12th Regiment Connecticut Volunteer Infantry – Mansfield Historical Society

Tag: 12th Regiment Connecticut Volunteer Infantry

12th Regiment Connecticut Volunteer Infantry

William P. Baxter

Posted on November 4, 2022November 4, 2022 by Amanda Rutha

William P. Baxter was a resident of Hartford on February 20, 1862 when he enlisted as a Private in Co. F of the 12th Regiment Connecticut Volunteer Infantry; on November 26, 1864, he was transferred to Co. F of 12^th Battalion Connecticut Volunteer Infantry and he was discharged on February 20, 1865, time expired.

He was born on February 20, 1832 in Connecticut. After the Civil War, he was living in Tolland by the date of the 1870 U.S. census and working as a farm laborer. William Baxter married Clarissa ______ before 1870 and they moved to Willington, Connecticut by 1880; he was a farmer in Willington.

On February 1, 1878, he applied for an invalid pension, No. 247,908 that was granted under Certificate No. 188,110. According to the list of pensioners on the roll in 1883, he was receiving $6 per month for a gunshot wound in the right leg, injury to the left leg and chronic diarrhea.

William Baxter died on July 4, 1911 and is buried at the New Storrs Cemetery in Mansfield.

John T. Gordon

Posted on November 4, 2022November 4, 2022 by Amanda Rutha

John T. Gordon was a resident of Mansfield on December 1 1861 when he enlisted as a Corporal in Co. G of the 12^th Regiment Connecticut Volunteer Infantry; he was discharged December 2, 1864. According to the enlistment roster of the 12^th Connecticut, he was 24, married and was a moulder.

He was born about 1837 probably in New York and he was not living in Mansfield in the 1860 U.S. census. After his Civil War service, he moved to New York City and he is enumerated there in the 1890 Veterans Census. John Gordon married Helen _____ who survived him.

On June 10, 1890, he applied for an invalid pension, No. 779,963 that was granted under certificate No. 968,200. The pension index is in the name of: James T. Gordon, Alias John T. Gordon. His widow applied for a pension on February 2, 1904.

John T. Gordon died on January 19, 1904 in Manhattan, New York City, New York. He is buried at the Cypress Hills National Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York, Plot: 6235.

Melvin L. Nichols

Posted on October 25, 2022October 25, 2022 by Amanda Rutha

Melvin Lewis Nichols was an 18 year old, single resident of Mansfield on November 15, 1861 when he enlisted as a Private in Co. G of the 12th Regiment Connecticut Volunteer Infantry. He was transferred to Co. H on April 1, 1862 and reenlisted as a veteran on January 17, 1864. On November 26, 1864, he was transferred to Co. A of the 12^th Battalion Connecticut Volunteer Infantry and mustered out on August 12, 1865 in Hartford, Connecticut.

He was born about 1844 in Mansfield to Thomas and Laura (Colburn) Nichols. In the 1860 U.S. census in Mansfield, he is a 15 year old farm laborer in the household of Thomas Nichols. His brother, Charles Waterman Nichols, a 20 year old farm laborer, who served in the Civil War from Mansfield is also living in the household. After the Civil War, he returned to Mansfield and began working in a thread mill. He began as a thread finisher, was a boss spooler by 1910 and by the time of the 1920 U.S. census, he was an overseer in a silk mill.

Melvin Nichols married Adella A. Edmond about 1872. Children include: Frank M. Nichols, born about 1873; Clarence E. Nichols, born about November, 1880 and Leslie M. Nichols (son), born about December 1885. Adella (Edmond) Nichols died in 1903 and Melvin married second, Nellie Dorman about 1910.

On August 26, 1891 he applied for an invalid pension, No. 911,748 that was granted under certificate No. 983,366.

Melvin L. Nichols died on January 26, 1939 in Groton, Connecticut and is buried at the New Mansfield Center Cemetery in Mansfield. He is believed to be the Mansfield Civil War soldier to live the longest and was about 95 when he died.