by Caitlyn Price, Lead Ranger

Born during the Reconstruction Era in Orangeburg, South Carolina, on August 10, 1877, Pervies Davies enlisted in 1898 into the 9th Cavalry Regiment, one of the United States Army’s four segregated African American regiments known as the Buffalo Soldiers. Private Davies and the 9th Cavalry served in Cuba during the Spanish-American War, participating in the Battle of San Juan Hill. He later transferred into the 10th Cavalry and was in the Philippines during the Philippine-American War. In 1905, he reenlisted into the 9th Cavalry at Fort Moultrie, South Carolina. Davies ended his military career at Fort Leavenworth Military Reservation in 1911 after being discharged for an unknown disability. Although there is no information about his disability, the 1920-1950 censuses show Pervies Davies was institutionalized in mental hospitals from Washington D.C. to Texas. On December 12, 1956, Private Pervies Davies died in a mental hospital in Alabama.

While the United States Military was desegregated in 1948, during WWII, Andersonville National Cemetery, in which lay the co-mingled Black and White Civil War prisoners of war remained officially segregated. In 1942, Army Quartermaster General C.C. Reynolds wrote, “All persons who have served in the armed forces of the United States and who were honorably separate from such service are entitled to burial in a national cemetery without regard to their race or religion.” In response, Andersonville Superintendent William Coats designated an area in the northeast section (Section G) of the cemetery that was to be “reserved for colored interments. ” Section G is the final resting place for Black veterans, including Private Pervies Davies (Section G Grave 118) who served this country in the Spanish-American War, the two World Wars, and the Korean War. Section G operated as Andersonville National Cemetery’s segregated section until 1960, when it was finally desegregated.

Story Behind the Stone: James and Jacob Otto
By: Teri Surber

Brothers James S. Otto and Jacob Guilford Otto enlisted in the 10th and 6th New York Cavalry, respectively. Even though the Otto family was close, the Civil War strained their relationship. Jacob and his father, Samuel, argued over whether there would be a war at all and, if there was, how long it would last. To Jacob, war was inevitable, and he wanted to enlist. He accused his father of laughing at him and felt justified after South Carolina seceded, writing to Samuel, “I think things look like it now, don’t you.”

By August 1861, both James and Jacob had enlisted. Although Jacob’s relationship with his father never seemed to improve, the five siblings in the Otto family kept close correspondence, exchanging several letters from 1861 to 1863. The boys told of promotions, pay, rations, and everything that comes with army life, and their sisters kept them up to date with events and people back home. While stationed in Maryland, James excitedly shared with his sisters about a dance he was able to attend. He played the violin, “had plenty to eat and drink, but most importantly, “there was 26 good-looking girls there!” Being in the Cavalry, James happily wrote home to tell his sisters about his horse, a bay, that has a “mouth or feed bag” that “fastens on his head to eat out of.” Jacob had a love interest at home and asked one sister to find out the truth after hearing she might be engaged, but cautioned his sister, “Say nothing, I repeat it, nothing to no one.”

Army life was not always easy. By October 1862, James and Jacob had been involved in several battles. After Sharpsburg, Jacob wrote, “I have seen the Rebs lying on top of one another. They were so thick dead on the field.” He also talked of frustrations with Army command, calling McClellan a “coward and a fool.” Both boys expressed irritation at not being able to receive mail and not hearing from each other.

In November, Jacob found himself outside Fredericksburg waiting for General Burnside’s pontoon bridges. Union and Confederate pickets talked to one another and exchanged coffee, sugar, tobacco, and sometimes insults. Jacob wrote, “We ask them how they like Antietam, and they ask us how we like Bull Run.” Later that month, James’s regiment passed through the area, and the two brothers had a good, although brief, visit.

On January 20, 1863, James and Jacob crossed paths for the last time. They shared a meal, and Jacob wrote to his sister, “James is sitting close by me today…He looks first-rate and seems to enjoy himself very well.” The boys expressed their wish to see their family and discussed plans for the future. James and the 10th Cavalry left the next day.

After Gettysburg, Jacob, a dispatch carrier, approached a Pennsylvania farmhouse and asked for a fresh horse. Apparently, a southern sympathizer, the farmer told him he would help but instead brought out his gun and then shot and killed Jacob Otto. After the war, Jacob’s father, whom he argued with so frequently, went to get his body for reburial in the Rose, New York cemetery.

James Otto was captured at Grove Church in November 1863. Initially held in Richmond, he was among the first prisoners sent to Andersonville, where he died of diarrhea on April 21, 1864, and is buried in grave 656.

Story Behind the Stone: Alfred Hammer
By: Teri Surber, Park Ranger

During the Civil War, fathers, brothers, and friends from local communities often joined the service together. Alfred and Hiram Hammer were no different, enlisting on September 24, 1861, into Company B of the 9th U.S. Kentucky Infantry. Alfred and Hiram fought in many battles throughout 1862, including Shiloh, Corinth, and Perryville. At Chickamauga on September 19th, 1863, Alfred was wounded and the two brothers were captured together.
Hiram and Alfred were sent first to Libby Prison in Richmond, Virginia. Then, in December 1863, both were transferred to Danville, Virginia. Conditions in the warehouse prisons of Danville were extremely poor, and after only three months, Hiram died. There is no grave for Alfred at Danville National Cemetery, which could mean that he is interred in one of the 143 unknowns buried there.
Whether Alfred was transported to Andersonville before or after Hiram died is unknown, but he arrived at the prison without his brother. After spending several months in Confederate prisons, Alfred did not survive long at Andersonville. He died from chronic diarrhea on June 15, 1864, and is buried in Section K, Grave #1990.

A Story Behind the Stone: Alfred Voorhees
By: Davis Duffey, Park Guide

Using diaries, oral histories, and other historical evidence we highlight the life of a soldier interred at Andersonville.

Alfred Voorhees was born in New Jersey and worked as a baker prior to his enlistment with Company H of the 1st New York Cavalry on August 5, 1861, at the age of 22. After three years of service, he re-enlisted on January 1, 1864.On May 13, 1864, Voorhees was captured before the Battle of New Market in the Shenandoah Valley. After crossing the mountains and making their way to New Market, his unit of 280 men came upon 4,000 to 5,000 Confederates who they were unable to evade. Alfred Voorhees began a diary on the day of his capture.

Initially, Voorhees was transferred between prison camps in Virginia. On May 15th, he was held in a church in Richmond where he was stripped of his belongings. He was moved to Lynchburg and then Danville where he was quartered in a large building and given good rations of cornbread and bacon. He arrived at Andersonville on May 25, 1864. For the remainder of his diary, he detailed the everyday difficulties such as overcrowding, inconsistency of rations, and exposure to the elements due to lack of shelter.

Voorhees’s problems with insufficient food began almost immediately when he was unable to draw rations the day after he arrived in camp. His diary entries on the lack of good rations often coincided with his feeling sick. In an entry dated June 11th, he wrote of receiving a good dinner, but two days later he receives only rice and meat. He also wrote of prisoners receiving rations of unbolted corn. At the end of his diary, Voorhees talked about the many prisoners who arrived at the prison daily who lacked proper shelter. Many men died of exposure from the Georgia sun, heat, and rain. Voorhees had his own shelter but said he and his fellow prisoners were powerless to help those without shelter. Voorhees first talked of experiencing diarrhea, the number one cause of death at Andersonville, on July 25th. On July 28th he inscribed that “he is sick again with diarrhea that is serious.” His final diary entry was August 3rd and on August 13, 1864, Alfred Voorhees succumbed to chronic diarrhea. He is buried in grave 5503.

Born in Pennsylvania in 1834 to English immigrants, Edward Boots enlisted in the 101st Pennsylvania Infantry on October 29, 1861. By November 13, 1862, he had risen to the rank of Quartermaster Sergeant. In the spring of 1864, his unit was serving in North Carolina and fought in the Battle of Plymouth. On April 20. 1864, the entire Union garrison was forced to surrender after becoming trapped between Confederate naval and land forces.

Boots was subsequently sent to Andersonville where he arrived in May of 1864. During his imprisonment, Boots saw and endured some of the prison’s worst conditions. He witnessed the trial of the Raiders and the high death rate of August 1864. During his service Boots wrote letters home and he was able to write and send a letter home before his death at Andersonville. The last letter he sent was dated June 23, 1864. In the letter he tells his family he is heathy, and that he wants to hear from them. He also hopes a prisoner exchange would occur soon. He never lived to see an exchange. Boots contracted scurvy near the end of August. He died on September 12, 1864, and is buried in grave 8606.

 

 

 

Andersonville National Historic Site maintains a database of prisoners of war from all American wars. Many of the entries contain additional information kept in physical files in the research library. These files, often donated by prisoner families or their descendants, contain a variety of information such as copies of military records, photos, letters, pensions, newspaper articles, and census records.

Recently, Jeanne Carper, the 2nd great granddaughter of Andersonville prisoner Samuel Gerhart sent copies of documents in an email. She wrote, “For years we thought he (Samuel) died in Libby Prison, but then I found a scrap of paper with the grave number and his name in an old shoebox on the attic stairs while cleaning up an aunt’s estate and that led to finding out more.”

Jeanne’s research led her to discover a photo of Samuel Gerhart, a copy of his muster roll, and a newspaper article with his name on the regiment’s list. This is Samuel’s story:

Corporal Samuel Gerhart was born in 1841 in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, to German immigrant parents. On Christmas Day 1861, he married Rachael Phillippi and, the following year, they had a daughter named Alice. A few weeks after Alice was born, Samuel enlisted into Co C, 142 Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. According to his enlistment papers, he was 5’9” with brown eyes and brown hair and his occupation was listed as a farmer.

Samuel fought with the 142nd Pennsylvania at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville before being listed as missing during the Battle of the Wilderness. Later, his entry in the Pennsylvania muster rolls was updated to “Captured at Wilderness, Va., May 5, 1864; died at Andersonville, Ga., September 17, 1864; grave, 9,005.” He was twenty-three years old.

Jeanne wrote, “He was so young, looks so earnest, and then left to go to war, leaving an 18-year-old wife with a baby he probably never saw again. Samuel fought for what he believed and died too young, but his lineage lives on because of Alice, who married in 1882 and had seven children.”

Samuel Gerhart’s database entry has been updated with the information Jeanne sent us, and he now has a physical file in our research library. There are thousands of stories like Samuel Gerhart’s and Jeanne’s, and helping people make family connections is just part of what makes Andersonville National Historic Site special.