Francis Crathorne

23rd Iowa Infantry

 

Francis was born 11 Sept 1824 in Aston Juxta, Birmingham, England, the

third child of Francis Crathorne, Sr. and Jane Maria White. He was a

carpenter by trade and married Grace Forest Reece ( a milliner) on 1

Sept 1852 in Manchester.

 

When this part of the family immigrated to America we are not exactly

sure, but in my Grandmother's obit it says "born 18 May 1856 near

Hannibal, MO a few days after her father and mother arrived from

England." This agrees with my mother's oral history. We do know that

Francis' father, mother, older brother Frederick and his sister

Clarissa had arrived in the US somewhere between 1850 and 1853.

Frederick purchased land in southern Iowa as did Francis, Sr. All of

the families were farmers. On 2 Aug 1861 in Corydon, Iowa Frederick

enlisted in the Union Army, CO I, 4th Iowa Infantry as lst Sgt. and on

26 Jul 1862 Francis (now Frank) enlisted in COD 23rd Iowa Infantry.

Both men served to the conclusion of the war. Frederick (now Fred)

mustered out at Goldsboro, NC, 6 Apr 1865 with the rank of Capt., and

Frank mustered out in Harrisburg, TX on 26 Jul 1865 with the rank of 1st Lt.

 

War Record: Frank developed an eye condition ( probably trachoma)

while in Texas and in Feb of 1881 he filed for veterans pension. By

this time he was legally blind. This information on his war record was

found at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. The chief engagements

in which he took part were Port Gibson, Champion Hills (where Col

William H. Kinsman was killed), Big Black, siege and assault on

Vicksburg, Fort Esperanza, Texas, Red River expedition and Mobile. In a

history of Wilson County, KA I found a short history of his life and

while most of the information we already had, there was one excerpt

which was interesting. ".........he was the only left standing out of

one hundred and sixty-five in a bayonet charge at Black River Bridge."

Contributed by

(Send this page to a Friend)     ( Roster Photo's )

If you have any additional information that you would like to add to this page or other pages and share with

visitors of on this web site, please contact