Harvey Richardson
Harvey Richardson was born around 1837 in Indiana to Richard and Catherine Richardson. His father was a farmer who died sometime in the 1850s. Richardson grew up and attended school in Salem, Indiana, and by 1860, he was working as a farmer. He supported Abraham Lincoln in the election of 1860.
He enlisted in the Union army on September 18, 1861, and he mustered in as a private in Company D of the 38th Indiana Infantry later that day. He contracted typhoid fever later that year and returned home to recover. On January 24, 1862, he assured a cousin that “I am just now getting able to walk…I think I will soon by able to undergo the hardships of a soldier.” He remained devoted to the Union cause, vowing to “soon go back to the army.” If he died “on the battle field,” he wrote, “could I ever die a more honorable death, no never for it is the duty of able boddied young me[n] to fight for their country.”
He eventually rejoined the regiment, and he probably took part in the Battle of Perryville, the Battle of Stones River, the Battle of Chickamauga, the Battle of Lookout Mountain, the Battle of Missionary Ridge, and the Atlanta campaign. He was wounded during the Atlanta Campaign, and he died near Jonesboro, Georgia, on September 2, 1864.
DATABASE CONTENT
| (1599) | Richardson, Harvey | 1837 | 1864-09-02 |
- Conflict Side: Union
- Role: Soldier
- Rank in: Private
- Rank out: Private
- Rank highest: Private
- Gender: Male
- Race: White
Documents - Records: 6
- (5524) [writer] ~ Harvey Richardson to William Forder and Sarah A. Forder, 12 November 1860
- (5539) [writer] ~ Harvey Richardson to James W. McMullen and Julia A. Hubbard, 24 January 1862
- (5540) [writer] ~ Harvey Richardson to Sarah A. Forder, 23 January 1862
- (5541) [writer] ~ Harvey Richardson to William Forder, 23 January 1862
- (5585) [associated with] ~ Albert Forder to William Forder et al., 24 March 1861
- (5716) [associated with] ~ William Forder to Winfield S. Hubbard, undated
People - Records: 5
Places - Records: 2
Regiments - Records: 1
- (455) [enlisted] [D] ~ 38th Indiana Infantry
Groups - Records: 1
- (3) [member/supporter] ~ Republican Party
SOURCES
1850 and 1860 United States Federal Censuses, available from Ancestry.com; Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles, 1861-1865, available from Ancestry.com; Harvey Richardson to James W. McMullen and Julia McMullen, 24 January 1862, Nau Collection.
