Person:Alfred Jackson (13)

The following notes and research contributed by Dr. Anthony L. Troha: I came across an article about the reunion of the Fifteenth Regiment New Jersey Volunteers, which contained a letter and a casualty list from 1864. Amongst those listed is Alfred Benjamin Jackson (RIN #23168), a member of Company D, who is listed as "missing". Since we know from other sources, including Munsell's History of Morris County, that he was killed in action on May 8, 1864. I think that his body was unrecognizable and he was probably buried in an "unknown" grave. That would explain why his body was not recovered and interred in Rockaway with his relatives, and why I could not find him in any of the military cemeteries in the vicinity of Spotsylvania, Virginia. The citation for this article, which spans three pages, is:

"Survivors of the Gallant Fifteenth in Annual Reunion" in "The Iron Era", Friday, September 16, 1904, (Volume XXXIV, Number 44, Page 1, Columns 3 and 4; Page 2, Columns 1 to 6; Page 4, Column 3) published in Dover, Morris County, New Jersey. Alfred Benjamin Jackson is listed on Page 2, Column 5.

Different sources place Alfred Benjamin Jackson in the Thirteenth Regiment New Jersey Volunteers: "The Ogden Family in America, Elizabethtown Branch, and Their English Ancestry", pg 360: "3370. ALFRED BENJAMIN JACKSON, b. Oct. 6, 1844; d. May 8, 1864. He was a soldier of the Civil War, belonging to Co. D. 13th N. J. Vols. He was killed in battle, May 8, 1864."

But this is a typographical error. Between the article in "The Iron Era" and the regimental statistics given in Munsell's History of Morris County, we can determine Alfred Benjamin Jackson's military career.

From Munsell's History of Morris County, Page 92, Column 2:

"On Thursday, January 20th 1864, some twenty recruits from Morris county joined the 15th regiment, and during the winter others from Morris and Sussex. The following is a list of them and the companies to which they were assigned: ... Alfred B. Jackson, Co. A, Jan. 2 `64; tr. to Co. D; killed May 8 `64. ..."

From Munsell's History of Morris County, Page 359, Column 2, under an article entitled "Rockaway's Union Soldiers", written from information provided by Lieutenant Edmund Drake Halsey (RIN #1923), we find:

"Fifteenth N. J. Volunteers. ---... Alfred B. Jackson, Company D, enlisted January 2nd 1864, killed in action May 8th 1864; ..."

Another source is "History of the Fifteenth Regiment New Jersey Volunteers" by Alanson A. Haines, printed by Jenkins and Thomas, New York (1883). On Page 328, we have under the section entitled "Additions to Company A, by Recruits, Draft, Transfers, Etc." the listing

"Alfred B. Jackson, Jan. 2, 1864, Recruit, trans. to Co. D.",

while on Page 346, one sees under the section "Company D. Roll of Recruits, Drafted Men, Etc.", the notice

"Alfred B. Jackson, Jan. 2, 1864, Recruit, trans. from Co. A. Killed Spottsylvania [Sic.], May 8, 1864."

So now we know he volunteered for service on January 2, 1864, was subsequently transferred from Fifteenth Regiment New Jersey Volunteers, Company A to the regiment's Company D, and he was killed at Spotsylvania, VA on May 8, 1864, but where he is buried is unknown. He is not listed on any rolls of the war dead buried in the vicinity of Spotsylvania that I have found. --end of Dr. Troha's notes--

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 Wheeler, William Ogden; Charles Burr Ogden; and Lawrence Van Alstyne. The Ogden family in America, Elizabethtown branch, and their English ancestry: John Ogden, the pilgrim and his descendants, 1640-1906, their history, biography and genealogy
   Pg 360.