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"Band of Brothers: The McGhees' Union Army Journey Through the U.S. Civil War"

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 One of the first ancestors I researched when I began this journey of building my family tree was Isaac Ross McGhee, my paternal great-grandfather. His story told to me by my aunt was mesmerizing to me. A U.S. Civil War Union soldier he served as a young man along with his brothers and father in 1864. As I progressed in writing this blog post, I became aware that all four of the McGhee brothers, including my great-grandfather, served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Research about the McGhee family became somewhat difficult as I found many McGhees who lived, worked, and enlisted in the Union Army in 1861.


I knew very little about my dad’s family, it wasn’t until I began asking my aunt, my dad’s sister, about the Allen family. As I reflected upon the information she first gave me, I was in awe! You see, my dad never spoke about his mother’s family, the McGhees. It was either that he knew very little about them or that he did not want to talk about them. Whatever the reason, the seed had been planted the day she wrote down the few specifics she knew about him.



Isaac’s and his brothers’ stories were probably not so very different from thousands of young men who lived in the North and the South during the war that almost tore our 85-year-old county apart. To me, it was the most fascinating part of my family history since the U.S. Civil War was of great interest to me since my high school days.


Here is Isaac Ross’s story:


Isaac Ross McGhee was born on 20 June 1849 in Dunnstable, Clinton County, Pennsylvania to James McGhee, a farmer turned shoemaker, and his wife Catharine. When Ross, the name he usually went by, was one year old in 1850 he was the youngest of five children, William, age 9, Amanda, age 7, Samuel, age 5, and Joseph, age 3. Dunnstable Township was a small farming community in central Pennsylvania, not far from the larger lumbering towns of Lock Haven and Williamsport, and the West Branch of the Susquehanna River. There were Underground Railroad stations in Clinton County near Dunnstable during the 1850s and 1860s. By all accounts, Dunnstable was a quiet and rural village.


I have not been able to ascertain how or why the McGhees came to live and farm in this quiet rural area. My aunt told me, according to her mother, my grandmother, that the McGhees originated somewhere in the southern states of America. How true that is, I’m not sure.


As far as I can determine James McGhee’s father's name was Isaac McGhee. I have researched Isaac McGhee or McGee, possibly another spelling of their surname, to the town of Beech Creek, Pennsylvania. In the 1860 United States Federal Census Ross, my great-grandfather, was eleven years old living in Lamar Township in Clinton County, Pennsylvania without his parents or siblings on a farm belonging to Benjamin Thompson, 38, and his wife, Joanna, also 38 years old. Lamar was a distance of approximately 15.8 miles from Dunnstable past the towns of Mill Hall, Lock Haven, and McElhattan.


His siblings William, Samuel, Amanda, and Joseph, or his parents, James and Catherine, were not found living together after the 1860 U.S. Federal Census.





When Isaac Ross was fourteen years old, he volunteered for service in the Union Army by lying about his age. He signed up as a recruit on 22 February 1864 for a three-year term in Lamar Township, Pennsylvania, stating his age as eighteen years into the 7th Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment, Co. E. He mustered in on 29 February 1864 at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. According to the muster roll, he had a stoppage of pay for one curb (sp.) bridle lost $3.00 which seemed to be a fairly common occurrence along with the loss of spurs. His enlisted time of service ended on 23 August 1865; he was sixteen years old. According to my paternal grandmother, his daughter, Ruth Naomi McGhee Allen, Isaac served as a drummer boy although I have been unable to find any written evidence to corroborate that fact. But in the case that he did, I learned drummer boys did more than drum.





The bravery of the youngest soldiers in the Union and Confederate forces—the drummer boys—won the hearts of their countrymen. These children didn’t simply provide musical entertainment for the troops. Responsible for beating out vital battle orders and communication signals, they were placed in harm’s way from the beginning of the fight to its conclusion. And when the battle was over, drummer boys were also relied upon to police the field, helping to carry wounded men to the hospital tents and to bury the slain. Many young boys marched off to war looking for adventure, but they found hard, and dangerous along with it.



In my great-grandfather’s case, I believe he enlisted to feel camaraderie with his brothers and father or possibly because he had nowhere else to go. He traveled with the regiment and Company E as far south as Georgia and as far west as Alabama.


In 1871 Ross married Mary Jane Leinbach. He was also a member of the First Methodist Church in Williamsport. The Methodist Church in Williamsport began as the Evangelical United Brethren before joining with the EUB, the Evangelical Association, and the Methodist Episcopal.


In several U.S. City Directories from the 1880s and 1890s Ross’s occupation was recorded as that of a “Harness Maker” or “Saddler.” Possibly he learned this skill while serving in the cavalry.


On 4 December 1891, he applied for an “Invalid” pension. Unfortunately, I have not found what this disability was. By all accounts I have uncovered, Isaac Ross McGhee lived a quiet life in central Pennsylvania, moving from Clinton County as a child, to Lycoming County as an adult.


On 29 June 1849 Isaac Ross McGhee died in Howard Hospital of an aneurysm of the abdominal aorta and his body was removed to Williamsport, Pennsylvania where he was buried in Wildwood (previously Mound) Cemetery along with other McGhee ancestors. His wife Mary Jane, and his three daughters, the youngest one, my paternal grandmother, Ruth Naomi McGhee, just 7 years old, survived him.


William S. McGhee, b. abt. 1843, the oldest brother enlisted in the 7th Pennsylvania Cavalry, Co. E. in the rank of private on 14 October 1861 in Salona, Pennsylvania, a small town not far from Dunnstable, he is recorded as being 18 years old. He signed up for three years. William mustered into service on 29 October 1861 at Camp Greble, Pennsylvania. He mustered out on 18 November 1864 because of expiration of terms of service.


Samuel A. McGhee, b. abt. 1845, enlisted in the 105th Regiment, Pennsylvania Infantry, Co. F. on 9 September 1861 at the young age of 16 or 17. He mustered out on 8 September 1864 after having fought and survived in the Battle of Gettysburg in July of 1863.



Joseph W. McGhee, b. abt. 1847, d. 12 Dec. 1929 in Bath, New York at the U.S. National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers. On the U.S. Federal Census of 1860 was recorded as living in Allison Township, Mill Hall, Pennsylvania boarding in the home of Joseph and Catherine Mader and their four children along with a servant. His occupation was recorded as “plasterer,” but his age was given as eighteen, which probably was a stretch of the truth.





He enlisted on 16 July 1861 at Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, again a stretch of the truth as he was probably about fifteen years old, served in the 7th Pennsylvania Infantry, Co. D, and mustered out on 2 September 1865 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In the 1892 New York State Census I found Joseph living on Long Island, New York with his wife Catherine and with his three children, Ellen M., age 10, Catharine, age 7, and Robert, age 6. His occupation was recorded as “plasterer.” In 1908 he was admitted to the U.S. Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in Bath, New York, then again in 1918, and 1924, and died there on 12 December 1929 at the age of 82. His occupation was “plasterer” He was interred in the Bath National Cemetery, Bath, New York, as a widower with his nearest relative listed as his son, William J. McGhee.


Besides the four McGhee brothers who enlisted and served in the U.S. Civil War, their father, James McGhee also volunteered for the Union and enrolled on 25 October 1861 at Philadelphia in the 91st Pennsylvania Infantry, Co. G, as a “private” listing his age as 39 years. Again, this probably was a fabrication of the truth as James was most certainly born in 1817, making him 44 years old. He was discharged from service on 5 May 1862 in Philadelphia. It is not known if the McGhee brothers or their father ever saw one another again after 1861.



It seems almost impossible that they all survived the Civil War, but some had injuries that caused them to submit “invalid” pension applications. As the bloodiest conflict in American history, the Civil War resulted in over 350,000 Union deaths and more than 450,000 casualties. Amazingly all four of the McGhee brothers and their father survived the war. For their service, Union soldiers were given pensions; widows of fallen soldiers also received a pensions.


Their mother Catherine McGhee was not found on any U.S. Federal Census after 1860 giving me reason to surmise that the family members moved in with others as boarders or servants, essentially breaking up the McGhee Family.


The boys and their father enlisted in the war effort and Catherine, their mother, whose maiden name I have not yet uncovered, was probably deceased. Only Amanda, the lone girl of the siblings, has been difficult to track leaving a hole in the McGhee family tree.



And so, I learned a few things about the Civil War Era of the United States by doing this research in addition to researching other branches of my family tree who served during the Civil War.


Here’s what I learned:

  1. 1. Men who volunteered for service in the Union Army often lied about their ages, either to seem older or younger than their actual years, to serve the cause.

  2. 2. Most times all the men in the family served in the U.S. Civil War for one to three years, as the McGhee men did.

  3. 3. The McGhee family, as were many families, were poor farmers who, after the probable death of their mother and the conflict within the United States, chose to enlist in the army over continuing their familial tradition of farming. Most volunteers who enlisted as “privates” came from poor families without many resources or little family support.

  4. 4. It was not uncommon during the U.S. Civil War that families were torn apart and may never have seen one another again.

  5. 5. Life was difficult; war, disease, injury, and death were common occurrences, but without the perseverance of our ancestors, none of us would be here today. We all owe them a debt of gratitude.


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