Roy Family Genealogy
Genealogy of the Roy family, including Boudreau, Burnett, Myers, Ward, Whelpley, and Woodman
First Name:  Last Name: 
[Advanced Search]  [Surnames]
Marcus Harris Ward

Marcus Harris Ward

Male 1836 - 1864  (27 years)

Personal Information    |    Media    |    Sources    |    Event Map    |    All    |    PDF

  • Name Marcus Harris Ward 
    Relationshipwith Robert Alan Roy
    Birth 24 Nov 1836  Athol, Worcester County, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this location  [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
    Census 1850  Orange, Franklin County, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this location  [7
    Census 1855  Orange, Franklin County, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this location  [8
    Census 1860  Orange, Franklin County, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this location  [9
    Military 3 Oct 1861 (Age 25)  [10
    History 20 Dec 1861 
    On 20 December 1861, he sent the following letter home:

    Camp Hicks Annapolis
    Dec 20th 1861

    My Dear Brother,

    I got excused from drill this afternoon and I thought it best to answer your letter which I ought to have done before but have been rather unwell and took all the time besides drilling to rest but am feeling better and hope that I may be as tough as any boy in the Camp. I think that I have had bout my share of sickness for the time since I left home but it is not for me to say perhaps(?) I may be sick in to days but hope not to be. You wished me to write what our living was wel it is in the morning for breakfast most generally boiled salt met and bread and coffee for dinner fresh meat boyled and bread and water for supper coffee and bread.

    We have had some fried meat three times and and it tasted good you had better believe boyled meat don’t go so good take it rite along. Three months together I suppose it makes a diferance wheather a man is tough or not bout such things. Sliping down now comes the work part in the morning at half past six the drum beats for role call and then we have to start our boots there is no laying a bead five or ten minutes after the drum sounds same as there is at home after a fellow had bin out at knight to see the women but according to what I have heard I suppose you wil not be going three or four miles every Sunday knight to see her because by your saying that you was going to leave home the first of the year it rather strikes me that I am going to have a new Sister by marriage my Dear Brother I would like to be there about new years but it can’t be so as it is getting to be into the evening I wil let you know a little something about the work part and then close. Well after the role call in the morning as I told you at seven we go out on drill stay out til about eight ten minutes past breakfast then nine go out on brigade dril get home about twelve dinner at one half past two go out squad drill stay stay til about four then come in and put on our overcoats fal in for role call then go out to dres prade it gets to be bout dark then. Then comes coffee and bread then half past eight come role call then you can go to bed set up til ten if you want to then comes the drum to tel us to put out the lights then we can go to bed or set up in the dark that is bout all the work we have to do I believe though Saterdays in the afternoon we have to clean up our equipments and then Sunday in the four noon we are inspected in the afternoon go to meeting. Our meetings are out doers on the Camp ground. Sunday is about as hard days work as we have it is not very easy work to be a soldier though my health has bin very poor since I inlisted though I am in hopse to be better now You wanted to know if there was any thing that I wanted. I don’t know as there is for we have after so long a time we have got our pay and I can by things cheaper than you could send them to. I am much obliged to you though and as it is getting to be about bed time I shal have to close by biding you good by. MHW


    Please excuse mistakes for there is a number I presume
     
    History 16 Apr 1863  [11
    The regiment was sent to North Carolina as part of the Burnside expedition. He was captured near Winfield, North Carolina on 16 April 1863 . The story of his capture is given by Denny in the regimental history of the 25th Massachusetts Volunteers: Upon one occasion a "secesh woman" came within the lines with her bundles of luggage, desiring permission to pass into Dixie. Captain Parkhurst found that her luggage was contraband of war and refused to permit her to transfer her "dry goods" to the possession of the enemy, but "allowed" that she might go as soon as her pleasure permitted. The woman satisfied to leave her goods, if she could go without them, requested to be furnished with means of crossing the Chowan and an escort. The gallant captain not being proof against woman's eloquent appeals, consented to comply wither wishes and detailed Sergeant Lyman S. Wheeler and Private Marcus H. Ward both of Company I, with a couple of negro oarsmen, to convey the woman up the river and deliver her to the nearest Confederate outpost. At the enemy's outpost the woman was delivered up and then the Confederates seized Wheeler and Ward as prisoners of war! Company I lost two good men and two muskets, and the colored men lost their liberty, for a time at least. Wheeler and Ward were exchanged a long time afterwards. On 17 July 1863, he was paroled and returned to his regiment. When his enlistment was up, he reenlisted and took a furlough back to Orange in January 1864. 
    History 3 Jun 1864  Cold Harbor, Hanover County, Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location  [10, 12, 13
    On 3 June 1864, he was wounded in the breast during assault at the Battle of Cold Harbor. 
    The Charge of the Star Brigade at Cold Harbor
    The Charge of the Star Brigade at Cold Harbor
    Transferred to the north side of the James, the Star Brigade, now commanded by Gen. George H. Stannard, was in the general assault at Cold Harbor, June 3, the 25th Regt. losing 75 killed or mortally wounded, 122 wounded (not mortally), and 32 prisoners, a total of 229 or 76 per cent of the 300 officers and men who reported for duty that morning Thus the loss of the regiment during a period of less than four weeks was over 460 officers and men, of whom 112 were killed or mortally wounded.
    Death 28 Jun 1864  Washington, District of Columbia Find all individuals with events at this location  [2, 3, 4, 10, 12, 14, 15
    Cause: As with many injured in those days, his developed into pneumonia 
    Burial Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Arlington County, Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location  [2, 12, 14, 15
    Gravestone of Private Marcus Harris Ward
    Gravestone of Private Marcus Harris Ward
    Siblings 10 Siblings 
    Person ID I11921 
    Last Modified 11 Jun 2016 

    Father Deacon Thomas Harris Ward,   b. 28 Mar 1814, Orange, Franklin County, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 5 Jul 1891, Orange, Franklin County, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 77 years) 
    Mother Esther Kellogg Mayo,   b. 20 Mar 1814, Orange, Franklin County, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 19 Aug 1895, Orange, Franklin County, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 81 years) 
    Marriage 27 Oct 1835  Athol, Worcester County, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Age at Marriage He : 21 years and 7 months - She : 21 years and 7 months. 
    Family ID F463  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Event Map
    Link to Google MapsBirth - 24 Nov 1836 - Athol, Worcester County, Massachusetts Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsCensus - 1850 - Orange, Franklin County, Massachusetts Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsCensus - 1855 - Orange, Franklin County, Massachusetts Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsCensus - 1860 - Orange, Franklin County, Massachusetts Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsHistory - 3 Jun 1864 - Cold Harbor, Hanover County, Virginia Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsDeath - 28 Jun 1864 - Washington, District of Columbia Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsBurial - - Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Arlington County, Virginia Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth 
    Pin Legend  : Address       : Location       : City/Town       : County/Shire       : State/Province       : Country       : Not Set

  • Photos
    Pvt. Marcus Harris Ward
    Pvt. Marcus Harris Ward
    (1836-1864)
    He sent home this drawing done in during his basic training.

    Headstones
    Gravestone of Thomas H. and Esther (Mayo) Ward
    Gravestone of Thomas H. and Esther (Mayo) Ward
    Their eldest son's name is etched on the stone as a memorial. Marcus is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

  • Sources 
    1. [S451] Martyn, Charles. The William Ward Genealogy - The History of the Descendants of William Ward of Sudbury, Mass. 1638-1925, (New York: Artemas Ward, 1925).

    2. [S468] Miner, Beatrice M. History of Orange 1753-1976, (Orange, Massachusetts: Orange Historical Society, 1976).

    3. [S453] Roy, Robert Alan. Extracts from the Genealogical Files of Barbara Crosby, (Orange, Massachusetts: manuscript, 1980).

    4. [S454] Mayo, Chester Garst. John Mayo of Roxbury, Massachusetts 1630-1688 A Genealogical and Biographical Record of His Descendants, (Rutland, Vermont: Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1965).

    5. [S470] Obituary of Thomas Harris Ward, (Athol, Massachusetts: Athol Transcript, Tuesday, 14 July 1891).

    6. [S457] Ward, Andrew Henshaw. Ward Family: Descendants of William Ward, (Boston: Samuel G. Drake, 1851).

    7. [S192] 1870 U.S. Federal Census, (Provo, Utah: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009).
      Year: 1850; Census Place: Orange, Franklin, Massachusetts; Roll: M432_317; Page: 362A; Image: 326

    8. [S274] 1855 Massachusetts, State Census , (Provo, Utah: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014).

    9. [S191] 1860 U.S. Federal Census, (Provo, Utah: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009).
      Year: 1860; Census Place: Orange, Franklin, Massachusetts; Roll: M653_501; Page: 374; Image: 378; Family History Library Film: 803501

    10. [S472] Adjutant-General of Massachusetts. Record of the Massachusetts Volunteers 1861-1865, (Boston: Wright & Potter, 1870).

    11. [S473] Denny, J. Waldo. Wearing the Blue in the Twenty-Fifth Mass. Volunteer Infantry with Burnside's Coast Division, 18th Army Corps, Army of the James, (Worcester, Massachusetts: Putnam & Davis, 1879).

    12. [S469] Crosby, Barbara. The Ward Family of 11 Children, (Orange, Massachusetts: manuscript, circa 1950).

    13. [S474] Killed and Captured of the Twenty-Fifth Massachusetts Volunteers at Battle of Cold Harbor, Va., June 3rd 1864, (http://www.angelfire.com/ma2/25mass/).

    14. [S475] Stone, Margaret. Letter to Robert Roy, 1980, (Orange, Massachusetts: letter, 1980).

    15. [S14] Find-a-Grave website, (http://www.findagrave.com).
      Find A Grave Memorial# 11003498