Fort Duffield Memorial

Updated: 4 Nov 2016

This Page is Dedicated to the soldiers that died at Fort Duffield and West Point, Kentucky.

Fort Duffield Memorial Cemetery

     Ennis Church served as Regimental Surgeon for the 9th Michigan Infantry that cold winter in West Point, Kentucky. For most of the green soldiers, this was their first time away from home. Wet ground and freezing temperatures made life in the camps miserable. Few of them knew how to make a proper bunk of straw or rails. The many hardships combined with the less than ideal sanitary conditions proved too much for many of the men.
   A measles epidemic struck the camps and many of the men developed pneumonia as a complication. The people of West Point opened their homes to these sick men. During this bleak period the Ditto-Lansdale House, on the northeast corner of 4th & Elm, was pressed into service as a military hospital. It was ironic that in many instances the mothers, wifes or sisters of the Confederate soldiers who were off fighting for the South were kindly nursing the U.S. soldiers back to health. Dr. Geoghegan and Dr. Fletcher of West Point assisted Ennis Church in this overwhelming crisis. Among the local women who nursed the sick, under these severe conditions, were Mrs. Guthrie and Miss Mallie.
   Colonel William Duffield, commander of the 9th Michigan, reported on December 23, 1861 to Brigadier-General John Robertson, "Our sick list is rapidly decreasing and now shows only 156 instead of the 316 as per enclosed monthly return. I have had all the men and officers of this command vaccinated to guard against a visitation from Small Pox which is prevalent in several brigades now in Kentucky."
   Many of war's casualties were not on the battlefield. In grateful remembrance, we honor the service and ultimate sacrifice of the men that gave their lives while serving the U.S. at Fort Duffield and West Point, Kentucky.

"THEY SHALL NOT BE FORGOTTEN"

Below is a list of soldiers who were buried in the "Michigan Cemetery" on the adjacent hill southwest of the fort:

DATE NAME RANK COMPANY REGIMENT CAUSE OF DEATH
________________________________________________________________________________________
1861
10/28 Joseph Duffee Private K 9th Michigan Meningitis
11/13 Gardner Vanzile Private K 9th Michigan Dysentery
11/13 James Winters Private D 9th Michigan Fell Into Cistern
11/18 Franklin Waite * Private A 9th Michigan Measles
11/19 Daniel Pearsons Private I 9th Michigan Measles
11/21 Francis M. Stockwell Private I 9th Michigan Typhoid Fever
11/23 Ignatus Long Private B 9th Michigan Typhoid Fever
11/23 William L. Plants Private D 9th Michigan Measles
11/24 Asahel Leet Musician H 9th Michigan Typhoid Fever
11/25 Lafayette Porter Private H 9th Michigan Typhoid Fever
11/26 Daniel B. Cutler Private F 9th Michigan Typhoid Fever
11/29 Jessie L. Benson Private B 9th Michigan Typhoid Fever
11/30 Reuben C. Smith * Private K 9th Michigan Measles
12/01 Charles Jordan Bugler G 9th Michigan Typhoid Fever
12/02 Miles Woods Private H 9th Michigan Typhoid Fever
12/03 Ionia Sweet Private H 9th Michigan Typhoid Fever
12/04 Gunder L. Edwards Private H 9th Michigan Typhoid Fever
12/04 Clark W. Weston * Private I 9th Michigan Typhoid Fever
12/06 Philip G. Cudworth Jr * Private A 9th Michigan Typhoid Fever
12/08 Garret S. Quick Private E 9th Michigan Typhoid Fever
12/09 Jason Mills * Private D 9th Michigan Pneumonia
12/11 Isaac Columbus Tower Private A 9th Michigan Measles
12/13 John K. Beyers Private H 9th Michigan Typhoid Fever
12/16 James Drown Private F 9th Michigan Typhoid Fever
1862
01/18 Robert Evans ** Private H 9th Michigan Hemorrhage of the Bowels
01/18 Earlman Vaughn Private A 9th Michigan Typhoid Fever
02/09 Richard W. Presley * Private H 9th Michigan Died of Disease
02/17 William Wilson Musician D 9th Michigan Typhoid Fever
02/24 Ira Wheeler Private H 9th Michigan Typhoid Fever
03/28 Charles Anthony ** Private F 1st Mich. L.A. Pneumonia

Note: In 1868,27 Unknown,9th Michigan were disinterred and moved to New Albany National Cemetery,
New Albany,Indiana. 27 of the men listed above are included in the Unknown burials.

Other soldiers that died at West Point, Kentucky:
1861
11/08 Benjamin Franklin Johnson Musician Band 37th Indiana Died of Disease
11/? George Klaber # Private K 1st Ohio Drown
11/? John B. Long # Private H 1st Ohio Drown
11/16 George Husker ~ Private D 9th Michigan Died of Disease
11/18 Joel Kerr Corporal H 9th Michigan Died of Disease
11/27 Almond Ray Knight Private G 1st Wisconsin Died of Disease
11/27 Alexander Sutton Private C 1st Wisconsin Died of Disease
12/03 Emil Casper Fisher # Private C 1st Wisconsin Killed By Accident
12/04 Adonijah N. Chamberlain Musician Band 9th Michigan Died of Disease
12/04 Henry Redner ~ Private C 9th Michigan Measles
12/08 Charles B. Sweet ** Private H 9th Michigan Typhoid Fever
12/09 Charles L. Wright ~ Private H 9th Michigan Typhoid Fever
12/15 Gordon Snell ~ Private H 9th Michigan Typhoid Fever
12/31 Anson R. Lewis ~ Private C 9th Michigan Typhoid Fever
1862
01/01 Russell H. Farnham ~ Private C 9th Michigan Pneumonia
01/17 Philetus Bacon ~ Private C 9th Michigan Pneumonia
08/12 Conrad Gleb # Private C 28th Kentucky Drown
09/24 Leonard Jones ** Private D 9th Kentucky Chronic Diarrhea

* Also has a memorial headstone in Michigan.
** Reinterred in New Albany National Cemetery,in 1868.
# Burial place unknown.
~ Also has a memorial headstone in Fort Duffield Memorial Cemetery.

Buried in Nashville National Cemetery and also has a memorial headstone in Fort Duffield Memorial Cemetery:
1862
03/27 Patrick O'Brien Private H 9th Michigan Typhoid Fever

Sources:
   - Record of Service of Michgan Volunteers in the Civil War 1861-1865, Vol. 9
   - The Saga of Fort Duffield, West Point, Kentucky's Civil War Treasure by Richard A. Briggs


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