This is an update on an earlier post. James Heinrich “Henry” Peron is Cory’s 2X Great Grandfather and a Civil War Veteran. His line to James is through his Grandmother Mildred Seibert Lobner. Mildred’s parents are Harry Seibert and Garnet Peron. Garnet’s parents are James “Henry” Peron and Esther Chase.
The National Archives are finally open and I have several Civil War Pension files and service records to browse through, but thought I’d start with the records for Henry Peron. All of his records are listed under Henry Peron and not under James.
Henry joined the service on September 24, 1861 from Manchester, Iowa and was mustered into Company F of the 12th Regiment Iowa Infantry on November 25, 1861. (Wikipedia link to Regiment)
His papers state that he is 5′ 7 2/3″ (I don’t think I’ve ever seen a height listed as 2/3 before). He states that he has a dark complexion, hazel eyes and brown hair.
His service record places him at Fort Donelson, TN / Wikipedia link on Feb 13-15, 1862 and at the Battle of Shiloh / Wikipedia link on April 6, 1862. It also states that he was taken prisoner while in the line of duty with no details on date, location or duration.
Henry has one medical card where he is admitted on March 9, 1862 and released from the hospital on March 20, 1862 having entered with a complaint of orchitis in Mound City, IL. His service record documents also mention that he had catarrh in a hospital document dated November 30, 1864 in Madison, WI.
Henry also has an interesting story as part of this time period. On March 21, 1862 he is listed as a deserter from the Army. This date varies a couple of times throughout the documents, but it looks like sometime in March Henry left his regiment. He must have been returned (see notes further down), as he does have a hospital record again in November of 1864. That hospital card again notes “deserted Nov 26, 1864”.
Interestingly enough, histories of the regiment have Henry listed as discharged for a disability in March of 1862. This would appear to be incorrect based on his service records.
Between desertions, Henry was busy. Remarks state that on August 11, 1864 he was arrested in Vernon County, WI: “this man deserted 2 years ago was arrested and escaped at the time of this last arrest was confirmed in Viroqua Vernon Co, Wis for stealing horses” It looks like the horses were stolen somewhere between Tipton and Iowa City, Iowa.
The letters from the Provost Marshal state that he was in custody with his “brother in law Chase” who must be a brother of Henry’s wife Esther. The letter states that the brother in law had confessed. It is also recommended that he would do better service for his country if returned to his regiment than in prison. He must have been returned to his regiment after this hearing in order to have another hospital record in November of 1864 at which point he deserted again.
One detail that is a little baffling is that he isn’t listed as marrying Esther until February if 1865. So maybe it was future brother in law?
I am still searching for details on his arrest, a name for his brother in law and a few of those details, but what a story! The local historical society in Vernon County, WI couldn’t find anything in the newspapers, and the courthouse doesn’t have records that go that far back, but you never know what may show up.
Cory and Nicole Family History 
