Woodward and Allied Families in the Civil War
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Woodward and Allied Families in the Civil War
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Return to Woodward Home Page
Return to Quakers and War Page
Samuel and Abigail Shelley Woodward Page

Note: The children of Samuel and Abigail Shelley Woodward linked below are on Marion Monk's Web Site. Use the back button on your browser to return here.

This Page is under construction - we would like to thank Pat Engebretson for the photo of Samuel M. Woodward's diary and information (at the bottom of the page). She is an expert on the Civil War!

If you would like to know more about William Riley Woodward see M. D. Monk's web site. Also check his pages on the relatives of Abigail Shelley Woodward who served in the Confederate Army (see below)

If you would like to know more about William Welch and his brothers who served in the Civil War contact Nadine Holder {email on the About Us Page}. Jill Martin, one of the editors of this site, is another expert on the Civil War and volunteers regularly at the Lake County Museum near Chicago documenting and preserving Civil War letters. For those interested in how the south currently feels about the Civil War there is an excellent book Confederates in the Attic, available through Amazon.com.

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Though a Quaker, Samuel M. Woodward served in the Union Army in the Civil War in the 32nd Iowa Infantry. Samuel was the son of Samuel and Abigail Shelley Woodward. He was grandson of William and Elizabeth Millikan Woodward and great grandson of Abraham and Hannath Thornbrough Woodward. A widower at the time he enlisted, Samuel left his children at home with his mother Abigail Shelley Woodward, then in her sixties. It had to be a hard time for her as several close relatives served on both the Union and Confederate sides. Pat Engebretson owns Samuel's Civil War Diary, shown below.

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Samuel and Abigail Shelley Woodward's son Prior Woodward had a son Joshua H. Woodward who was killed in the Civil War. He was a sergeant in Company E, 12th Indiana Infantry, Union Army, and died on November 25, 1863. He is interred in grave number 595, in the National Cemetery at Chattanooga, Tennessee. There is no pension file found. We have a copy of a letter that Joshua wrote to his grandmother Abigail on December 11, 1862, from Camp on the Tallahachee River. The letter is on Prior Woodward's page linked above. His discharge papers read: "reason for discharge - death."

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Samuel and Abigail Shelley Woodward's son Charles E. Woodward had a son William Riley Woodward who served in Company L, 2nd Nebraska Cavalry from 3 March 1863 to 24 Oct 1863. As most of you know the only census information surviving from 1890 is the Special Schedule of Surviving Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines, and Widows, Etc. William R. Woodward was the enumerator for Lowell, county of Kearney, Nebraska, when this schedule was enumerated in June 1890. He listed himself and his service first and that of his father-in-law, Hollis Johnson, second. M. D. Monk has much information on William Riley and his family (including photographs) on the page linked above.

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Abigail Shelley Woodward had nephews on the Shelley side of her family who served in the Union and in the Confederate armies.

Charles Miller Shelley was nephew of Abby and served as an officer in the Confederate Army. M. D. Monk has much information on him on his Charles Shelley Web Page including a letter he wrote to his brother Nathan about a Confederate battle (there is not a return on the letter so use the back button on your browser if you want to return to his page). There are several other letters linked on the page.

Another nephew, Henry E. Shelley, reached the rank of Adjutant General on the Confederate side in the Civil War. See M. D. Monk's Henry Shelley Web Page, and was very active in Veteran's Organizations after the war.

Another nephew, Nathan George Shelley, served in the Mexican War and was a General in the Texas Militia, serving in the Atlanta campaign during the last part of the Civil War. See M. D. Monk's Nathan Shelley Web Page.

Another nephew, James Etter Shelley, was a Lt. Colonel in the 10th Alabama regiment and died as a Colonel in Virginia in the Civil War. See M. D. Monk's James Shelley Web Page.

Abigail Shelley Woodward had a brother Jacob Shelley who was a colonel in the Mexican War and who organized a Confederate unit in Louisiana, but was discharged because of his advanced age. Jacob had a son James T. Shelley, nephew of Abigail, who served as a Colonel in a Tennessee Union regiment.

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William Welch was a son of Harvey and Rachel Woodward Welch, grandson of John and Rachel Woodward, and great grandson of Abraham and Hannah Thornbrough Woodward. He died unmarried and without heirs. His suffering through four years of war service (27th Illinois Infantry and 9th Consolidated Illinois Infantry) and lifelong thereafter, and his unsuccessful attempts to collect the pension that was his due, are worth memorializing in this family history.

John Welch was a son of Harvey and Rachel Woodward Welch and brother of William Welch. He enlisted and mustered in on the same day, in the same Company as his brother. He was discharged early for disability. He died not long after the War from the effects of his service.

Patrick Welch was a son of Harvey and Rachel Woodward Welch and a brother of John and William. He was too young to enlist at the same time, but enlisted at age 16 in the 124th Illinois infantry. He died at an early age from the effects of his service in the War.

William Carr was married to Lydia Ellen Welch, sister of John, William and Patrick Welch. He enlisted in Company K of the 102nd Illinois Infantry.

The military history of these four men is included on their pages.


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Thornburgs : There is a collection of Thornburg Newsletters on the web including an issue with information on Thornburgs in the Civil War. Many of these Thornburgs appear to be related to our families and are covered in individual family pages on this site.
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Samuel Woodward's Civil War Diary




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