55th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry

Profile manager: K Raymoure [send private message]

The goal of this project is to build a roster of the 55th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, the auxiliary regiment to the famous 54th Massachusetts.

Volunteers

Add yourself here if you'd like to join!

• Raymoure-1 is working on
  • 8 January 2019: 54th transfers
  • 8 January 2019: 1890 Veterans Schedules for Detroit, Michigan
  • 8 January 2019: Initial free space project
• Selvaggio-84 is working on
  • Adding the names of soldiers from the 55th

Resources

Initially, I'm using the following sources to confirm regiment.

• Emilio, Luis Fenollosa. History of the Fifty-Fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, 1863-1865, Boston, Massachusetts: Boston Book Co., 1891 (1st ed.) and 1894 (2nd ed.)

  A number of soldiers transferred from the 54th and are noted in the McKay roster in the appendix.

• FindAGrave graves with 55th Massachusetts in the inscription
• 1890 United States Veterans Schedules specifying regiment as 55th Mass.
  • Salem, Massachusetts
  • Detroit, Michigan
• Record of the Service of the Fifty-Fifth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry (Cambridge, Massachusetts : Press of John Wilson and Son, July, 1868)
• 55th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Blog
• Voices of the 55th; Letters of Volunteers

Statistics of Enlisted Men

• Number who had been slaves - 247
• Number of pure blacks - 550
• Number of mixed blood - 430
• Number who could read - 477
• Number who could read and write - 319
• Number who were church members - 52
• Number who were married - 219
• Average age - 23 1/5 years
• Average height - 5' 7" tall

Causes of Death

• Typhoid fever - 33
• Chronic diarrhea - 8
• Pneumonia - 8
• Consumption - 6
• General debility - 6
• Dysentery - 2
• Small-pox - 1
• Measles - 1
• Congestive chills - 1
• Unknown (mostly died away from regiment) - 46
• Sentence from general court-martial - 4
• Accident - 4
• Murdered - 1
• In action or from wounds received - 54

Birthplace

• Ohio - 222
• Pennsylvania - 139
• Virginia - 106
• Indiana - 97
• Kentucky - 68
• Missouri - 66
• Illinois - 56
• North Carolina - 30
• Tennessee - 24
• New York - 23
• Massachusetts - 22
• Maryland - 19
• Delaware - 13
• District of Columbia - 10
• Iowa - 9
• Mississippi - 9
• Michigan - 8
• New Jersey - 8
• Wisconsin - 7
• Georgia - 6
• South Carolina - 6
• Alabama - 5
• Connecticut - 4
• Canada - 3
• Rhode Island - 3
• Africa - 1
• Louisiana - 1
• Arkansas - 1
• Maine - 1
• Nova Scotia - 1
• Vermont - 1
• Unknown - 11

Trades and Occupations

• Farmers - 596
• Laborers - 76
• Waiters - 50
• Barbers - 34
• Cooks - 27
• Teamsters - 27
• Blacksmiths - 21
• Sailors - 20
• Masons and Plasterers - 16
• Hostlers - 9
• Shoemakers - 9
• Butchers - 8
• Painters - 7
• Grooms - 7
• Boatmen - 6
• Teachers - 6
• Carpenters - 6
• Coopers - 5
• Clerks - 5
• Porters - 5
• Coachmen - 3
• Brickmakers - 3
• Printers - 3
• Engineers - 3
• Iron-workers - 2
• Whitewashers - 2
• Stonecutters - 2
• Wagon-makers - 2
• Millers - 2
• Firemen - 2
• Coppersmith - 1
• Machinist - 1
• Rope-maker - 1
• Fisherman - 1
• Tinker - 1
• Harness-maker - 1
• Caulker - 1
• Glass-grinder - 1
• Musician - 1
• Moulder - 1
• Confectioner - 1
• Tobaco-workers - 1
• Clergyman - 1
• Broom-maker - 1
• Baker - 1
• Student - 1

Recruiting

1. James Sidney Hinton

Non-Commissioned Staff

Companies

Company to be determined

1. Benjamin R. Griffin of Salem, Massachusetts

Company A

pg. 114-117

Company B

pg. 118-120

Company C

Recruits

Company D

Company E

Privates

1. Private Benjamin Lyons of 609 John Street, Toledo, Ohio 29 May 1863 - 29 August 1865 ^[1]

Company F

Privates

1. Private Charles C. Cassell of Salem, Massachusetts
2. Private John M. Cassell of Salem, Massachusetts
3. Private James W. Fontaine of Salem, Massachusetts
4. Private Edward Logan
5. Private William ?Sherenan? of Salem, Massachusetts

The above originally enlisted in the 54th, but were transferred.

Company F Recruits

Company G

Company H

Privates

1. Private Henry Evans of Chillicothe, Ohio
   • Deposition F of Henry Evans in military pension files of Sergeant James H. Jackson
2. Private John Henderson of Columbus, Ohio
   • 1890 Veterans Schedule image uploaded to 55th project page
3. Private John Thomas of Pennsylvania
   • Grave identified
4. Private William Richardson of Buckskin Township, Ross County, Ohio
   • 1890 Veterans Schedules for Buckskin Township, Ross County, Ohio p. 2

Company I

Privates

1. Clark, Theodore transferred from unassigned company, 54th Massachusetts
   • Source: Carvalho, Joseph. Black Families in Hampden County, Massachusetts, 1650-1865. Boston, Massachusetts: New England Genealogical Society, 2011.
2. Private Nahum Gardner Hazzard of Shirley, Massachusetts
   • Parents and siblings identified
   • Spouse and children identified
   • Image identified
   • Grave identified
3. Wickliffe, Rowan of Kentucky
   • Spouse and children identified

Company J

Privates

1. Private William A. Smith of Salem, Massachusetts

Company K

Privates

1. Private John L. Hicks
2. Private John F. Shorter
   • Military pension index identified
3. Private Thomas C. Wilson of Salem, Massachusetts
   • Widow Rhoda R. Wilson

• PVT John H. Thompson
• James M. Trotter
• SGT Olmstead Turner
• Peter Waggoner
• Virginius Ward
• Marcus Wells
• Isaac Wheeler
• Abner Williams
• Abner A. Williams
• David Williams
• Edmund Williams
• John Williams
• James W. Williams
• Henry Wilson
• John Wilson
• Lewis Woods
• William Woods
• Washington Young

Commissioned Officers

Colonels

1. Colonel Norwood Penrose Hallowell of Massachusetts and Pennsylvania transferred from 54th Massachusetts

Captains

1. Captain William Nutt of Natick, Massachusetts transferred from 54th Massachusetts
2. Captain Joseph Tilden of Massachusetts transferred from 54th Massachusetts

Lieutenants

1. Lieutenant William H. Dupree of Virginia and Boston, Massachusetts

Sources

1. ↑ 1890 United States Veterans Schedules for Toledo, Ohio