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Emigrants arrival

Belgians in America

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C.W. Soldiers

Belgian REGULARS in the U.S. ARMY

§  Augustus Van Dan Sypen,    26 y. o., a painter, enlisted 21 August 1861 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the 16th Infantry, Co. B. He deserted 5 October 1862 and was apprehended the 31 of the same month. He was discharged Aug. 21, 1864 expiration of service at Atlanta Ga (a private). No further information.

 §  Charles Vandervest  18 y. o., from Brussels, farmer, enlisted 1 October 1861 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the 16 Infantry, Co.  

 The Vandervest family came in the U.S.A. by the way of Boston on board the Anna Kimball in 1855, and settled in Green bay, Wisconsin. The three elder sons took part in the Civil War. Joseph Casimir, the eldest, enlisted on November 25, 1863 in the 42^nd Illinois, transferred some days later in the 33rd Illinois Infantry and was discharged on November 24, 1865, end of service.

Charles, the second son, enlisted anew on September 9, 1862 in the 130th Illinois Infantry but decidedly not fit for the military, deserted anew on March 1, 1863. August, the third son, enlisted on November 26, 1861 In the 17th Wisconsin Infantry, Co. G, reenlisted in Vicksburg on January 1, 1864 as a Corporal and was finally mustered out at the close of war, on July 14, 1865, in Louisville, Kentucky.

§  Leonard Cook born in July 1837 and emigrating from Belgium in 1847 (1900 census data) enlisted 12 March 1862 in Mc Gregor, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania in the 16^th Infantry, Co A (2^nd battalion) and was discharged on 12 March 1865 by expiration of service at Lookout Mountain, Tennessee.

That regiment was organized at Chicago, Ill., in May, 1861, and ordered to Kentucky October, 1861. Leonard Cook enlisted one month before the battle of Shiloh and the following siege of Corinth, Mississippi. Attached in the Army of the Cumberland, the 16th Infantry was in the battle of Perryville, Stone's River, Chickamauga and Chattanooga. After the Atlanta Campaign of 1864, the regiment moved to Chattanooga, Tennessee in September thence to Lookout Mountain and was in duty there till July, 1865.

The only Cook family in the USA in 1860 and born Belgium, lived in Sergeant, Mc Kean County, Pennsylvania: Carl, 60 y.o. and Francesca, 56 y.o., with their children Leonard and Mary P. As “Cook” in not a Belgian name, I supposed they surely Anglicized/Americanized their family name. Some researches led me to the Coucke family, found in Elk County, Jones township in the 1850 census, were Charles and Francesca Coucke lived with their children Eve 20 y.o., Leo 12 y.o. and Philomena, 7 y.o., all born Belgium.

Leonard Cook married Mary L. born in Pennsylvania from Baden parentage and had 6 children, 4 of them living: Henry E;, Ella B, Henry B. and William. Before 1881 he left Pennsylvania and moved to Washington D.C., a clerk working for the government in the “Watch and Patent Office”. Leonard completed a pension file for invalid in April 1891, and died Nov. 24, 1917 in Washington D.C.

 §  Francis Hubert was born in Belgium on November 11, 1831. He emigrated o the USA about 1850 and settled in Nankin, Wayne County, Michigan near Detroit were he soon married as we find him with wife Elisabeth, born Ireland, and a son William, two years old, in 1860.

He enlisted on May 15 1862 at Detroit in the 16th Infantry Co. A, stating being born in Antwerp. He was discharged May 15, 1865 at Nashville Tennessee, a Corporal.

He went back to Michigan, settling in Oak, Redford Township not far from his previous home, farming there all his life and having more children: Louisa, Margareth, Josephine, Marius, Rachel and Hugh. His wife died March 11, 1899 and he followed her on April 4, 1904. He is buried in the Bell Branch Cemetery, Redford.

§  Romains Gillis. Like Leon Portelange[1], Romains Gillis was one of the Belgians recruited in Belgium by Louis Dochez for entering service in the regiments raised by the State of Massachusetts in 1864.

 He embarked on the Peter Godfrey and arrived in Boston on September 19, 1864. 203 passengers out of the 222 passengers of the Peter Godfrey enlisted in the 30th and 32d Massachusetts Infantry. Romains Gillis was not one of them. 23 years old, he enlisted in the 16^th Infantry, Co. B, on January 17, 1865, from St Trond, a farmer or baker. He enlisted in Oswego, New York and was discharged January 17, 1868 at expiration of service at Macon, Georgia, a Private.