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Federal (USV)

Captain

Seth J. Simmonds

(c. 1826 - ?)

Home State: Ohio

Command Billet: Battery Commander

Branch of Service: Artillery

Unit: Kentucky Light Artillery, Simmonds' Battery

Before Antietam

He had service in the Mexican War (1846-48) "under Quitman and Twigs." In 1860 he was a 34 year old carpenter living in the Walnut Hills section of Cincinnati, Hamilton County, OH. He enrolled on 20 April 1861, mustered for 3 months' service on 10 May, and mustered for 3 years at Pendleton, OH on 3 June as Captain of Company E, First Kentucky Infantry They were designated Simmonds' Independent Battery, Kentucky Light Artillery (sometimes seen as the 23rd Independent Battery Ohio Light Artillery) on 3 July 1861.

On the Campaign

He commanded the battery in Maryland.

The rest of the War

He was on recruiting service in Cincinnati from November to December 1863, then returned to his battery "in arrest." He was tried by a General Court Martial about February 1864 on charges brought by his First Lieutenant of "defrauding the government," - specifically making a false muster - and was cashiered from the service on 13 March 1864.

After the War

By 1880 he was a traveling salesman living in Cincinnati, OH.

References & notes

His service from the State of Ohio1 and his Compiled Service Records,2 online from fold3. Personal details from family genealogists and the US Census of 1860 & 1880, as Seth J. Simmons (he spelled it Simmonds).

He married Elvira Holly (c. 1834-1917) by about 1854 and they had at least 4 children.

Birth

c. 1826; Syracuse, NY

Notes

1   State of Ohio, Roster Commission, Official Roster of the Soldiers of the State of Ohio in the War of the Rebellion, 1861-1866, 12 Volumes, Akron: The Werner Company, 1893-95, Vol. 10, pg. 623  [AotW citation 14572]