Person:Wilson Driver (1)

His headstone confirms he was husband of Eliza.

Wilson L Driver Enlisted 20 July 1863 Priv 20

He served in the Ohio En H Co. 88th Infantry Reg. of Ohio: inducted in as a sergeant July 31, 1863, he mustered out at Camp Chase, OH on July 3, 1865 at the same rank. Source: Official Roster of the Soldiers of the State of Ohio, published 1886

Driver Wilson L. H 88 Ohio Infantry. Sergeant Sergeant Discharge Notes Box # Extraction # Record # 000552 0029 00000789

Regiment: 88th Infantry Regiment OH Date Mustered: 03 July 1865 Regiment Type: Infantry Regimental Soldiers and History: List of Soldiers

Regimental History OHIO EIGHTY-EIGHTH INFANTRY (Three Years)

Eighty-eighth Infantry. Col., George W. Neff; Lieut.-Col., Edwin L. Webber; Majs., Peter Zinn, John W. Skiles. This regiment was originally composed of a battalion of four companies, organized at Camp Chase from Sept. 24 to Oct. 27, 1862, to serve for three years' and designated "First Battalion Governor's Guards." Six new companies, organized at Camp Chase from July 24 to Aug. 3, 1863 to serve for three years, were consolidated with this battalion and designated the 88th Ohio infantry. The regiment was mustered out of service on July 3, 1865, in accordance with orders from the war department. This regiment was principally engaged in guarding Confederate prisoners at Camp Chase. It was also engaged in the pursuit of the Morgan raiders and the suppression of the Holmes county rebellion in July, 1863.

From the Autobiography of Robert Fargo

In this year the dogs of war were unloosed. Fort Sumter was fired on and taken. The "Irrespressible Conflict" that Seward had so forcibly portended was on. April fourteenth, 1861, President Lincoln had called for seventy-five thousand men to serve for three months and Governor Randall had in response called for one regiment from Wisconsin. The popular thought was that General Scott's plan would soon squeeze the breath out of the rebels...

... Toward the close of 1861the war looked more earnest. Bull Run had been fought and lost. The price of all gods began to crawl up, especially cotton fabrics...

... in the spring of 1863... we had the nerve to buy enough to last us until the close of the war. By the time the goods were home three weeks later, the prices had doubled...

... On April fifteenth, 1865, we were on our way to New York via Pittsburg and Philadelphia. About 4 A.M. at a station west of Harrisburg word came into the car stating that Lincoln and all his cabinet had been assassinated. The news was astounding. All hastilly dressed and waited in breathless anxiety to reach Harrisburg for confirmation. There brief extras were brought into the car stating that Lincoln was dead, that Seward was fatally injured, Stanton had been assaulted, that in fact attempt had been made on the life of every member of the cabinet. A few hours later, as the bus transferred us to the New York train, the city was being draped in mourning, Booth was hanging in effigy over the street, and sorrow was depicted on every face. On the train the extras were seized with eager hands to get the very latest.

New York was in the habiliments of mourning. Everything black was used for covering those massive buildings. Great streamers of black and white reached from the eaves to the street everywhere. The jobbing houses were almost sacked for material and more was obtained from suburban towns. In discussing the terrible tragedy strong men wept like children. Plaster casts of Lincoln's head were exhibited at various places and were gazed on with intense interest. The second day stores were open, but business was virtually suspended. Truly a Nation was in mourning. A day or two later came the funeral cortege that bore Lincoln to his Springfield home. I stood on Broadway and saw the casket in the hearse that carried the remains to the City Hall where they were reviewed by uncounted thousands that afternoon and all the following night.

1. ↑ Vital Records - Erie County, Ohio
   Death Vol. 3, p. 138.
2. ↑ Katharyn Huss Wunderley & Patty Dahm Pascoe, Co-Chairmen. Erie County, Ohio Cemetery Census before 1909. (Published by Erie County Cemetery Project Volunteers, Friends and Benefactors August 1989).
3. ↑ Vital Records - GenealogyLibrary.com
   Erie Co, Ohio, Roll 1264, Book 1, p. 34a, dwelling 102, 102.
4. ↑ ^4.0 4.1 Erie, Ohio, United States. 1850 U.S. Census Population Schedule. (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration Publication M432)
   FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MX7F-ZMD : 12 April 2016), Wesley Driver, Vermillion, Erie, Ohio, United States; citing family 241, NARA microfilm publication M432 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3} Sgt Wilson Lee Driver, in Find A Grave.