John Lewis Hillenburg’s war experiences were a mixture of good and bad luck. Mostly bad luck it seems. But in 1865 when it counted . . .
He was born in Virginia in 1819. He married Catherine Grubb and began a family. Judging from the children’s recorded birthplaces, the family must have moved to Monroe County, Indiana, sometime around 1857. On August 20, 1862, at the age of 43 with six children – four of them under the age of ten – and his wife eight months pregnant with number seven, John enlisted in the Union Army. I wonder what his wife Catherine thought about that. He did get a $25 bounty payment for enlisting, and the two older sons were ages 20 and 17, but still . . .
John mustered in October with the 93rd Indiana Infantry. He found Army life hard for a man his age. In May 1863 he was in the hospital in Louisiana. In June he was again in the hospital in Mississippi and in July was too sick to move with his unit and was left behind. Then in December his oldest son, John Lewis, Jr., enlisted and joined the 93rd. (Again, I wonder what Catherine thought of that!)
The 93rd moved to Guntown, Mississippi and became involved in the Battle of Brice’s Cross Roads. The Union troops went into the battle on half-rations, weakened from a hard march along muddy roads and exhausted from the heat and humidity. The fresh Confederate soldiers, though outnumbered two to one, took the initiative and forced the exhausted Yanks into a retreat. It was a victory for the Confederacy, probably the most lop-sided victory of the war. Over 1600 Union troops became prisoners of war, including John and his son John, Jr.
The Union prisoners were marched to Georgia where they were interred at the notorious Andersonville Prison. And so began their ordeal – hunger, disease, and violence. Conditions that broke the spirit along with the body. Approximately 13,000 men died in that camp, but not the Hillenburgs.
In March 1865 as the Civil War drew to an end both sides began to return their prisoners of war. When the Andersonville gates were opened, though, only about half of the men were released. John must have cursed his luck that he was not among them.
But luck had abandoned the released men. Paroled at Vicksburg, Mississippi, they were loaded onto the steamship Sultana for their trip north. The ship, designed to hold 375 passengers but carrying over 2,000, exploded killing 1,700.
Still in Andersonville, John and the remainder of the prisoners were released in April. They travelled first by railroad cars then marched toward Jacksonville, Florida. When their guards ran out of food for them, they were pointed toward the Union line and released. John was officially paroled on April 28, 1865 in Jacksonville. He was transported by steamship to Maryland, sent to Camp Chase, Ohio and then home.
John returned to farming in Monroe County, Indiana. Despite his wartime hardships, he lived to be 70 and died in 1889. John, Jr. also survived the war. He died in 1936 at the age of 96.
Connection: John Hillenburg, Sr. was my husband’s 5th great uncle, related through the Grubb family.
familyconnectionsblog - 