Bartleson Brothers – Civil War Service

While I was researching Mary Louise Bartleson Ambler I also did some research on her siblings in case there were some clues to her identity with her siblings either in an obituary, a marriage announcement, a county history or some other item. That wasn’t fruitful for proving relationships, but I did find some fun facts

What I found was that while Mary married Robert Ambler, a Quaker, her brothers were quite involved in the Civil War. I’m sure there was potential for some family conflict there!

As part of the research I ordered the Civil War pension files for those brothers who had filed and learned a few things about the family.

I see that her oldest brother Edward does have a draft record, but I haven’t yet seen that he served. He was 34 years old at the time of his draft registration and with four children so he may not have been in the service.

Her next oldest brother Lewis Bartleson enlisted in as a Captain on Apr 23, 1861, in Philadelphia, PA as part of Company B of the 22nd PA Infantry. In November of 1861 he transferred to Company H of the 106th PA Infantry still as a Captain. I was even able to find a broadside to recruit soldiers with Lewis mentioned.

While the 22nd PA Infantry saw no action, the 106th did and was part of the Appomattox Campaign. Lewis received a pension with notes of a “total inability” to earn a support by manual labor with a list of ailments.

Lewis had an interesting pension document because he was first married to Elizabeth Beckley who died in 1902 and after her death Lewis married Theresia Duplain (not her maiden name). When Lewis died and Theresia applied for the widows pension there are many documents to determine if she was in fact married to Lewis and no one else and in some documents is called “insane” and there was debate if she should receive the pension. I have the pension saved to my Ancestry tree for anyone interested.

For her next oldest brother William D Bartleson I find a draft registration record in 1863, but no evidence of service.

Samuel Powell Bartleson is the next brother and while I don’t find a draft registration or service record, he graduated from Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia in 1854, and was working as a physician at the time of the war.

Evan Evans Bartleson is the next brother and while he never applied for a pension he does have a service record. Without the pension to confirm some family records and no current obituary found the one thing that I do know is that I only see one Evan Bartleson in the US Census at this time. This is the correct location and I assume the right person.

Evan enlisted in July of 1863 as a Corporal into L Company of the 20th PA Cavalry. He was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant and then 1st Lieutenant in addition to transferring into F Company. PA Roots website has a good summary of his service. We also see from the regimental history from PA Volunteers in the Civil War that the 20th PA Cavalry was present at some big moments in the civil war. These include Sheridan’s Expedition from Winchester and then being present at Appomattox when General Lee surrendered. Evan never married and few other things are easily found on him, but that had to have been quite an experience!

Mary’s next brother Henry Clay Bartleson also enlisted in the Civil War in 1862 from Baltimore, MD. He was the youngest brother to serve and at the time he enlisted Henry was roughly 18 years old. Henry was mustered into C Company of the 8th Maryland Infantry and was eventually promoted to Corporal and transferred into G Company. His pension documents from the National Archives include these details along with the names of his parents, wife and children – one of whom is Evan E Bartleson, presumably in honor of Henry’s brother Evan.

The 8th Maryland Infantry saw a lot of action in the war as reported by The Civil War in the East website. These include the Siege of Petersburg and Lee’s surrender at Appomattox. If you’re counting that means two brothers in the family were present at Appomattox. I thought that was a fun fact!

After the war Henry Clay Bartleson went to medical school at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia graduating in 1870 and was a physician the rest of his life. It makes a person wonder if his physician choice was because of his brother Samuel, or if it was related to what he saw in the war or both.

Mary did have one more brother, Zachary Taylor Bartleson, for whom I currently find no record of a draft or of service, but he was pretty young when the war started.

In short – this was such fun information to learn about the brothers of Mary Louise and reminds me that researching the siblings of our ancestors is always worthwhile information. She has three of her seven brothers who served in the war and were promoted through the ranks – even seeing significant action and being present for major events. Two of those brothers were physicians so they were quite an accomplished family.