Elijah's Story

In April of 2006 we found Elijah's headstone, under the grass and dirt.

In a cemetery forgotten by Father Time and covered by Mother Earth.

They have taken good care of him but he is back with family now,

and we will do everything we can to make sure this doesn't happen again.

Thank you for taking the time to read Elijah's story.

Please remember our Ancestors, they made us who we are, before we were.

Elijah Beeman

1842-1862

Elijah was born October 7, 1842 in Warren County, Ohio.

Named after his Grandpa who was Elijah Beeman Jr.

  

The son of Ariel and Catherine (Barrey) Beeman. (shown above)

Elijah had 2 brothers and a sister,

A big brother named John born August 7, 1836.

A big sister named Ann Eliza born May 17, 1839.

  

 and a little brother Jefferson "Jeff" who was born January 24, 1845.

Click here to learn more about Elijah's Family Tree

On April 20,1861 Elijah enlisted in the military as a private at the age of 18. On May 4, 1861 Elijah enlisted in Company A of the 12th Infantry Regiment of Ohio. This company was a result of the President’s call for 75,000 troops for 3 months. There were several companies in the 12th Infantry Regiment.

These regiments were enrolled from the counties of Brown, Butler, Clinton, Clermont, Greene, Highland, and Warren from April 19th to April 25th of 1861.

Elijah's Regiment was mustered into U.S. service at Camp Jackson in Columbus, Ohio from April 22nd to May 4th.

Camp Jackson/Chase during the Civil War.

Camp Jackson was located near Columbus, Ohio.  Governor William Dennison ordered the camp's creation as a training camp for Ohio volunteers during the Civil War. 

In April 1861, following President Abraham Lincoln's call for seventy-five thousand volunteers to end the South's rebellion, Governor Dennison encouraged Ohio communities to form and to send militia units to the state capital at Columbus for the governor's use. 

Camp Jackson served as the training ground for these units.  Military authorities also reorganized these individual units into large military bodies.

Camp Jackson would later be called Camp Chase and served as a POW camp during the war. There were about 8000 confederate POW’s in the camp in 1863.

On May 6th the Regiment went to Camp Dennison.

Some sketches of Camp Dennison during the Civil War:

 

 

While he was in the service he would write many letters home,

letters that would somehow someway make it through time to today.

Click here to see those letters.

Copyright © 2008 Darren Waters

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