They Served: the Carter family at war
At a glance
- 16 men of the family served: 1 in the Revolution, 1 in the War of 1812 and 14 in the Civil War.
- 5 were killed in the Civil War and 1 died of disease contracted in service. 2 were wounded.
- No Confederate soldier has been found. All Civil War service found so far was for the Union. The one Virginian in the family, John Flower, was a Unionist jailed by the Confederacy.
- Spanish-American War, First and Second World Wars: not yet researched.
The fallen
Five men of the family died in battle between 1862 and 1864, two of them Carters by name.
Samuel Phillips
Killed at Shepherdstown, W. Va., 20 Sep 1862; Antietam National Cemetery, grave 3590 SUPPORTED
Recompense Carter
Killed at Vicksburg, Miss., 1863 SUPPORTED
Jeremiah Carter
Killed in Grant's first attack on Petersburg, Va., 1864 (Potts gives Sep. 1864, aged 37) SUPPORTED
George Barber
Killed ('fell in battle') in Virginia, 1864 SUPPORTED
William-Rickards Lancaster
Killed in the war SUPPORTED
Samuel Phillips and the 118th at Shepherdstown, 1862
Samuel Phillips, husband of Margery-Ann Coppock, enlisted in Co. A of the new 118th Pennsylvania (the Corn Exchange Regiment) in August 1862. The regiment was held in reserve at Antietam. Three days later, on 20 September, it crossed the Potomac at Boteler's Ford and Samuel was killed on the bluff above the river SUPPORTED. He lies in Antietam National Cemetery, grave 3590. Read the full story of the 118th at Shepherdstown.
Recompense Carter at Vicksburg, 1863
Recompense Carter (Potts no. 165) was born on 20 October 1827 in Franklin County, Indiana. He was the son of Abraham Carter, who had moved there from Pennsylvania, and Margaret (Hitchner) Carter, and he married Mary J. Campbell. In 1862, aged 35, he appears as a farmer on the Indiana Volunteer Militia enrolment for Franklin County DOCUMENTED. He served as a corporal in Company K, 83rd Indiana Infantry, according to his federal service index card DOCUMENTED. Potts says he "was killed at the battle of Vicksburg, Miss., 1863" SUPPORTED. The 83rd fought in Grant's assaults on the Vicksburg works in May 1863. His death record has not yet been seen. His half-brother James served four and a half years in the 11th Indiana, and his brother-in-law Samuel T. Bourne was wounded three times at Iuka.
The Revolution
| Who | Family line | Unit | Rank | Outcome | Label | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Archibald Dick | In-law: husband of Mary (Barnard) Dick, granddaughter of Sarah Carter (Sarah line); father of Thomas-B. Dick, no. 29 | Quartermaster Department; Chester County forage | Assistant Deputy Quartermaster General (1779); Assistant Forage Master, Chester Co. (5 Apr 1780); rank of Major | Survived the war; died 9 or 23 Mar 1782 of a lung illness Potts blames on exposure in the army | SUPPORTED | Potts 1883 p.55 (Button MS.); will 9 Feb 1782, proven 23 Apr 1782, West Chester |
Quakers and the war
The early Carters were Friends, and Friends disowned members who bore arms. Potts records several Carter disownments, but for marrying out or for a "breach of discipline", not for military service. The Chester and Chichester meeting minutes for 1775–83 have not yet been read for this. On the war on the family's doorstep, see 1777: the British in Aston.
The War of 1812
| Who | Family line | Unit | Rank | Outcome | Label | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Isaac-D. Barnard | Sarah line (Jeremiah > Sarah > Isaac Barnard > James Barnard) | U.S. regular army | Captain, then Major (brevet promotion 'for his gallantry') | Survived; later U.S. Senator for Pennsylvania; d. West Chester 1834 | SUPPORTED | Potts 1883 pp.100–101 |
The Civil War
All 14 Union soldiers
| Who | Family line | Unit | Rank | Outcome | Label | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Samuel Phillips | In-law: husband of Margery-Ann Coppock, no. 335 (Abraham > Edward > Ann Carter Roberts line) | Co. A, 118th Pennsylvania Volunteers (Corn Exchange Regiment) | Private | Killed at Shepherdstown, W. Va., 20 Sep 1862; Antietam National Cemetery, grave 3590 | SUPPORTED | Potts p.168–169; Bates III p.1319; Corn Exchange history 1888 |
| Recompense Carter | Abraham > Joseph > Abraham > Abraham (Indiana line), Franklin Co., Ind. | Co. K, 83rd Indiana Infantry | Corporal | Killed at Vicksburg, Miss., 1863 | SUPPORTED | Potts 1883 p.121 (killed at Vicksburg); NARA service index card 51577755 via freecivilwarrecords.org (DOCUMENTED, index); 1862 Indiana militia enrolment, Franklin Co., p.28 (DOCUMENTED) |
| James Carter | Abraham Indiana line; half-brother of Recompense | 11th Indiana Infantry | (not stated) | Survived (four and a half years' service) | SUPPORTED | Potts 1883 p.121 |
| Samuel-T. Bourne | In-law: husband (m. 1865) of Sarah Carter, no. 171, Abraham Indiana line | (regiment not stated) | (not stated) | Wounded at Iuka, Miss. (19 Sep 1862) by three balls, shoulder, side and back; survived | SUPPORTED | Potts 1883 pp.121–122 |
| Jeremiah Carter | Joseph > Daniel line (son of Daniel and Elizabeth (Parker) Carter) | (regiment not stated) | Soldier | Killed in Grant's first attack on Petersburg, Va., 1864 (Potts gives Sep. 1864, aged 37) | SUPPORTED | Potts 1883 p.132 |
| Franklin-A. Dick | Sarah line (Dick family), St. Louis, Mo. | Staff of Gen. Nathaniel Lyon (1861); staff of Maj. Gen. Samuel R. Curtis (1862–63) | Assistant Adjutant General; Aide-de-Camp with rank of Lieutenant Colonel; Provost Marshal General, Department of the Missouri | Survived | SUPPORTED | Potts 1883 p.160 |
| John-J. Henderson | In-law: husband (m. 1864) of Eliza-Catharine Evans, no. 375 (Agnes Carter > Evans line) | U.S. Army (unit not stated); earlier 11 years in the navy | Private, rising to Lieutenant Colonel | Wounded: Potts says one sword and eleven bullet wounds; survived | SUPPORTED | Potts 1883 p.176 |
| William Evans | In-law: husband (m. 1866) of Mary-Minerva Evans, no. 376 (Agnes Carter > Evans line) | (regiment not stated) | (not stated) | Survived (three years' service) | SUPPORTED | Potts 1883 p.177 |
| George Barber | Agnes Carter > Sarah (Evans) Barber > Samuel Barber line, Kimberton, Chester Co. | (regiment not stated) | Soldier | Killed ('fell in battle') in Virginia, 1864 | SUPPORTED | Potts 1883 p.116 |
| Edwin-C. Gibson | William > Mary (Carter) Gibson line, Linn Co., Iowa | (regiment not stated) | Soldier | Died of disease contracted in service, 1 Apr 1863, at his parents' home near Springville, Iowa | SUPPORTED | Potts 1883 p.193 |
| Frank Dutton | Sarah line (Dutton family) | (regiment not stated) | Soldier | Survived; d. 1868 | SUPPORTED | Potts 1883 p.206 (OCR reads 'Button') |
| Zedekiah-W. Flower | Sarah line (Dick > Flower) | Co. B, 114th Pennsylvania (Collis' Zouaves), then 5th U.S. Cavalry | Private | Survived; discharged 15 Nov 1865 | DOCUMENTED | Potts 1883 p.212; Bates III, 114th P.V. Co. B roster ('Flower, Z. W.') |
| William-E. Flower | Sarah line (Dick > Flower); brother of Zedekiah | Nine-month drafted militia service (as substitute for his father) | Private | Survived; served 17 Oct 1862 – 26 Jul 1863 | SUPPORTED | Potts 1883 p.212 |
| William-Rickards Lancaster | In-law: husband of Ann-Jane Terpin, no. 321 (Ann Carter > Roberts > Terpin line) | Co. H, 10th New Jersey Volunteers | (not stated) | Killed in the war | SUPPORTED | Potts 1883 p.166 |
No Confederates found
Family tradition sent a Daniel Carter to Winchester, Virginia; that is DISPROVEN, as Daniel (no. 21) died in Chester Township in 1833, and no Carter of Jeremiah's line has been found there. Many unrelated Carters served on both sides, so a name match alone is never treated as one of ours. John Flower (no. 296), farming near Petersburg, Virginia, was the only man in his county to vote against secession; he was imprisoned for five months and seven days, escaped north, and never recovered his health SUPPORTED.
Later wars
The Mexican War has turned up no family soldier. The Spanish-American War and both World Wars come after Potts's 1883 book and are still to be researched. For the Second World War we will name only men and women known to have died.
How this roll was built
We searched the full text of Potts (1883), the family's migration notes and Bates's History of Pennsylvania Volunteers. We matched men by name, age, home and family, never by name alone. Weak matches stay in the archive (documents/MILITARY-SERVICE-ROLL.md) until a record settles them. Know a service record, letter or photograph? Share it.