DearMYRTLE’s DocuChallenge

DocuChallenge: Phillips, William D

We were presented with an image from Fold3.com to do the following:

NOW FOR THE CHALLENGE
Let’s answer these questions:

1. What is this document?
2. How would you describe the physical appearance of this document?
3. What does this document say about Ol’ Myrt’s ancestor?
4. What other people are mentioned in this document?
5. What information items do you find most reliable in this document?
6. What information items do you find less reliable in this document?
7. What value is this document without a citation indicating provenance?
8. Can you craft a citation for this document?
9. What would you do with this digital document?
10. What other record groups should Ol’ Myrt consider after analyzing this document?

This is a Civil War Pension card. We are looking at a digital image of that card.

I transcribed it:

Dead
Name of Soldier: Phillips, William H
Service: Last Rank P, Co K, 19 Reg, Ind Inf
Term of Service: Enlisted [ no date ] Discharged [ no date ]
Date of Filing 1880 June 7
Class: Invalid, Application number 376,996, Certificate No 243,464

Date of Filing 1921 Mar 12
Widow 1,171,114, 8-1-20, 907389

Additional Service A 17 V.R.C.
Died Fed 21 1921, Knoxville, Iowa

“Civil War Pensions; Organization Index to Pension Files of Veterans Who Served Between 1861 and 1900”, digital image, The National Archives (http://www.fold3.com : accessed 31 October 2014); entry for William H Phillips (Co K, 19 Reg, Ind Inf); citing: Civil War Pensions, Pension applications for service in the US Army between 1861 and 1900, grouped according to the units in which the veterans served; NARA T289. no roll number cited.

The first thing I noticed was William H vs William D. Wonder if +DearMYRTLE gave that to us as a hint.

The Soldier, William H Phillips had died:

What this told me was the soldier’s name was William H Phillips and that he was married and left a widow. He was a Private, in Company K, of the 19th Regiment, Indiana Infantry. He Died 1/21/1921 in Knoxville, Iowa, and his widow filed for the pension 3/12/1921.

So far, the information appears to be OK, but….

One thing that caught my eye was the Term of Service, there we no dates. So, I searched to see if there were any Civil War Service Records for William H Phillips that fit the information I had so far.

There was no indication in the Civil War Service Index – Union – Indiana for him, but there were 7 entries, none this William H. The question so far is, Did he serve and when did he serve? Not sure what the A 17 V.R.C. means, yet.

I have been looking at Civil War Records on Ancestry.com, and where I would normally go from what I have so far, would see IF I can find HER pension file. And I found her pension at: U.S., Civil War Pension Index: General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934 for William H Phillips. The numbers matched exactly, as I have seen before. It’s a different card, but should have the same numbers and certificate number. It did. The widow’s name is Louisa Phillips. She filed for the pension in Iowa, where he had died.

That A 17 V.R.C. is also on this pension record. Two documents with the same information.

My next stop was to see IF I could find any more information on the 19th Indiana Infantry Regiment, as I had a hint something was coming. So I went to Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/19th_Indiana_Infantry_Regiment

Having been on a brief Civil War research trip with our spouses, I took this picture at Gettysburg in May.

The Iron Brigade. I knew there had to be a connection. BUT, I took my next step to see what else I could find out about the 19th.

Before I take my next step in research, I need to mention that the Iron Brigade was involved, in Gettysburg, on Culp’s Hill on 3 July. I also had a Confederate soldier, Ridgely Howard, in that SAME battle and he was wounded in the thigh at Culps Hill. Not in the same part of the battle, DearMYRTLE’s soldier was at the other end of that battle, as there are monuments placed where the units were fighting. Pieces of David Ridgely Howard’s story is in a PBS film on Gettysburg.

This is the monument for the 1st Maryland.

Back to my research I found this website:

http://www.civilwararchive.com/Unreghst/unininf2.htm#19th

The kicker for this research, for this DocuChallenge is in the LAST Line on the 19th’s service information:

“Weldon R. R. August 18-21”

In William Henry Phillips Find-A-Grave memorial, Find A Greave Memorial #58768920, DearMYRTLE published the details of his pension files, that he served through 1864. So, Was HE, William Henry Phillips, at Weldron R.R. in that battle?

MY Ridgely Howard was wounded for the 2nd time at THAT battle. This time, “wounded in action – upper portion of right thigh, amputated.

David Ridgely Howard lived until 23 December 1927 and is buried in Green Mount Cemetery, Baltimore, Maryland.