Elon G. Mills

Age 19, from Leoni, MI, he enlisted on 9 August 1862 in Jackson County and mustered as Private, Company G, 17th Michigan Infantry on 18 August.

He was slightly wounded in action above the Lower Bridge at Antietam on the afternoon of 17 September 1862 and wrote home the next day:

... you will probably see it in print that I am wounded. You need not be alarmed on my account however for I am all right except a little lame. I was struck on the shoulder by a piece of shell (the meanest thing in the world). It spoiled my fun for that day, for I did not fire a gun, but had to leave.

He remained with his regiment after the battle, was listed as missing in action at Campbell Station, TN on 16 November 1863, and mustered out on 3 June 1865 in Washington, DC.

He was a farmer in Leoni for the rest of his life.

His service from the Record of Service.1 Details from family genealogists. His gravesite is on Findagrave.

He married Elnora C Smith (1853-1919) in 1871 and they had 6 children; 5 daughters and a son.

His 1862-64 diary and related wartime papers are in an online collection from the University of Michigan, source of the quote above , from a letter of 18 September 1862 from the battlefield. The originals are in the Bentley Historical Library in Ann Arbor. Thanks to Jim Smith for the pointer to Mills and that collection.

03/18/1843; Leoni, MI

09/12/1920; Jackson County, MI; burial in Leoni Cemetery, Leoni, MI