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Nashville was thought to have record number of Civil War vets

Maple Valley News - 3/17/2018

This Memories of the Past was compiled by the late Susan Hinckley for the March 15, 1988, Maple Valley News.

Back in 1930, Nashville was thought to have more veterans of the Civil War living within its corporate limits than any other town its size in Michigan. This probable record-setter was spelled out in a story that appeared on the front page of The Nashville NewsJune 12, 1930:

"Nashville believes it can boast the largest number of Civil War veterans within its borders of any town of its size in the state of Michigan. A count made by one of the G.A.R. men the first of this week shows there are nine of the ?boys in blue' who make their homes in this village. There are several veterans outside the village who might still be called local men, but the men whose names follow are all residents within the village limits.

"They are: Myron B. Brooks, Charles Cruso, George Dean, Richard Wickwire, Gideon Kennedy, Lucien B. Potter, Jacob Haner, Chris A. Hough and John Hinckley. Of these nine men, about half of them are active and able to be about town. Others of them are able to be about their homes but seldom get downtown. Their average is about 87 years. Some of them have passed the 90-year mark by one or two years, and 85 is about the lowest age of any of the ?youngsters.'

"It would be interesting to know for a certainty whether any other town of this size in Michigan could muster nine veterans who would equal the ages and activity of these nine men. Members of the Grand Army of the Republic are rapidly thinning out until they are pointed to with pride as one of the outstanding possessions of any community. Nashville should be proud to boast these men among its citizens."

There is no evidence in subsequent issues of The News that editor A.B. McClure's challenge ever brought a response. In fact, in the following issue, he added another name to Nashville's list, apologizing for omitting the name of Richard Miller from the initial story. This brought Nashville's tally to 10.

The village's Civil War veterans were again in the news about a year later, for the "high" and "low" age records they set at a Hastings event.

The Nashville News reported May 28, 1931, "Barry County's Civil War veterans were honored by the Hastings Lions Club Monday when the club tendered them a dinner and a program in the American Legion hall.

Gideon Kennedy of Nashville, 93 years old, was the oldest veteran present, and George O. Dean of Nashville probably carried off another record for a "youngster" of 89. He drove his own car and carried another veteran with him.

"Other veterans from here who attended were Richard Wickwire, 89, William Bivens, Jacob Haner, Charles Cruso and Frank Rowley. Capt. L.B. Potter and M.B. Brooks were unable to attend."

Since Bivens and Rowley had not been mentioned in the 1930 story, they probably resided outside the village limits at that time. There seems to be no clear record of just how many Civil War veterans of Nashville might have claimed if those living outside the corporate limits had been included in the GAR count initially reported by McClure in 1930.

With so many of the Union veterans living in or near the community, The Nashville News frequently carried wartime recollections of the "boys in blue," who called them to mind from time to time, particularly on certain anniversaries of the conflict.

An example appears in The News issue of March 29, 1923: "Two of our remaining Civil War veterans are going over in their minds this week vivid memories of 58 years ago. It was on March 27, 1865, that Grant opened his big offensive on the Richmond-Petersburg front, which eventually resulted on April 9, in the surrender of Lee and his armies at Appomattox and the close of the Civil War.

"These two men are John "Jack" Hinckley and Webb Cole, both of whom were active participants in the engagement. John Wertz, another Nashville man, now deceased, also was a participant in this historical event, and it was in this engagement Mr. Wertz received a shell wound in his head that made him a semi-invalid for the rest of his days.

"The battle was one of the largest and hardest of the entire war, the fighting being incessant, day and night, until the night of April 1-2, when Grant's forces succeeded in turning Lee's left flank, with the capture of 10,000 prisoners, and rendering Lee's position so untenable that he was forced to surrender. Both Cole and Hinckley were at Appomattox at the time of the surrender."

At least a few local veterans of the Civil War still living in the 1930s could recall seeing, or even shaking hands with, President Abraham Lincoln during those turbulent war years. One of them was Hinckley, who had falsified his birth-date in order to enlist at age 16 in the Regular Army, serving with the 23rd Regiment, Illinois Infantry, until the close of the conflict.

Another was George Dean (the "youngster" at the Barry County gathering 1931). His story of when and where he first and last saw Lincoln was published in The Nashville News on various occasions, and we will conclude this article next week with his report.

We also will tell you about Capt. Lucien B. Potter of Nashville, who met Lincoln in Illinois some two years before the "railsplitter" was elected president in 1860.

And, finally, we will tell you about Myron "Barney" Brooks, Nashville's last surviving Civil War Veteran, whose death in 1936, from self-inflicted pistol wound ended the community's link to an historic chapter of America's past.

(To be continued next week)