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Lemuel Philson

May 31, 2010 at 7:29 PM

On Memorial Day, I choose to specifically remember Lemuel Philson. Lemuel Philson was killed in action on 19 September 1863 at Chickamauga, Georgia. He was 23 years old.

Lemuel Philson was born in Berlin, Somerset County, Pennsylvania about 1840 to James H. Philson and Susannah Poorbaugh, the seventh of nine children. Lemuel's paternal grandfather Robert was a Revolutionary War Patriot, a hero of the War of 1812, a brigadier general, and was the chief instigator of the Whisky Rebellion, and American Patriotism ran thick through Philson blood.

During the time of Lincoln's election, the Philson family was moving from western Pennsylvania toward Indiana, where they settled in Elkhart. Lemuel likely moved with his older sister Susan and her husband Cyrus Wirt. The Wirts were staunch Republicans and abolitionists, naming their son born in 1861 Horace Lincoln.

Lemuel joined Indiana's 74 Regiment Infantry as a Private in 1862, and by the fall of 1863 he had attained the rank of Corporal. The 74th joined up with the storied Tenth Kentucky Volunteer Infantry on the road to Chickamauga, where Lemuel was killed in action.

Lemuel Philson's final resting place is unknown. We do not know if he was actually killed on the 19th as officially reported, or during the next two days of battle. The details of Lemuel's death are lost to history.

Lemuel has no gravestone, nowhere to place a flag honoring his service to the United States of America as part of the Grand Army of the Republic, a baptism of blood.

Today, and every Decoration Day, I remember Lemuel Philson, younger brother to my third great grandmother Susan (Philson) Wirt, who gave his life to a United States.