Loose Trains and Bolts in the Gut Part I

Civil War pension applications can contain a wide variety of information about the soldier and his family. The pension application of William Kile from the 37th Iowa Volunteers is no different.

One of Kile's comrades details his account of how Kile was injured in the Civil War. It wasn't a bullet that injured Kile. It was a bolt attached to a runaway freight car.

The Statement of Samuel R. Chase

[begin transcription]

I S. R. Chase residing at Moscow, Muscatine Co. Iowa do hereby testify that I am 75 years of age and was late a Private in said Co. B 37^th Iowa Vols and that I was well acquainted with the said Wm Kile. I was one of the detail and an eye witness of the accident by which Mr. Kile was ruptured and was myself wounded by the same accident. There was some three of four Killed and quite a number wounded at that same time. The facts regarding the accident were briefly as follows. The sqaad on detail under command of Lieut Markham marched from camp to the Memphis depot and halted by the side of a large brick warehouse close to which there was a side track for loading freight cars from said warehouse some loose or detached freight cars in charge of breakman were being run down on said side track the Orderly seeing the danger of the mess spoke to Lieut. Markham who refused to give any order to change the position of the men but ordered them to stand as they were in a moment the cars were upon them said Kile was squeezed in between a freight car and the brick of said ware house and a boult or something projecting from the side of said car caught Mr. Kile in his right side and tore open the lower part of his abdomen causing the rupture of which he has ever since then been afflicted. I have no interest whatsoever in the claim of said Wm. Kile My Post Office is Moscow Muscatine Co. Iowa

                                                [signed] Samuel R. Chase

[end transcription]

Stay tuned. Apparently Markham didn't think the men needed to move from their position and Chase was not the only veteran who made such a statement.

Source: Statement of Samuel R. Chase, dated 23 October 1884, Civil War Pension File of William Kile, Company B, 37th Iowa Infantry Invalid’s Application #525005, Invalid’s Certificate #321230, NARA Record Group 15.

Archibald Kile Testifies that "The Pensioner is My Brother"

National Archives of the United States Washington, DC
Selected Documents (everything except medical examinations)
From the Civil War Pension File of: WILLIAM KILE
Company B, 37th Iowa Infantry Invalid’s Application #525005
Invalid’s Certificate #321230 Record Group 15

This affidavit from the Civil War pension file of William Kile makes two good points. One is that relationships can be stated in these documents. This is the only contemporary document where one of the Kile brothers explicitly states the relationship.

The items underlined in red and blue make the point that transcription of documents sometimes is really about context. I might have a difficult time transcribing them as "Prvt" and "Vols." but their positioning in the document makes their meaning rather clear.

Pension affidavits frequently contain unexpected surprises.

I Want To Join My Boys

I really had no idea what to expect from the "pardon from the Illinois governor" file for William Kile. I expected a petition for early release and maybe a few letters about his behavior while incarcerated, but also ran across this letter from October of 1862. Apparently Kile wanted to join his four sons  and son-in-law who were already in the Civil War.

letter dated 10 October 1862 to Illinois Governor Yates from C. C. [---],
 Executive Clemency Files, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, Illinois.

A search of the "Illinois Civil War Muster and Descriptive Rolls" at the Illinois State Archives website indicated that there were actually six men with the surname Kile in Company H of the 84th Illinois. The men who were not Kile's sons were likely his nephews as William had several brothers who also lived in Mercer County, Illinois.

As of this posting, I'm not exactly certain who wrote this letter. Hopefully a little searching will reveal the name of the author. He apparently was a Mercer County, Illinois, resident based upon his being a friend of the "prisoners relatives."

Stay tuned.

Kile Absent From the Muster Because He Was "Under Arrest"

Research on William Kile continues--and it just gets more interesting.

I don't always obtain the service record cards for Civil War servicemen. It's not because they aren't interesting, but because the cards usually contain minimal information about the soldier and it's not always worth the expense to do it. My personal interest is not very high in the military career of every person for whom I decide to obtain a copy of their pension. Whether or not that violates the philosophy of an "exhaustive search" is another matter entirely.

However, there are times when the cards are interesting.

Like this time with William Kile.

He was absent from the muster roll of Company K of the 37th Iowa regiment in March and April of 1865.  He wasn't sick. He was under arrest as the card below illustrates.

National Archives of the United States Washington, DC
Complete Compiled Civil War Service Record of:
WILLIAM KILE Company B, 37th Iowa Infantry
Record Group 94

At this point, I'm not certain why he was under arrest and this arrest is apparently separate from his apparent larceny conviction in Mercer County, Illinois, before his enlistment.

Stay tuned...we're going to see what information can be found on his arrest.

William Kile Citizenship Restored in 1867

Private acts of state legislatures can contain a variety of material. This one from Illinois in 1867 was particularly interesting. Apparently when he was sentenced for larceny in Mercer County, Illinois in 1859, William Kile lost not only his right to vote, but also his citizenship "in the state of Illinois" as well. To be honest when I saw the reference to his citizenship being restored, I thought the loss was due to participation in the Civil War--I was partially correct, but not in the way in which I had thought. 

The "Act to restore William Kile to citizenship" from 1867 references his pardon by Illinois governor Richard Yates and his subsequent service in the Civil War. The citizenship that is restored is that of a "citizen of the state of Illinois."  I'll have to do a little searching to see just what that phrase means. I need to look at contemporary Illinois state statute to answer that question as well as what actually happened to Kile's citizenship when he was convicted. He was not the only convict who had an act reinstating his citizenship in 1867.

The Act also refers to Kile's unit and his dates of service. That information should be validated with records that are a little "closer to the original source" than this. There is always chance that a date or unit number is off, but the essence of the statement regarding Kile hopefully is true.

And there are local court records and newspaper records that could be searched for information on Kile's crime as well.

One never knows what one will find in GoogleBooks.