliza. He was the oldest of seven children. Prior to 1850 the family moved to Massachusetts. By 1860 they were living in Salem.
An article in the April 2, 1898, Brooklyn Eagle mentioned Daniel "sailed out of New Bedford for a three year cruise on a whaler in the Arctic Ocean" in 1857 when he was 17. On September 16, 1861, he enlisted as a private in Company D First Massachusetts Volunteer Cavalry, for three years. At the time of his enlistment George was twenty-one years of age. He was five feet seven and one-half inches tall, with blue eyes, brown hair and a light complexion. Daniel was promoted to sergeant February 8, 1863. He was captured June 17, 1863, at the Battle of Aldie, Virginia and paroled at Annapolis in August.
George reenlisted in the First Massachusetts Volunteer Cavalry on January 1, 1864, and "transferred to the United States Navy on May 7, 1864, as an ordinary seaman under the name of William Smith." George was captured on October 28, 1864. Upon being paroled he returned to the Chicopee and served on several navy ships, for a time as a coxswain, until being discharged on April 26, 1866. Upon being discharged from the navy Daniel George returned to New Hampshire.
Daniel George married Florence A. Blake in Boston on February 23, 1864. She died on bronchitis on August 4, 1866. On September 6, 1866, George married Mary E. Beardsley in Danville, New Hampshire. They would have eight sons and two daughters before Mary's death in 1911. The George family lived in New Hampshire, where George was employed as a shoemaker and later a farmer. By 1900 they were living in Massachusetts. George died on February 26, 1916. He and his wife Mary are buried in Locust Grove Cemetery, in Merrimac, Massachusetts.
*George purportedly "changed names" with William Smith when he joined the navy so he could serve on the Chicopee with his friend Edward J. Houghton.
Robert Henry King
Robert Henry King, a landsman on Picket Boat No. 1, in October 1864, was born in the Eighth Ward of the City of Albany, New York November 8, 1844. He was the second child of Samuel W. and Susan M. King. Robert had an older sister named Henrietta. Robert's mother died on December 5, 1844, when he was less than a month old. Samuel, who was a successful merchant, would marry a second time and father four additional children before passing away from dropsy on June 18, 1864, leaving Robert King an orphan.
Robert enlisted in the United States Navy on September 10, 1864, as a substitute, in New York City. At the time of his enlistment Henry was a nineteen years old laborer. He was five feet three and one-half inches tall, with grey eyes, dark brown hair and a fair complexion. King was captured on October 28, 1864. After being paroled on February 21st he returned to Albany, New York where he died of typhoid fever on April 10, 1865. He is buried in Albany Rural Cemetery, Menard, Albany County, New York.
Robert Henry King (Congressional Medal of Honor Society photo)
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