Names on the Wall

Joseph Sammons

Co. B, 21st Missouri Infantry Regiment

Joseph Sammons was born in Morgan County, Illinois, 14 December 1833, moved to Hancock, Illinois at the age of 12, and then to Missouri when he was 21. He apparently received no education and reportedly was unable to read and write his entire life.

During the early months of the Civil War, the 1st and 2nd North Missouri Volunteer Regiments were organized. Because neither was able to recruit enough volunteers, they were combined into the 21st Missouri Volunteer Infantry Regiment. Joseph Sammons enlisted on 15 October 1861 during the organization of the regiment, and the 21st Missouri Volunteers were mustered into federal service at Canton, Missouri on 1 February 1862. They went to Hannibal, Missouri, for training and were sent to Tennessee in early April.

They were assigned to General U.S. Grant’s Army of West Tennessee and fought in the Battle of Shiloh, 6-7 April 1862. The 21st Missouri was the first regiment to engage the Confederates at Shiloh and suffered numerous casualties, including one officer and 30 men killed, 150 wounded (including Private Sammons), and three officers and 38 men taken prisoner. Immediately after Shiloh, the regiment was marched to join the siege of Corinth, Mississippi, which was captured on 26 May 1862. The regiment guarded the railroads at Chewalla, Tennessee until 30 August. They returned to Corinth and fought in the second Battle of Corinth, 3-4 October 1862. They repulsed the Rebels and kept control of the town. The regiment suffered heavy casualties in almost every battle.

After Corinth, the number of the regiment’s thousand men had only 400 available for duty, while the rest of the command had been lost in battle, sickness, or captured. Those still in the regiment were granted a 30-day furlough and went home while recruiting officers sought men to fill the ranks. Volunteers exceeded expectations, and the reorganized regiment spent the winter in a military post guarding Gen. Grant’s line of communication between Columbus, Tennessee, and Corinth. In March 1863, they were sent to Kentucky to guard railroads.

In May 1863, they were transferred to Memphis for garrison duty until January 1864, when they were sent to Vicksburg where they joined Gen. Sherman’s march to Meridian, Mississippi. After the capture of Meridian, the 21st Missouri Volunteers returned to Vicksburg. Their three-year enlistment was up. Many of them, including Private Sammons, re-enlisted in the “veteran” regiment, all of whom were given a 30-day furlough to spend time at home. When they returned, they were sent to Memphis.

The 21st Missouri engaged Confederates in several battles and skirmishes in Tennessee and Mississippi, and they played a major role in the Battle of Tupelo, Mississippi, 14 July 1864. In September, the regiment was transferred to Missouri to join the opposition to Confederate General Sterling Price’s march to Kansas. They marched across Missouri to Independence and fought in several battles. After Price was defeated at Mine Creek in Kansas, the 21st regiment marched back to St. Louis, fighting Confederate guerillas along the way. They were stationed at Nashville, Tennessee during the winter of 1864- 1865. They spent the last days of the war in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. After the fighting ended, they continued to occupy part of Alabama until mustered out of service on 19 April 1866. Joseph Sammons had survived while serving in a regiment that lost half its members during the war.

He returned home to Missouri where he married Sarah Marguerite London Wheeler 14 February 1867. She had been married to Isaac Newton Wheeler in 1863 and he died six months later of an unnamed illness. Their son, Isaac Newton, Jr., was born 25 February 1865, after his father’s death. “Ike,” as he was known, was raised by Joseph as his own.

Joseph brought his family to Alcona Township. On 24 June 1881, he filed a homestead entry for the SW¼NE¼ & S½NW¼ Section 3, Township 8 South, Range 20 West, and SE¼NE¼ Section 4, Township 8 South, Range 20 West in Richland Township. Final certification was completed 17 March 1884. The farmstead was at the west end of the S½NW¼ of Section 3, an area currently part of Webster Lake.

Joseph died 1 September 1925 and Sarah died in 1936. Both are buried in the Alcona Cemetery.

Joseph and Sarah’s children were: Isaac A. Wheeler (1864-1945) (stepson of Joseph) married Mary Pettijohn 26 August 1890, and married Leona Pettijohn in 1938; Mary M. married William Massie (1864-1894) 4 April 1888, then married James M. Barrett (1864-1930) 4 April, 1902; John W. (1869-1956) married Wilhemina “Gertie” Greenly (1876-1968) 25 December 1890; Alice A. (1872-1946) married James Combs (1855-1922) 3 February 1889; Thomas J. (1873-1956) married Clarice J. Mitten (1880-1960) 27 September 1899; Sarah E. (1877-1971) married Charles Bradford (1874-1947) 19 February 1890; James H. (1882-1966) married Ivy Hess (1885-1975) 21 August 1905; and Minnie P. (1885-1942) married Daniel Conn (1877-1951) 21 August 1905.