Part 3 - UNION ARMY OFFICERS
We continue the listing of American Civil War veterans who for one reason or another decided to come to Australia. Some settled down here and some may have just been visiting when they passed away and were buried here. Part 3 lists the officers of the Union Army - one of whom was unconfirmed - who are known to be buried here. Once again, the main source of information on these veterans has been the Military and Pension papers held at the National Archives in Washington, DC. Other sources include newspaper obituaries, shipping records and the publications THE FLYING, GRAY-HAIRED YANK by Michael Egan and LIFE WITH THE 49th MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS by Henry T. Johns. As always, research would not have been possible without the kind assistance of the late Roy W. Parker, of Sydney, NSW; Barry J. Crompton, of Melbourne, VIC; and Bob Simpson, of Beechworth, VIC.
The Veterans
GEORGE WASHINGTON BELL, was born on October 22, 1838, at Richmond, VA and was a newspaper editor before the war. On November 1, 1861 he enlisted as a Private in the 64th Illinois Infantry. He later served as United States Consul in Sydney as well as New Zealand for several years before going to England. He then returned to Australia and lectured extensively, authoring several books. He was married twice, first to Hanna (last name unknown) in Illinois in 1857, and after her death on November 27, 1879, to Mary O'Sullivan on December 23, 1898. Bell passed away at his residence in North Sydney on July 7, 1907, and was buried at the Gore Hill Cemetery.
 kind permission of Roger D.Hunt, of Rockville, MD. Copy held by USAMHI.) |
JAMES BROWN CAMPBELL, a native of Scotland, was born on September 30, 1825, arrived in New York City on June 30, 1828, and naturalized on October 20, 1848. He resided in Watertown, NY, and enrolled there on September 11, 1862, as Captain in the 10th New York Heavy Artillery. He was promoted Major on January 14, 1863 and was wounded in action on April 2, 1865. On July 18, 1865, he was transferred to the 6th New York Heavy Artillery and is mentioned several times in the Official Records. Not much is known about his life after the war, except that he resided in Melbourne and was scalded by hot water at the City Baths on March 19, 1905 and died of shock on March 30, 1905. He was buried at the Boroondara Cemetery in Kew, a suburb of Melbourne. His obituary states that he was a widower with a grown up family in Chicago, IL.
WILLIAM DINGAVAN, a native of Rhode Island, was born about the year 1831. He was employed as a blacksmith, pre-war, and resided in the town of Westerly. On April 17, 1861, he enrolled in Company I, 1st Rhode Island Detached Militia and was honorably discharged at Providence, on August 1, 1861. Nineteen days later he enlisted in the 3rd Rhode Island Heavy Artillery, serving in the states of South Carolina, Florida and Georgia. He was appointed Sergeant Major on May 31, 1862 and on April 9, 1864, commissioned Second Lieutenant and served as local provost marshal until September 1864. According to his pension records he contracted malaria during his service in the southern states which continued to afflict him later in life. On August 4, 1865, Dingavan was mustered out of service at Providence, Rhode Island. Nothing else is known about his post-war life in the US but in 1877 he arrived in Sydney, aboard the SIERRA NEVADA, and worked as an operative in a baking powder factory and later as a grocer's assistant in Goulburn. The Goulburn directories for 1882 and 1883 also list Dingavan as a letter carrier. Dingavan was married twice; first, before the war to Margaret Conway, who died at Westerly, RI, in November1861, and on February 7, 1866, to Hannah Netherwood at Christ Church Rectory, Westerly, RI. Dingavan passed away in Sydney on April 5, 1903 and is buried at the Rookwood Cemetery.
WILLIAM SPEAKMAN POTTS, was born in Philadelphia, PA, on May 5, 1830. Nothing is known about his pre-war life, but on April 20, 1861, he was mustered into Company C, 4th Pennsylvania Infantry at Pottstown in Montgomery County. He was mustered out in July, 1861 and a month later was mustered in as Captain of Company B, 53rd Pennsylvania Infantry. On April 26, 1862, he resigned from the service. The date of his arrival in Australia is unknown, but he was married to a Matilda Pembroke and was employed as a book-keeper/accountant. He died on August 4, 1881 at the New South Wales country town of Blayney and is buried in the local cemetery there.
PATRICK POWER was a native of Ireland and was born about 1836. He was mustered into military service at Wheeling, Virginia (now West Virginia) on September 1, 1862 and served in Company B, 15th West Virginia Infantry Regiment. Promoted from Sergeant to Second Lieutenant on October 27, 1863, and to Lieutenant on January 18, 1865, Power was mustered out of service at Richmond, Virginia, on June 14, 1865. His company commander in the 15th WV Infantry, Captain Michael Egan later wrote an account of his Civil War service which was published under the title THE FLYING, GRAY-HAIRED YANK, and in it he describes Power as 'brave and reliable' and also as being 'portly'. Egan states that the nerve displayed by Power on several occasions was later to assist in securing Power's promotion. Power was never married and arrived in Australia sometime after the war, and was occupied as a miner in the Nundle region of New South Wales, close to the city of Tamworth. He died on March 23, 1886 and is buried at the Nundle Cemetery.
ZENAS CRANE RENNIE, was born on October 26, 1836 at Pittsfield, Massachusetts. His occupation before the war is shown as merchant and on the breakout of the war, he was involved in recruiting duties in his home state. On October 28, 1862, he was elected Captain of Company I, 49the Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, a nine month militia organisation recruited at Pittsfield. He was mustered out on September 1, 1863 and shortly after went to Providence, Rhode Island, where the state governor appointed him as Allotment Commissioner for that state. The Rhode Island census of June 1, 1865 names his wife as Margaret Ross and his occupation is shown as bank cashier. His wife passed away in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1884, and two years later he married Mary Eunius Warner. He came to Australia on October 27, 1886, as an insurance agent in the city of Sydney, for the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York. He was retired in 1904 and returned to the US, settling in San Francisco, but the earthquake of a couple of years later destroyed his possessions. He then decided to return to Australia and was a member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, as well as a Knight Templar. Rennie passed away in Sydney on April 24, 1923, but his legacy lives on in the Rennie Trophy which is awarded at the Regatta held on the Hawkesbury River, each year.
 WITH THE 49th MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS by Henry T. JOHNS.) |
PALLE ROSENCRANTZ, was born on January 13, 1825 in Ekerod, Osby, Sweden. His pre-Civil War occupations included service in the Swedish, French, English and Danish military. He served in the Crimea. On September 7, 1861, he enrolled in the 1st German Cavalry, which subsequently became the 4th New York Cavalry, recruited at New York City. His military papers show that he was nominated Captain and then Major of Company D of that unit, but he was never officially commissioned. On December 20, 1861, he tendered his resignation, due to ill-health, at Hunters Chapel, Virginia, and it was accepted by the Medical Examining Board on January 2, 1862. Nothing else is known about his post-war life until his death at Rockhampton in the state of Queensland, Australia, on September 7, 1877. He was apparently a tourist in Australia at the time of his death. Rosencrantz lies in an unmarked grave at the South Rockhampton Cemetery.
WILLIAM EDWARD SHERIDAN, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on June 1, 1837. Before the war he was a clerk in a stationery shop and in 1858 took up the acting profession. Residing in Cincinnati at the commencement of the war he enlisted in the 6th Ohio Infantry on June 18, 1861 and served over three years in the Western theater, rising to the rank of Captain. From January 1862 he served in the Signal Corps. He was wounded in action at Resaca, Georgia on May 14, 1864, and was granted leave. On September 1, 1864, he married Sarah E. Hayes at Boston, Massachusetts. Sheridan was officially mustered out of service on October 31, 1864, to date from June 23, 1864. After the war he continued his acting career and performed at various cities including Philadelphia, Boston, St. Louis and New Orleans, as well as overseas. In 1886 he came to Australia with his second wife, Louise Davenport, to perform professionally and died in Sydney on May 18, 1887, of epilepsy. He is buried at the Waverley Cemetery in that city.
PHINEAS SOLOMON, was a native of Liverpool, England and was born on July 9, 1836. At the start of the war, he was residing in Westfield, Massachusetts, as were his brothers, John and Henry, both of whom enrolled in the same company in the 10th Massachusetts Infantry. Phineas did not enroll until March 5, 1863, when he was elected First Lieutenant in the Westchester Light Infantry, a militia unit formed in New York. He was discharged on June 18 of that year and a day later mustered into Company D of the 178th New York Infantry. He continued serving till his muster out on April 20, 1866 as Captain. After the war he returned to Massachusetts and was actively involved in the local militia in Westfield, as well as in local committees and social events in the town. He visited Australia in 1878 and 1879 and on returning to the US moved to South Bend, Indiana, where he lived until his permanent move to Australia in 1884. On entering Australia he had assumed the surname of Thompson for some reason. He was employed in the tobacco industry in Sydney and died there on July 4, 1900. He is buried at the Waverley Cemetery.
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| Phineas Solomon (shown second from left) with the officers of the 178th New York Infantry at the end of the war. (Original photo in the collection of the Division of Military and Naval Affairs, State of New York and used with their kind permission.) |
Phineas in later life. (From an original gem-sized tin-type owned by his descendants. Copy photo used with the kind permission of the late Mr. Roy W. Parker of Sydney, NSW, Australia.) |
WILLIAM NUTTING TUTTLE, was born about 1844 in the state of Massachusetts. He had practised photography at Santa Barbara, California before the war and on December 5, 1863 enlisted at Fort Humboldt, California for military service. He was officially mustered in as Second Lieutenant in Company D, 1st Battalion of Mountaineers, California Infantry on March 16, 1864 at Fort Gaston, California and his period of service was spent in the west during the Civil War. He was mustered out of service at Fort Humboldt on May 20, 1865. He continued in the photography profession and arrived in Australia in 1883, opening photographic studios in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide as well as at other cities and towns in the eastern states. He was married twice, the second time being to Elizabeth Alice Oxborough at Sydney on June 20, 1889. Tuttle is described in one source as being 6 ft. 3 in. tall and of a striking and boisterous appearance. The last years of his life were spent in country New South Wales. He died in Sydney on March 7, 1895 of a brain disease.
Thank you for visiting this site. For any queries, further information or to just discuss the subject matter, please feel free to contact Barry Crompton or Terry Foenander.