George W. Waterman - Bishop Post, G.A.R.

The Ohio Soldiers Grave Registration for George W. Waterman listed his birthdate as 1826 in Ohio.  By 1850, George was married to Catherine Lowery and they had settled in Flatrock Township, Henry County, Ohio.  George was 23 and Catherine was 19, and they had real estate worth $1000, quite a sum for the time.  Their first child, Mary Ellen (often called "Ellie") was just 6 months old.


A marriage record in Henry County noted the marriage of George and Catherine on January 4, 1849.  In 1850, George was a farmer and with the couple lived Shepherd Eskridge, 19, a farmer.

Napoleon Township, Henry County, was the home of the Watermans in the 1860 census.  George named himself, at the age of 33, as a retired hotel keeper, with a personal worth of $1000.  He and Catharine, 30, had two children at that time: Mary E., 10, and Sarah J., 8.  William Lowry, 23, a clerk and perhaps Catharine's brother, lived with them.  Later he would sue his brother-in-law, George, over a land dispute.

At the age of 36, George W. Waterman, husband and father, enlisted into the 100th Infantry, Company B.  In fact, he was instrumental in forming this company, as described in the Ohio State Archives:

"July 10, 1862.
J. H. Tyler, Chairman, Military Committee of Henry County, Napoleo, Henry County, Ohio.  A Letter to ?.  Letter stating that in pursuance of the patriotic call of the Governor of Ohio, dated July 3, 1862, Henry D. Taylor, George W. Waterman, and George D. Forsyth (all highly respected citizens of Henry County) had decided to cooperate together for the purpose of recruiting a company to serve during the war, that to facilitate said object, they desired commissions from the proper authority (Taylor as Captain, Waterman as 1st Lieutenant, and Forsyth as 2nd Lieutenant) and that the Military Committee of Henry County recommended each of the above named as eminently well qualified for the representative positions indicated.  Attested to by S. M. Hague."
1 pg. (Series 147-38:94)

On July 11, 1862, George officially enlisted, along with enough Henry County men to create one full company, and some more who went to another company.  So Company B was all Henry County men who were mustered into service in Toledo on July 15, 1862.  From there, they traveled to Cincinnati to defend the city, and then on to Lexington in October where they trained.  

The unit moved as the enemy threatened, until in August, 1863, some were sent from Knoxville to Virginia to guard the railroad.  Two hundred and forty men were captured by the enemy on September 4 and sent to prison in Richmond, Virginia.  No evidence was found to prove that Lt. Waterman was one of those men.  

In the spring of 1864, the regiment joined General Sherman in the march to take Atlanta.  They were highly involved in many battles of this campaign, and the losses were heavy.  After Atlanta, the group marched into North Carolina after General Hood's army.  George, however, had resigned on January 8, 1863; the reason  - unknown.

 
The location of the Waterman family in 1870 could not be found, but in 1880, they lived at 184 1st Street in Toledo, Lucas County, Ohio.  George and Catherine had Nellie, 26, at home, and the youngest daughter, Myrtle, 17, along with George's sister, R. R. Scott, 48.  George was in the wholesale dry goods business, he reported  Indeed, the Defiance papers mentioned during the next few years, the Heller and Waterman Dry Goods Store. According to his obituary, George lived and was involved in the store in Defiance between 1880 and 1883, a time when he also participated in the G.A.R.  Daughter Sarah J. married William Kettenring of this city.

George Waterman was found on the 1890 Veterans Census in Toledo, Lucas County, Ohio.  He served from 1862- 1863, five months and twenty-eight days.  It seemed likely that George resigned due to a physical problem as his disability was listed as not only the commonly mentioned chronic diarrhea, but also "prolapsus ani," a prolapse of the rectal wall.  An injury such as this may have required surgical correction, if that were available at the time.

George, 71, and Catharine, 69, lived at 22239 Fulton Street in Toledo for the 1900 Federal Census.  Mary Ellen (Nellie), 50, was also at home.  One of their daughters, Sarah J., had died, leaving just Nellie and Lillian Myrtle, called Myrtle.  They owned their home free and clear and George listed himself as a retired merchant.

In 1903, George and Catharine spent the winter in Florida, but  he didn't make it home again. In June, 1904, George died at the age of 75, passing away in Florida.  Catharine followed him the next year, dying in 1905.  Both are buried at Riverside Cemetery, Defiance.

www.findagrave.com  No photo was available for George's stone.

(This is part of a series on Civil War veterans of Defiance County who were part of the G.A.R., Bishop Post, that headquartered in the city.  Formed in 1879, the post was named after a local man, Captain William Bishop, Company D, 100th Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Army who died as a result of wounds received in battle.  The veterans' photos are part of a composite photo of members that has survived.  If you have other information or corrections to add to the soldiers' stories, please add to the comments!)