Husband of Mary Elizabeth Mell.
Served in Co. E 130th Regt. PA Vol. Inf. during the American Civil War.
James B. Hawk was born in Newburg, Cumberland County, and married Mary Elizabeth Mell March 24, 1864, in Shippensburg. In 1860, he was a carpenter living in Hopewell Township, Cumberland County, and stood 5' 6" tall with light hair and blue eyes.
He enlisted in Newville, Cumberland County, August 6, 1862, and mustered into federal service at Harrisburg August 19, which was shortly after the regiment had left the city. He was injured at Antietam when a round of solid shot (or an exploding shell) smashed into a rail pile and one of the railings struck him in the right side of the neck. He claimed that he then walked to his uncle's house in Funkstown, Maryland, about six miles from the battlefield, which meant - and witnesses concur - that he was ambulatory. He remained with his uncle about a week until his father arrived to take him home, although military records show him hospitalized in Baltimore. After he arrived home, he claimed that he reported weekly to the hospital in Chambersburg. While he has no record of a furlough, there is no desertion charge either, so he apparently had permission for all that wandering, and he was not the only injured man in the 130th Pennsylvania to go home to recover. He returned to duty December 9, 1862, (just in time to fight the battle of Fredericksburg) and for a while messed with John Hemminger, a man who would become an oft-quoted historical source.
Cataracts blinded him late in life, and he died in Harrisburg where he had been living since at least 1900.
Husband of Mary Elizabeth Mell.
Served in Co. E 130th Regt. PA Vol. Inf. during the American Civil War.
James B. Hawk was born in Newburg, Cumberland County, and married Mary Elizabeth Mell March 24, 1864, in Shippensburg. In 1860, he was a carpenter living in Hopewell Township, Cumberland County, and stood 5' 6" tall with light hair and blue eyes.
He enlisted in Newville, Cumberland County, August 6, 1862, and mustered into federal service at Harrisburg August 19, which was shortly after the regiment had left the city. He was injured at Antietam when a round of solid shot (or an exploding shell) smashed into a rail pile and one of the railings struck him in the right side of the neck. He claimed that he then walked to his uncle's house in Funkstown, Maryland, about six miles from the battlefield, which meant - and witnesses concur - that he was ambulatory. He remained with his uncle about a week until his father arrived to take him home, although military records show him hospitalized in Baltimore. After he arrived home, he claimed that he reported weekly to the hospital in Chambersburg. While he has no record of a furlough, there is no desertion charge either, so he apparently had permission for all that wandering, and he was not the only injured man in the 130th Pennsylvania to go home to recover. He returned to duty December 9, 1862, (just in time to fight the battle of Fredericksburg) and for a while messed with John Hemminger, a man who would become an oft-quoted historical source.
Cataracts blinded him late in life, and he died in Harrisburg where he had been living since at least 1900.
Family Members
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Anna Hawk McCullough
1865–1929
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William J Hawk
1867–1938
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Alcesta Burd Hawk Stutenroth
1869–1924
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Roberta J Hawk Sheaffer
1872–1922
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Franklin Milton Hawk
1874–1957
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Sarah B Hawk Welliver
1876–1959
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Mary Ellen Hawk Bennett
1880–1966
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Clarence R. Hawk
1882–1958
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Nellie Elizabeth Hawk
1884–1891
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Robert George Hawk
1886–1888
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