#35--52ancestors

Sorting out the Jeremiah Vanderpools



Shiloh National Cemetery

Two young Vanderpool men — both named Jeremiah — participated in the American Civil War. Neither survived it. One was from Missouri; the other was from Indiana. They were second cousins, but probably did not know each other since their families had not lived near each other since the early 1800s.

The older Jeremiah was born about 1837 in Ray County, Missouri. He was the surviving son of four and was the only provider for his mother as his father had died in 1858. In the 1860 census of Harrison County, Missouri, Jeremiah is shown with his widowed mother, Susanna, and three sisters.1

This Jeremiah enlisted 22 August 1861 in Daviess County, Missouri in the U.S. Army as a private, Co. H, 23rd Reg. Inf. Vols., commanded by Captain West. He mustered in on 22 Sep 1861 at Benton Barracks, in Saint Louis, Missouri. St. Louis, Missouri. His residence at the time was Edinburg, Grundy County, Missouri.

On the morning of April 6, 1862, 40,000 Confederate soldiers under the command of General Albert Sidney Johnston poured out of the nearby woods and struck a line of Union soldiers occupying ground near Pittsburg Landing on the Tennessee River. On that first day at the Battle of Shiloh, Jeremiah was killed. He is buried at Shiloh National Military Park, Hardin County, Tennessee. His remains could not be identified and a stone with only a number marks his grave. As a result of his service, his mother was able to draw a small pension.2



Jeremiah Vanderpool, 1837-1862

The other Jeremiah Vanderpool was born in 1844 in Monroe County, Indiana. He was the son of Samuel Vanderpool and his first wife, “Becky” Terry. 3

He enlisted in Co. G, 31st Infantry Regiment, Indiana, as a private on 22 February 1864. On 1 March 1864, he married Cecelia Todd in Polk Township, Monroe County, Indiana. It was a short marriage. He died of typhoid on 21 August 1864 at Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee and is buried there at the Nashville Nation Cemetery, Section: E, grave No. 2757. No known issue.


1. 1860 United States census, Harrison County, Missouri, population schedule, Sugar Creek Township, p. 219 (penned), line 35, Susanna Vanderpool; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 26 Nov. 2014), citing NARA microfilm publication M653, roll 622; page: 711; image: 225; Family History Library Film: No.  803622.
2. Vanderpool Newsletter III:7, pp. 90-91, citing Civil War Pension Application #141,683; ctf #115,571.
3. Vanderpool Newsletter V:8, p. 114, extracting and citing 1850, 1860, 1870 and 1880 Salt Creek Township, Monroe County, Indiana censuses. In 1850, Jeremiah is shown with his father, Samuel, and stepmother, Sarah. Samuel and Sarah had married 16 May 1850 in Monroe County, Indiana.