Civil War documents

Archive

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Saugatuck Douglas Historical Society

58 Plummer records.jpg 3.3MB: Andrew Plummer, son of Elvira and Benjamin Plummer who came to Allegan County in 1834, was the first white child born in Saugatuck Township. He left for Texas in 1 860 and was, by his own description "pressed into Confederate service." This document shows that he was one of the soldiers who surrendered to Union troops on May 26, at New Orleans and was subsequently paroled. He returned to Allegan County and farmed a 100-acre plus parcel near PIummerville, Ganges Township.
58 Plummer records.jpg 3.3MB

Andrew Plummer, son of Elvira and Benjamin Plummer who came to Allegan County in 1834, was the first white child born in Saugatuck Township. He left for Texas in 1 860 and was, by his own description "pressed into Confederate service." This document shows that he was one of the soldiers who surrendered to Union troops on May 26, at New Orleans and was subsequently paroled. He returned to Allegan County and farmed a 100-acre plus parcel near PIummerville, Ganges Township.

Name/Title

Civil War documents

Entry/Object ID

2023.50.101

Scope and Content

Four digital images of Civil War documents belonging to local citizens who served in the conflict. Images and text were printed in the SDHS newsletter inserts pages 332-335 with text by Kit Lane.

Context

President Abraham Lincoln in the early days of the American Civil War met with a group of officers from the Michigan cavalry units and remarked that while other states had to train soldiers those from Michigan seemed to be "born ready made." There was some truth to this. The rigors of the Michigan frontier were excellent training for the trenches. Well over half of the recruits in Allegan County were farm boys who had been riding horses all of their lives. They had grown up in the forests and fields hunting deer, rabbits and other small animals - superb training for the infantry. These farm boys were hankering for adventure, for some action that did not involve plowing or harvesting. They got plenty of it. Their history, which will be the basis of the 2005 exhibit at the museum is told in tons of paper, now in the National Archives. Here is a sample of the documents that tell their story.

Collection

SDHS NL Inserts, Military, wars and veterans

Cataloged By

Winthers, Sally

Acquisition

Accession

2023.50

Acquisition Method

Found in Collection

Notes

SDHS Newsletter insert pages 332-335

Location

* Untyped Location

Digital data in CatalogIt

Relationships

Related Person or Organization

Person or Organization

Plummer, Andrew Ames 1835-1917, Tuttle, Levi 1829-1921, Pritchard, Benjamin D. 1835-1907, Billings, Walter 1818-1899, Dutcher, George Newburg 1834-1909

Related Events

Event

American Civil War 1861-1865

General Notes

Note

This information was OCR text scanned from SDHS newsletter supplements. Binders of original paper copies are in the SDHC reference library.

Create Date

January 6, 2024

Update Date

March 28, 2025