150 Years Ago Today: The New York Times reports that the U.S. Civil War ended

Photo: New York Times Time Machine free sample

On Monday April 10, 1865 the New York Times reported that General Robert E. Lee and his last major Confederate army surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse on April 9, 1865. (The war began when the Confederates bombarded Union soldiers at Fort Sumter, South Carolina on April 12, 1861. )

James Moynahan (1842-1919) 

Can Go Home!

Below is the story of ancestor James Moynahan's (1842-1919) service in the Civil War. When James' father died in December, 1858,  he went to the upper peninsula of Michigan, where he worked in copper mines. Later he was in the lower peninsula.

At the first call for troops during the Civil war he volunteered in the Fifth Michigan Infantry, but the quota being filled, the regiment was not called into service at that time

The U.S. Civil War 1861-1865

"United States General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934,"
index and images, FamilySearch
(https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/QJDG-62YQ : accessed 11 March 2015), 
James Moynahan, 1865; citing , NARA microfilm publication T288
(Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 541,096.

27th Michigan Infantry - Page 096

• In 1862 he entered Company C, Twenty-seventh Michigan Infantry, and enlisted as a private at Copper Harbor, thence going to Kentucky and joining the Ninth Corps under General Burnside, in the Department of the Ohio. 
• He took part in the siege of Vickshurg and later was at Jackson, going from there back to Kentucky, then to East Tennessee and taking part in the siege of Knoxville. 
• In the spring of 1864 the corps was reorganized at Annapolis, Md., and was incorporated with the Army of the Potomac, taking part in all the engagements in the Wilderness. 
• In May 12, 1864, (at Spottsylvania, while acting as second lieutenant) he was wounded by a minie-ballthat lodged in the right breast and remained there for eleven months before it was removed. When he was wounded he was taken to Fredericksburg and for four days lay on a blanket, without medical attention, during which time the wound became so swollen that the surgeon could not probe for the bullet. He was moved to Washington, sent from there to Philadelphia, and finally, though the bullet was still in his breast and the wound still open, he requested to be returned to his regiment, which was done. 
• In February, 1865, he was commissioned first lieutenant . 
• In April 2, 1865,while participating in the assault on Fort Mahone at Petersburg  in command of his company, before daybreak he was shot in the left forearm by a minie-ball, which would have entered the left side had it not been for his silver watch and a memorandum book in his overcoat pocket. Previous to this the fort had been taken and with it three pieces of artillery, and his company, which carried the colors, had planted the stars and stripes oh the fort, so that he was permitted to participate in the victory before incapacitated for further service. 
• On his way from the field he met General Potter, whom he notified of the victory, news that naturally rejoiced the general's heart. 
• He went to the hospital at City Point, where he had his arm dressed; the old bullet in his breast, which was lodged against the shoulder blade, was operated for and removed at that time
• In April 12, 1865. He participated in the grand review at Washington and was mustered out as captain of Company G, July 26, 1865, at Washington, and a few days later was honorably discharged at Detroit.