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UNION SOLDIER’S STENCIL OF JAMES H. GIBBS, 97th NEW YORK: HE FUDGED HIS AGE GOING INTO THE ARMY AND HIS NAME AFTER GETTING OUT

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Stories of boys lying about their age in order to get into the army and “see the elephant,” are not uncommon. Rarer are men at the other end of the age spectrum, over the 44-year age limit for enlisting, who lied about their age to enlist out of patriotism, financial necessity, or perhaps some other reason. In this case James H. Gibbs had recently turned 51 years old when he first signed up in 1861, leaving behind a much younger wife and three children, and he actually signed up again later.

The stencil reads “J.H. GIBBS. / Co. B. 97^th. N.Y.V.” and would have been used during his first term of service. The condition is excellent, with no bends or breaks, just some age and ink stains. These were privately purchased, of course, were constructed of a thin sheet of metal punched with the appropriate letters and numbers and folded around a slightly thicker metal frame, and usually marketed with a small brush and bottle of ink. Soldiers were likely to run out of personal items to mark fairly quickly, but it was the thought that counted, and the seller likely made no refunds. This one is actually accompanied by a patriotic envelope the soldier used to test its marking abilities, or perhaps just to use up the ink after he had marked everything else at hand.

Gibbs’s actually birthdate is given in the records of the town clerk in his list of soldier’s enlisting from the town. He had been born Sept. 25, 1810, and was a farmer in the town of Leyden, Lewis County, NY, when he enlisted first on Oct. 10, 1861, and mustered into Co. B of the 97^th NY as private on October 16. He gave his age as 42, likely to make it seem plausible, but not arouse too much suspicion by going for the very top of the 44-year-old age limit. His age is confirmed by the 1850 census, which picks him in Leyden at age 39, with a 17-year-old wife and five-month old son. They are in the same town in 1860, though with two more children.

The 97^th New York, nicknamed the Conkling Rifles, saw a lot of action and took significant casualties during the war, mustering into US service at Boonville, NY, for a three-year term on Feb. 19, 1862, and leaving for Washington on March 12. It was posted to Fort Corcoran in the District of Washington until May, when it moved into Virginia as part of the Department of the Rappahannock and on June 26, 1862, became part of the 1^st Brigade, 2^nd Division, 3^rd Corps, Army of Viginia, under Pope and first saw action on August 9 at Cedar Mountain, followed by actions at Rappahannock Station, Thoroughfare Gap and Bull Run later in the month. How long Gibbs was able to keep up the regiment is unclear. He is listed is being discharged for disability from a U.S. General Hospital in Washington on August 28, so it looks like his age caught up with him, though far younger men were hospitalized or died from illness and disease in the war. He apparently went home and resumed farming, but then enlisted again at Leyden Oct. 13, 1863, giving his age this time as 43, and mustered in as a private in Co. F of the 14^th NY Heavy Artillery on October 20. His motive was very likely the $200 bounty he received from the town, and there may have been other bounties or bonuses as a re-enlisting veteran as well. With a growing family, money was likely a concern and we note that on both the 1850 and 1860 census he is listed with no personal or real estate appraisal listed.

Duty in the 14^th must have been appealing initially: they were posted to New York Harbor. With the call for manpower at the front, however, they were dispatched to Washington in April 1864 as Grant launched the Overland Campaign and the regiment, like other heavy artillery units, saw service as infantry, fighting at the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, the North Anna, Totopotomoy, Cold Harbor, and Petersburg, where they were in the assault of June 16-19, the Mine Explosion, Weldon Railroad, Poplar Grove Church, Hatcher’s Run, Fort Stedman, and the final assault on Petersburg on April 2, 1865. Their losses were substantial: 6 officers and 127 enlisted men killed, another 82 men mortally wounded, 18 officers and 422 men who were wounded, but recovered to some degree, and another 19 officers and 399 men recorded simply as missing. The regiment was mustered out August 26, 1865, at Washington. We have not seen Gibbs’s full service record, but his muster roll abstract shows him present on the April 1865 roll. The town clerk’s record has him mustered out August 1, 1865, but his muster roll abstract and the NY Adjutant General Report lists him as deserting from Fort Reno, DC, on July 30, presumably having had enough of army life.

Gibbs returned to New York, but moved the family to Oneida county by 1870, where we find working as laborer in Boonville, Oneida County, and apparently going by his middle name,  listing himself in the census as Hawley J. Gibbs. His wife is still with him and their household now includes five children, aged 19 down to 1. A pension index card indicates she applied for a widow’s pension in December 1874. The card mentions only his service in the 97^th. We presume then the records of him deserting from the 14^th Heavy, albeit after the fighting was over, may be accurate, and might have influenced the change of name and residence.

This would fit well in a collection of soldier’s personal items- they don’t get much more personal, we suppose. In any case, they were popular purchases by or gifts to departing soldiers- perhaps as a comforting last assertion of individual identity on the brink of giving it up to become part of a company and regiment, and each one has story to tell.  [sr] [ph:L]

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