Eugene W. Ferris
Eugene W. Ferris | |
---|---|
30th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment | |
Battles/wars | American Civil War |
Awards | Medal of Honor |
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f8/Ferris%2C_Eugene_W_c1897_public_domain.jpg/220px-Ferris%2C_Eugene_W_c1897_public_domain.jpg)
Eugene W. Ferris (November 18, 1842 – February 26, 1907) was a
Formative years
Born in Springfield, Vermont on November 18, 1841, Eugene W. Ferris was a son of New York native Robert Ferris and Fanny Ferris, a native of Vermont. He was just a child when he and his family relocated to Lowell, Massachusetts, according to historian Allan Tischler. By 1850, the Ferris household included parents Fanny and Robert (a stonemason), and their children, Helen, Fanny, Alexander and Eugene (aged 19, 18, 11, and 8, respectively). Also residing at the home were Ruth and Chester Rugg (a clerk), and Stillman Busher. After completing his education in Lowell, Eugene Ferris also went to work, having obtained a job as a bookkeeper.[3][4]
Civil War
Ferris was 20 years old when joined the
Fighting with his fellow 30th Massachusetts Volunteers "on the Mississippi River at Port Hudson, near Vicksburg, then in the Gulf Region of the Deep South, at New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and along the Red River" over the next two years, according to Tischler, Ferris was then transferred to Virginia with his regiment in mid-June 1864. During this time, while the 30th Massachusetts was attached to the U.S. Army's
Less than six months later, while serving as a regimental adjutant, Ferris performed the act of gallantry which became the catalyst for his
In June 1865, he was appointed Acting Aide de Camp for Brigadier-General
In August 1865, while serving with his regiment in South Carolina, he was appointed as Acting Assistant Inspector General for the District of Western South Carolina.[11]
Ferris finally mustered out from military service in 1866.[12]
Post-war life
Following his honorable discharge from the military, Ferris worked in South Carolina for a time, where he was appointed as a state elections commissioner for Georgetown County in 1870[13] and, in 1873, as a tax collector for the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.[14][15] Although Tischler has stated that Ferris relocated with his family sometime around 1900 to Rockville, Indiana, where he purchased and then operated the Parke Hotel,[5] the 1900 federal census shows him as a single man operating a hotel on State Street in Albanytown, Delaware County, Indiana in June of that year. Also listed on this record were nine hotel staff and 20 boarders.[16]
Newspaper accounts of his life help clarify that he moved to Indiana before the turn of the century. According to the October 6 and 7, 1897 editions of Washington, D.C.'s Evening Star and The Times of Philadelphia:[17][18]
A medal of honor has also been presented to Eugene W. Ferris, of Albany, Ind., formerly first lieutenant and adjutant, 30th Massachusetts Volunteers, for distinguished gallantry near Berryville, Va., April 1, 1865.
He died on February 26, 1907, in Rockville, Parke County, Indiana,[19][20] and was subsequently buried with military honors at that community's Rockville Cemetery.[5]
Medal of Honor citation
The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to First Lieutenant & Adjutant Eugene W. Ferris, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism on 1 April 1865, while serving with
See also
References
- ^ a b "Civil War (A-L) Medal of Honor Recipients". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 22 November 2013.
- ^ a b "Eugene W. Ferris". Retrieved 22 November 2013.
- ^ Tischler, Allan. "The Russell Road Campaign of 1865: A love triangle, two officers, and a belle from Clark County." Clarke County, Virginia: The Observer of Clarke County, October 19, 2016.
- ^ "Ferris, Robert H., Fanny (the mother), Helen, Fanny (the daughter), Alexander, and Eugene," et al. in U.S. Census (Lowell, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, 1850). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
- ^ a b c Tischler, "The Russell Road Campaign of 1865", The Observer.
- ^ "Ferris, Eugene W.", in "Soldier Details", in "Soldiers and Sailors Database". Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Park Service, retrieved online August 17, 2018.
- ^ Tischler, "The Russell Road Campaign of 1865", The Observer. Afterward, they remained in the area, stationed near the Opequon Creek and the town of Berryville.
- ^ "Black, Robert W. Ghost, Thunderbolt, and Wizard: Mosby, Morgan, and Forrest in the Civil War. Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books, 2008.
- ^ Scoville, Jr., Samuel. Brave Deeds of Union Soldiers. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: George W. Jacobs & Company, November 1915.
- ^ Fillebrown, Charles Bowdoin. Genealogy of the Fillebrown Family with Biographical Sketches ("General Order No. 1: Headquarters Military District Eastern S.C., Third Separate Brigade, Georgetown, June 28, 1865"), p. 118. Boston, Massachusetts: Self-published, 1910.
- ^ "Headquarters, Dep't of South Carolina, Hilton Head, S.C., August 24, 1865: General Orders No. 12". Charleston, South Carolina: The Charleston Daily News, August 29, 1865.
- ^ Soldiers, Sailors and Marines in the Civil War
- ^ "The Commissioners of Elections". Charleston, South Carolina: The Charleston Daily News, August 22, 1870.
- ^ "U.S. Internal Revenue: Notice To Internal Revenue Tax Payers." Camden, South Carolina: The Camden Journal, June 12, 1873.
- ^ "Internal Revenue Collectors Appointed", in "Washington." New York, New York: The New York Herald, May 13, 1873.
- ^ "Ferris, Eugene W.", et al., in U.S. Census (Albanytown, Delaware County, Indiana).
- ^ "Awarded Medals of Honor." Washington, D.C.: Evening Star, October 6, 1897.
- ^ "Medals of Honor Awarded." Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The Times, October 7, 1897.
- ^ "Eugene W. Ferris", in Death Records. Rockville, Indiana: Park County Health Office, 1907.
- ^ "Commander's Annual Report", in "Honor Legion Here: Men Who Wear Prized Medal Meet in Convention." Washington, D.C.: The Washington Herald, October 10, 1907.
External links
- Howe, Henry Warren. Passages from the Life of Henry Warren Howe, Consisting of Diary and Letters Written During the Civil War, 1861–1865: A Condensed History of the Thirtieth Massachusetts Regiment, and Its Flags, Together with the Genealogies of the Different Branches of the Family (includes multiple mentions of Eugene W. Ferris). Lowell, Massachusetts: Courier-Citizen Co., Printers, 1899.