David Craver was born around 1811 in Maryland. He probably moved to Ohio by the late 1830s, and he married Nancy Fitznagle there. They had at least six children: Margaret, born around 1840; Sarah, born around 1844; James Polk, born around 1845; Lucinda, born around 1851; Harriet, born around 1857; and David, born around 1862. By 1850, they were living in Randolph, Ohio, and Craver was working as a laborer. A decade later, they were living in Monroe, Ohio, and Craver owned $100 of personal property.

 

He enlisted in the Union army on December 2, 1861, and mustered in as a private in Company E of the 48^th Ohio Infantry. The regiment took part in the Battle of Shiloh and the Siege of Corinth. On December 25, 1862, while travelling from Memphis, Tennessee, to Vicksburg, Mississippi, on board the steamship City of Alton, Craver fell through a hatchway and suffered a “severe contusion on his head,” which “seriously affect[ed] his eye sight and general health” and “rendered him unfit for service.”

 

He mustered out on October 10, 1863, and returned home to Ohio. He applied for a federal pension in December 1863 and secured one soon afterward. By 1870, he was working as a “general laborer” in Concord, Ohio, and a decade later, he was living in Butler, Ohio. He died in Vandalia, Ohio, on May 21, 1888.

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