gggrampa was a drummer boy - I think

Question

Frank McGuire (McGuire-486) was said to have run away and joined the Union army during the Civil War.  I have found two Francis McGuires who enlisted in the 14th Brooklyn (84th NY Infantry Reg't).  Both were 18.  It was said that Frank (obviously) lied about his age.  One of the McGuires deserted while the unit was stationed on Hart Island in NYC.  This sounds like a lonely 13-14 year old kid running home to mommy when he was close enough to do so.

Any hints on how to narrow this down some?

Answer 1

First, you are correct about the lying about their age to get in. Young men (and some old men!) did do it. Recruiters oftern turned a bling eye in order to make their quota. And your Frank would have been 16 in 1861 which is pretty darned close to 18. He might have legitimately looked 18!

I assume that you found the reference to the desertion of Francis here in the State-compiled series http://dmna.ny.gov/historic/reghist/civil/rosters/Infantry/84th_Infantry_CW_Roster.pdf keep in mind that these were compiled by 1905 and do have errors.

If you know your Frank's general physical description (hair color, eye color, etc) you can compare that to the enlistment papers of the two men you found (you can get those for $25 each here:http://www.archives.gov/veterans/military-service-records/pre-ww-1-records.html and perhaps determine if one is your Frank based on that....a warning, enlistment records and/or what they called "Descriptive Rolls" are not always a part of the military file, so you may not find what you want there.

Another place that I looked was http://web.archive.org/web/20080828202330/http://14thbrooklyn.info/GRAVES.HTM which did not have a Frank McGuire listed on any company roster or in the band. You may be able to contact someone from that organization who can be of service to you, as well.

Good luck!