Fort Duffield Memorial
This Page is Dedicated to all that have died serving our country.
 
 
 
Fort Duffield Memorial Cemetery
 
 
Captain Ennis Church, Regimental Surgeon
9th Michigan Infantry, U.S.
  Captain Church served as regimental surgeon to the  sick solders that cold winter in West Point.
For most of the green troops, this was the first time away from home. Wet ground and freezing temperatures made life in the camps miserable. Few of them knew how to make a proper bunk of straw or rails. The many hardships combined with the less than ideal sanitary conditions proved too much for many of the men.
  A measles epidemic struck the camps and many of the men developed pneumonia as a complication,  in all, 61 men died and were buried on the hill to the south of the fort.
  The people of West Point opened their homes to these sick men. During this bleak period the Ditto-Lansbury House, on the Northeast corner of  4th & Elm , was pressed into service as a military hospital.
  It was ironic that in many instances the mothers, wife's, or sisters of the confederate soldiers  who were off fighting for the south were kindly nursing the Yankee Soldiers back to health.
  Dr. Geoghegan and Dr. Fletcher of West Point assisted Captain Church in this overwhelming crisis. Among the local women who nursed the sick  under these severe conditions were Mrs. Guthrie and Miss Mallie.
  Col. Duffield, commander of the 9th Michigan,  reported on December 23, 1961 to Brig. Gen. John Robertson, "Our sick list is rapidly decreasing and now shows only 156 instead of the 316 as per enclosed monthly return. I have had all the men and officers of this command vaccinated to guard against a visitation from small Pox which is prevalent in several Brigades now in Kentucky"..
  Many of wars casualties were not on the battlefield.
In grateful remembrance we honor their service and the ultimate sacrifice of the 61 men that gave their lives while serving the Union at Fort Duffield.
 
 
Those that died  in service and are remembered at Fort Duffield's Memorial Cemetery.
  1861-1862
1861

10/28   Pvt. Conley   Co. K-9th Mich.                                 (Fever)
10/28   Joseph Duffee   Co. K-9th Mich.                             (Meningitis)
11/05   Gardner Van Zile   Co. K-9th Mich.                        (Inflammation of Brain)
11/13   James Winters   Co. K-9th Mich.                             (Fell into cistern).
11/15   Edward Snavley   1ST Wis.                                     (Drowned)
11/16     ____ Gardner   Co. D-9t Mich.                             (Pneumonia)
11/18   Job Kerr   Co. H-9th Mich.                                     (Typhoid)
11/18   Franklin Wait   Co. A-Mich.                                    (Measles)
11/19   Daniel Pearson   Co. I-9th Mich.                             (Measles)
11/21   Francis Stockwell   Co. I-9th Mich.                         (Typhoid)
11/23   Wm. Plants   Co. D-9th Mich.                                 (Measles)
11/23   Ignatus Long   Co. B-9th Mich.                               (Typhoid)
11/24   Asahel Leet   Co. H-9th Mich.                                 (Typhoid)
11/25   Lafayette Porter   Co, H-9th Mich.                          (Typhoid)
11/26   Daniel Cutler   Co. F-9th Mich.                               (Typhoid)
11/27   Aleck Sutton   1st Wis.                                                (?)
11/27   Almond Knight   1st Wis.                                             (?)
11/29   Jesse Benson   Co.  B-9th Mich.                             (Typhoid)
11/30   Reuben Smith   Co. K-9th Mich.                             (Measles)
12/01   Charles Jordon   Co. G-9th Mich.                           (Typhoid)
12/02   Miles Woods   Co. H-9th Mich.                             (Typhoid)
12/04   Emil Fisher   1st Wis.                                              (Killed by snipper)
12/03   Ionia Sweet   Co. H-9th Mich.                               (Phthisis Pulmonary) "Tuberculosis"
12/04   Henry Redner   Co. C-9th Mich.                            (Measles)
12/06   _____ Cutworth   Co. A-9th Mich.                       (Typhoid)
12/08   Garret Quick   Co. E-9th Mich.                             (Typhoid)
12/09   Charles Wright   Co. H-9th Mich.                          (Typhoid)
12/09   Jason Mills   Co. D-9th Mich.                                (Pneumonia)
12/11   Issac Tower   Co. A-9th Mich.                                     (?)
12/13   John Byers   Co. H-9th Mich.                                (Typhoid)
12/15   Gordon Snell   Co. H-9th Mich.                             (Typhoid)
12/16   James Drown   Co. F-9th Mich.                             (Typhoid)
12/31   Anson Lewis   Co. C-9th Mich.                              (Typhoid)

1862

01/01   Russel Farnham   Co. C-9th Mich.                         (Typhoid)
01/17   Philetus Bacon   Co. C-9th Mich.                           (Pulmonary) "Tuberculosis"
01/18   Earlman Vaughn   Co. A-9th Mich.                        (Typhoid)
02/07   Robert Evans   Co. H-9th Mich.                            (Typhoid)
02/09   Richard Presley   Co. H-9th Mich.                               (?)
02/17   Wm. Wilson   Co. D-9th Mich.                                    (?)
02/24   Emery Wheeler   Co. H-9th Mich.                                (?)
02/29   Patrick O'Brien   Co. H-9th Mich.                                (?)

Death Date Unknown
?   Leon Combs   9th Ky.                                                         (?)
?    ____ Johnson   37th Indiana                                               (?)
?    Gunder Edwards   Co. H-9th Mich.                              (Typhoid)
?    Clark Weston   Co. I-9th Mich.                                    (Typhoid)
?    Charles Sweets   Co. H-9th Mich.                                (Typhoid)

(Also 2 men from 1st Ohio and 1 man from the 28th Ky. drowned here.)
 
 

 The Official History of the 9th Michigan Vol. Infantry list 61 men as being buried at Fort Duffield. The remains are "Unknown".
Information Courtesy of Richard Briggs, "West Point Historian".
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