 esse
Briner. A young father of two, Jesse was drafted on September 24, 1864,
along with his brother Joseph. Three weeks later he left his farm in Grassy
Forks Township and was mustered into service on October 13 in Columbus. Soon
he was on his way to Louisville to join his unit.
Apparently when drafted, the young men were given an opportunity to choose the regiment in which they would serve and Jesse identified Company B of the 50th Regiment of Indiana Volunteers because of friends and/or family already serving in that unit. Upon his "draft rendezvous" in Louisville, however, his orders were changed and he was reassigned to Company K of the 25th Regiment. The enlistees were loaded into "a boxcar" and the train headed for Marietta, Georgia, via Nashville, Tennessee. In affidavits by his brother Joseph and others it is stated that Jesse "took sick" enroute to Nashville stating "that his head was hurting him very much" and he huddled in a corner of the boxcar where he remained for the entire trip. He "was ailing very much" and complained of "severe headaches". Upon arrival in Nashville, Jesse "could hardly walk and could not without assistance". His brother and others aided him in walking to the Zolacoffer (sic) House [Zollicoffer House was the 365 room brick structure built by Confederate General Felix Zollicoffer and used by the Union Army to quarter troops later in the war.] All night his "suffering was so great" that Joseph and another enlistee had to hold him to keep him from "tearing the clothing over him in pieces." The next morning Jesse "appeared to be out of his mind" and it required "great strength" to restrain him on the stretcher as they moved him to General Hospital #8. A week later on October 22, 1864, Jesse was dead--a victim of cerebral meningitis according to the Surgeon General's report. His body was interred in the National Cemetery in Nashville and the widow was notified. Initially the widow's application for a pension was rejected because Jesse's name did not appear on the roster of either unit according to statements from commanders of those units. But in time the circumstances of his death were sorted out and he was determined to have died in the service of his country.
Submitted by 2nd great-grandson Robert D. Rhude |
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