#52Ancestors, Week 45, War and Peace

 Thomas Jefferson Green

Born: 27 Sep. 1827 - Kentucky
Parents: Unknown

Service: 11th Illinois Infantry, Company F
Enlistment Date: 15 Aug. 1862

Discharge Date: 14 July 1865

Spouses:

Ann Elizabeth Echols - married 1854 (div. 15 Nov. 1869)

Harriet A. Isaacs - married 26 Dec. 1869 - Pulaski County, IL

Children: 

w/ Ann

Emma Katherine Green

Dora Isabella Green

w/ Harriet

Thomas Jefferson Green

Leona Deane ‘Sally’ Green

Richard Monroe Green

George Alfred Green

Death: 19 Apr. 1898 - Anna, IL
Burial: Anna Cemetery - Anna, IL

War:

The 11th Illinois Infantry served from 1862-1865 and was present at some of the pivotal battles of the American Civil War.  In 1862, it was part of the operations at Forts Henry and Donelson where Union forces took control of the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers.  It was also present at the bloody battle of Shiloh that same year. In 1864, it helped secure Vicksburg, a victory that led to Ulysses S. Grant’s appointment as General-in-Chief of the Union army.  Not long after the battle of Fort Blakely in April 1865, the regiment traveled to Springfield, IL, to receive its final payment and discharge.  

Source: The National Park Service website

Peace:

Thomas Green had survived…physically, but like so many others who had experienced the grisly realities of Civil War combat, he returned from service a changed man. Within 4 years, he and his first wife had divorced.  Later, when Thomas filed paperwork for a pension, his ex-wife wrote in her affidavit, “After he came from the army, he got to drinking pretty hard, and that is the reason we separated. The fact is he was never like the same person after he came home."

Thomas remarried to Harriet and had four more children. He applied for a pension in 1879 because his eyes had sustained damage during the war, and he could no longer perform his trade as a blacksmith.

Thomas J. Green died 19 Apr. 1898, at his home in Anna, aged 71 years, 9 months, 11 days, and was buried in Anna Cemetery. He was a member of G.A.R. He left a widow, three sons, and one daughter, Thomas J. Green Jr. of Della Plain, Ark., Mrs. C.C. Terpinitz, George Green, and Richard Green, all of Anna. (Jonesboro Gazette, 23 Apr. 1898)