Introducing John B Creps

During my June visit to the National Archives (Washington, DC), I pulled the Civil War pension packet for John B. Creps. The find of this trip was cousin John’s diary, kept by him during his Civil War service and found in his pension packet.

John served in Company H, 67th Regiment of Ohio Infantry during the Civil War (Union). He was born in Wood County (Oh) and enlisted at 19 years of age on 16 Dec 1863 in Toledo for a term of 3 years. He had brown hair, gray eyes, a fair complexion, and was 5 feet 4.5 inches tall. Upon his enlistment, John was eligible for a $300 bounty, $60 of which he was paid when he arrived at camp¹. Recruitment of Union soldiers was credited to House Districts, and John’s service was credited to Washington Twp, Wood County, Oh, which provides a high likelihood that he lived in Washington Township.

Value of Enlistment Bonuses — Figure 1: Current value (2020) of John’s 1863 enlistment bonus²

John was admitted to the post hospital in Columbus on 12 February 1864 for Rubeola (measles) and passed on 15 Feb 1864^3,4,5. Most of what we know about John’s short time in the service comes from his brief pension packet (pension awarded to his widowed mother) and his diary. On page 2, we immediately see that he enlisted 9 Dec 1863 in Montgomery.

John B Creps diary, first page — Figure 5: First pages of John B Creps diary

My next post will explore the information found in John’s diary, how it ended up in his pension packet, buried in the National Archives (DC), and why his widowed mother was able to claim his pension in 1885.

Sources

^{1 “Muster and Descriptive Roll of a Detachment of U.S. Vols. Forwarded, Jacob B. Creps,” 67th Ohio Infantry; Civil War Compiled Military Service Records, Records of the Adjutant General’s Office (RG 94), National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), Washington, DC.}

^{2 “MeasuringWorth, Relative Value (US),” MeasuringWorth, accessed 27 Jul 2022, https://www.measuringworth.com/calculators/uscompare/}

^{3 “Carded Medical Record, Admitted Tod Barracks, Jacob B. Creps,” 67th Ohio Infantry; Civil War Carded Medical Records, Records of the Adjutant General’s Office (RG 94, Entry 534), National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), Washington, DC. (Carded Medical Records, RG 94, Entry 534, NARA)}

^{4 “Carded Medical Record, Admitted Seminary General Hospital, Jacob B. Creps,” 67th Ohio Infantry; Carded Medical Records, RG 94, Entry 534, NARA.}

^{5 “Measles (Rubeola),” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, accessed 27 Jul 2022, https://www.cdc.gov/measles/index.html}