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Emigrants arrival

Belgians in America

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C.W. Soldiers

Belgian REGULARS in the U.S. ARMY

§  Denis Poppleman (or Paplimans), born January 1824, emigrated from Antwerp, Belgium in 1851, a weaver, on ship Atlanta, arrival in New York on 23 August. He first enlisted in the U.S. Army at Albany, 3 May 1852 and joined the 4th Infantry, Co. K.

At that time that Regiment was in garrison in different points on the lakes, between Mackinac and Plattsburg. But, in June 1852, the regiment was concentrated at New York prior to a journey to the Pacific Coast. Between June 23d and July 4th, 393 recruits were received and assigned to companies. The regiment embarked on the Steamship Ohio, from New York for Colón, Panama. The Ohio had all told on this voyage 1100 people on board. Colón was reached on July 16th without incident, save the extreme discomfort of an overcrowded ship. The rainy season was at that time at its height on the Isthmus, and, what was infinitely worse, the cholera was raging. The total deaths from cholera, fever and allied diseases, from the time the regiment arrived on the Isthmus up to a few weeks after the arrival at Benicia, amounted to one officer and 106 enlisted men. After its arrival on the Pacific Coast the regiment was rapidly dispersed to many and widely distant stations, extending from British Columbia on the north to Mexico on the south.

Discharged 5 years later, expiration of service, at Fort Walla Walla, Washington territory, he reenlisted at San Francisco on June 27, 1857 in the 1st Dragon, Co. C. In 1857 and 1858 his Company was engaged in expeditions against Spokane Indians. In 1861, the designation of the Regiment was changed to "First Regiment of Cavalry" and at the end of the same year they were transferred from the Pacific coast to Washington D.C. arriving near that city by the end of January 1862.

Dennis Poppleman was discharged June 26, 1862, expiration of service, before the 1st Cavalry took part in the coming struggle. He, then, enlisted in the Volunteer army and joined the First New York Mounted Rifles on August 13, 1862 at Southfield, near New York City. Mustered in, as a private in Co. I, to serve 3 years, he re-enlisted September 1, 1864. Transferred to Co. M, July 21, 1865, the designation of regiment changed to Fourth Provisional Cavalry, September 6, 1865. He was mustered out November 29, 1865 at City Point, Virginia.

He enlisted anew in the Regular Army, May 2, 1866 at Brooklyn, N.Y. in the 5th Infantry, Co. A. But this time he curiously registered as being born in Germany. His duties were on the Department of the Missouri, comprising the States of Missouri, Kansas, and the territories of Colorado and New Mexico.

It's there, in May 1674, that Dennis Poppleman, 43 years old, reenlisted a last time, anew as a German born, at Fort Leavenworth. In June, 1876, the news of the Custer Massacre aroused the whole country. Reinforcements were gathered at once from all directions, and the Fifth left the Department of the Missouri, for the Department of the Dakota, where, after several long and harassing marches in pursuit of the Sitting Bull Indians, it was sent to establish a post at the mouth of Tongue River, Montana, which was afterwards named Fort Keogh. At that post, Dennis Poppleman was discharged May 4, 1879 with the mention "very good" in the service.

Next year, we found him in Washington D.C. at the Soldier's Home, having filled a request for pension in Oct. 21, 1880 and having found back its Belgian origins, stating in the 1880 census that he was born in Belgium like his father and mother. He was still there in 1900 according to the census, but stating being born in New York, his father born in Belgium and his mother in France !

His death occurred July 9, 1906 and he is buried in the Soldiers Home National Cemetery in Washington, at site 7287[1].