In Search Of My Civil War Ancestor: John Shonour & the 88th Pennsylvania Volunteers (Page 2)

In the opening days of the War of the Rebellion, John was a strong and healthy 26-year-old farmer, working his parent's fertile farm and timber business in Berks County, Pennsylvania. He was recruited for a new unit composed of other young men from the Reading area of Berks County, and enlisted for three years in September 1861. Military records and pension documents I received in 1982 from the National Archives show that John Shonour was involved in some of the most famous battles of the Civil War. One commander testified that "he was a brave orderly and an excellent soldier, always ready and willing to do his duty."

As honorable and gallant as the first six months must have seemed to John and the other members of his newly formed company of eager volunteers when they trained and guarded their nation's capitol, he and they would soon learn the horrors of war and the cruelty which would take many of their lives. Although John survived the war, his life would never be the same.

In March 1862, while still on provost duty at Alexandria, John contracted Bilious Fever⁽¹⁾and was confined to the hospital for a couple weeks and returned to his camp where he recuperated in a field hospital for almost a month. During one of the first major confrontations that the 88th Pennsylvania Volunteers had with the enemy at the 2nd Battle of Bull Run near Manassas, Virginia, John was taken sick with over-exertion, excitement and exhaustion. Although he recovered enough to continue fighting, he suffered the rest of his life with heart palpitations. On what was reported as a rapid match beyond Culpepper Court House, he suffered a heat stroke. Shortly after this time he was detailed as a teamster, possibly a less strenuous job compared to that of an infantryman.⁽²⁾ While on this job, at the Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia, after the division's failed attack at well-defended Confederate lines, John had his leg run over and his ankle smashed by one of the retreating army wagons. This injury also continued to cause him recurring severe discomfort the rest of his life.

His next set of injuries were received on the first day of the Battle at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania by two almost-simultaneous gunshot wounds: one through his left arm between his elbow and shoulder, the bullet having "carried away a portion of the upper arm," as cited by a witness in one of his pension application documents; the other in the mouth, shattering all the front teeth of his upper jaw. The wound in his arm, along with his other injuries, would cause him a life-long partial disability, limiting his physical strength, stamina and endurance. He was ordered by his lieutenant to go to the field hospital, located in a nearby church, which was soon captured by the enemy and all the wounded were taken prisoner by the Confederate attackers.⁽³⁾ In the course of the battle they were all paroled, and sometime between the 3rd and 6th of July, John was evacuated to Summit House Hospital in West Philadelphia, where he remained through at least December 1863, and recovered from his wounds. During that time he lost nearly all his remaining teeth.

Because of the severity of his wounds and the non-likelihood of his returning to his unit, he was transferred to 59th Company, 2nd Battalion, Veterans Reserve Corps on Sept 12, 1863 by reason of "functional disease of the heart." He was mustered out on Sept 13, 1864.

He returned to his Berks County, Pennsylvania community, but things certainly must not have been comfortable for him. Because he was still recovering from his wounds, he probably couldn't think of farming or timbering again. Failing to get his first request in 1865 for a disability pension approved, he apparently went to Philadelphia to look for work shortly thereafter. He may have stayed there for a couple years, and then made his way to Chicago, where in 1869 he met and married his wife. That seemingly blessed event would soon provide its share of tragedy for him, as he lost six of their eight children in infancy. The death of these children, and the wounds of war, both physical and mental, would follow him the remaining 20 years of his life.

Divorced, almost incapacitated, and unable to support his children, the only thing he was able to fall back on was his military service to his country. What must have been his third attempt at requesting a pension for his Civil War service, his application was finally approved in 1887, and he was granted acceptance into the National Home for Disabled Veterans near Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he spent the remaining months of his life, as a ward of the Old Soldier's Home.

In 1890, one year after his death, veterans of his former unit celebrated a reunion in Reading, Pennsylvania, and commemorated the memory of comrades lost during the war and the service of those like John who had died in the intervening years.

Footnotes:
(1) According to the pamphlet entitled, "Morbus. Why and How Our Ancestors Died: A Genealogist's Dictionary of Terms Found in Vital Records with Descriptions of the Diseases as They Relate to the Health of Our Ancestors" by Rosemary A. Chorzempa, the term Bilious is related to an ailment of the bile or liver; characterized by headache, pain, indigestion, nausea and related disorders. Also called Biliousness, Bilious Colic, Bilious Disease and Bilious Headache. (Chicago, IL 60622: Polish Genealogical Society of America, 984 North Milwaukee Ave.; 1991)
(2) In John D. Vautier's excellent book, History of the Eighty-Eighth Pennsylvania Volunteers, John Shonour is mentioned once. Recounting the regiment's movement from Antietam to Fredericksburg (September 19 to December 11, 1862) in chapter 13, on page 88 he notes a few of the reassignments within the division: "On November 9, George W. Jacoby was detailed temporarily to act as attendant at the Warrenton Hospital, and on November 12, Surgeon Charles J. Norquist was appointed chief medical officer of the division, and Reuben Sanders, John Nugent, and John Shonour were detailed on the 24th as division teamsters."
(3) John was certainly one of the wounded Union soldiers present in an incident recounted in Vautier's aforementioned book on the Gettysburg Battle. On page 113, he writes, "Many of our men who were within the Confederate lines during these fearful days kept their eyes and ears open, thereby learning much of the feeling among their troops. The rebels fully expected a victory, and were slow to admit a reverse when repulsed, but always claimed to have the Yanks just where they wanted them; that Uncle Bob would lead them into Philadelphia yet. Standing on the steps of the Lutheran church were a group of wounded Union soldiers, chaffing with some Johnnies on the sidewalk, when a great lanky Confederate, dressed in a citizen's black suit topped with a high silk hat, rode up and tauntingly asked the Federal soldiers 'How he would pass for old Abe Lincoln.' No sooner had the words been spoken than a Union soldier standing on the steps unexpectedly gave the counterfeit a crushing blow in the face which threw him off his mule into the street. The Southerners, espousing the cause of their friend, grasped their arms, and for a while it appeared as if there would be a skrimmage; but in the midst of the uproar a Confederate major rode up and ordered the butternuts to their regiments."



Declaration for Original Invalid Pension - Pension Application from 1879		John's Personal Affidavit from 1887

Although you may not be able to tell by looking at these reduce images, shown above are three of the 24 original documents of John Shonour's pension application which describe in detail a few of the more traumatic episodes of his military service. Press any of the images for a closer look, or press the link above for a transcription of his entire pension packet.

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