Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1891-07-02
WAR "REMINISCENCES.
SEVENTEEN SOLDIERS.
They Were All sons of the same Father
Who Was Himself a Fighter

If II came within the line of his in
quiries, said W. c. Meyer, o. St. Glars
vile, w. Va, the census enumeratoP
for Moundsville. near where l live,
must have found about as wonderful a
domestic history as any enumerator
viii run against elsewhere in this coun-
try. Irefer to a family by the name Of
Brandon The father of that family,
Charles Brandon, died when he was
ninety-six years old, but his youngest
child was then less than a wear old He
died Just as the civil war broke ont from
a broken heart, his wife having refused
to live with him any longer and brought
suit for divorce against him He had
at that time thirtv-five living chill
dren, and had been married three
times.
His first wife bore him two children.
His second wife died after bearing him
eighteen. At the age of seventy-fve
he married Sarah Barker, she being six
teen and the youngest of sixteen chill
dren. She lived with him twenty-one
years, bearing him fifteen children, and
then left him. taking her year-old baby
with her and sued for divorce on the
grounds of incompatibility of temper.
Brandon was still hale and hearty, but
the desertion of his wife broke him
down, and he died within month after
she left him.
When his third wife married him the
Oldest of his twenty children by his two
previous wives was thirty-nine, and the
entire twenty lived under the paternal
roof The young wife reared all of the
twenty that were young enough to need
rearing, besides caring for the fifteen
of her own, the oldest of whom was
but twenty when she left their father.
The family of thirty-tive kept together
for many years after their fathers
death, and if the patriarchal Brandon
had lived few months longer he would
have seen seventeen of his sons enlist
Z in the Union army. 1t is a question
ff in this or any other country an in
Stance can be found where one fam
ely ever before contributed seventeen
SONS to their country's service. There
Were two Charleses and two Johns
among these brothers. The names of
the other thirteen were Simeon, Evans,
Peter, Josephus, Hiram, James, Van
Buren,, Jacob, Abraham, Alexander,
David, Andrew and Ruse. Besides
these, three of Charles Brandon's sons
served in the Mexican war. The seven
teen brothers were all in Ohio and In
! diana regiments. Two of them, one of
the Johns and one of the Charleses,
Swere sons of the third Mrs Brandon.
They were both taken prisoners at the
battle of Chickamauga and placed in
sAndersonville prison. John died in the
prison. Charles was there twenty-one
months when he escaped All the rest
of the sons were children of the second
wife. They were in every important
battle of the war, and all lived to get
home when the war was over except
Peter, who was killed at Shiloh.
These boys all come of good fighting
stock, for their father was famous In
dian fighter himself, veteran of the
\ war of 1912 and the Mexican war
& When Western Pennsylvania was the
s. frontier, and the Indian fighter was the
most important and indispensable per-
g,son in the settlements, Charles Bran
aadon, according to all tradition, was one
lot the best and most daring of all the
active foes of the red men. His father
'was killed by Indians when Charles
p was only three years old. He himself
twas made prisoner and lived with the
Indians twelve years, hating them more
3ythe longer he was with them. At the
Mage of fifteen he escaped, and, after
learning his mother tongue, spent all
4 his time, until they were driven away
ITO more remote settlements, in hunting
S9nd killing Indians.
~ He was fifty-one years of age when
E2he war of 1912 broke out, and he was
Esbne of the first to join the American
|Rrmy, and was in it when peace was de-
Wblared. He was seventy-four when he
henlisted in the Mexican war.
II The third wife of this virile old fight
Ter is living at Moundsville hale and
hearty at the age of sixty-seven. She
is over six feet high and as straight as
an arrow. OF her thirty-five children
I and step-children she knows posi-
fively of the whereabouts of but fifteen.
Nhe rest are scattered about the coun-
Try and dead The thirty-fve children
m