Joel Arthur Moore's Blog – March 2016 Archive (4)

Nine letters that Thomas wrote during the Civil War were preserved and sent to Bowling Green State University. The letters dating between April 8, 1862 and April 3, 1864 were written to the Vance family by Thomas while he was serving with Company I, 69th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Below are Thomas’ letters dated May 14, 1862 – September 5, 1862. During this period, the 69th saw action at Gallatin against Morgan (mentioned in the letter of September 5, 1862). Read more here…

Born around 1847 in Millwood, Guernsey County, Ohio, Thomas Vance enlisted in the Union Army in the 69th OVI Company I in 1862. Lying about his age to get in the army, Thomas served throughout the war and mustered-out on 19 Apr 1865 at Goldsboro, North Carolina. He was only 15 years old when he enlisted.

According to the 1850 Census he had two sisters, Mary A. and Sarah E. and two brothers, James and Asa. His parents, Thomas and Anne Vance, had a farm in…

Before the American Civil War, Midshipmen studied for four years at the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. They also trained aboard ships each summer. When the Civil War broke out on April 12, 1861, the United States government made plans to move the Academy since Southern sympathy ran high in Maryland. However, the sudden outbreak of hostilities forced the US government to move the Academy sooner than anticipated. On April 27, 1861, the War Department issued the order:…