Willis (William) Calhoun (Carter) was born around 1822 in Albemarle County, Virginia. William Carter of Virginia owned Calhoun's mother and later sold both of them to fellow Virginian Judge Robert Calhoun. Robert Calhoun later moved to Mexico, Missouri, where he and Willis resided prior to the war. Willis Calhoun married his wife Phoebe Carter on December 7, 1846, on her master William D. Harrison's estate in Audrain County. Before enlisting, Calhoun worked as a farmer and laborer and had seven children with Phoebe: Margaret Ann, born August 15, 1852; Willis, born May 15, 1853; Calvin, born December 10, 1855; Louisa, born September 15, 1857; Susan, born June 15, 1858; Agnes, born May 1, 1862; and Samuel, who died in infancy before the war.

Calhoun enlisted as a private at the age of 42 on January 14, 1864, in Mexico and mustered in on February 28 at Benton Barracks in St. Louis. His service record described him as 5 feet, 7 1/2 inches tall, with black hair, black eyes, and copper complexion. He served in Company C of the 67th USCT Infantry Regiment. While he enlisted for 3 years, he only served for about 5 months, often on daily duty as a cook for the company and later for the hospital. Calhoun died on July 30, 1864, at the regimental hospital in Morganza, Louisiana. Army surgeons gave his cause of death as typhus fever. His wife Phoebe filed for a pension in 1868 and received one for $8 per month commencing the day after her husband died in the service. According to Phoebe's pension file, Willis's surviving family continued to live in Missouri.

Image: Willis Calhoun (courtesy National Archives).