{"id":12597,"date":"2013-02-07T19:27:05","date_gmt":"2013-02-08T00:27:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/?p=12597"},"modified":"2022-06-14T18:32:52","modified_gmt":"2022-06-14T23:32:52","slug":"obscure-gettysburg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/obscure-gettysburg\/","title":{"rendered":"An Obscure Gettysburg"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This is the story of John Kennedy. No, not that<\/em> John Kennedy! I’m referring to John Wright<\/em> Kennedy who I guarantee that you know nothing about, nor should you. It’s about how a formative event in his life resulting in the naming of a town twenty years later. He was a farmer who underwent a harrowing ordeal and lived to tell about it. Then he went back to a quiet agrarian lifestyle and survived to a ripe old age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John Kennedy’s Early Years<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Tangentially, I suppose it’s also about the huge paper trails we all leave behind us. Every bit of information I discovered for this story I found online in less than an hour. If I could learn this much about someone who passed away nearly a century ago, imagine how much people will find out about you and me a hundred years from now in our digital wakes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Kennedy came into this world at Stamford, New York (map<\/a>), on April 18, 1838. He was the child of Scottish immigrants as the census-taker noted. So this put him at a prefect age to serve in the military when the U.S. Civil War broke out in 1861.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stamford straddled the line between Delaware and Schoharie Counties. Thus, he joined many of his neighbors when they enrolled in the Union Army in nearby Schenectady. They formed Co. F of the 134th New York Infantry on August 22, 1862. He mustered in as a Private and worked his way up to Sergeant. Then he earned a Lieutenant commission and eventually attained the rank of Captain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Battle of Gettysburg<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"150th<\/a>
Gettysburg Reenactment<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The regiment attached itself to the XI Corps of Army of the Potomac. Historians remember this corps best for its roles in the Battles of Chancellorsville in Virginia and Gettysburg in Pennsylvania (map<\/a>). Unfortunately they don’t hold the corps in the most flattering light. The Eleventh Corps seemed unprepared at Chancellorsville. Then it suffered a route on the first day of Gettysburg. Confederates forced the corps to retreat through city streets until it could reach high ground at Cemetery Hill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The XI Corps redeemed itself somewhat on the second day when it mounted a valiant defense of the hill. However, it never truly recovered its reputation and the Army later dismantled and spread it amongst other units. The 134th New York suffered tremendously in the battle at Gettysburg too, losing 42 killed, 141 wounded and 59 missing. So this put 242 of the regiment\u2019s 400 soldiers out of action in a single battle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Gettysburg<\/a>
134th New York monument at Gettysburg (map<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

John Kennedy never make it to Cemetery Hill. He became one of the 59 missing on July 1, 1863. It turned out the Confederate army captured him on the first day at Gettysburg. He became a prisoner of war<\/a>, subsequently transported to Richmond, Virginia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The story didn\u2019t end there! Kennedy escaped imprisonment<\/a> and rejoined his unit in Savannah, Georgia in December 1864. He then served in the Union army for the remainder of the war. Finally he mustered out with his company on June 10, 1865.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Later Years<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Then Kennedy decided to relocate to South Dakota sometime after the war, establishing a home and a farm in Potter County. Others moved to the area and it was time to form a town. Logically they needed a name for their new settlement, of course. As Genealogy Trails<\/a> explained,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The group [of Civil War veterans] sought to name the new town Meade in honor of General Meade, renowned for his leadership in the Battle of Gettysburg. When the Post Office rejected that name because it was already too popular, Captain John W. Kennedy, a member of Gen. Howard\u2019s 11th Corps during the Battle of Gettysburg, submitted the name Gettysburg instead. That was accepted.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\"Welcome<\/a>
“Where the Battle Wasn’t”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Gettysburg, South Dakota has more than 1,100 residents today and is the seat of government for Potter County (map<\/a>). Kennedy passed away on February 13, 1918, in Gettysburg — the one in South Dakota — and his family buried him there. His tombstone noted<\/a> that he fought at Gettysburg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1991, the two Gettysburg towns became “sister cities.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can’t think of any other town named explicitly to commemorate a battle, by a veteran of the battle. I hope I can discover others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is the story of John Kennedy. No, not that John Kennedy! I’m referring to John Wright Kennedy who I guarantee that you know nothing about, nor should you. It’s about how a formative event in his life resulting in the naming of a town twenty years later. He was a farmer who underwent a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,501,96],"tags":[177,2634,249,2673,692],"class_list":["post-12597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cities","category-event","category-history","tag-civil-war","tag-gettysburg","tag-pennsylvania","tag-south-dakota","tag-union"],"yoast_head":"\nAn Obscure Gettysburg - Twelve Mile Circle - An Appreciation of Unusual Places<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There is a small town on the Great Plains of South Dakota called Gettysburg. 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