OUR GREAT GRANDFATHER & STEP-GREAT GRANDFATHER,

CHARLES B. ANDERSON

(Writing of the bio with information from three Civil War Pension Applications is in progress).

Charles B. Anderson and Mary M. Webb married on Jan. 28th 1860, when they temporarily crossed over into Missouri from their homes in Mt. Pleasant, Henry County, Iowa.

Mary's young mother had died in 1848 while Mary was quite young, leaving 2 year-old Mary with her father, Green Webb, who was a farmer.

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State of Missouri

County of Clark

This is to Certify that on the 28th day of January AD 1860, Mr. Charles B. Anderson and Miss Mary M. Webb, were by me united in marriage according to the laws of the State of Missouri at Clark County Missouri.

J.C. Weaver, Justice of the Peace

Filed August 1st 1872. W. A. Spu---- Recorder

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Charles and Mary had 4 children together before he died of Pulmonary Tuberculosis which he had contracted during the War. The couple had only been married 7 and a half years, and for a long 3 years of that, Charles had been away as a soldier.

The children were:

1. William A. Anderson

Born-10/11/1860 Mt. Pleasant, Iowa

Died-11/22/1878 Iowa

2. Mary D. Anderson

Born-Mar. 1862 Henry Co., Iowa

Died-8/29/1864 Henry Co., Iowa

3. Florence Marie Anderson

Birth-10/8/1865 Henry Co., Iowa

Died-1917 Red Bluff, Tehama, CA

4. Charles B. Anderson

Born-6/24/1867 Henry Co., Iowa

Died-12/27/1867 New London, Iowa

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Charles and Mary soon had a son, William A., born on Oct. 11, 1860.

Their daughter, Mary D., was born, in March of 1862.

Only one year after the marriage, on Oct. 5, 1861 at New London, Henry County, Iowa, Charles and his younger brother-David, both enlisted in the Civil War on the union-side with Company-K of Bissell's Engineer Regiment of the West Missouri Volunteers, to serve for 3 years. They then were both 'mustered into service' with the regiment on October 31st, 1861 at Camp Hasie-(which the regiment named) at Flat Creek, Sedalia, Pettis County, MO.

Charles was mustered into service as a Corporal, and is listed as being a very tall (for the time) 6' 1/2" in height, of fair complexion, eyes are grey, hair is brown, and prior occupation was as a carpenter.

The engineering regiments were very important to military generals, as those regiments made it possible for their army to advance through rough terrain by building roads, railroads, bridges or barges, in advance of an army which would enable them to navigate through forests and across rivers. Obviously, Charles' civilian carpentry skills would have been of great value.

During the war, on Dec. 20, 1862, Charles' brother was captured at Holly Springs, Mississippi. It looks like David had been assigned with a detachment working on a railroad train when he was captured. It seems he was quickly paroled back to the north, and ordered to report to Benton Barracks at St. Louis, MO to serve for a period of time there. At least by Feb. 17, 1864, David was back with a detachment of his regiment which was ordered by General Wm. Sooy Smith to arrive at Nashville, Tennessee for Smith's campaign to Meridian, Mississippi.

For both Charles and his brother David, on February 4, 1864, Bissell's Engineer Regiment of the West and the 25th Missouri Infantry consolidated into the 1st Regiment Missouri Engineers Volunteers. This took effect in Nashville, Tennessee where both regiments were stationed. Both brothers stayed in Company K . After the consolidation, the regiment was ordered to complete the western twenty miles of the Nashville and Northwestern Railroad. Charles was 'mustered out' of service as a Sergeant on Nov. 1, 1864 at Chattanooga, Tenn., by reason of expiration of term of service.

*During that time in 1864, probably while meeting on the railroads (possibly near Okolona where Wm. Ware was captured) Charles met a very young soldier, Wm. M. Ware, with whom Charles confided. Charles told Wm. Ware that if he (Charles) were to not survive the war, that he wanted Wm. to come marry his wife, Maria (Webb) Anderson, in order to take care of her.

In 1872, the newly divorced, William Montgomery Ware , actually does marry the widow, Mary Maria Anderson, which combined her 2 surviving children (with Chrls), and Wm.'s daughter, Carrie B. Ware, into the newly formed family. These two went on to have 11 more children together.

The widow, Mary Anderson-Ware, went on, for the next "15 years"; successfully completing the protracted fight with the Washington D.C. military bureaucracy for her deceased 1st husband, Charles. Just before Charles had died, he had started an appeal of the government's denial of his "Invalid-Pension" (Civil War), which would have also included monthly payments for his minor children. Charles soon died after the Pension was first denied; Mary was then left to file for a Widow's -Pension (Civil War) as well as the 15 year fight for the back-payments for an Invalid-Pension-which included minor children.

A Widow's-Pension would pay from the time a soldier died, until the time that a widow remarried.

To qualify for this Widow-Pension, the widow would hire a pension attorney to file the paperwork, as proof was needed that the widow had indeed been legally married to the soldier and had not divorced him. Also, proof was needed for the date of births of any minor children of the soldier, and of the date of any subsequent remarriage of the widow.

If an an Invalid-Pension was 'accepted', it would back-pay from the original date of the application for the Pension, until the date of his death. Also, if an Invalid-Pension application was 'accepted', the back-payments to minor children, would be from the original date of the pension being filed, until the children turned the age of 15--unless a child had a disability that could be 'proved' to have started 'before' the child became an adult: in that case, payments could be back-paid for the life of the child (now adult).

This was the case for Charles' daughter, Florence M. (Anderson) Black, who, during her last several years of life, had tirelessly sent multiple letters and forms to Washington D.C. officials, declaring that an inherited blood disorder from birth had caused her disability. Her appeals were denied by the government, at least twice, as to having proof of there being a disability 'before' becoming an adult.

Pension filing documents seem to show that Florence died (1917) while continuing her appeals, and that all appeals were denied by officials.

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(Having received the 119 images of original documents from the U. S. National Archives, which include the 4 children's names with their birth and death info, and also the cause of death of the returning soldier-father, Charles, the above work is still in progress.)

by t.garlow

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Corpl Co K MO Engr Regt.

Name: Charles B. Anderson

Side: Union

Regiment State/Origin: Missouri

Regiment Name: Engr. Reg't. of the West Mo. Vols.

Regiment Name Expanded: Engineer Regiment of the West, Missouri Volunteers

Company: K

Rank In: Captain

Rank In Expanded: Corporal

Rank Out: Sergeant

Rank Out Expanded: Sergeant