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US Army

8th Infantry

 

§   John Edward Willems, 28 y. o. from Diest, a laborer XE "Willems" . Enlisted 11 December 1852 at Rochester in the 8 Infantry, Co. A and reenlisted in the same Company on October 11, 1857  at Ft Davis, Texas under the name of John E. Williams.

Here an exerpt of the history of the 8th regiment Infantry: In 1861, the 8th Infantry was distributed among the forts and camps of Texas. They were ordered to leave Texas by way of the coast. The attempt to comply with this order resulted in the capture of all the regiment by the newly organized military forces of the Confederate States. Companies A and D were captured at Indianola, April 24, and Companies B, E, F, H, I and K, under Captain I. V. D. Reeve, near San Lucas Springs, about 22 Miles west of San Antonio, May 9th. Company G had been broken up.

The officers of Captain Reeve's battalion were not paroled as the others had been, but were, with one or two exceptions, held prisoners at San Antonio for about nine months, when they were exchanged. The enlisted men were held until February 25, 1863, during which time they were divided into squads and removed to different posts on the frontiers of Texas, deprived of pay for more than two years, supplied with scanty food and clothing, and made to suffer severe military punishments. Recruiting officers visited them daily, offering them commissions and large bounties to desert their flag, With few exceptions, however, they repelled the bribes and avoided the treason. Those who chose a different course did it to escape their prison.

The opening of the Civil War thus found the Eighth Infantry with its officers and men either prisoners of war, or debarred by their paroles from serving against the enemy; and it was not until October, 1863, that a body which can be considered fairly representative of the regiment could be assembled.

John Edward Willems is recorded as having deserted July 3, 1861. No further records.

Note : There is a Williams E. John, 59 y. o., born Belgium, with wife Barbara, in the 1880 census of Virgil, Vernon County, Missouri. His 4 first children (Clemantine 22 y. o., H. John 21 y. o. E. Louisa 18 y. o. and A. Mary 14 y. o.) being listed as born in Texas is the only eventual link with him.