We Shall Conquer or Die: Partisan Warfare in 1862 Western Kentucky By Derrick Lindow Copyright 2024Savas BeatieThe Civil War provides many avenues for discussion and study - battles, generals, politics, technology, and social issues, among numerous topics frequently explored.One which I have never particularly thought of often was partisan warfare, particularly in western ..read more

A man of uncertain origins, Ely (or Eli) Ralls was born in March of 1829, but records differ on where he was born, with Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana all appearing as his birthplace on various census records.Some parts of his life, though are more certain. In the late 1840s, as the age of "Manifest Destiny" was in perhaps its prime years, he served as a private in company L of ..read more

One of my interests in the war has been finding out about family members who served in the war. As this separate page shows, I have found several few relatives who served on the Union side (no Confederates have turned up in my searches yet) but until recently, I had not found any relative that had died during the war, at least until a cousin forwarded me this name.Richard Stamper was born in ..read more

 For the past few years, of course, I have been researching individual soldiers/sailors who ever lived, died or are buried in Campbell County and finding their stories, hopefully to share them some day.I have shared a few in posts on here and am still working on a couple more, with other ideas in store, but I have also started looking more at the county as a whole in the war. One person had ..read more

A long letter appeared in the December 22, 1861 Cincinnati Daily Enquirer, printed with permission by the unnamed person to whom it was addressed, a rare piece of wartime correspondence from a solider who had been in Campbell County.This soldier, William Halpin, had been raising a company for the 50th Ohio Infantry, but withdrew it from that unit and moved the men to Camp Webster in ..read more

I know I haven’t posted much lately, other than occasional items in Facebook, but I am still researching and writing about local Civil War soldiers, and have been surprised by how much I’m learning, especially recently.A few weeks ago, I started two stories in a pair of men whose stories seemed potentially intriguing. That intuition proved correct and it now appears my work on each will ..read more

Many of the men who fought in the Civil War saw their lives cut short, whether by bullet or disease, during those four long, blood-filled years, but among those who survived, some lived extremely long post-war lives.  One man who lived much longer than expected was Herman Grentzenberg.   He was born in Danzig, Prussia on October 18, 1836 and arrived in the United States about 1860. He was working ..read more

Standing 5 feet, 8 inches tall, this new Civil War soldier featured a light complexion, gray eyes, and dark-colored hair. He worked as a steamboat man, and had been born in Baden, Germany. Newport, Kentucky was his current post office address.  This recruit was Jacob Goetz (sometimes spelled “Getz” as on his headstone), who was born in approximately 1820. Before immigrating, he had married Mary ..read more

Here is another story I have found in my research of Civil War soldiers and sailors from  Campbell County, Kentucky. Camp Near Murfreesboro, TN, March 30th, 1863Mrs. Sara Scott Madam: It becomes my painful duty to inform you of your husband’s death. It was caused by the wound he received at the Battle of Stones River Dec. 31, 1862, while fighting gallantly for his adopted country. His wound was ..read more

When I started researching local Civil War soldiers, this was the type of story I never thought about finding. I just had never heard of anything like it in the area, but it makes sense thst it was just as likely to happen in Campbell County as anywhere else. That last line is something this project has really reinforced to me, along with a realization of the lack of previous study or sharing of ..read more